Henry VIII's Courtier, Sir Thomas Wyatt

No one represented the complexities of the court of Henry VIII better than Sir Thomas Wyatt, a skilled diplomat who was forced to live with the moral and mortal consequences of his shifting allegiances. He was also an outstanding and pioneering poet, who penned the first English sonnets. His satires covertly speak truth to power, alluding to events that it would have been treasonous to talk about openly. In this edition of Not Just the Tudors, Professor Suzannah Lipscomb talks to Professor Susan Brigden, author of Thomas Wyatt: The Heart's Forest, an outstanding biography which won the prestigious Wolfson History Prize. Keep up to date with everything early modern, from Henry VIII to the Sistine Chapel with our Tudor Tuesday newsletter >If you would like to learn more about history, we have hundreds of history documentaries, ad-free podcasts and audiobooks at History Hit >To download, go to Android or Apple store.