Brain Snacks: Tasty Tidbits of Knowledge
Wyatt was once accused of having an affair with Anne Boleyn, Henry VIII's second wife. Talk about a scandal. (Source.)
While imprisoned in the tower of London on suspicion of adultery, Wyatt may have witnessed Anne Boleyn's execution. He wrote a poem about it called "Innocentia Veritas Viat Fides Circumdederunt Me Inimici Mei."
Sir Thomas Wyatt's son – Thomas Wyatt, the younger – led a rebellion against Queen Mary I (she was Henry VIII's daughter), a woman so cruel that she gained the nickname Bloody Mary. The rebellion failed, and Wyatt was executed. Well, that backfired. (Source.)
Wyatt, along with Henry Howard (often called the Earl of Surrey, or just Surrey) is credited with introducing the sonnet form into English. Where would Shakespeare be without him? (Source.)