Elizabeth Brooke

Elizabeth Brooke, Lady Wyatt (1503–1560) was the wife of Thomas Wyatt, the poet, and the mother of Thomas Wyatt the younger who led Wyatt's Rebellion against Mary I. Her parents were Thomas Brooke, 8th Baron Cobham and Dorothy Heydon, the daughter of Henry Heydon. 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.

Marriage and issue Elizabeth married twice.

First Marriage

In 1520, Elizabeth married Thomas Wyatt and a year later, had a son: Thomas (1521–1554), who led an unsuccessful rebellion against Mary I in 1554. The aim of the rebellion was to replace the Catholic Queen Mary with her Protestant half-sister, Elizabeth. thumbnail Early in the marriage, marital difficulties arose, with Wyatt claiming they were "chiefly" her fault. He repudiated her as an adulteress, although there is no record linking her with any specific man. Elizabeth separated from Thomas Wyatt in 1526 and he supported her until around 1537, when he refused to do so any longer and sent her to live with her brother, Lord Cobham. In that same year, Lord Cobham attempted to force Wyatt to continue his financial support. Wyatt refused. It wasn't until 1541, when Wyatt, accused of treason, was arrested and his properties confiscated, that the Brooke family was able to force a reconciliation as a condition for Wyatt’s pardon. There is no evidence that this provision was ever enforced or existed. After pursuing Anne Boleyn, before her relationship with the king, Wyatt had begun a long-term affair with Elizabeth Darrell and he continued his association with his mistress.

Second marriage Following Wyatt’s death, Elizabeth Brooke married Edward Warner (1511–1565), of Polstead Hall and Plumstead, Norfolk, Lord Lieutenant of the Tower of London. The couple had three sons: Edward, who died in infancy Thomas Henry Warner was removed from his position on July 28, 1553, at the start of the reign of Mary I, and was arrested on suspicion of treason the following January at his house in Carter Lane when Thomas Wyatt the younger rebelled against the Crown. Warner was held for nearly a year. Elizabeth’s son was executed. Edward, the son she had with Warner, died young. Two other sons died in infancy. The family fortunes were restored under Elizabeth I and Warner reclaimed his post at the Tower of London. His wife died there in August 1560 and was buried within its precincts.

Ancestry