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,
Duke of Somerset from England and his estates were seized. At the Restoration his estates were restored, and he claimed the dukedom of Somerset as promised to him by Charles I. However this claim was rejected by the House of Lords and so was the title of Earl of Glamorgan. This enabled King Charles II to grant the Ducal title to the fourth creation family, the Seymours, who descend from the country's effective Regent, the Lord Protector in 1547. Edward Seymour (1538–1621) was son and heir of Edward Seymour, 1st Duke of Somerset, from his second marriage. He was created the Earl of