| Activity | Educated at St. John's College, Cambridge; graduated with B.A. in 1518, M.A. in 1520. Married 1520. 1524, Clerk of the King's Jewels; 1525, began career as diplomat, accompanying Sir Thomas Cheney on a dipolmatic mission to France; 1526-7, accomapnied Sir John Russell to the Papal Court; 1529-30, High Marshal at Calais; 1533, sworn of the Privy Council; 5 May 1536, sent to Tower of London as a witness against the Queen, in association with the discover yof Anne Boleyn's post-nuptial infidelities, released 14 Jun; 1536-7, knighted; 1537, Sheriff of Kent; Apr 1537-1539, ambassador to Emperor, Spain; 1540, sent to Tower of London; 1542, returned to Parliament as Knight of the Shire for Kent. Reputation as a writer of English verse, including sonnets, none of which were published during his lifetime. Many of his secular poems first printed in 1557, with those of Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey and anonymous authors, by Richard Tottel in a volume called 'Songes and Sonnettes' (known as 'Tottel's Miscellany'). |