Edward Seymour , 1st Duke of Somerset Edward Seymour , 1st Duke of Somerset , KG , ( c . 1500 – 22 January 1552 ) was Lord Protector of England during the minority of his nephew King Edward VI ( 1547 – 1553 ) , in the period between the death of King Henry VIII in 1547 and his own indictment in 1549 . Origins and early career . Edward Seymour was born " circa " 1500 , the son of Sir John Seymour ( 1474 - 1536 ) by his wife Margery Wentworth . In 1514 aged about 14 he received an appointment in the household of Mary Tudor . When Edward ' s sister Jane Seymour married King Henry VIII in 1536 , he was created Viscount Beauchamp on 5 June 1536 , and Earl of Hertford on 15 October 1537 . He became Warden of the Scottish Marches and continued in royal favour after his sister ' s death on 24 October 1537 . Somerset ' s Protectorate . Council of Regency . Upon the death of Henry VIII ( 28 January 1547 ) , Seymour ' s nephew became king as Edward VI . Henry VIII ' s will named sixteen executor s , who were to act as Edward ' s Council until he reached the age of 18 . These executors were supplemented by twelve men " of counsail " who would assist the executors when called on . The final state of Henry VIII ' s will has occasioned controversy . Some historians suggest that those close to the king manipulated either him or the will itself to ensure a shareout of power to their benefit , both material and religious . In this reading , the composition of the Privy Chamber shifted towards the end of 1546 in favour of the Protestant faction . In addition , two leading conservative Privy Councillors were removed from the centre of power . Stephen Gardiner was refused access to Henry during his last months . Thomas Howard , 3rd Duke of Norfolk , found himself accused of treason ; the day before the king ' s death his vast estates were seized , making them available for redistribution , and he spent the whole of Edward ' s reign in the Tower of London . Other historians have argued that Gardiner ' s exclusion had non - religious causes , that Norfolk was not noticeably conservative in religion , that conservatives remained on the Council , and that the radicalism of men such as Sir Anthony Denny , who controlled the dry stamp that replicated the king ' s signature , is debatable . Whatever the case , Henry ' s death was followed by a lavish hand - out of lands and honours to the new power group . The will contained an " unfulfilled gifts " clause , added at the last minute , which allowed Henry ' s executors to freely distribute lands and honours to themselves and the court , particularly to Seymour , who became the Lord Protector of the Realm and Governor of the King ' s Person , and who created himself Duke of Somerset . Henry VIII ' s will did not provide for the appointment of a Protector . It entrusted the government of the realm during his son ' s minority to a Regency Council that would rule collectively , by majority decision , with " like and equal charge " . Nevertheless , a few days after Henry ' s death , on 4 February , the executors chose to invest almost regal power in the earl of Hertford . Thirteen out of the sixteen ( the others being absent ) agreed to his appointment as Protector , which they justified as their joint decision " by virtue of the authority " of Henry ' s will . Seymour may have done a deal with some of the executors , who almost all received hand - outs . He is known to have done so with William Paget , private secretary to Henry VIII , and to have secured the support of Sir Anthony Browne of the Privy Chamber . Hertford ' s appointment was in keeping with historical precedent , and his eligibility for the role was reinforced by his military successes in Scotland and France . In March 1547 , he secured letters patent from King Edward granting him the almost monarchical right to appoint members to the Privy Council himself and to consult them only when he wished . In the words of historian G . R . Elton , " from that moment his autocratic system was complete " . He proceeded to rule largely by proclamation , calling on the Privy Council to do little more than rubber - stamp his decisions . Somerset ' s takeover of power was smooth and efficient . The imperial ambassador , Francis Van der Delft , reported that he " governs everything absolutely " , with Paget operating as his secretary , though he predicted trouble from John Dudley , Viscount Lisle , who had recently been raised to Earl of Warwick in the share - out of honours . In fact , in the early weeks of his Protectorate , Somerset met opposition only from the Chancellor , Thomas Wriothesley , whom the Earldom of Southampton had evidently failed to buy off , and from his own brother . Wriothesley , a religious conservative , objected to Somerset ’ s assumption of monarchical power over the Council . He then found himself abruptly dismissed from the chancellorship on charges of selling off some of his offices to delegates . Thomas Seymour . Somerset faced less manageable opposition from his younger brother Thomas , who has been described as a " worm in the bud " . As King Edward ' s uncle , Thomas Seymour demanded the governorship of the king ’ s person and a greater share of power . Somerset tried to buy his brother off with a barony , an appointment to the Lord Admiralship , and a seat on the Privy Council — but Thomas was bent on scheming for power . He began smuggling pocket money to King Edward , telling him that Somerset held the purse strings too tight , making him a " beggarly king " . He also urged him to throw off the Protector within two years and " bear rule as other kings do " ; but Edward , schooled to defer to the Council , failed to co - operate . In April 1547 , using Edward ’ s support to circumvent Somerset ’ s opposition , Thomas Seymour secretly married Henry VIII ' s widow Catherine Parr , whose Protestant household included the 11 - year - old Lady Jane Grey and the 13 - year - old Princess Elizabeth . In summer 1548 , a pregnant Catherine Parr discovered Thomas Seymour embracing Princess Elizabeth . As a result , Elizabeth was removed from Catherine Parr ' s household and transferred to Sir Anthony Denny ' s . That September , Catherine Parr died in childbirth , and Thomas Seymour promptly resumed his attentions to Elizabeth by letter , planning to marry her . Elizabeth was receptive , but , like Edward , unready to agree to anything unless permitted by the Council . In January 1549 , the Council had Thomas Seymour arrested on various charges , including embezzlement at the Bristol mint . King Edward himself testified about the pocket money . Most importantly , Thomas Seymour had sought to officially receive the governorship of King Edward , as no earlier Lord Protectors , unlike Somerset , had ever held both functions . Lack of clear evidence for treason ruled out a trial , so Seymour was condemned instead by an Act of Attainder and beheaded on 20 March 1549 . War . Somerset ’ s only undoubted skill was as a soldier , which he had proved on expeditions to Scotland , burning Edinburgh in May 1544 , and in the defence of Boulogne - sur - Mer in 1546 . From the first , his main interest as Protector was the war against Scotland . After a crushing victory at the Battle of Pinkie Cleugh in September 1547 , he set up a network of garrisons in Scotland , stretching as far north as Dundee . His initial successes , however , were followed by a loss of direction , as his aim of uniting the realms through conquest became increasingly unrealistic . The Scots allied with France , who sent reinforcements for the defence of Edinburgh in 1548 , while Mary , Queen of Scots was removed to France , where she was betrothed to the dauphin . The cost of maintaining the Protector ' s massive armies and his permanent garrisons in Scotland also placed an unsustainable burden on the royal finances . A French attack on Boulogne in August 1549 at last forced Somerset to begin a withdrawal from Scotland . Rebellion . During 1548 , England was subject to social unrest . After April 1549 , a series of armed revolts broke out , fuelled by various religious and agrarian grievances . The two most serious rebellions , which required major military intervention to put down , were in Devon and Cornwall and in Norfolk . The first , sometimes called the Prayer Book Rebellion , arose mainly from the imposition of church services in English , and the second , led by a tradesman called Robert Kett , mainly from the encroachment of landlords on common grazing ground . A complex aspect of the social unrest was that the protestors believed they were acting legitimately against enclosing landlords with the Protector ' s support , convinced that the landlords were the lawbreakers . The same justification for outbreaks of unrest was voiced throughout the country , not only in Norfolk and the west . The origin of the popular view of Somerset as sympathetic to the rebel cause lies partly in his series of sometimes liberal , often contradictory , proclamations , and partly in the uncoordinated activities of the commissions he sent out in 1548 and 1549 to investigate grievances about loss of tillage , encroachment of large sheep flocks on common land , and similar issues . Somerset ' s commissions were led by the evangelical M . P . John Hales , whose socially liberal rhetoric linked the issue of enclosure with Reformation theology and the notion of a godly commonwealth . Local groups often assumed that the findings of these commissions entitled them to act against offending landlords themselves . King Edward wrote in his " Chronicle " that the 1549 risings began " because certain commissions were sent down to pluck down enclosures " . Whatever the popular view of Somerset , the disastrous events of 1549 were taken as evidence of a colossal failure of government , and the Council laid the responsibility at the Protector ' s door . In July 1549 , Paget wrote to Somerset : " Every man of the council have misliked your proceedings . . . would to God , that , at the first stir you had followed the matter hotly , and caused justice to be ministered in solemn fashion to the terror of others . . . " . Fall of Somerset . The sequence of events that led to Somerset ' s removal from power has often been called a " coup d ' état " . By 1 October , Somerset had been alerted that his rule faced a serious threat . He issued a proclamation calling for assistance , took possession of the king ' s person , and withdrew for safety to the fortified Windsor Castle , where Edward wrote , " Me thinks I am in prison " . Meanwhile , a united Council published details of Somerset ' s government mismanagement . They made clear that the Protector ' s power came from them , not from Henry VIII ' s will . On 11 October , the Council had Somerset arrested and brought the king to Richmond . Edward summarised the charges against Somerset in his " Chronicle " : " ambition , vainglory , entering into rash wars in mine youth , negligent looking on Newhaven , enriching himself of my treasure , following his own opinion , and doing all by his own authority , etc . " In February 1550 , John Dudley , Earl of Warwick , emerged as the leader of the Council and , in effect , as Somerset ' s successor . Although Somerset was released from the Tower and restored to the Council , he was executed for felony in January 1552 after scheming to overthrow Dudley ' s regime . Edward noted his uncle ' s death in his " Chronicle " : " the duke of Somerset had his head cut off upon Tower Hill between eight and nine o ' clock in the morning " . Edward Seymour , Duke of Somerset was interred at St . Peter ad Vincula , Tower of London . Historiography . Historians have contrasted the efficiency of Somerset ' s takeover of power in 1547 with the subsequent ineptitude of his rule . By autumn 1549 , his costly wars had lost momentum , the crown faced financial ruin , and riots and rebellions had broken out around the country . Until recent decades , Somerset ' s reputation with historians was high , in view of his many proclamations that 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 . Marriages and progeny . Edward Seymour married twice : The line of Edward Seymour and Anne Stanhope died out with the seventh Duke of Somerset in 1750 , when the descendants of Edward Seymour by his first wife , Catherine Fillol , inherited the Somerset dukedom in accordance with the Private Act of 1541 .