Edward Seymour, 1st Duke of Somerset (c. 1506 – 22 January 1552) was Lord Protector of England in the period between the death of Henry VIII in 1547 and his own indictment in 1549.
Seymour was born in about 1506, to Sir John Seymour and Margery Wentworth, a celebrated beauty, immortalised in the works of John Skelton. Edward's first marriage, to Catherine Fillol, was annulled when it was discovered she was having an affair with his father. His se...
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Edward Seymour, 1st Duke of Somerset (c. 1506 – 22 January 1552) was Lord Protector of England in the period between the death of Henry VIII in 1547 and his own indictment in 1549.
Seymour was born in about 1506, to Sir John Seymour and Margery Wentworth, a celebrated beauty, immortalised in the works of John Skelton. Edward's first marriage, to Catherine Fillol, was annulled when it was discovered she was having an affair with his father. His second marriage was to Anne Stanhope.
Edward was the eldest brother of Jane Seymour, who would become Henry VIII's third queen consort. When Jane married the King in 1536, Seymour was created Viscount Beauchamp on 5 June, and on 15 October 1537 Earl of Hertford. He became Warden of the Scottish Marches and continued in favour after his sister's death in 1537. Their brother, Thomas, also gained power through their sister's advancement and married Henry VIII's sixth wife, Dowager Queen Catherine Parr, shortly after the death of the King. Seymour's...
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