SIR THOMAS WYATT, the Younger (1521?-1554), conspirator, was the eldest and only surviving son of
Sir Thomas Wyatt the elder, 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 'inquisitio post mortem'
of his father, which was dated 8 Jan. 1542-3. The Duke of Norfolk 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 outlying lands on 30 Nov. 1543 to the king, receiving for
them £3,669 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 an early age he had made
the acquaintance of his father's disciple, Henry Howard, earl of Surrey, 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. 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 commended
Wyatt's hardiness, painfulness, circumspection, and natural disposition to the war. He seems to have remained abroad till 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 Philip 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, 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 attempt an armed rebellion, to lead the insurgent force. Like endeavours
made by Courtenay, the Duke of Suffolk, Sir James
Crofts, and Sir Peter Carew, to excite rebellion in other counties failed. 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 'estimé
par deçà 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 estimé parmy ceste nation.'1 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 secretly 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 towards 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 a year 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 towards 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. James'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 Corner with a troop of infantry. Escaping with a diminished following, he made his way past St. James'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 asseuré de quoye j'aye jamais ouy parler, qui a mis ladicte dame et seigneurs de son
conseil en telle et si grande peur, qu'elle s'est veue par l'espace de huict jours en bransle de sa couronne.'2 On 15 March he was arraigned at
Westminster of high treason, was condemned, and sentenced to death.
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 Chandos'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. Nevertheless, at the scaffold on Tower Hill he made a speech accepting
full responsibility for his acts and exculpating alike Elizabeth and Courtenay. 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. His head was stolen on 17 April.
Wyatt married in 1537 Jane, daughter of Sir William Hawte of Bishopsbourne, 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, 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. He collected materials for a life of Queen Anne Boleyn, the manuscript of which passed to his sister's grandson, Sir
Roger Twysden. In 1817 there was privately printed by Robert Triphook from a copy of Wyatt's manuscript 'Extracts from the Life of Queen Anne Boleigne, by
George Wyat. Written at the close of the XVIth century.' The full original manuscript in George Wyatt's autograph is among the Wyatt MSS. Twysden also based
on Wyatt's collections his 'Account of Queen Anne Bullen,' which was first issued privately in 1808; it has little likeness to Wyatt's autograph 'Life.'
The Wyatt MSS. contain letters and religious poems by George Wyatt, as well as a refutation of Nicholas Sanders's attacks on the characters of the two
Sir Thomas Wyatts. George Wyatt, who died in 1623, was father of Sir Francis Wyatt.
1. Ambassades de Messieurs de Noailles en Angleterre, iii. 15, 46.
2. ibid. iii. 59.
Source:
Lee, Sidney L. "Sir Thomas Wyatt, the Younger."
Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. LXIII. Sidney Lee, Ed.
New York: The Macmillan Company, 1900. 187-189.
Books for further study:
Fletcher, A. and D. MacCulloch. Tudor Rebellions.
Longman, 2008.
Slack, Paul. Rebellion, Popular Protest and the Social Order in Early Modern England.
Cambridge University Press, 1984.
to Queen Elizabeth I
to Sir Thomas Wyatt, the Elder
to Luminarium Encyclopedia
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