The Noble and Gentle Men of England / or, notes touching the arms and descents of the ancient knightly and gentle houses of England, arranged in their respective counties.

by Evelyn Philip Shirley

Seymour of Maiden-Bradley; Duke of Somerset 1546-7, Baronet 1611.

This great historical family is of Norman origin, descended from Roger de Seimor, or Seymour, who lived in the reign of Henry I. Woundy, Penhow, and Seymour Castle, all in the county of Monmouth, (the last sold in the reign of Henry VIII.,) were ancient seats of the family, who we find in the fourteenth century resident in Somersetshire, after the marriage of Sir Roger Seymour with the coheiress of Beauchamp of Hache; his grandson married the heiress of Esturmi or Sturmey of Chadham, in this county, and thus first became connected with Wiltshire. Maiden-Bradley belonged to Sir Edward Seymour, the elder, the eldest surviving son of the Protector Somerset by his first wife, and the ancestor of the present family, who in 1750, on the death of the seventh Duke of Somerset, succeeded to the Dukedom, which by special entail went first to the descendants of the Protector by his second wife, until the extinction of her male line in that year.

Younger Branches. Seymour, of Knoyle, in this county, descended from Francis, next brother of Edward eighth Duke of Somerset, and second son of Sir Edward Seymour, Baronet, of Maiden-Bradley, who died in 1741. Seymour Marquess of Hertford, (1793,) descended from Francis, son of Sir Edward Seymour, Bart., who died in 1708, and his second wife, Letitia, daughter of Francis Popham.

See Brydges's Collins, vol. i. p. 144, vol. ii. p. 560; Westcote's Devonshire Pedigrees, p. 479; and Wotton's Baronetage, vol. i. p. 86.

Arms.—Quarterly, 1 and 4, Or, on a pile gules between six fleurs-de-lis azure three lions of England; 2 and 3, Gules, two wings conjoined in lure of the first, the points downwards. The wings, the original coat, was borne by Sir Roger de Seimor in the 23rd Henry III., as appears by his seal, with the legend "Sigill' Rogeri de Seimor." (Collins.) The first quarter was granted by Henry VIII. as an augmentation in consequence of his marrying Jane, daughter of Sir John Seymour.

Present Representative, Edward Adolphus Seymour, K.G. 13th Duke of Somerset.

Arundell of Wardour, Baron Arundell of Wardour 1605.

A Norman family, which for centuries has flourished in the West of England, traced by Dugdale to "Rogerius Arundel," mentioned in Domesday. "The most diligent inspection, however," writes Hoare in his Wiltshire, "of an immense collection of ancient charters, deeds, and instruments of all kinds, and from the earliest periods of documentary evidence, among the archives of Wardour Castle, have not enabled us to trace the filiation of this House from the said Rogerius." Reinfred de Arundell, who lived at the end of the reign of Henry III. stands therefore at the head of the pedigree as given by Hoare. Gilbert in his "Survey of Cornwall," is inclined to believe the name to be derived from Arundel in Sussex, and refers to "Yorke's Union of Honour." He says the family came into Cornwall by a match with the heiress of Trembleth about the middle of the twelfth century. Lanherne, in that county, was in the fourteenth century their principal seat. The Castle of Wardour was purchased by Sir Thomas Arundell from Sir Fulke Greville in 1547.