Herbert (of Cherbury), Edward Herbert, 1st Baron 1583-1648
English soldier, politician and philosopher

Born in Eyton-on-Severn, Shropshire, he was made a Knight of the Bath (1603) and as a member of the Privy Council was sent as ambassador to France in 1619, to negotiate between Louis XIII and his Protestant subjects. In 1624 he was made a peer of Ireland, and in 1629 of England. When the English Civil War broke out he at first sided half-heartedly with the Royalists, but in 1644 surrendered to the Parliamentarians. Considered one of the finest deistical writers, his works include De Veritate (1624, 'On Truth'), and De Religione Gentilium (published posthumously in 1663, 'On the Religion of the Gentiles', Eng trans, 1709), which states that all religions recognize five main articles, from the acknowledgement of a supreme God to the concept that there are rewards and punishments in a future state. He also wrote poetry, contemporary histories and an autobiography. He was the brother of the poet George Herbert.