"A History of Wales", John Davies, The Penguin Press, First Edition 1993 pg. 264 The richest of the squires - the Bulkeleys of Beaumaris, for example, or the Wynns of Gwydir or the Perrots of Pembrokeshire - were almost equal in their economic circumstances to some of the aristocratic families. But in a society which placed such emphasis on degree and honour, a particular distinction belonged to those men [about fifty throughout the kingdom under Elizabeth, twice that number under her successor] who had a title and a seat in the House of Lords. Four aristocratic families had interests in Wales during the reign of Elizabeth: Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, who was granted the lordship of Denbigh in 1563; the Devereux family, earls of Essex, who had extensive interests in the south-west; the Somerset family, earls of Worcester, the owners of most of the manors of Monmouthshire and Gower; and the Herbert family, earls of Pembroke, the chief landowners in Glamorgan. Leicester and Essex were luminaries of Elizabeth's court, where Worcester and Pembroke were also influential. There was a wide gulf between Henry Herbert, the second earl of Pembroke [of the Tudor creation], with his receipts of ?5,000 a year, and men such as the squire of Clenennau whose income was less than a tithe of that of the earl. Yet, compared with the members of the social groups beneath them, they belonged essentially to the same class. As receivers of rents, they seized much of the economic surplus, and as members of the one or the other of the House of Parliament, and as state and county officials, they had an assured role in the system of government. Cuz B ttg-inc@comcast.net http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~ttg13/