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Henry Howard (Earl of Surrey) (?1517-47)
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Henry Howard, the Earl of Surrey was the son of Thomas
Howard, the Duke of Norfolk, and was probably born at at
Kenninghall Palace - but was brought up at Windsor where
he was the childhood companion of Henry VIII's illegitimate
son the Duke of Richmond.
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Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey
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Like his friend Sir Thomas
Wyatt, Surrey was influenced by Italian writers and
especially Petrarch. He and Wyatt popularised the use of the
sonnet in English but it was Surrey who is credited with inventing the English version
of the sonnet which
had three quatrains and a final rhyming couplet (abab cdcd
efef gg) - as opposed
to the Italian sonnet which had 2 quatrains and a sestet. It
was this new type of sonnet which was used by Shakespeare in his renowned sonnet sequence. Surrey
also invented blank verse with his translation of books 2
and 4 of Virgil's Aeneid.
The Duke of
Norfolk built Surrey House (on Surrey Street) for
his son for when he was visting Norwich. Nothing now remains of the
original house - but George Skipper's Surrey House was built
on the same spot in 1903.
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Surrey House, Surrey Street,
Norwich |
Surrey also built for himself a
magnificent mansion on Mousehold Heath - overlooking the City
- which was known as Mount Surrey. It was built on the site
of the remains of St
Leonard's Priory and was set in acres of land. The location
of St Leonard's Priory can be seen on the map below:
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Site of St Leonard's Priory,
Norwich (Norfolk County Council) |
Surrey was a quick-tempered individual and was
involved in numerous wrangles. He was accused of various
minor offences but eventually he was tried and executed on
the charge of treasonably quartering the royal arms. He is
buried in Framlingham Church in Suffolk. After his death,
Mount Surrey fell into decay - but the ruins were
later used by Robert Kett as a place to keep his prisoners
during his 1549 rebellion. Kett's troops were stationed at
St Michael's Chapel - the remains of which are still present
today. This location is now known as Kett's Heights and
commands a spectacular view over the City.
The Norwich poet Ron Nevett
has written a fine sonnet about Surrey, his mansion and his
contribution to English literature: |
On the Earl of Surrey
Ah, Surrey! How you lost
your plumèd
Head to pride is not for fourteen lines
Nor
war in France, nor all the rumoured
Plots your squint eye
spots in those Holbeins
No, Surrey, you deserve a
sonnet's fame
For fashioning three-quatrains-and-a-couplet
That Shakespeare gave his loves to and his name:
But you were first to wear his satin doublet
As,
riding to your high-built Norwich mansion,
You mourned
for Windsor walls and tender Clere
And conquered Virgil
into English scansion
And wept for Wyatt as your only
peer
And cantered up Gas Hill on borrowed time
To
candle-lit Mount Surrey and sweet rhyme
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Surrey's Grave
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