Duke of Somerset VIII's third wife Jane Seymour. Henry had him created Viscount Beauchamp of Hache in 1536 and Earl of Hertford in 1537. He became Lord Protector of England at the start of the Minority of his nephew, Edward VI between 1547 and 1549. Edward married twice; he divorced his first wife Catherine Fillol (disowning her and her children) around 1535 and married Anne Stanhope who bore him nine children. In 1547 with Privy Counsel acquiescence he made himself Duke of Somerset. He bought Berry Pomeroy Castle from Sir Thomas Pomeroy, in 1547, although he probably never visited it. Less than two
Edward Seymour, 1st Duke of Somerset had Somerset arrested and brought the king to Richmond. Edward summarised the charges against Somerset in his "Chronicle": "ambition, vainglory, entering into rash wars in mine youth, negligent looking on Newhaven, enriching himself of my treasure, following his own opinion, and doing all by his own authority, etc." In February 1550, John Dudley, Earl of Warwick, emerged as the leader of the Council and, in effect, as Somerset's successor. Although Somerset was released from the Tower and restored to the Council in early 1550, he was executed for felony in January 1552 after scheming to overthrow Dudley's regime. Edward noted