Hello and welcome to the Renaissance English History Podcast, a part of the Agora Podcast Network.

I am your host, Heather Tesco, and I'm a storyteller who makes history accessible

because I believe it's a pathway to understanding who we are, our place in the universe,

and being more deeply in touch with our own humanity. This is episode 210, and it's on how

Edward Seymour became the protector in England. It involved a lot of political

maneuvering and plotting, and we're going to talk about Edward and how he became protector,

and then a little bit about his legacy as protector. All right, so Edward Seymour, Duke of

Somerset, the eldest brother of Jane Seymour, the third wife of Henry the 8th,

has a significant yet very tumultuous position in English history. His life was marked by a rapid

ascent to power and eventual tragic downfall, and it epitomizes the volatile and intrigue-filled

atmosphere of the Tudor Corked.

Following the death of Henry VIII, Edward Seymour navigated the political labyrinth, and he became the Lord Protector of England during the minority of his nephew, Edward the 6th.

Despite Henry's will not specifying the need for a protector, Seymour's political acumen

and strategic alliances enabled him to consolidate his power. We're going to talk about Seymour's

life, the intricate political landscape that facilitated his rise, his family ties and conflicts,

and the impact of his governance on Tudor England.

So he was born to Sir John Seymour and Margaret Wentworth around 1500. He was exposed early to a life

intertwined with political intrigue and ambition. The Seymour family was old and pretty well

established, but right at the time that Edward was

coming of age and was starting his political life, there was a huge scandal due to allegations

of improper conduct by his father with Edward's own wife. So Edward's own wife apparently had a thing going with Edward's father.

Now, how much agency she had in this thing? You know, I couldn't guess and it all worked out very

...