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,
Mary Seymour, Duchess of Somerset Mary Seymour, Duchess of Somerset Mary Seymour, Duchess of Somerset (22 October 1697 – 1 February 1768), formerly Mary Webb, was the wife of Edward Seymour, 8th Duke of Somerset, and the mother of both the 9th and 10th dukes. Mary Webb was born at Seend, Wiltshire, the only child of Daniel Webb, of Monkton Farleigh, and his wife Elizabeth Somner, who was the daughter of John Somner of Seend. She married the duke, then Sir Edward Seymour (6th Baronet Seymour), on 8 March 1716 or 5 March 1717, at Monkton Farleigh. In December 1740, Seymour inherited his father's estates