While working on my last book, "The Shadow of the White Rose, Edward Courtenay Earl of Devon, 1526 to 1556," I realized that I was only telling part of a story, as there are many links between Edward Courtenay and Thomas Wyatt the Younger, son of Thomas Wyatt the Elder. Thomas Wyatt the Elder receives partial credit for introducing the sonnet into English literature, later refined by William Shakespeare. Thomas the Younger is mainly known for leading a rebellion against the advent of Queen Mary of the House of Tudor.

Born into a Catholic family with a history of loyal service to the Crown, Thomas Wyatt the Younge was a supporter of Queen Mary -- until she decided to marry Philip II of Spain. Wyatt had seen the horrors of the Spanish Inquisition and was dead set against tying England to this "foreigner." What happened next helped Mary earn the moniker "Bloody Mary."

In this collection I have strived to bring together all known surviving documents from the life of Thomas Wyatt the Younger and present them in their original form, allowing the reader to piece together a pointillistic portrait of his protagonist. Here, he shows Wyatt's thinking, his bold strategies, and thedrama of the rebellion he led against the Queen.

This work is the product of many years of research in which I reviewed all that 600 years of history has recorded, and as when researching Edward Courtenay, I was particularly intrigued by references to missing or altered documents. The most valuable references are those from the period of Wyatt’s lifetime and immediately thereafter, such as the account recorded by John Proctor, who was a schoolmaster from Tunbridge Wells and published the events of the rebellion the following year, 1554. Although Proctor’s account may be slightly biased, his account is a valuable asset in comparison to those of other historians who do not offer as much detail. One additional account that is especially useful is provided by Raphael Holinshed, whose chronicles offer a rare and detailed account of a complete court trial of one of the conspirators; it is included in this edition.

Other notable historians of the period only recorded bits and pieces over the span of Wyatt’s life, but when these fragments are assembled, a portrait begins to emerge of a well-educated, intelligent and disciplined man. Wyatt stood firm in his belief to the very end and discarded what could have been a comfortable life, perhaps following his father in ambassadorial duties and a comfortable and dignified retirement.

This is the first complete edition about Thomas Wyatt the Younger and of the rebellion he led — which cost the lives of many who followed him — against the marriage of Queen Mary Tudor and Prince Philip of Spain. The resulting executions totaled into the many hundreds, making it one of England’s most violent periods of history.

The documents used in this edition are reproduced as near as may be to the way they were originally published (or the way they were originally handwritten). Due to the challenges of evolving standards of grammar, typography and orthography, some inconsistencies are unavoidable. My aim is to enable readers to see how each writer expressed himself or herself, preserving the flavor of Medieval English.