William ap Thomas
Sir William ap Thomas Kt was a Welsh nobleman, politician, knight, and courtier. He was a member of the Welsh gentry family that came to be known as the Herbert family through his son William Herbert, 1st Earl of Pembroke and is the agnatic ancestor, via an illegitimate descendant of the 1st Earl of the 8th creation, of the current Herbert family of the Earl of Pembroke and Montgomery, and also of the Herbert Earl of Carnarvon.
Raglan manor, attained through marriage through heiress Elizabeth Bluet, was greatly expanded by William and his son, William Herbert, into the well-fortified Raglan Castle, one of the finest late medieval Welsh castles.
William served King Henry V of England during his first French campaign and in numerous subsequent capacities and was knighted in 1426.
Early life
William ap Thomas was the son of Sir Thomas ap Gwyllym, Knt of Perth Hir and Maud Morley, daughter and co-heir of Sir John Morley of Llansantffraed. In 1400 Thomas and his wife Maud inherited Llansantffraed Court, the country seat and estate of Sir John Morley. Llansantffraed Court was located approximately west of the town of Raglan and Raglan Castle, near Clytha and Abergavenny, Wales.Later Herbert family pedigrees tracing the family's ancestry to a natural son of Henry I of England have been largely discounted as forgeries, and the dynasty is now considered to be of native Welsh origin, likely as a cadet branch of the pre-Norman Royal Family of the Kingdom of Gwent.
The Blue Knight of Gwent
Sir William was thought by antiquarians to have fought at the battle of Battle of Agincourt and Joseph Edmondson states that Sir William was made knight banneret on the battlefield by Henry V. More recent research of the rolls, however, of those who went to France has failed to reveal his name. and a primary source for Edmondson's assertion has not been found. It is possible he was in the entourage of his future wife's father Davy Gam, who fell at Agincourt. Primary sources exist to show that he was made a Knight Bachelor by Henry VI in 1426; and—as Octavius Morgan pointed out—he could not have been knighted twice. He became known to his compatriots as "Y marchog glas o Went", because of the colour of his armour.William gradually began to establish himself as a person of consequence in South Wales, and held the following positions:
- William was Steward of the Lordship of Abergavenny by 1421.
- He was appointed High Sheriff of Cardiganshire and Carmarthenshire in 1435.
- In 1440, he was appointed the position as High Sheriff of Glamorgan.
- In 1442 or 1443, William became Chief Steward of Richard Plantagenet, 3rd Duke of York's estates in Wales.
- Was a member of the Duke of York's military council.
Death and burial
William ap Thomas died in London in 1445 and his body was brought back to Wales. Gwladys and her husband William ap Thomas were patrons of Abergavenny Priory where they were both buried; their alabaster tomb and effigies can still be seen in the church of St Mary's.Family
William married firstly in 1406 Elizabeth, the daughter of Sir John Bluet of Raglan manor and widow of Sir James Berkeley. Elizabeth, "the lady of Raggeland", inherited Raglan Castle with her husband James Berkeley, who later died in 1405 or 1406. Before marrying Berkeley she had married and become the widow of Sir Bartholomew Picot. Elizabeth's third marriage, to William, was childless.William married secondly heiress Gwladys ferch Dafydd Gam, described by Welsh poet Lewys Glyn Cothi as 'The Star of Abergavenny' for her beauty. She was the daughter of Sir Dafydd Gam and the widow of Sir Roger Vaughan of Bredwardine. All three men had been part of the Welsh contingent that fought with King Henry V of England in France, including the Battle of Agincourt.
William and Gwladys had children:
- William Herbert, 1st Earl of Pembroke took the surname Herbert. William's allegiance to Richard, Duke of York, and Richard Neville, 16th Earl of Warwick, branded him Edward IV's Welsh "master-lock". He was the first full-blooded Welshman to enter the English peerage and he was knighted in 1452. He married Anne Devereux, daughter of Sir Walter Devereux, in 1449, and they had issue. The modern Herbert family that holds the earldoms of Pembroke, Montgomery, and Carnarvon, are descended from an illegitimate son of this William Herbert.
- Sir Richard Herbert of Coldbrook, near Abergavenny; died on the battlefield of Danesmoor in 1469.
- Elizabeth married Sir Henry Stradling, son of Sir Edward Stradling and Gwenllian Berkerolles, sister and co-heir of his neighbour, Sir Lawrence Berkerolles. Reversing alliances from the previous generation, Henry and his brothers-in-law were hostile to the Henry VI reign. Henry went on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land in 1476. Henry died on 31 August 1476 on his journey back to England and was buried at Famagusta, Cyprus. Thomas, Elizabeth and Henry's young son, died on 8 September 1480.
- Margaret married Sir Henry Wogan, steward and treasurer of the Earldom of Pembroke, tasked with securing war material for the defence of Pembroke Castle. Henry and his father, John Wogan of Picton, witnessed an act of Bishop Benedict in 1418. Their son, Sir John Wogan, was killed at the battle of Banbury in 1465, fighting by the side of his uncle, William Herbert, Earl of Pembroke.
The Cornish family of Thomas, all patrilineally descended from "Richard Thomas gent. of Wales" are acknowledged as legitimate agnatic descendants of William ap Thomas in the 1620 Visitation of Cornwall.
The Visitation records state "This coate of Pr pale nebule Ar. B. was ye coate armor of Sr Willm ap Thomas, from whom this familye chalengeth to be descended."
Descendants of this family include Members of Parliament, such as John Thomas who sat in the 1555 Parliament for the Cornish borough of Mitchell, members of the clergy such as Methodist minister the Reverend William Courtenay Thomas and his descendants, and related pioneering families in Australia.
Raglan Castle
When Sir John Bloet died, Raglan manor passed to Elizabeth Bloet and her husband James Berkeley. When William's wife Elizabeth died in 1420, Elizabeth's son Lord James Berkeley inherited Raglan Manor. William resided at Raglan manor as a tenant of his stepson until 1432 when he purchased the manor from Lord Berkeley.Grandiose expansion for defence and comfort occurred between 1432 when William ap Thomas bought the manor and 1469 when his son, Sir William Herbert, was executed. Improvements by father and son included the twin-towered gatehouse, five storied Great Tower encircled by a moat, a self-contained fortress in its own right, South Gate, Pitched Stone Court, drawbridge and portcullis.
Thomas Churchyard praised Raglan Castle in his 16th century poem, The Worthiness of Wales:
Dafydd Llwyd proclaimed Raglan the castle with its "hundred rooms filled with festive fare, its hundred towers, parlours and doors, its hundred heaped-up fires of long-dried fuel, its hundred chimneys for men of high degree."