The Duke of Somerset | |
|---|---|
 Portrait of Edward Seymour as 1stEarl of Hertford (cr 1537) | |
| Lord High Treasurer | |
| In office 10 February 1547 – 10 October 1549 | |
| Monarch | Edward VI |
| Preceded by | Thomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk |
| Succeeded by | William Paulet, 1st Marquess of Winchester |
| Lord Protector of the Realm | |
| In office 4 February 1547 – 11 October 1549 | |
| Monarch | Edward VI |
| Lord Great Chamberlain | |
| In office c.1543–c.1549 | |
| Monarchs | Henry VIII Edward VI |
| Preceded by | Robert Radcliffe, 1st Earl of Sussex |
| Succeeded by | John Dudley, 1st Earl of Warwick |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 1500 |
| Died | 22 January 1552(1552-01-22) (aged 51–52) Tower Hill, London |
| Cause of death | Decapitation |
| Resting place | Chapel Royal of St. Peter ad Vincula, Tower of London, London, United Kingdom 51°30′31″N0°04′37″W / 51.508611°N 0.076944°W /51.508611; -0.076944 |
| Spouses | |
| Children | with Catherine:
|
| Parents | |
| Residences |
|
| Signature |  |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance | Kingdom of England |
| Battles/wars |
|
Edward Seymour, 1st Duke of Somerset, 1st Earl of Hertford, 1st Viscount BeauchampKG, PC (1500[1] – 22 January 1552) was an English nobleman and politician who served asLord Protector of England from 1547 to 1549 during theminority of his nephew KingEdward VI. He was the eldest surviving brother of QueenJane Seymour, thethird wife of KingHenry VIII and mother of King Edward VI.
Seymour grew rapidly in favour with Henry VIII following Jane's marriage to the king in 1536, and was subsequently madeEarl of Hertford. On Henry's death in 1547, he was appointed protector by theRegency Council on the accession of the nine-year-old Edward VI. Rewarded with the titleDuke of Somerset, Seymour became the effective ruler of England. Somerset continued Henry's military campaign against the Scots and achieved a sound victory at theBattle of Pinkie, but ultimately he was unable to maintain his position in Scotland. Domestically, Somerset pursued further reforms as an extension of theEnglish Reformation, and in 1549 imposed the firstBook of Common Prayer through theAct of Uniformity, offering a compromise betweenProtestant andRoman Catholic teachings. The unpopularity of Somerset's religious measures, along with agrarian grievances, resulted in unrest in England and provoked a series of uprisings (including thePrayer Book Rebellion andKett's Rebellion). Costly wars and economic mismanagement brought the Crown to financial ruin, further undermining his government.
In October 1549, Somerset was forced out of power and imprisoned in theTower of London byJohn Dudley, Earl of Warwick, and a group of privy councillors. He was later released and reconciled with Warwick (now Duke of Northumberland), but in 1551 Northumberland accused him of treason, and he was executed in January 1552. Until the 1970s historians had a highly positive view of Somerset, seeing him as a champion of political liberty and the common people, but since then he has also often been portrayed as an arrogant and inept ruler of theTudor state.
Edward Seymour was born c. 1500, the son ofSir John Seymour,feudal baron of Hatch Beauchamp in Somerset, with his wifeMargery Wentworth, eldest daughter of Sir Henry Wentworth ofNettlestead, Suffolk, and descended fromEdward III.[2] In 1514, aged about 14, he received an appointment in the household ofMary Tudor, Queen of France, and wasenfant d'honneur at her marriage withLouis XII.[3]
Seymour served in theDuke of Suffolk's campaign in France in 1523, being knighted by the duke on 1 November, and accompaniedCardinal Wolsey on his embassy to France in 1527. AppointedEsquire of the Body to Henry VIII in 1529, he grew in favour with the king, who visited his manor atElvetham inHampshire in October 1535.[3] Through his marriage toCatherine Fillol he became the owner ofWoodmancote Place, Sussex.[4]
When Seymour's sister,Jane, married KingHenry VIII in 1536, Edward was createdViscount Beauchamp on 5 June 1536, andEarl of Hertford on 15 October 1537. He became Warden of theScottish Marches and continued in royal favour after his sister's death on 24 October 1537.
In 1541, during Henry's absence in the north, Hertford,Thomas Cranmer andThomas Audley had the chief management of affairs in London. In September 1542 he was appointedWarden of the Scottish Marches, and a few months laterLord High Admiral, a post which he almost immediately relinquished in favour ofJohn Dudley, the future duke of Northumberland. In March 1544 he was made lieutenant-general of the north and instructed to punish theScots for their repudiation of thetreaty of marriage between Prince Edward and the infantMary, Queen of Scots. He landed atLeith on 3 May 1544,captured and pillaged Edinburgh, and returned by land burning villages and castles along the way.[3]
In July 1544 he was appointed lieutenant of the realm underCatherine Parr, Henry's sixth wife andregent, during Henry's absence atBoulogne, but in August he joined the king and was present at the surrender of the town. In the autumn he was one of the commissioners sent toFlanders to keepEmperor Charles V to the terms of his treaty with England, and in January 1545 he was placed in command at Boulogne, where on the 26th he repelled an attempt ofMarshal de Biez to recapture the town. In May he was once more appointed lieutenant-general in the north to avenge the Scottish victory at theBattle of Ancrum Moor; this he did by a savage foray into Scotland in September. He reported that on 16 September 1545 he had "sent forth a good band to the number of 1500 light horsemen in the leading of me [and]Sir Robert Bowes, which from 5 a.m. till 3 p.m., forayed along the waters ofTyvyote andRowle, 6 or 7 miles beyond Jedburgh, and burnt 14 or 15 towns and a great quantity of all kinds of corn".[7]
In March 1546 he was sent back to Boulogne to supersede theEarl of Surrey, whose command had not been a success; and in June he was engaged in negotiations for peace with France and for the delimitation of the English conquests.[3]
From October to the end of Henry's reign he was in attendance on the king, engaged in the struggle for predominance which was to determine the complexion of the government during the coming minority. Personal, political and religious rivalry separated him andBaron Lisle from theHowards, and Surrey's hasty temper precipitated his own ruin and that of his father, theduke of Norfolk. They could not acquiesce in the Imperial ambassador's verdict that Hertford and Lisle were the only noblemen of fit age and capacity to carry on the government; and Surrey's attempt to secure the predominance of his family led to his own execution and to his father's imprisonment in theTower of London.[3]
Upon the death of Henry VIII (28 January 1547), Seymour's nephew became king asEdward VI.Henry VIII's will named sixteenexecutors, 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.[9] 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 thePrivy Chamber shifted towards the end of 1546 in favour of theProtestantfaction.[10] 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 oftreason; on 24–25 December, he offered his vast estates to the Crown making them available for redistribution, and he spent the whole of Edward's reign in theTower of London.[11]
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 SirAnthony Denny, who controlled the dry stamp that replicated the king's signature, is debatable.[12] Whatever the case, Henry's death was followed by a lavish hand-out of lands and honours to the new power group.[13] 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,[14] particularly to Seymour (then known as Earl of Hertford), who became theLord Protector of the Realm and Governor of the King's Person, and who created himselfDuke of Somerset.[13]
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 aRegency Council that would rule collectively, by majority decision, with "like and equal charge".[15] Nevertheless, a few days after Henry's death, on 4 February, the executors chose to invest almost regal power in Edward Seymour.[16] 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.[17] Seymour may have done a deal with some of the executors, who almost all received hand-outs;[18] he is known to have done so withWilliam Paget, private secretary to Henry VIII,[19] and to have secured the support ofSir Anthony Browne of the Privy Chamber.[20]
Seymour's appointment was in keeping with historical precedent,[21] and his eligibility for the role was reinforced by his military successes in Scotland and France. He was senior to his ally Lisle in the peerage, and was the new king's closest relative.[3]
In March 1547, he securedletters patent from King Edward granting him the almost monarchical right to appoint members to thePrivy Council himself and to consult them only when he wished.[22] In the words of historianG. R. Elton, "from that moment his autocratic system was complete".[23] He proceeded to rule largely byproclamation, calling on the Privy Council to do little more than rubber-stamp his decisions.[24]
Seymour's takeover of power was smooth and efficient. Theimperial ambassadorFrancis van der Delft reported that he "governs everything absolutely", with Paget operating as his secretary, although he predicted trouble fromJohn Dudley, Viscount Lisle, who had recently been raised toEarl of Warwick in the share-out of honours.[25] In fact, in the early weeks of his Protectorate, Seymour met opposition only from theLord Chancellor,Thomas Wriothesley, whom theEarldom of Southampton had evidently failed to buy off, and from his own brother.[26] Wriothesley, a religious conservative, objected to Seymour'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.[27]
In his first parliament, which met in November 1547, Seymour procured the repeal of all theheresy laws and nearly all thetreason laws passed sinceEdward III. He sought to win over the Scots by those promises of autonomy, free trade, and equal privileges with England. But the Scots were not to be won over yet, and would not be persuaded; the protector led another army into Scotland in September 1547, and won theBattle of Pinkie Cleugh on 10 September. He trusted the garrisons he established throughout the Lowlands to wear down Scottish opposition, but their pressure was soon weakened by troubles in England and abroad; andMary, Queen of Scots, having been betrothed toFrancis, heir to the French throne, was transported to France in 1548, where the two married ten years later.[3]
To deal with the widespread social problems in England, Seymour introduced theVagabonds Act 1547, which dictated that able-bodied men who were unemployed for three days or more should be sold into slavery for two years. This law was deeply unpopular and turned many people against him, particularly local officials who were blamed for enforcing the Act.[28]
Seymour also attempted to bring uniformity to forms of worship, and in 1549 the firstAct of Uniformity introduced aBook of Common Prayer that attempted to compromise between different teachings; it was replaced by a more severe form in 1552, after his fall.[2] Prior to and during the Protectorate, the Book of Common Prayer was a central element of the emerging Protestant literature.[29]
Edward Seymour faced less manageable opposition from his younger brotherThomas, who has been described as a "worm in the bud".[30] As King Edward's uncle, Thomas Seymour demanded the governorship of the king's person and a greater share of power.[31] Seymour tried to buy his brother off with abarony, an appointment to theLord 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 the Duke of Somerset held the purse strings too tight, making him a "beggarly king".[32] 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.[33]
In April 1547, using King Edward's support to circumvent his brother's opposition, Thomas Seymour secretly married Henry VIII's widowCatherine Parr, whose Protestant household included the 11-year-oldLady Jane Grey and the 13-year-oldPrincess Elizabeth.[34]
In summer 1548, a pregnant Catherine Parr discovered Thomas Seymour embracing Princess Elizabeth.[35] As a result, Elizabeth was removed from Catherine Parr's household and transferred to that of Sir Anthony Denny. In 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.[36] In January 1549, the council had Thomas Seymour arrested on various charges, includingembezzlement at the Bristolmint. King Edward himself testified about the pocket money.[37] Most importantly, Thomas Seymour had sought to officially receive the governorship of King Edward, for no earlier Lord Protectors, unlike Edward Seymour, had ever held both functions. Lack of clear evidence for treason ruled out a trial, so Thomas was condemned instead by anAct of Attainder and beheaded on 20 March 1549.[38]
Edward Seymour's only undoubted skill was as a soldier, which he had proved on his expeditions to Scotland and in the defence of Boulogne in 1546. From the first, his main interest as Protector was the war against Scotland.[39] After a crushing victory at theBattle of Pinkie in September 1547, he set up a network of garrisons in Scotland, stretching as far north asDundee.[40] His initial successes, however, were followed by a loss of direction. 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,[41] whileMary, Queen of Scots, was removed to France, where she was betrothed to thedauphin.[42] The cost of maintaining the Protector's massive armies and his permanent garrisons in Scotland also placed an unsustainable burden on the royal finances.[43] A French attack on Boulogne in August 1549 at last forced Seymour to begin a withdrawal from Scotland.[44]
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 required major military intervention to put down: one was inDevon andCornwall, the other inNorfolk. The first, called thePrayer Book Rebellion (and also known as the Western rebellion), arose mainly from the imposition of church services in English; the second, led by a tradesman calledRobert Kett, mainly from the encroachment of landlords on common grazing ground.[45] A complex aspect of the social unrest was that the protestors believed they were acting legitimately againstenclosing landlords with the Protector's support, convinced that the landlords were the lawbreakers.[46]
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 Edward Seymour as sympathetic to the rebel cause lies partly in his series of sometimes liberal, often contradictory, proclamations,[47] 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 oncommon land, and similar issues.[48] Seymour's commissions were led by the evangelical M.P.John Hales, whose socially liberal rhetoric linked the issue of enclosure withReformation theology and the notion of a godlycommonwealth.[49] Local groups often assumed that the findings of these commissions entitled them to act against offending landlords themselves.[50] King Edward wrote in hisChronicle that the 1549 risings began "because certain commissions were sent down to pluck down enclosures".[51]
Whatever the popular view of the Duke 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.[52] In July 1549, Paget wrote to Seymour: "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 ...".[53]
The sequence of events that led to Seymour's removal from power has often been called acoup d'état.[52] By 1 October 1549, Seymour 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 fortifiedWindsor Castle, where Edward said, "Methinks I am in prison".[54]
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By 7 October he was writing desperately toSir Rowland Hill,Lord Mayor of London, and a fellow member of the Privy Council requesting 1000 troops to defend him and the King. By this point a meeting had already been had between Hill and London representatives withJohn Dudley, then Earl of Warwick atEly Palace.[55] That meeting moved decisively against Somerset.
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Meanwhile, a united Council published details of Seymour's mismanagement of government. They made clear that the Protector's power came from them, not from Henry VIII's will. On 11 October, the council had Seymour arrested and brought the king toRichmond.[52] Edward summarised the charges against Somerset in hisChronicle: "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."[56]
In February 1550,John Dudley, Earl of Warwick, emerged as the leader of the Council and, in effect, as Seymour's successor. Although Seymour was released from the Tower and restored to the council in early 1550, in October 1551 he was sent to the Tower on an exaggerated charge of treason.[3] Instead, he was executed forfelony (that of seeking a change of government) on 22 January 1552 after scheming to overthrow Dudley's regime.[3][57] Edward noted his uncle's death in hisChronicle: "the duke of Somerset had his head cut off upon Tower Hill between eight and nine o'clock in the morning".[58] Edward Seymour, Duke of Somerset was interred atSt. Peter ad Vincula,Tower of London.
Historians have contrasted the efficiency of Edward Seymour's takeover of power in 1547 with the subsequent ineptitude of his rule.[59] 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, Seymour's reputation with historians was high, in view of his many proclamations that appeared to back the common people against a rapacious landowning class.[60] In the early 20th century this line was taken by the influentialA. F. Pollard, and was echoed by Edward VI's 1960s biographerW. K. Jordan. A more critical approach was initiated by M. L. Bush and Dale Hoak in the mid-1970s. Since that time the first Duke of Somerset has often been portrayed as an arrogant ruler, devoid of the political and administrative skills necessary for governing the Tudor state.[61][62]
Edward Seymour married twice:
The male line of Edward Seymour and Anne Stanhope died out with theseventh 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[which?] of 1540.[70] However, the female line continued, and Queen Elizabeth II was descended from Somerset through his grandchild by Catherine Grey.
One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Pollard, Albert Frederick (1911). "Somerset, Edward Seymour, Duke of". InChisholm, Hugh (ed.).Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 25 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 386–387.
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Lord High Admiral 1542–1543 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Lord High Treasurer 1547–1549 | Succeeded by |
| Earl Marshal 1547–1549 | Succeeded by | |
| Vacant Title last held by The Duke of Gloucester | Lord Protector of the Realm 1547–1549 | Vacant Title next held by Oliver Cromwell |
| Honorary titles | ||
| Preceded by | Lord Lieutenant of Berkshire 1551–1552 | Succeeded by |
| Peerage of England | ||
| New creation | Duke of Somerset 1547–1552 | Forfeit Title next held by William Seymour |
| Henry VII (1485–1509) |
|  |
|---|---|---|
| Henry VIII (1509–1547) |
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| Edward VI (1547–1553) |
| |
| Lady Jane Grey (July 1553) |
| |
| Mary I (July 1553–1558) |
| |
| Elizabeth I (1558–1603) |
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