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,
Lord Edward Seymour (died 1593) Lord Edward Seymour (died 1593) Lord Edward Seymour (c. 1528 - 2 May 1593), knight, of Berry Pomeroy, Devon, was Sheriff of Devon in 1583 and was knighted by his father the Duke of Somerset on the battlefield of Pinkie Cleugh on 10 September 1547. He was the eldest son (but not the main heir) of Edward Seymour, 1st Duke of Somerset (c.1500-1552) by his first wife Catherine Fillol (or Filliol) (c.1507-1535) a daughter and co-heiress of Sir William Fillol (1453-1527), of Fillol's Hall, Essex and Woodlands, Horton, Dorset. The children from this first marriage ranked below those from the