Edward Seymour, 1st Duke of Somerset appeared to back the common people against a rapacious landowning class. In the early 20th century this line was taken by the influential A. F. Pollard, to be echoed by Edward VI's 1960s biographer W. K. Jordan. A more critical approach was initiated by M. L. Bush and Dale Hoak in the mid-1970s. Since then, Somerset has often been portrayed as an arrogant ruler, devoid of the political and administrative skills necessary for governing the Tudor state. Edward Seymour married twice: The male line of Edward Seymour and Anne Stanhope died out with the seventh Duke of Somerset in 1750,
John Seymour, 4th Duke of Somerset by his cousin, Francis Seymour. John Seymour, 4th Duke of Somerset John Seymour, 4th Duke of Somerset (before 1646 – 29 April 1675) was an English peer and MP. He was the only surviving son of William Seymour, 2nd Duke of Somerset and Lady Frances Devereux and entered Grays Inn in 1666. He succeeded his nephew as the 4th Duke of Somerset in 1671. In 1656 he married Sarah, daughter and co-heiress of Sir Edward Alston and widow of George Grimston. He was elected Member of Parliament for Marlborough in 1661. He died in 1675, childless, and was buried in