Sir Thomas Wyatt (1503–1542) was an English poet and diplomat at the court of Henry VIII. He introduced the sonnet into English, adapting Petrarch, and wrote lyrics of love and betrayal of great intensity. Twice imprisoned in the Tower of London, he survived the fall of Anne Boleyn.
Allington
Thomas Wyatt was born in 1503 at Allington Castle in Kent, the son of Sir Henry Wyatt, a councillor of Henry VII and Henry VIII. He studied at St John's College, Cambridge, and entered the king's service young.
He married Elizabeth Brooke around 1520, but the marriage was unhappy and they separated, accusing each other of adultery.
The diplomat
Wyatt served on embassies to France, Italy and the court of the emperor Charles V. In Italy, in 1527, he discovered the poetry of Petrarch, whose sonnets he translated and adapted, bringing the form into English.
He was rumoured to have loved Anne Boleyn before her marriage to the king. In 1536, when she fell, he was imprisoned in the Tower and may have witnessed her execution from his cell, but he was released.
Last years
Accused of treason in 1541 after the fall of his patron Thomas Cromwell, he was again imprisoned, then pardoned on the queen's request. He died of a fever at Sherborne in October 1542, on a mission for the king.
His poems circulated in manuscript and were printed in 1557 in Tottel's Miscellany. His son, Thomas Wyatt the Younger, led a rebellion against Mary I in 1554 and was executed.
Anecdotes
Whoso list to hunt
Wyatt's sonnet Whoso list to hunt, adapted from Petrarch, describes a deer that bears a collar reading 'Noli me tangere, for Caesar's I am'. It is often read as an allusion to Anne Boleyn and the king.
A cat in the Tower
A family legend says that Wyatt's father, imprisoned under Richard III, was fed by a cat that brought him pigeons; the story is commemorated in a family portrait.
Frequently asked questions
What did Wyatt bring to English poetry?
The sonnet, which he adapted from Petrarch, and new forms of lyric.
Did Wyatt love Anne Boleyn?
Rumours said so, and some poems may allude to her, but nothing is certain.
When were his poems published?
In Tottel's Miscellany in 1557, fifteen years after his death.