Post by Thomas Wyatt on Jun 13, 2010 14:13:11 GMT 1
CHARACTER'S BACKSTORY
Wyatt was born at Allington Castle, Kent, twenty miles from the Boleyn Home of Hever Castle. His father was a Privy Councillor for Henry VII and an adviser to King Henry VIII. Thomas entered the King's court at the age of thirteen in a position bearing the title of "Sewer Extraordinary" (the term sewer back then referred to a servant who waited at table).
He studied at Cambridge and in 1521 he later married Elizabeth Brooke, who had a Baron as her brother and royal blood in her veins. He separated from his wife after only about three years of marriage, and after accusing her of adultery. He acted as a Royal Ambassador and traveled all over Europe on the King's business.
During an official trip to Italy in 1527, he became acquainted with the work of the Italian love poets. Later, his translations of Petrarch introduced the sonnet into England. He was a friend of Henry Howard, the Earl of Surrey, and had a strong influence on the writing of the younger man; together Wyatt and Surrey are credited with being the founders of the school of English lyric poetry that flourished during the remainder of the 16th and continued into the 17th century.
He travelled to Rome in an attempt to get the Pope to grant Henry a divorce so that the King could marry Anne Boleyn and was knighted in 1535.
GENTILITY
He was the elder son of Henry Wyatt, afterward knighted.
POSITION
He held a number of official positions under Henry VIII, including those of Member of the Privy Council, Ambassador to Spain, Member of Parliament, and Commander of the Fleet. He was eventually knighted in 1535.
PERSONALITY TYPE
Sensitive and brilliant, he was the quintessential incurable romantic. Popular and handsome, he was much admired for his skill in music, languages and arms.
He was highly intelligent, witty, fearless of speech to the point of indiscretion. Impulsive and unsteady. Spoilt by an admiring father and friends.
Roger Ascham declares that "he was one of the best translators of the Latin poets of the age in which he lived". His fame rests chiefly on his poetry and diplomacy.
SIGNATURE LOOK
The Beard!
Leland described him as "tall in stature, with powerful muscles and sinews. His abundant hair was golden in youth, which he lost by degrees, and became bald, but there grew up instead a thick growth of his long beard".
ENDEARING TRAITS
He was the fulfillment of the Renaissance ideal; soldier, statesman, diplomat, courtier, lover, scholar and poet.
ANNOYING TRAITS
Too sensitive and he could get a bit monotonous about how he was treated by the women he loved.
AFTER STORY
On the 5th of May 1536 Wyatt was arrested on suspicion of treason with Anne Boleyn and George Boleyn, Mark Smeaton, William Brereton, Henry Norris and Francis Weston. He was bound, fettered and marched to the Tower by Archers of the King's Bodyguard, "No one dare say a word for him". When arrested Wyatt replied "the King well knows what I told him before he was married". Cromwell wrote to Wyatt's father on the 11th of May that his life was to be spared. No legal proceedings were taken against him, and he was released on the 14th of June 1536. His sister Mary (Margaret?) attended Anne Boleyn on the scaffold. Wyatt however had not forfeited the King's favour, and Cromwell still treated him with marked confidence. In October 1536 he was given a command against the rebels in Lincolnshire in the 'Pilgrimage of the Grace'. In 1537 he became Sheriff of Kent.
In April of the same year he was appointed Ambassador to the Emperor Charles V, and he remained abroad, mostly in Spain, until April 1539.
He returned to England in time to witness the fall of his patron and friend, Thomas Cromwell. He also witnessed his execution, the two men exchanged words before Cromwell ascended the scaffold.
After Cromwell's demise he was arrested again, his property of Allington Castle underwent a search, the stress of which almost caused Elizabeth Darrell, Wyatt's lifelong mistress whom he had been residing with, to miscarry. He was sent to the Tower for making disprespectful utterances about the King to the Spanish Ambassador. Katherine Howard interceded and he was released. Her mother was a Culpepper, friend and neighbour of the Wyatt’s of Kent, "On condition that he take back his wife from whom he had been separated fifteen years ago". He had been separated from his wife for upwards of fifteen years. Wyatt had cast her away on account of adultery, and had not seen her for many years; he was now obliged to receive her, and should he not do so, and not lead a conjugal life with her, or should he be found to keep up adulterous relations with one or two other ladies that he has since lived with, he was to suffer pain of death and confiscation of property.
Notwithstanding, Wyatt retired to Allington. Elizabeth Darrell, Lady Poynings, and Wyatt’s son and daughter-in-law were also there. He was made High Steward of the manor of Maidstone, and early in 1542 he was sent to Falmouth to conduct the Imperial Ambassador to London. The heat of the weather and the fatigue of the journey brought on a violent fever, which compelled him to halt at Sherborne Abbey in Dorset. There Wyatt died at the age of thirty-nine, and on the 11th of October 1542 he was buried in the great church of Sherborne.
CHARACTER CONNECTIONS
Father: Henry Wyatt ( Privy Councillor to Henry VII)
Mother: Anne Skinner
Sister: Margaret Wyatt (later Margaret Lee)
Sister: Mary Wyatt
Brother: George Wyatt (historians may have confused his brother with his grandson)
Wife: Elizabeth Brooke
Son: Thomas Wyatt (with Elizabeth Brooke)
Daughter: Anne Wyatt (with Elizabeth Brooke)
Son: Henry Wyatt (with Elizabeth Darrell; died in infantcy)
Son: Francis Wyatt (with Elizabeth Darrell; retained the name Darrell)
Son: Edward Wyatt (with Elizabeth Darrell)
Godfather: Thomas Howard, the third Duke of Norfolk
ROMANCES
Anne Boleyn - early to mid 1520's (no evidence that Wyatt's love was reciprocated)
Mary Sheldon (sister of Margaret, Madge Sheldon) - 1530's
Elizabeth Darrell - may have known her as early as 1534, but she didn't become his mistress until 1536, and remained so until his death in 1542 (his last and most stable relationship)
MARRIED
Elizabeth Brooke (1521) - sister of George Brooke, 9th Baron Cobham - separated in 1524 when Thomas charged his wife with adultery
FRIENDS
Thomas Cromwell
Mark Smeaton
George Boleyn
Anne Boleyn
Katherine Howard
ENEMIES
Charles Brandon
TIMELINE OF THOMAS WYATT
1530
Returned to court to resume his place as esquire of the royal body.
1532
Became commissioner of the peace in Essex.
Came under the patronage of Thomas Cromwell.
1534
Involved in a “great affray” with the sergeants of London and briefly imprisoned.
Henry VIII acknowledged “Supreme Head on Earth” of the Church of England.
1536
Became involved with Elizabeth Darrell, his lifelong mistress.
Fall of Anne Boleyn.
Imprisoned in Tower with five other men. He, George Boleyn, Mark Smeaton, Henry Norris, William Brereton and Francis Weston were all suspected of being lovers of Anne, but he was released and restored, and then a few months afterward, was made Sheriff of Kent and led soldiers to quell an uprising.
1537
Made ambassador at the court of the Holy Roman Emperor, Charles V.
1538
Returned to England.
Charged with treason but cleared.
1539
Another diplomatic mission to Charles V’s court.
1540
His patron and friend, Thomas Cromwell, was executed.
1541
Arrested and imprisoned for making offensive utterances about the King to the Ambassador of Spain.
Pardoned due to the interference of the new Queen of England, Katherine Howard, under conditions of his wife’s reinstatement.
1542
Died of fever on his way to meet and escort to London the Spanish envoy. He made it as far as Dorset, and was buried in Sherborne Abbey.
Sidenote: While i played Thomas Wyatt on Kingdom, i will be starting him here on a blank slate as well.
Wyatt was born at Allington Castle, Kent, twenty miles from the Boleyn Home of Hever Castle. His father was a Privy Councillor for Henry VII and an adviser to King Henry VIII. Thomas entered the King's court at the age of thirteen in a position bearing the title of "Sewer Extraordinary" (the term sewer back then referred to a servant who waited at table).
He studied at Cambridge and in 1521 he later married Elizabeth Brooke, who had a Baron as her brother and royal blood in her veins. He separated from his wife after only about three years of marriage, and after accusing her of adultery. He acted as a Royal Ambassador and traveled all over Europe on the King's business.
During an official trip to Italy in 1527, he became acquainted with the work of the Italian love poets. Later, his translations of Petrarch introduced the sonnet into England. He was a friend of Henry Howard, the Earl of Surrey, and had a strong influence on the writing of the younger man; together Wyatt and Surrey are credited with being the founders of the school of English lyric poetry that flourished during the remainder of the 16th and continued into the 17th century.
He travelled to Rome in an attempt to get the Pope to grant Henry a divorce so that the King could marry Anne Boleyn and was knighted in 1535.
GENTILITY
He was the elder son of Henry Wyatt, afterward knighted.
POSITION
He held a number of official positions under Henry VIII, including those of Member of the Privy Council, Ambassador to Spain, Member of Parliament, and Commander of the Fleet. He was eventually knighted in 1535.
PERSONALITY TYPE
Sensitive and brilliant, he was the quintessential incurable romantic. Popular and handsome, he was much admired for his skill in music, languages and arms.
He was highly intelligent, witty, fearless of speech to the point of indiscretion. Impulsive and unsteady. Spoilt by an admiring father and friends.
Roger Ascham declares that "he was one of the best translators of the Latin poets of the age in which he lived". His fame rests chiefly on his poetry and diplomacy.
SIGNATURE LOOK
The Beard!
Leland described him as "tall in stature, with powerful muscles and sinews. His abundant hair was golden in youth, which he lost by degrees, and became bald, but there grew up instead a thick growth of his long beard".
ENDEARING TRAITS
He was the fulfillment of the Renaissance ideal; soldier, statesman, diplomat, courtier, lover, scholar and poet.
ANNOYING TRAITS
Too sensitive and he could get a bit monotonous about how he was treated by the women he loved.
AFTER STORY
On the 5th of May 1536 Wyatt was arrested on suspicion of treason with Anne Boleyn and George Boleyn, Mark Smeaton, William Brereton, Henry Norris and Francis Weston. He was bound, fettered and marched to the Tower by Archers of the King's Bodyguard, "No one dare say a word for him". When arrested Wyatt replied "the King well knows what I told him before he was married". Cromwell wrote to Wyatt's father on the 11th of May that his life was to be spared. No legal proceedings were taken against him, and he was released on the 14th of June 1536. His sister Mary (Margaret?) attended Anne Boleyn on the scaffold. Wyatt however had not forfeited the King's favour, and Cromwell still treated him with marked confidence. In October 1536 he was given a command against the rebels in Lincolnshire in the 'Pilgrimage of the Grace'. In 1537 he became Sheriff of Kent.
In April of the same year he was appointed Ambassador to the Emperor Charles V, and he remained abroad, mostly in Spain, until April 1539.
He returned to England in time to witness the fall of his patron and friend, Thomas Cromwell. He also witnessed his execution, the two men exchanged words before Cromwell ascended the scaffold.
After Cromwell's demise he was arrested again, his property of Allington Castle underwent a search, the stress of which almost caused Elizabeth Darrell, Wyatt's lifelong mistress whom he had been residing with, to miscarry. He was sent to the Tower for making disprespectful utterances about the King to the Spanish Ambassador. Katherine Howard interceded and he was released. Her mother was a Culpepper, friend and neighbour of the Wyatt’s of Kent, "On condition that he take back his wife from whom he had been separated fifteen years ago". He had been separated from his wife for upwards of fifteen years. Wyatt had cast her away on account of adultery, and had not seen her for many years; he was now obliged to receive her, and should he not do so, and not lead a conjugal life with her, or should he be found to keep up adulterous relations with one or two other ladies that he has since lived with, he was to suffer pain of death and confiscation of property.
Notwithstanding, Wyatt retired to Allington. Elizabeth Darrell, Lady Poynings, and Wyatt’s son and daughter-in-law were also there. He was made High Steward of the manor of Maidstone, and early in 1542 he was sent to Falmouth to conduct the Imperial Ambassador to London. The heat of the weather and the fatigue of the journey brought on a violent fever, which compelled him to halt at Sherborne Abbey in Dorset. There Wyatt died at the age of thirty-nine, and on the 11th of October 1542 he was buried in the great church of Sherborne.
CHARACTER CONNECTIONS
Father: Henry Wyatt ( Privy Councillor to Henry VII)
Mother: Anne Skinner
Sister: Margaret Wyatt (later Margaret Lee)
Sister: Mary Wyatt
Brother: George Wyatt (historians may have confused his brother with his grandson)
Wife: Elizabeth Brooke
Son: Thomas Wyatt (with Elizabeth Brooke)
Daughter: Anne Wyatt (with Elizabeth Brooke)
Son: Henry Wyatt (with Elizabeth Darrell; died in infantcy)
Son: Francis Wyatt (with Elizabeth Darrell; retained the name Darrell)
Son: Edward Wyatt (with Elizabeth Darrell)
Godfather: Thomas Howard, the third Duke of Norfolk
ROMANCES
Anne Boleyn - early to mid 1520's (no evidence that Wyatt's love was reciprocated)
Mary Sheldon (sister of Margaret, Madge Sheldon) - 1530's
Elizabeth Darrell - may have known her as early as 1534, but she didn't become his mistress until 1536, and remained so until his death in 1542 (his last and most stable relationship)
MARRIED
Elizabeth Brooke (1521) - sister of George Brooke, 9th Baron Cobham - separated in 1524 when Thomas charged his wife with adultery
FRIENDS
Thomas Cromwell
Mark Smeaton
George Boleyn
Anne Boleyn
Katherine Howard
ENEMIES
Charles Brandon
TIMELINE OF THOMAS WYATT
1530
Returned to court to resume his place as esquire of the royal body.
1532
Became commissioner of the peace in Essex.
Came under the patronage of Thomas Cromwell.
1534
Involved in a “great affray” with the sergeants of London and briefly imprisoned.
Henry VIII acknowledged “Supreme Head on Earth” of the Church of England.
1536
Became involved with Elizabeth Darrell, his lifelong mistress.
Fall of Anne Boleyn.
Imprisoned in Tower with five other men. He, George Boleyn, Mark Smeaton, Henry Norris, William Brereton and Francis Weston were all suspected of being lovers of Anne, but he was released and restored, and then a few months afterward, was made Sheriff of Kent and led soldiers to quell an uprising.
1537
Made ambassador at the court of the Holy Roman Emperor, Charles V.
1538
Returned to England.
Charged with treason but cleared.
1539
Another diplomatic mission to Charles V’s court.
1540
His patron and friend, Thomas Cromwell, was executed.
1541
Arrested and imprisoned for making offensive utterances about the King to the Ambassador of Spain.
Pardoned due to the interference of the new Queen of England, Katherine Howard, under conditions of his wife’s reinstatement.
1542
Died of fever on his way to meet and escort to London the Spanish envoy. He made it as far as Dorset, and was buried in Sherborne Abbey.
Sidenote: While i played Thomas Wyatt on Kingdom, i will be starting him here on a blank slate as well.
