Oxford Inscriptions: Bodleian Library

This bronze statue of William Herbert,

3rd Earl of Pembroke (1580–1630)
stands in front of the main entrance to
the Old Bodleian Library, looking east
across the Schools Quadrangle. Until
1723 it stood in the Earl's family seat of
Wilton House in Wiltshire.

It is Grade II listed, weighs about

1600 lb, and was sculpted by
Hubert Le Sueur (d.1658), who also
sculpted the equestrian statue of
Charles I at Charing Cross.

The 3rd Earl of Pembroke was

Chancellor of the University of Oxford
from 1617 until his death at the age of 50
on 10 April 1630. As well as promoting in
1624 the foundation of Pembroke
College, he donated many manuscripts
to the Bodleian Library in 1629.

In 1723 Thomas Herbert, the 8th Earl of

Pembroke, transferred this statue to the Bodleian Library. Originally it was placed indoors on the
third floor of the Bodleian Picture Gallery: this photograph shows it there in the 1890s, and
this one in 1929.

According to a talk given on 21 February 1874 by Bodley’s Librarian, the Revd H. O. Coxe, the
statue of the Earl originally wore spurs, but these were broken off many years earlier by an
undergraduate of Christ Church who had had his own spurs taken away from him when he entered
the Bodleian.

The statue was moved to its present position outdoors in 1950.

The four sides of the plinth have two inscriptions and two crests.

The inscription starts on the back and reads:

GULIELMUS PEMBROCHIAE
COMES
REGNANTIBUS JACOBO ET CAROLO PRIMIS
HOSPITII REGII
CAMERARIUS ET SENESCALLUS
ACADEMIAE OXONIENSIS
CANCELLARIUS MUNIFICENTISSIMUS
William, [3rd] Earl of Pembroke, Chamberlain and
Steward of the Royal Household in the reign of
James I and Charles I, and most munificent Chancellor
of the University

The inscription continues on the front of the plinth, thereby giving more prominence to the donor
(the 8th Earl) than the honorand (the 3rd Earl).:

HANC
PATRUI SUI MAGNI EFFIGIEM
AD FORMAM QUAM TINXIT
PETRUS PAULUS RUBENS
AERE FUSO EXPRESSAM
ACADEMIAE OXONIENSI
D.D. [= dedit et dedicavit]
THOMAS PEMBROCHIAE ET MONTGOM.
COMES
HONORUM ET VIRTUTUM
HAERES
A.D. MDCCXXIII

Thomas, [8th] Earl of Pembroke and Montgomery, inheritor of his [the 3rd Earl's] titles and
qualities, gave and dedicated to the University of Oxford this statue of his great-uncle cast in
bronze in the form that Peter Paul Rubens had painted. A.D. 1723

On the left-hand side of the plinth is this crest of the University, with the motto DOMINUS
ILLUMINATIO MEA.

The open book on the crest is a curiosity, as the top-right corner is turned down.
 On the right-hand side of the plinth is this escutcheon of the
Earl of Pembroke, with sixteen quarterings, ensigned with an
Earl's Coronet, and encircled with the Garter bearing the
motto “HONI SOIT QUI MAL Y PENSE” (“Evil to him who evil
thinks”)

An unrelated plaque above the doorway just behind the statue reads:

QUOD FELICITER VORTAT

ACADEMICI OXONIENS[ES]
BIBLIOTHECAM HANC
VOBIS REIPUBLICAEQUE
LITERATORUM
T.B.P. [=Thomas Bodley posuit]

"Thomas Bodley placed this library here for you, Oxford academics, and for the commonwealth of
educated men: may it turn out happily"
© Stephanie Jenkins