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 them forfeited and confirming his attainder (Lords' Journals, i. 425).

Somerset occupies an important place in English history. Strength of conviction and purity of morals admirably fitted him to lead a religious movement. He did more than any other man to give practical effect to the protestant revolution, and his immediate successors could only follow on the lines he laid down. Alike in his conception of a union between England and Scotland, in his feeling for the poorer classes of his community, and in his sincere adoption of protestant principles, he gave evidence of lofty aims. As a general he was successful in every military operation he undertook. But he was too little of an opportunist to be a successful ruler, and he failed to carry out his objects because he lacked patience, hated compromise, and consistently underrated the strength of the forces opposed to him. Ambition entered largely into his motives, and his successful usurpation showed him to be capable of prompt and resolute audacity. He had as high a conception of the royal prerogative as any Tudor, but he used it to mitigate the severity of Henry VIII's government. The mildness of his rule earned him a deeply felt popularity, and under his sway there was less persecution than there was again for a century. Naturally warm-hearted and affable, the possession of power rendered him peevish and overbearing; but, like his brother Thomas, he possessed handsome features and many personal graces. A portrait, by Holbein, belongs to the Duke of Northumberland; two anonymous portraits are at Sudeley Castle; another belongs to Mrs. Cunliffe; and two more, also anonymous, belonged in 1867 to William Digby Seymour [q. v.] and Mr. Reginald Cholmondeley respectively (see Cat. First Loan Exhib. Nos. 168, 174). The portrait by Holbein has been engraved by Houbraken, R. White, and others (see, p. 10).

The chief blot on Somerset's career is his rapacity in profiting by the dissolution of monasteries, the abolition of chantries, and sale of church lands. The estates he inherited brought him 2,400l. a year, those he acquired between 1540 and 1547 added 2,000l. to his income, and between 1547 and 1552 it increased by another 3,000l.; the total 7,400l. would be worth at least ten times as much in modern currency (Wilts Archæol. Mag. xv. 189). The number and extent of his manors can be gathered from a list of the ‘Grants of the Forfeited Lands of Edward, Duke of Somerset,’ and ‘Cartæ Edwardi, Ducis Somerset,’ both printed by Sir Thomas Phillipps, London, 1866, fol. His most famous possession was Somerset House in the Strand, which he commenced building very soon after Henry's death; two inns belonging to the sees of Worcester and Lichfield were pulled down to make room for it, and, to furnish materials, the north aisle of St. Paul's Cathedral, containing the ‘Dance of Death,’ and the priory of St. John of Jerusalem, Clerkenwell, were demolished. Somerset took great interest in its construction, and, as Knox lamented (Works, iii. 176), preferred watching the masons to listening to sermons. Somerset House was occupied by Henrietta Maria, who added to it her famous Roman catholic chapel; by Catherine of Braganza, and by Queen Charlotte until 1775, when it was pulled down; the present building was finished in 1786 ( and, London Past and Present, iii. 268–73).

Somerset was twice married, first, about 1527, to Catherine (d. before 1540), daughter and coheiress of Sir William Fillol of Woodlands in Horton, Dorset, and Fillol's Hall in Langton Wash, Essex. She is erroneously said to have been divorced in consequence of her misconduct with Somerset's father (cf. manuscript note in ‘Vincent's Baronage’ in the College of Arms, quoted by, Peerage, p. 249). By her Seymour had two sons: John, who was sent to the Tower on 16 Oct. 1551 with his father, died there on 19 Dec. 1552, and was buried in Savoy hospital (, Diary, pp. 10, 27, 326); and Edward (1529–1593), who was knighted at the battle of Pinkie on 10 Sept. 1547, was restored in blood by act of parliament, passed on 29 March 1553, before his half-brothers (Lords' Journals, i. 441, 442, 445), settled at Berry Pomeroy, Devonshire, and was ancestor of Sir Edward Seymour [q. v.], the speaker, and of the present dukes of Somerset. Somerset's second wife was Anne (1497–1587), daughter of Sir Edward Stanhope of Sudbury, Suffolk, by his wife Elizabeth, great-granddaughter of William Bourchier, earl of Eu, by Anne, sole heiress of Thomas of Woodstock, youngest son of Edward III. She was a woman of great pride, and her disputes as to precedence with Catherine Parr are said to have originally caused the estrangement between the two Seymours and most of the duke's misfortunes and errors (, Portraits). Surrey, in spite of his antipathy to her husband, paid her attention, which she scornfully rejected, and addressed to her his ode ‘On a lady who refused to dance with him’ (, pp. 370–1; Gent. Mag. 1845, i. 371–81). She was imprisoned with her husband, subsequently married his steward Francis Newdigate, died on 16 April