‘Poet’ Earl of Surrey

Renaissance poet, nobleman and fine soldier buried alongside his wife, Frances de Vere, in a fine alabaster tomb in St Michael’s Church Framlingham. Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey, was son of the 3rd Duke of Norfolk and reputedly developed the English sonnet – a form later mastered by William Shakespeare. As a young man, he found favour with Henry VIII, but was executed for treason on false charges in the Tower Hill.

Henry Howard (1517-1547)

‘Poet’ Earl of Surrey
  • One of the first poets to use blank verse in his translation of Virgil’s great classic The Aeneid
  • Reputedly developed the English sonnet alongside Sir Thomas Wyatt