 It then descended briefly to Edward Seymour, 1st Earl of Hertford (1539–1621), the 1st Duke's eldest surviving son by his second marriage, whom he had made his heir, having suspected the legitimacy of his two sons from his first marriage, John Seymour (1527–1552) and Lord Edward Seymour (1529–1593) of Berry Pomeroy, Devon, whom in 1540 he excluded from their paternal and maternal inheritances with all their claims to their father's dignities being postponed to his children by his second wife.However, John Seymour (1527–1552) petitioned parliament for the restoration of his maternal inheritance, but as her lands had been sold, he was awarded compensation in the form of the estate of Maiden Bradley.He did not live to enjoy the grant and died in the Tower of London, having bequeathed it with all his other lands and goods to his younger brother Lord Edward Seymour, ancestor of the present Duke of Somerset, whose seat it remains today.