The Lewkenor Circle · Family, patronage and court
Philip Herbert, Earl of Montgomery
Lewkenor’s cousin, royal favourite and First Folio dedicatee
Portrait by Anthony van Dyck.
National Portrait Gallery, London.
Image and attribution.
Lewkenor’s cousin
Philip Herbert was Lewes Lewkenor’s cousin. The younger brother of William Herbert, Earl of Pembroke, he belonged to the Sidney–Herbert family: his mother was Mary Sidney, sister of Sir Philip Sidney.
Philip became a favourite of James I and married Susan Vere, daughter of Edward de Vere, seventeenth Earl of Oxford. Their wedding at Whitehall on 27 December 1604 brought Lewkenor’s family relationship into the business of his ceremonial office.
Lewkenor personally arranged the Venetian ambassador Nicolò Molin’s attendance. The surviving account records his negotiations over the ambassador’s reception, seating and treatment during the celebrations.
The wedding of Philip Herbert and Susan Vere
Philip was still Sir Philip Herbert when the wedding took place; he became Earl of Montgomery in 1605.
Dudley Carleton described the occasion to Ralph Winwood:
On St. John’s day we had the marriage of Sir Philip Herbert and the Lady Susan performed at Whitehall, with all the honour could be done a great favourite. The Court was great; and for that day put on the best bravery. The Prince and Duke of Holstein led the Bride to Church; the queen followed her from thence. The king gave her; and she in her tresses and trinkets brided and bridled it so handsomely, and indeed became herself so well, that the king said, ‘if he were unmarried, he would not give her, but keep her himself.
The marriage dinner was kept in the great chamber, where the Prince and the Duke of Holstein, and the great Lords and Ladies, accompanied the bride. The Ambassador of Venice was the only bidden guest of strangers, and he had place above the Duke of Holstein, which the Duke took not well.
Dudley Carleton to Ralph Winwood, early January 1605, describing the wedding of 27 December 1604.
The marriage joined the Herbert and Vere families in a ceremony attended by the royal family, leading courtiers and a foreign ambassador. The ambassador’s place immediately became a question of diplomatic precedence.
Lewkenor and the Venetian ambassador
Lewkenor visited Molin to invite him to his cousin’s wedding. Molin wanted to know which other ambassadors would attend and whether he would sit at the King’s table.
The arrangements required careful explanation. The King and Queen would dine privately; Molin would join the wedding company, with a place opposite the Prince of Wales and beside the Duke of Holstein.
The dinner proceeded, but the evening arrangements broke down amid the crush of guests. Molin heard that the bride, Prince and Duke had been seated while he was still waiting to be conducted to supper.
He reported Lewkenor’s intervention:
Sir Lewis arrived in a passion, swearing that he would go and find out what the Chamberlain meant by neglecting to conduct me to table; at that moment the Chamberlain himself appeared and begged most earnestly to be pardoned, as the error was great it was true, but it had happened through inadvertence.
I replied that such errors were easily pardoned, but that I feared this was a ruse; and any way, in order to avoid being exposed to further mistakes, I intended to go home. He implored me to wait till he had spoken to the king. I consented, but informed him positively that I would not attend the masquerade unless my place of the morning was secured for me.
Nicolò Molin’s dispatch describing the wedding celebrations and the dispute over his treatment.
Molin eventually remained, but:
“refused to sit, preferring to stand uncovered for the three hours the masque and ballo lasted.”
The episode gives a specific scene from Lewkenor’s work: at his cousin’s wedding, he had to prevent a failure of hospitality from becoming an insult to Venice.
Family celebration and court entertainment
The wedding festivities included a masque performed by leading courtiers. Carleton names Philip’s elder brother among them:
At night there was a Mask in the hall, which for conceit and fashion, was suitable to the occasion. The actors were, the Earl of Pembroke, the Lord Willoughby, Sir Samuel Hays, Sir Thomas Germain, Sir Robert Carey, Sir John Lee, Sir Richard Preston, and Sir Thomas Eager.
Dudley Carleton to Ralph Winwood, early January 1605.
Philip’s marriage therefore brought together family, royal favour, noble performance and ambassadorial attendance. Lewkenor’s responsibility for Molin placed him directly within the management of that occasion.
The conjunction matters for the history of the theatre. Court entertainment involved the same people as diplomatic ceremony and aristocratic patronage, often within a single evening.
The First Folio
In 1623 Philip and William Herbert became the joint dedicatees of Shakespeare’s First Folio. John Heminges and Henry Condell addressed them as:
“the most Noble and Incomparable Paire of Brethren”
William was Earl of Pembroke; Philip was Earl of Montgomery. The dedication states the purpose of presenting the plays to their patronage:
“Onely to keepe the memory of so worthy a Friend, & Fellow alive, as was our Shakespeare, by humble offer of his playes, to your most noble patronage.”
John Heminges and Henry Condell, dedication to Shakespeare’s First Folio (1623). Folio testimony discussed by Shakespeare Documented.
Philip inherited the Pembroke earldom after William’s death in 1630. His later portraits consequently identify him as fourth Earl of Pembroke as well as Earl of Montgomery.
Why this connection matters
Philip brings a family relationship, a documented ceremonial occasion and the preservation of Shakespeare’s plays into the same biography.
He was Lewkenor’s cousin. Lewkenor arranged Molin’s attendance at his wedding and intervened when the ambassador threatened to leave. Philip and William later received the dedication of the First Folio.
The connection can therefore be followed through named relatives, eyewitness correspondence and the printed dedication of the plays.
Explore related Shakespeare plays
The Winter’s Tale · The Tempest
People in this circle
William Herbert, Earl of Pembroke · William Shakespeare
Source trail
Nicolò Molin’s Venetian diplomatic dispatch describing Philip Herbert and Susan Vere’s wedding, Lewkenor’s invitation and the dispute over the ambassador’s seating and reception.
Dudley Carleton to Ralph Winwood, early January 1605, describing the Whitehall wedding of 27 December 1604 and its entertainments.
William Shakespeare, First Folio (1623), dedication by John Heminges and Henry Condell to William Herbert, Earl of Pembroke, and Philip Herbert, Earl of Montgomery.
The Master of the Ceremonies, 18 October 2026, account of Philip Herbert’s marriage and Lewkenor’s attendance upon Nicolò Molin. Historical quotations follow the transcriptions collected there.