Sir Thomas Wyatt was executed April 11, 1554 for the rebellion against Queen Mary, in order to prevent her alliance with Philip of Spain. Some of his confiscated estates were restored to his wife Lady Jane after his execution.

From http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/650134/Sir-Thomas-Wyatt-the-Younger:

born c. 1521 died April 11, 1554, London

Sir Thomas Wyatt the Younger, panel painting by an unknown artist; in the National Portrait … [Credits : Courtesy of the National Portrait Gallery, London]

English soldier and conspirator who led an unsuccessful rebellion against Queen Mary I, probably the most formidable uprising ever faced by a Tudor monarch.

Wyatt’s father was the renowned poet and diplomat Sir Thomas Wyatt. As a young man he acquired a reputation for recklessness, and in 1543 he was briefly imprisoned for taking part in a London street riot. From 1543 to 1549 or 1550, he served in the army abroad—especially in France—achieving recognition as a skillful and daring officer.

Wyatt then returned to England and in 1551 served as sheriff in Kent, where he formed his own rudimentary military organization. On King Edward VI’s death (July 1553) he supported the accession of Mary, a Roman Catholic, but by the end of the year he turned against the Queen, considering her proposed marriage to the future king Philip II of Spain to be an affront to England’s national honour. He accordingly joined several others, including Lady Jane Grey’s father, the Duke of Suffolk, in a conspiracy against the crown. The plot was revealed to Mary’s lord chancellor, Stephen Gardiner, by the Earl of Devon, one of the conspirators, at the end of January 1554, with the result that of the conspirators only Wyatt succeeded in raising an army. At first the government offered to negotiate with him, but it soon decided to suppress the insurgents. A force under the command of Thomas Howard, the aged duke of Norfolk, who was sent to put down the rebellion, largely defected to Wyatt.

On Feb. 3, 1554, Wyatt entered the outskirts of London with some 3,000 men. He advanced swiftly to Ludgate, but his troops became disheartened when the populace did not join their cause. Confronted by the royal forces, Wyatt surrendered after a brief engagement. He was tried on March 15 and executed less than a month later. To the last, Mary’s partisans made strenuous but unsuccessful efforts to persuade him to implicate Princess (afterward Queen) Elizabeth in his conspiracy. After his death he and his followers were widely regarded as patriots and martyrs by a populace that was becoming increasingly repelled by Mary’s persecution of Protestants.

Citations

MLA Style:

"Sir Thomas Wyatt the Younger." Encyclopædia Britannica. 2009. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. 03 Nov. 2009 <http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/650134/Sir-Thomas-Wyatt-the-Younger>.

APA Style:

Sir Thomas Wyatt the Younger. (2009). In Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved November 03, 2009, from Encyclopædia Britannica Online: http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/650134/Sir-Thomas-Wyatt-the-Younger

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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Wyatt_the_younger

Sir Thomas Wyatt the younger (1521 – 11 April 1554) was a rebel leader during the reign of Queen Mary I of England; his rising is traditionally called "Wyatt's rebellion".

Birth and career

He was born at Allington Castle, the only son of Sir Thomas Wyatt, the famous poet, and Elizabeth Brooke, daughter of the 8th Baron Cobham. His father was a well-known poet, courtier and ambassador, who has, by legend but without incontrovertible evidence, been presumed to have been deeply in love with Henry VIII's second wife, Anne Boleyn, before Henry became attracted to her; he may later have pursued another of Henry VIII's lovers, Mary Shelton. His mother was involved in similar scandals, and his parents separated because of her open adultery. Elizabeth was a very attractive woman, who in February 1542 attracted the attention of Henry VIII, whose fifth wife was then in the Tower awaiting execution. The Imperial ambassador, Eustace Chapuys, reported that she could possibly end up as wife number six, despite still being married to Wyatt.[1]

The Duke of Norfolk was his godfather. At the age of fifteen he became a squire at the court of King Henry VIII, and Joint Constable of Conisborough Castle. In the same year, his father was imprisoned after a feud with the king's brother-in-law, Charles Brandon, 1st Duke of Suffolk, on the false charge of adultery with Queen Anne. The Queen was beheaded, but the elder Wyatt was released, He was imprisoned again in 1541 and only released after the intervention of Queen Catherine Howard. Thomas himself married Jane Hawte, daughter and co-heiress of Sir William Hawte of Bishopsbourne, by whom he had several children. He is also thought to have had an illegitimate son by Elizabeth Darrell, a daughter of Sir Edward Darrell of Littlecote who had been the long-term mistress of his father.

He accompanied his father on a mission to Spain and his experiences - reportedly his witnessing the activities of the Spanish Inquisition[citation needed] turned him into an enemy of Spain. On his father's death in 1542, he inherited Allington Castle and Boxley Abbey. There were rumours that after his father's death, Wyatt the younger became the lover of his father's long-term mistress, Elizabeth Darrell. She had given birth to three children by Wyatt, but Wyatt the younger may have been the father of her third son, Edward.

He was of a wild disposition, and became a boon companion of the Earl of Surrey (the Duke of Norfolk's son). In 1543, they were arrested for breaking windows in London while drunk. He was tried before the Privy Council and imprisoned in the Tower of London.

England was then at war with France in alliance with Emperor Charles V. On his release, Wyatt joined the English troops fighting for Charles in Flanders, obtaining valuable military experience. In 1543 he took part in the siege of Landrecies, and in the following year was at the siege of Boulogne. He was commended for his service, and was knighted in 1547. He remained abroad until 1550.

Wyatt's Rebellion

Main article: Wyatt's Rebellion

Returning to Allington, he lived quietly until the death of Edward VI in 1553, when he joined the Duke of Northumberland's abortive attempt to put Lady Jane Grey on the throne in place of Mary I.

Wyatt escaped punishment by Queen Mary. He took no further part in politics until Mary's betrothal to Philip of Spain. In 1554 he joined a conspiracy to prevent the marriage. A general movement was planned; but his fellow-conspirators were timid and inept. The rising was serious only in Kent, and Wyatt became a formidable rebel mostly by accident.

Wyatt proclaimed his rebellion on 26 January in Rochester. Many of the country folk responded. The royal forces sent against him deserted or joined him, including part of the London trainbands under the Duke of Norfolk (his godfather).

With 4,000 men Wyatt marched on London, but was turned back at London Bridge and Ludgate. His men deserted and he surrendered.

He was brought to trial on 15 March, and could make no defence. Execution was for a time delayed, no doubt in the hope that in order to save his life he would say enough to compromise the queen's sister Elizabeth, afterwards Queen Elizabeth, in whose interests the rising was supposed to have been made. But he would not confess enough to render her liable to a trial for treason. It was only through Elizabeth's dignity and composure that she managed to escape from the scandal unharmed, although she was spied upon and placed under house arrest for the rest of her sister's reign.

He was executed on 11 April, and on the scaffold expressly cleared the princess of all complicity in the rising. After he was beheaded, his body was quartered.

His estates were afterwards partly restored to his son, George. George's son, Sir Francis Wyatt (d. 1644), was governor of Virginia in 1621–26 and 1639–42. A fragment of the castle of Allington is still inhabited as a farm-house, near Maidstone, on the bank of the Medway.

See James Anthony Froude, History of England.

References

This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed (1911). Encyclopædia Britannica (Eleventh ed.). Cambridge University Press. 

"Sir Thomas WYATT, "The Younger"". http://www.tudorplace.com.ar/Bios/ThomasWyatt(Sir)2.htm. Retrieved 2008-03-11.

1.^ The Mistresses of Henry VIII by Kelly Hart, p.197

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http://www.tudorplace.com.ar/WYATT.htm#Thomas "The Younger" WYATT (Sir)

Thomas "The Younger" WYATT (Sir)

Born: 1521

Died: 11 Apr 1554, London, England

Notes: See his Biography.

Father: Thomas "The Elder" WYATT (Sir)

Mother: Elizabeth BROOKE

Married: Jane HAWTE (b. 1522 - d. AFT 1595) (dau. of Sir William Hawte and Maria Guildford) 1537, Bishopsbourne and Wavering, England

Children:

1. George WYATT (Sir)

2. Anne WYATT

3. Frances WYATT

4. Jane WYATT

5. Richard WYATT

6. Carolus WYATT

7. Arthur WYATT

8. Henry WYATT

9. Joyce WYATT

10. Ursula WYATT

--------------------------------------------

--------------------

He was called "The Rebel". Was beheaded in 1554.

Sir Thomas Wyatt c.1520–54, English soldier and conspirator; son of the poet Sir Thomas Wyatt. In Jan., 1554, when Queen Mary's intention to marry Philip II of Spain was announced, Wyatt joined a planned insurrection against the queen. His allies in other parts of the country were arrested or dispersed, but Wyatt raised a small army in Kent. Troops were sent against him at Rochester, but most of them deserted to Wyatt's side. He set out for London and arrived early in February, but defections and the loyalty of Londoners to Queen Mary prevented him from capturing her and taking the city. He surrendered and was executed as a traitor. It was supposed by many that Princess Elizabeth was involved, but Wyatt's last statement exonerated her.

Born at Allington Castle in 1521; only son of Sir Thomas, the Elder, by his wife, Elizabeth Brooke, daughter of Thomas Brooke, third Lord Cobham; the Duke of Norfolk was one of his godfathers. His parents were already estranged, his father rarely at home, being either abroad on the King’s business or at Court. 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.

At 15 he was appointed Esquire of the Body, to Henry VIII, and Joint Constable of Conysborough Castle (Yorkshire) post previously held by father and grandfather.

Barely 16 he married Jane Hawte, daughter and co-heiress of Sir William Hawte of Bishopsbourne, and Maria Guildford. She bore him 10 children, of whom 3 married and left issue.

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. 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 outlying 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 Francis Wyatt, whose mother was Elizabeth, dau. of Sir Edward Darrel of Littlecote. Various authors and authorities give conflicting accounts of Elizabeth Darrell’s connection with the Wyatts. Fore some authors, she was the mistress of the elder Sir Thomas, for others, she bore her sons to the younger Wyatt. Cross references fit the cases of both men - is it possible that she became the mistress of both men?

Thomas Wyatt served as volunteer in wars against France BET 1543-50 and given command of troops. He was Knighted in 1547. During this period Henry VIII died, succeeded by his son Edward VI. When Wyatt returned to England he took no part in public affairs.

Wyatt was of somewhat wild and impulsive temperament. At an early age he had made the acquaintance of his father's disciple, Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey. In 1545 he was in London, with Surrey and a band of boon companions, and went roistering noisily along narrow, dark, stinking unlit streets of the city, breaking expensive precious glass windows of citizens houses and damaging ecclesiastical glass windows. They were arrested and brought to trial before the dreaded Privy Council on 1 Apr, charging with acts of violence and in addition to "eating meat in 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. But there seems little doubt that they were not altogether sober when the offences were committed. It was known that they were in the habit of frequenting a "house" kept by Mistress Arundel, and she came to their aid at the trial. The three young men were sent to prison in the Poultry but was later removed to the Tower. He remained in the Tower till 3 May. When released he volunteered to join the English contingent fighting in alliance with Carlos V of Spain in Flanders. It was there that he came to dislike the Spaniards. He was a most successful soldier, showing courage, initiative and ability to command. He was wounded on one occasion; was given command of 1000 footmen; and later made Commander of the fortress of Boulogne; serving seven years abroad.

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. (Churchyard, Pleasant Discourse of Court 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 Jun 1545). Surrey, writing to Henry VIII, highly praised Wyatt's "hardiness, painfulness, circumspection, and naturaldisposition to the war". He seems to have remained abroad until the surrender of Boulogne in 1550. In Nov 1550 he was named acommissioner to delimit the English frontier in France, but owing toill-health was unable to act.

After his war service he retired to Allington as a country gentleman. Earlier he took part in the earlier uprising by the Duke of Northumberland, to put Lady Jane Grey, a Protestant and descendent of Henry VIII, on the throne. Subsequently he claimed to have served Queen Mary. But he took no well defined part in public affairs at home until he learned of Queen Mary's resolve to marry Felipe of Spain.

Wyatt regarded the step as an outrage on the nation's honour. This marriage would bring England under Roman Catholic and Spanish influence. But, according to his own account, never thought of publicly protesting against it until he received an invitation from Edward Courtenay, Earl of Devon, 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 Noailles, the French Ambassador. Wyatt invited friends to Allington Castle, got their support, raised 4000 men in Maidstone, and marched on London in a rebellion after called "Wyatt's rebellion". Wyatt taken to the Tower as a traitor. Attained, beheaded 11 Apr 1554 age 33. 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 Apr.

His execution was largely due to pressure by Bishop Gardiner and Simon Renard, Spanish Ambassador. His posthumous reputation was that of a martyr to the national cause.

The Twysden Roll contained the pedigrees and the arms of Twysden, Wyatt, Scott (a member of which family had married a sister Anne Wyatt) as well as the Pedigree and arms of the family of Elizabeth Woodville, the Queen of Edward IV, whose aunt (also named Elizabeth Woodville) had married in about 1430, William Hawte, an ancestor of the wife of Sir Thomas Wyatt, the younger. The Hawtes of Bishopsbourne and Wavering Manor in Kent, who were neighbours of the Wyatts of Allington, were an important local family. When the Hawte male line became extinct in 1530, Jane Hawte, one of her father’s co-heiresses, took the Wavering manor to the Wyatts. 1530 Visitation makes no mention of pedigree. At the "Visitation" in 1619 the pedigree presented was that of Roger Twysden, as presented in 1578, who had married Anne, a daughter of Sir Thomas Wyatt, the younger, and included in the "Twysden Roll".

George was the youngest son, born only a few days before the Rebellion, (others say he was 4 years at the time). According to the Patent Rolls the others were: Henry, Charles, Arthur, Jane, Anne, Mary.

In 1571 Queen Elizabeth restored family in blood and arms through influence of distant kinswoman. Properties of Boxley Abbey and Wavering Manor (but not Allington Castle, already given to John Ashley), thus relieving Jane’s poverty which had made her and her family dependent on the Hawte relatives and friends for 17 years. 1638 Appeared in the Archdeacons Court of Canterbury, 26 Oct 1638 and petitioned for the administration of the estate of her son Hawte Wyatt, later vicar of Boxley, Kent.

--------------------

ID: I113029

Name: Thomas Wyatt

Sex: M

Birth: 1522 in Allington Castle, Boxley, Kent, England

Death: 11 APR 1554 in London

Change Date: 7 JUL 2005

Note:

Name Suffix:<NSFX> Sir

Also Known As:<_AKA> The /Younger/

Thomas was Lord Allington

Father: Thomas Wyatt b: 1503 in Allington, Kent, England

Mother: Elizabeth Brooke b: ABT 1503 in Cobham Hall, Kent, England

Marriage 1 Jane Haute b: 1522 in Browne, Kent, England

Married: 1538 in Boxley, Kent

Note: _UID1E589CD3027CA34F9562535ABBC6187002C0

Children

Thomas Wyatt b: ABT 1539

Henry Wyatt b: ABT 1540

Anne Wyatt b: 19 SEP 1542 in Allington, Kent, England

Ula Wyatt b: ABT 1544

Arthur Wyatt b: 1544 in Kent, England

Jane Wyatt b: 1546

George Wyatt b: 1550 in Arlington Castle, Kent, England

Joan Wyatt b: ABT 1554

Richard Wyatt b: ABT 1555

-------------------- Sir Thomas Wyatt the younger (1521 – 11 April 1554) was a rebel leader during the reign of Queen Mary I of England; his rising is traditionally called "Wyatt's rebellion".

Birth and career

He was born at Allington Castle, the only son of Sir Thomas Wyatt, the famous poet, and Elizabeth Brooke, daughter of the 8th Baron Cobham. His father was a well-known poet, courtier and ambassador, who has, by legend but without incontrovertible evidence, been presumed to have been deeply in love with Henry VIII's second wife, Anne Boleyn, before Henry became attracted to her; he may later have pursued another of Henry VIII's lovers, Mary Shelton. His mother was involved in similar scandals, and his parents separated because of her open adultery. Elizabeth was a very attractive woman, who in February 1542 attracted the attention of Henry VIII, whose fifth wife was then in the Tower awaiting execution. The Imperial ambassador, Eustace Chapuys, reported that she could possibly end up as wife number six, despite still being married to Wyatt.

The Duke of Norfolk was his godfather. At the age of fifteen he became a squire at the court of King Henry VIII, and Joint Constable of Conisborough Castle. In the same year, his father was imprisoned after a feud with the king's brother-in-law, Charles Brandon, 1st Duke of Suffolk, on the false charge of adultery with Queen Anne. The Queen was beheaded, but the elder Wyatt was released, He was imprisoned again in 1541 and only released after the intervention of Queen Catherine Howard. Thomas himself married Jane Hawte, daughter and co-heiress of Sir William Hawte of Bishopsbourne, by whom he had several children. He is also thought to have had an illegitimate son by Elizabeth Darrell, a daughter of Sir Edward Darrell of Littlecote who had been the long-term mistress of his father.

He accompanied his father on a mission to Spain and his experiences - reportedly his witnessing the activities of the Spanish Inquisition[citation needed] turned him into an enemy of Spain. On his father's death in 1542, he inherited Allington Castle and Boxley Abbey. There were rumours that after his father's death, Wyatt the younger became the lover of his father's long-term mistress, Elizabeth Darrell. She had given birth to three children by Wyatt, but Wyatt the younger may have been the father of her third son, Edward.

He was of a wild disposition, and became a boon companion of the Earl of Surrey (the Duke of Norfolk's son). In 1543, they were arrested for breaking windows in London while drunk. He was tried before the Privy Council and imprisoned in the Tower of London.

England was then at war with France in alliance with Emperor Charles V. On his release, Wyatt joined the English troops fighting for Charles in Flanders, obtaining valuable military experience. In 1543 he took part in the siege of Landrecies, and in the following year was at the siege of Boulogne. He was commended for his service, and was knighted in 1547. He remained abroad until 1550.

Wyatt's Rebellion

Returning to Allington, he lived quietly until the death of Edward VI in 1553, when he joined the Duke of Northumberland's abortive attempt to put Lady Jane Grey on the throne in place of Mary I.

Wyatt escaped punishment by Queen Mary. He took no further part in politics until Mary's betrothal to Philip of Spain. In 1554 he joined a conspiracy to prevent the marriage. A general movement was planned; but his fellow-conspirators were timid and inept. The rising was serious only in Kent, and Wyatt became a formidable rebel mostly by accident.

Wyatt proclaimed his rebellion on 26 January in Rochester. Many of the country folk responded. The royal forces sent against him deserted or joined him, including part of the London trainbands under the Duke of Norfolk (his godfather).

With 4,000 men Wyatt marched on London, but was turned back at London Bridge and Ludgate. His men deserted and he surrendered.

He was brought to trial on 15 March, and could make no defence. Execution was for a time delayed, no doubt in the hope that in order to save his life he would say enough to compromise the queen's sister Elizabeth, afterwards Queen Elizabeth, in whose interests the rising was supposed to have been made. But he would not confess enough to render her liable to a trial for treason. It was only through Elizabeth's dignity and composure that she managed to escape from the scandal unharmed, although she was spied upon and placed under house arrest for the rest of her sister's reign.

He was executed on 11 April, and on the scaffold expressly cleared the princess of all complicity in the rising. After he was beheaded, his body was quartered.

His estates were afterwards partly restored to his son, George. George's son, Sir Francis Wyatt (d. 1644), was governor of Virginia in 1621–26 and 1639–42. A fragment of the castle of Allington is still inhabited as a farm-house, near Maidstone, on the bank of the Medway.