Thomas Wyatt
In May of 1534, Wyatt was imprisoned in Fleet Prison for killing one of the guard in London in a fight. This was a minor offense, so he was released quickly. But in 1536, Anne Boleyn was arrested and beheaded. She had been accused of having other lovers while married to King Henry. Around this time, Wyatt was also arrested and locked up in the Tower of London. No reason was given for Wyatt's arrest, but there were rumors that it had something to do with Anne Boleyn. It is still unclear today whether Anne Boleyn and Thomas Wyatt ever had an affair. Some of Wyatt's poems make this seem true. Nicholas Sanders, a Catholic poet, thought that Wyatt told King Henry VIII not to marry her because she was impure. He thought that Wyatt told the King about their affair to convince the King not to marry Anne. Sanders said that Wyatt was released because he had tried to warn the King that Anne would be a bad wife. Wyatt's grandson, George Wyatt, disagreed. George Wyatt said that his grandfather never had an affair with Boleyn because she rejected him. Whether or not Wyatt had a relationship with Boleyn, he was released from prison after a month. He was soon given several promotions. The promotions show that either the King forgave Wyatt or that he wasn't very mad at Wyatt in the first place. Soon, Wyatt became the Sheriff of Kent.