Elizabeth Brooke, Lady Wyatt
Elizabeth Brooke was the wife of Thomas Wyatt, the poet, and the mother of Thomas Wyatt the younger who led Wyatt's Rebellion against Mary I. She was the sister of George Brooke, 9th Baron Cobham and was considered a possible candidate for the sixth wife of Henry VIII of England.[1]
Elizabeth separated from Thomas Wyatt and openly lived in adultery. He refused to financially support her, and after pursuing Anne Boleyn before her relationship with the King, he started a long-term affair with Elizabeth Darrell. The story that in 1540, Wyatt and Elizabeth were forced by Henry VIII to reconcile is based on the testimony of a single unreliable source and improbable. She should not be confused with her beautiful niece, Elisabeth Brooke, who married William Parr, 1st Marquess of Northampton and was close to Edward VI of England, Jane Grey and Elizabeth I of England.
On February 14, 1542 the night after Catherine Howard had been condemned to death for adultery, Henry VIII held a dinner for many men and women. He was said to pay great attention to Elizabeth and to Anne Bassett. Both were thought to be possible choices for wife number six.
[edit] Further reading
- 'The Mistresses of Henry VIII by Kelly Hart
- The Complete Poems (Penguin Classics) by Sir Thomas Wyatt
- The Life and Letters of Sir Thomas Wyatt (English Texts & Studies) by Kenneth Muir
[edit] References
- ^ Hart, Kelly (June 1, 2009). The Mistresses of Henry VIII (First ed.). The History Press. p. 197. ISBN 0752448358. http://books.google.com/books?id=r6HGPAAACAAJ.
