lieccnt Wiltshire JJools, Ffniip/ileis, Articles, &('. 623 



removed to Salisbury Cathedral. The Earl married, .secondly, Frances, 

 (1. of Lord Howard of Effingham, and thirdly, Frances, d. of Thomas 

 Viscount Howard of Bindon, and widow of Henry rranell. Sir George 

 Rodney, the suitor whom she forsook for the Earl, came to Amesbury, 

 where the Earl and Countess then resided, and committed suicide at the 

 Inn, after writing a copy of verses to tiie Countess in his own blood. 

 It was not until Katherine (irey's grandson, William, Marquis of 

 Hertford, was made second Duke of Somerset in the reign of Charles 

 11. that the legality of the marriage of his grandparents was formally 

 acknowledged. This William Seymour in 1610 was secretly betrothed 

 and married at Greenwich to Lady Arabella Stuart, on which he was 

 at once committed to the Tower, and she to the custody of Sir Thomas 

 Parr and afterwards of Mr. Coniers. He making his escape from the 

 Tower in the disguise of a carter got away to Ostend, she had also got 

 half-way across the Channel when she was re-captured, brought back 

 to the Towt-T and kept a close i)risoner until her death in 1615. William 

 Seymour returning after her death was i)ardoned, was created Marquis 

 of Hertford in 1640, became Governor of the Prince of Wales, and took 

 a prominent part as a Royalist General in the Civil War, and at the 

 Restoration was made 2nd Duke of Somerset, dying a month later. 

 The tribulations of Arabella and her husband, who was twelve years 

 her junior, are set forth at length in this book. 



Francis Seymour, 1st Baron Seymour of Trowbridge (1640—1), 

 grandson of Edward, Earl of Hertford, and brother of William 

 Seymour, represented Wilts in 1G20 and in the Long Parliament, and 

 built the house at Marlborough on the site of the Castle, which is 

 stated in the footnote to have been " undoubtedly made upon the site 

 of the Old Roman Castrum " ! Dying in 1664 he was buried at Great 

 Bedwyn. 



His only son, Charles, 2nd Baron Seymour of Trowbridge, lived at 

 Marlborough, was M.P. for Wilts, 1661, and an account of his election 

 expenses is here given. He died 1665, and was buried at Trowbridge. 

 His son, Francis, 3rd Baron, became by the death of his uncle John 

 in 1675, 5th Duke of Somerset, and died in 1678, being shot at Genoa 

 by an Italian on account of an insult to his wife. 



His brother, Charles. 6th Duke, known as " The Proud Duke," 

 married Fllizabeth Percy, widow of Thomas Thynne, of Longleat. He hd 

 the Militia of Somerset again.st Monmouth, was afterwards a supi)orter 

 of William III., and was high in favour with Q. Anne. He became 

 Master of the Horse in 1712, and took a ])rominent }>art in the political 

 intrigues of the time. The influence of the Duchess over Q. Anne is 

 dwelt on at consiilerable length. The " Proud Duke" died December 

 2nd, 1748, aged 86, and was buried in Salisbury Cathedral. 



The descent of the Seymours of Berry Pomeroy is next traced from 

 Edward Seymour, son of the Protector by his tirst wife Katherine 

 Filliol, and the part which various UKMubers of tlie line took in th*^ 

 politics of the i)eriod is set forth at somewhat wearisome length. Tlif 

 Marcpu'sses of Hertford have a chapter to themselves, more especially 



