Thomas Wyatt the Younger (the 10th of September 1521 - the 11th of April 1554) was an English politician and rebel leader during the reign of Queen Mary I. He was the son of the poet and diplomat Sir Thomas Wyatt, who introduced the sonnet into English literature. He led what became known as Wyatt's Rebellion in early 1554 in opposition to Mary's planned marriage to Philip of Spain.
What caused Wyatt's Rebellion in 1554?
Wyatt's Rebellion was triggered by Queen Mary I's announced intention to marry Philip of Spain, which Wyatt viewed as an injustice to England. Wyatt's opposition to Spanish power had roots in his childhood experience of the Spanish Inquisition when he accompanied his father to Spain. Edward Courtenay, 1st Earl of Devon, approached Wyatt and encouraged him to resist the marriage, which prompted the conspiracy.
How many men did Thomas Wyatt the Younger command during his rebellion?
Wyatt initially commanded around 1,500 men when he set up headquarters in Rochester on the 26th of January 1554. By the time he marched through Gravesend and Dartford to Blackheath, his force had grown to four thousand men, boosted in part by defectors from the government's own forces under the Duke of Norfolk.
When and how was Thomas Wyatt the Younger executed?
Thomas Wyatt the Younger was executed on the 11th of April 1554. He was beheaded after being sentenced to death for high treason on the 15th of March 1554. Following his beheading, his head was hung from a gallows until it was stolen on the 17th of April, and his limbs were displayed in surrounding towns according to the standard punishment for treason.
Did Thomas Wyatt the Younger implicate Princess Elizabeth in the rebellion?
No. Wyatt's death sentence was deliberately delayed by the government in hopes he would provide evidence against Mary's half-sister Princess Elizabeth, but he refused to confess enough to put her in danger. On the scaffold, he explicitly exculpated both Elizabeth and Edward Courtenay, the Earl of Devon.
What happened to Thomas Wyatt the Younger's descendants?
Wyatt had six sons and four daughters with his wife Jane Haute. His son George Wyatt wrote a manuscript on the life of Anne Boleyn. George's son Sir Francis Wyatt served as governor of Virginia in 1621-26 and 1639-42. A great-grandson, Captain Henry Fleete, became an explorer and interpreter in Maryland and Virginia.