Thomas (the younger) WYATT Sir
References:
(1) Magna Charta Sureties, page 59.
(2) Magna Charta Barons, page 312.
(3) Living Descendants of Blood Royal, page 694.Historical Notes:
(1) Sir Thomas Wyatt was a zealous Protestant, and attempted to raise
a rebellion against Queen Mary, in order to prevent her alliance with Philip of Spain. He was taken prisoner, found guilty of treason, and executed on April 11th 1554. His estates and titles were confiscated. Later some portion of his estates were restored to Lady Jane Wiatt (nee Lady Jane Haute), daughter of Sir William Haute, of Bourne, Kent, England. They had but one son who lived to manhood.This line continues to Edward I, King of England WYATT, Sir Thomas the younger (1521?-1554), conspirator, was the eldestand only
surviving son of Sir Thomas Wyatt the elder [q.v.], by his wife Elizabeth,
daughter of Thomas Brooke, third lord Cobham. He was brought up as a catholic. He is described as 'twenty-one years and upwards' in the 'inquisition post mortem' of his father, which was dated 8 Jan. 1542-43. The Duke ofNorfolk was one of his godfathers. In boyhood he is said to have accompanied his father on an embassy to Spain, where the elder Sir Thomas Wyatt was threatened by the Inquisition. To this episode has been traced an irremovable detestation of the Spanish government, but the anecdote is probably apocryphal. All that is positively known of his relations with his father while the latter was in Spain is found in two letters which the elder Wyatt addressed from Spain to the younger, then fifteen years old. The letters give much sound moral advice. In 1537 young Wyatt married when barely sixteen. He succeeded on his father's death in 1542 to Allington Castle and Boxley Abbey in Kent, with much other property. But the estate was embarrassed, and he parted with some out lying lands on 30 Nov. 1543 to the king, receiving for them 3,669l. 8s. 2d. In 1542 he alienated, too, the estate of Tarrant in Dorset in favour of a natural son, Francis Wyatt, whose mother was Elizabeth, daughter of Sir Edward Darrel of Littlecote. Wyatt was of somewhat wild and impulsive temperament. At anearly age he had made the acquaintance of his father's disciple, Henry Howard, earl of Surrey [q.v.], and during Lent 1543 he joined Surrey and other young men in breaking at night the windows of citizens houses and of London churches. They were arrested and brought before the privy council on 1 April, and they were
charged not merely with acts of violence, but with having eaten meat during
Lent. Surrey explained that his efforts were directed to awakening the citizens of London to a sense of sin. Wyatt was inclined to deny the charges. He remained in the Tower till 3 May. In the autumn of 1543 Wyatt joined a regiment of volunteers which Surrey raised at his own expense to take part in the siege of Landrecies. Wyatt distinguished himself in the military operations, and was highly commended by Thomas Churchyard, who was present. (cf. CHURCHYARD, Pleasant Discourse ofCourt and of Wars, 1596). In 1544 Wyatt took part in the siege of Boulogne and was given responsible
command next year. When Surrey became governor he joined the English council
there (14 June 1545). Surrey, writing to Henry VIII, highly praised Wyatt's
'hardiness, painfulness, circumspection, and natural disposition to the war.)
He seems to have remained abroad until the surrender of Boulogne in 1550. In
November 1550 he was named a commissioner to delimit the English frontier in
France, but owing to ill-health was unable to act. Subsequently he claimed to have served Queen Mary against the Duke of Northumberland when the duke
attempted to secure the throne for his daughter-in-law, Lady Jane Grey. But he took no well defined part in public affairs at home until he learned of Queen Mary's resolve to marry Phillip of Spain. He regarded the step as an outrage on the nation's honour, but, according to his own account, never thought of publicly protesting against it until he received an invitation from Edward Courtenay [q.v.], earl of Devonshire, to join in a general insurrection throughout the country for the purpose of preventing the accomplishment of the queen's plan. He cheerfully undertook to raise Kent. Help was vaguely promised him by the French ambassador.
The official announcement of the marriage was published on 15 Jan. 1553-4. Seven days later Wyatt summoned his friends and neighbours to meet at Allington Castle to discuss means of resistance. He offered, if they would attmept an armed rebellion, to lead the insurgent force. Like endeavours made by Courtenay, the Earl of Suffolk, Sir James Crofts, and Sir Peter Carew, to excite rebellion in other counties failed [see CAREW, SIR PETER]. The instigators elsewhere were all arrested before they had time to mature their designs. Wyatt was thus forced into the position of chief actor in the attack on the government of the queen. He straightway published a proclamation at Maidstone which was addressed 'unto the commons' of Kent. He stated that his course had been approved by 'dyvers of the best of the shire.' Neighbours and friends were urged to secure the advancement of 'liberty and commonwealth,' which were imperilled by 'the queen's determinate pleasure to marry with a stranger.'
Wyatt showed himself worthy of his responsibilities and laid his plans with boldness. Noailles, the French ambassador, wrote that he was 'estime pardepa homme vaillant et de bonne conduicte;' and M. d'Oysel, the French ambassador in Scotland, who was at the time in London, informed the French king, his master, that Wyatt was 'ung gentil chevallier et fort estime parmy cest nation' (Ambassades de Noailles, iii, 15, 46). Fifteen hundred men were soon in arms under his command, while five thousand promised adherence later. He fixed his headquarters at the castle of Rochester. Some cannon and ammunition were secretely sent him up the Medway by agents in London; batteries were erected to command the passage of the bridge at Rochester and the opposite bank of the river. When the news of Wyatt's action reached the queen and government in London, a proclamation was issued offering pardon to such of his followers as should within twenty-four hours depart peaceably to their homes. Royal officers with their retainers were despatched to disperse small parties of Wyatt's associates while on their way to Rochester; Sir Robert Southwell broke up one band under an insurgent named Knevet; Lord
Abergavenny defeated another reinforcement led by a friend of Wyatt named Isley; the citizens of Canterbury rejected Wyatt's entreaties to join him, and derided his threats. Wyatt maintained the spirit of his followers by announcing that he daily expected succour from France, and circulated false reports of successful risings in other parts of the country. Some of his followers sent to the council offers to return to their duty, and at the end of January Wyatt's fortunes looked desperate. But the tide turned for a season in his favour when the government ordered the Duke of Norfolk to march from London upon Wyatt's main body, with a detachment of white-coated guards under the command of Sir Henry Jerningham. The manoeuvre gave Wyatt an unexpected advantage. The duke was followed immediately by five hundred Londoners, hastily collected by one Captain Bret, and was afterwards joined by the sheriff of Kent, who had called out the trained bands of the county. The force thus embodied by the government was inferior in number to Wyatt's, and it included many who were in sympathy with the rebels. As soon as
they came within touch of Wyatt's forces at Rochester, the majority of them
joined him, and the duke with his principal officers fled toward Gravesend.
Wyatt set out for London at the head of four thousand men. He found the
road open. Through Dartford and Gravesend he marched to Blackheath, where he
encamped on 29 Jan. 1553-4. The government acknowledged the seriousness of the situation, and sent Wyatt a message inviting him to formulate his demands, but this was only a means of gaining time. On 1 Feb. 1554 Mary proceeded to the Guildhall and addressed the citizens of London on the need of meeting the danger summarily. Wyatt was proclaimed a traitor. Next morning more than twenty thousand men enrolled their names for the protection of the city. Special precautions were taken for the security of the court and the Tower; many bridges over the Thames within a distance of fifteen miles were broken down; all peers in the neighbourhood of London received orders to raise their tenantry; and on 3 Feb. a reward of land of the annual value of one hundred pounds was offered the captor of Wyatt's person.
The same day Wyatt entered Southwark, but his followers were alarmed by the reports of the government's activity. Many deserted, and Wyatt found himself compelled by the batteries on the Tower to evacuate Southwark. Turning to the south he directed his steps toward Kingston, where he arrived on 6 Feb. (Shrove Tuesday). The river was crossed without difficulty, and a plan was formed to surprise Ludgate. On the way Wyatt hoped to capture St. Jame's Palace, where Queen Mary had taken refuge. But his schemes were quickly betrayed to the government. A council of war decided to allow him to advance upon the city and then to press on him from every quarter. He proceeded on 7 Feb. through Kensington to Hyde Park, and had a sharp skirmish at Hyde Park Cornerwith a troop of infantry. Escaping with a diminished following, he made his way past St. Jame's Palace. Proceeding by Charing Cross along the Strand and Fleet Street he reached Ludgate at two o'clock in the morning of 8 Feb. The gate was shut against him, and he was without the means or the spirit to carry it by assault. His numbers dwindled in the
passage through London, and he retreated with very few followers to Temple Bar. There he was met by the Norroy herald, and recognising that his cause was lost, he made a voluntary submission. After being taken to Whitehall, he was committed to the Tower, where the lieutenant, Sir John Brydges (afterwards first Lord Chandos), received him with opprobrious reproaches. On his arrest the French ambassador, De Noailles, paid a tribute to his valour and confidence. He wrote of him as 'le plus vaillant et asseure de quoye jaye jamais ouyparler, qui a mis ladicte dame et seigneurs de son conseil en telle et si grandepeur, qu'elle s'est veue par l'espace de huict jours en branale de sa couronne' (Ambassades de Noailles, iii, 59). On 15 March he was arraigned at Westminster of high treason, was condemned, and sentenced to death (Fourth Rep. Deputy Keeper of Records, App, ii, pp. 244-5).
On the day appointed for his execution (11 April) Wyatt requested Lord
Chandos, the lieutenant of the Tower to permit him to speak to a fellow - prisoner, Edward Courtenay, earl of Devonshire. According to Chando's report Wyatt on his knees begged Courtenay 'to confess the truth of himself.' The interview lasted half an hour. It does not appear that he said anything to implicate Princess Elizabeth, but he seems to have reproached Courtenay with being the instigator of his crime (cf. FOXE, Acts and Monuments, iii, 41, and TYTLER, Hist of Edward VI and Mary, ii, 320). Nevertheless, at the scaffold on Tower Hill he made a speech accepting full responsibility for his acts and exculpating alike Elizabeth and Courtenay (Chronicles of Queen Jane and Queen Mary, p 73; BATLEY, Hist.of the Tower, p. xlix). After he was beheaded, his body was subjected to all the barbarities that formed part of punishment for treason. Next day his head was hung to a gallows on 'Hay Hill beside Hyde Park,' and subsequently his limbs were distributed among gibbets in various quarters of the town (MACHIN, Diary, p 60). His head was stolen on 17 April.
Wyatt married in 1537 Jane, daughter of Sir William Hawte of Bishosbourne, Kent. Through her he acquired the manor of Wavering. She bore him ten children of whom three married and left issue. Of these a daughter Anna married Roger Twysden, grandfather of Sir Roger Twysden [q.v.] , and another Charles Scott of Egerton, Kent, of the family of Scott of Scotshall. The son George was restored to his estate of Boxley, Kent by Queen Mary, and to that of Wavering by Queen Elizabeth in 1570.
References:
(1) Magna Charta Sureties, page 59.
(2) Magna Charta Barons, Page 312.
(3) Living Descendants of Blood Royal, 694.This line continues to Edward I, King of England
References:
(1) Magna Charta Sureties, page 59.
(2) Magna Charta Barons, Page 312.
(3) Living Descendants of Blood Royal, 694.
References:
(1) Magna Charta Sureties, page 59.
(2) Magna Charta Barons, Page 312.
(3) Living Descendants of Blood Royal, 694.
References:
(1) Living Descendants of Blood Royal, page 24.
(2) Magna Charta Sureties, page 59.
(3) Magna Charta Barons, page 312.
(4) Virginia Historical Magazine, XXXI, page 237.
(5) Arthur Oswald, County Houses in Kent, page 7 ff.
(6) Index Card to Salt Lake Temple Records,, No. 11100, Book 4 D, page 466.
(7) Index Card to Salt Lake Temple Records, No. 15012, Book 4 E, page 646.Historical Notes:
(1) Sir Thomas Wyatt was poet to His Majesty King Henry VIII.
Sir Thomas entered St. John's College, Cambridge in 1515 and received his B.A. in 1518, and M.A. in 1520. He officiated for his father, as Ewerer at the Coronation of Ann Boleyn in 1533, and in consequence fell into temporary
disgrace with the King on her account. He was High Sheriff of Kent in 1537,
and in the same year he was sent as Minister to Spain; he was charged with
treasonable correspondence with Cardinal Pole, and was placed under arrest in
1540 or 1541. Of this charge he was soon acquitted and restored to high favor with Henry VIII, who bestowed upon him Allington Castle, in Allington, the Manor of Hoo, all in Kent, and broadlands and estates in Maidstone, Kent, and other counties. He was a distinguished poet, his works which consisted of love elegies and odes, have been greatly admired, and were first published with those of Lord Surrey.Thomas Wyatt was born at Allington Castle, near Maidstone, in Kent, in 1503, son of Henry and Anne. His first court appearance was as Sewer Extraordinary to Henry VIII in 1516, in which year he also entered St. John's College, University of Cambridge. In 1520 (?) he married Elizabeth Brooke (daughter of Lord Cobham); she bore him a son, Thomas, in 1521. In 1524 he was engaged by King Henry VIII to fulfill various offices at home and abroad.2
Around 1525, Wyatt separated from his wife, charging her withadultery; it is also the year from which his interest in Anne Boleyn probablydates. He accompanied Sir Thomas Cheney on a diplomatic mission to France in 1526 and, the following year, accompanied Sir John Russell to the papalcourt in Rome, and to Venice. He was made High Marshal of Calais(1528-1530) and Commissioner of the Peace of Essex (1532), accompanying Henry and Anne Boleyn (now the king's mistress) to Calais later the same year. In January 1533 Anne Boleyn married Henry; Wyatt served in her coronation in June.
Wyatt was knighted in 1535, but in 1536 he was imprisoned in the Tower for quarreling with the Duke of Suffolk, and possibly also because he was suspected of being one of Anne Boleyn's lovers. During this imprisonment Wyatt witnessed the execution of Anne Boleyn on May 19, 1536 from the Bell Tower, and wrote V. Innocentia Veritas Viat Fides Circumdederunt me inimici mei. He was released later that year, and in November of the year his father Henry died.
Wyatt was back in favor, and made ambassador to the court of the Holy Roman Emperor, Charles V, in Spain. He returned to England in June 1539, and later that year was again ambassador to Charles until May 1540.
Wyatt's praise of country life, and the cynical comments about foreign courts, in his verse epistle Mine Own John Poins derive from his own experience.In 1541 he was charged with treason on a revival of charges originally levelled against him in 1538 by Edmund Bonner, now Bishop of London, that while ambassador, Wyatt had had dealings with Cardinal Pole and been rude about the King's person. Wyatt was again confined to the Tower,where he wrote an impassioned 'Defence'. He received a royal pardon, perhaps at the request of Queen Catharine Howard, and was fully restored to favor in 1542. Wyatt was given various royal offices after his pardon, but he became ill after welcoming Charles V's envoy at Falmouth and died at Sherborne on 11 October 1542.
None of Wyatt's poems had been published in his lifetime, with the exception of a few poems in a miscellany entitled The Court of Venus. His first published work was Certain Psalms (1594), metrical translations of the penitential psalms. It wasn't until 1557, 15 years after Wyatt's death, that a number of his poetry appeared alongside Surrey's inprinter Richard Tottel's Songs and Sonnets written by the Right Honorable Lord Henry Howard late Earl of Surrey and other. Until modern times it was called simply Songs and Sonnets; but now it is generally known as Tottel's Miscellany. The rest of Wyatt's poetry, lyrics, and satires remained in manuscript until the 19th and 20th centuries "rediscovered" them.
Wyatt, along with Surrey, was the first to introduce the sonnet into English, with its characteristic final rhyming couplet. He wrote extraordinarily accomplished imitations of Petrarch's sonnets, including 'I find no peace' ('Pace non trovo') and 'Whoso List to Hunt'-Thelatter, quite different in tone from Petrarch's 'Una candida cerva', has often been seen to refer to Anne Boleyn as the deer with a jewelled collar.
Wyatt was also adept at other new forms in English, such as theterza rima and the rondaeu.
References:
(1) Living Descendants of Blood Royal, page 24.
(2) Magna Charta Sureties, page 59.
(3) Magna Charta Barons, page 312.
(4) Virginia Historical Magazine, XXXI, page 237.
(5) Arthur Oswald, County Houses in Kent, page 7 ff.
(6) Index Card to Salt Lake Temple Records,, No. 11100, Book 4 D, page 466.
(7) Index Card to Salt Lake Temple Records, No. 15012, Book 4 E, page 646.
References:
(1) Magna Charta Sureties, page 59.
(2) Magna Charta Barons, Page 312.
(3) Living Descendants of Blood Royal, 694.Historical Notes:
(1) Sir William Haute was Lord of the Manor of Waverling.
References:
(1) Magna Charta Sureties, page 59.
(2) Magna Charta Barons, Page 312.
(3) Living Descendants of Blood Royal, 694.
References:
(1) Living Descendants of Blood Royal, page 24.
Historical Notes:
(1) Sir Henry Wyatt, who for his friendship to Henry VII, underwent, at the
hand of Richard III, severe imprisonment, and who was saved from starvation by a cat which brought him food. The monumental inscription in Boxley Church to the Wiatt family states this fact, and so does one of the "Wiat Mss.," in
possession of Lord Romney, the present representative of the Wiatt family in
England. The latter says: "He was imprisoned often; once in a cold and narrow Tower, where he had neither bed to lie on, nor clothes sufficient to warm him, nor meat for his mouth; he had starved there had not God - sent - a cat to feed and warm him. It was his own relation from whom I had it. A cat came one day down into the dungeon unto him, and as it were, offered herself unto him; he was glad of her in his bosom, to warm him, and by making much of her won her love. After this she would come ever day unto him diverse times; and when she could get one, bring him a pigeon - the keeper - dressed for him from time to time, such pigeons as his Acater, the cat, provided for him; Sir Henry in his prosperity would ever make much of a cat, and you will not find a picture of him anywhere, but, like Sir Christopher Hatton with his dog, with his cat beside him." After the usurper Richard fell on Bosworth field, Sir Henry Wiatt was raised to the highest honors, King Banneret, Knight Bachelor, Knight Baronet, Privy Councilor, etc; and he was executor of King Henry VII. Henry Wiatt father of Thomas Wiatt who married Elizabeth Brooke is said by historians to have been the most beloved man in England. He was very close to Henry Tudor later Henry VII with whom he attended Eton, a matter which greatly disturbed Richard III who feared Tudor connection with the wealthy, much loved Wiatt. For this reason Richard III had Wyatt imprisoned in a tower in Scotland, where he was required to wear instruments of torture during the imprisonment. Denied of clothing, enough to keep warm, and food enough to survive, a cat named Acatar brought him a pigeon daily which kept him alive.
After the Battle of Bosworthfield and the death of Richard III. Henry Wiatt was freed by his friend Henry Tudor and knighted. Lands and great wealth were his and he became the guardian of Tudor's son the future Henry VIII. He became Master of the King's Jewels and Treasurer of the King's Chamber. Allington Castle is the ancestral home of the Wyatt family and cats are welcome.SIR HENRY WYATT (1460-1537), the father of the poet, resisted the
pretensions of Richard III to the throne, and was in consequence arrested and
imprisoned in the Tower for two years. According to his son's statement he was racked in Richard's presence and vinegar and mustard were forced down his
throat. There is an old tradition in the family that while in the Tower a cat brought him a pigeon every day from a neighbouring dovecot and thus saved him from starvation. There is no contemporary confirmation of the legend. The Earl of Romney, who is directly descended in the female line from the Wyatts, possesses a curious half-length portrait of Sir Henry seated in a prison cell with a cat drawing towards him a pigeon through the grating of a window. Lord Romney also possesses a second picture of 'The cat that fed Sir Henry Wyatt,' besides a small bust portrait of Sir Henry. The pictures, illustrating the tradition of the cat (now at Lord Romney's house, 4 upper BelgraveStreet;,London), represent Sir Henry Wyatt in advanced years, and were obviously painted on hearsay evidence very long after the date of the alleged events they claim to depict. The Wyatt papers, drawn up in 1727 relate that Sir Henry on his release from the Tower 'would ever make much of cats, as other men will of their spaniels or hounds.' On the accession of Henry VII Wyatt was not merely liberated but was admitted to the privy council, and remained high in the royal favour. He was one of Henry VII's executors, and one of Henry VIII's guardians. Henry VIII treated him with no less consideration than his father had shown him. He was admitted to the privy council of the new king in April 1509, and became a knight of the Bath on 23 July following. In 1511 he was made jointly with Sir Thomas Boleyn [q.v.] constable of Norwich castle (Letters and Papers of Henry VIII, i, No. 3008), and on 29 July of the same year was granted an estate called Maidencote, at Estgarstone in Berkshire. At the battle of the Spurs he served in the vanguard (16 Aug. 1513). He became treasurer to the king's
chamber in 1524, but resigned that office to Sir Brian Tuke on 23 April 1528.
He had purchased in 1492 the castle and estate of Allington near Maidstone in
Kent, and made the place his principal residence. Henry VIII visited him there in 1527 to meet Wolsey on his return from the continent. Wyatt remained friendly with Sir Thomas Boleyn (the father of Queen Anne Boleyn), who had been his colleague at Norwich, and resided at Hever Castle in Kent. Sir Henry died on 10 Nov. 1537 (Inq. post mort. 28 Hen VIII, m. 5), and, in accordance with his will, which was proved on 21 Feb 1537-8 (Cromwell, f.7), was buried at Milton, near Gravesend.
References:
(1) Living Descendants of Blood Royal, page 24.
(2) Magna Charta Sureties, page 59.
(3) Magna Charta Barons, page 312.
(4) Virginia Historical Magazine, XXXI, page 237.
(5) Arthur Oswald, County Houses in Kent, page 7 ff.
(6) Index Card to Salt Lake Temple Records,, No. 11100, Book 4 D, page 466.
(7) Index Card to Salt Lake Temple Records, No. 15012, Book 4 E, page 646.
References:
(1) Magna Charta Sureties, page 58.
(2) Complete Peerage, II, 346, 347; III, 347.
(3) Virginia History Magazine, XXXI, page 237.
(4) County Houses in Kent, Arthur Oswald, 7ff.
(5) Index Card to Salt Lake Temple Records, no. 12587, Book 4 G, page 542.
(6) Americans of Royal Descent, page 12.
(7) Index Card to Salt Lake Temple Records, No. 23020, Book 4 E, page 985.
References:
(1) Living descendants of Blood Royal.
References:
(1) Magna Charta Sureties, page 118.
(2) Index Card to New Zealand Temple Records, No. 31216, Book 31988, page 0090.
(3) Index Card to Arizona Temple Records, No. 22056, Book 130, page 731.
(4) Index Card to Arizona Temple Records, No. 12390, Book 67, page 440.
Elizabeth (or Isabel) FROWICKE
References;
(1) Magna Charta Sureties, page 118.