I have posted about several people beheaded by King Henry VIII, such as Thomas More and Anne Boleyn. On the 13th of January, 1547, Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey, became the last man that King Henry VIII sent to the axe.
Born into the powerful Howard family, Surrey was the eldest son of Thomas Howard, the 3rd Duke of Norfolk, and Lady Elizabeth Stafford. As heir to the Duke of Norfolk, he enjoyed a privileged upbringing and close connections to the royal court. His early life was steeped in the politics and culture of the Tudor elite, and he was educated in the humanist tradition, which strongly influenced his later poetry. Surrey’s family were central figures in the turbulent world of Henry VIII’s England, and the Howard name often carried both prestige and danger.
Henry Howard is most famous today for his literary contributions. Alongside his friend and fellow poet Sir Thomas Wyatt, Surrey was a pioneer of the English Renaissance in literature. Together, they are credited with introducing new poetic forms into English verse, notably the sonnet. Surrey’s particular contribution was the development of the English, or Shakespearean, sonnet structure: three quatrains followed by a final rhyming couplet, using the rhyme scheme ABAB CDCD EFEF GG. While Shakespeare would later immortalise this form, Surrey’s experimentation laid the groundwork.
Another crucial literary innovation attributed to Surrey is his use of blank verse—unrhymed iambic pentameter—which he employed in his translation of parts of Virgil’s Aeneid. This was the first known use of blank verse in English poetry, and it would go on to dominate English dramatic and epic literature, particularly in the works of Christopher Marlowe and William Shakespeare. Surrey’s verse reflects the classical influences of the Renaissance, with a polished style that combines elegance with emotional restraint.
His poetry often explores themes of love, chivalry, honour, and melancholy. Some of his most enduring pieces are his reflective poems on the fleeting nature of youth and the inevitability of fortune’s changes. His work carries a tone of both courtly refinement and personal introspection, reflecting the pressures and uncertainties of life in Henry VIII’s court. Surrey also composed elegies and imaginative translations, contributing to the rise of a distinctly English poetic voice in the 16th century.
In addition to his literary life, Surrey was an accomplished soldier and courtier. He participated in Henry VIII’s military campaigns in France during the 1540s, fighting at the sieges of Landrecies and Montreuil, and later commanding English forces at Boulogne. He was knighted for his service and was recognised as a man of courage and military skill. Despite his achievements, he also developed a reputation for pride and a volatile temper, traits that would contribute to his downfall.
Surrey’s life was ultimately marred by the dangerous intrigues of Tudor politics. The Howard family’s proximity to the throne, combined with their Catholic sympathies and their links to the king’s various queens, made them frequent targets of suspicion. In 1546, as King Henry VIII’s health declined and factional struggles for power intensified, Surrey was accused of treason. His principal offence was the alleged display of the royal arms of England in his personal heraldry, which his enemies claimed suggested an ambition to the throne. Though the evidence was thin, the climate of paranoia at court sealed his fate.
Surrey was arrested, tried, and condemned for treason in January 1547. He was executed by beheading on Tower Hill, just a few days before the death of Henry VIII himself. His father, the Duke of Norfolk, narrowly escaped execution only because the king died before the sentence could be carried out. Surrey’s death cut short a life of great promise, leaving behind a legacy of poetry that would influence English literature for generations.
Posthumously, Henry Howard’s work reached wider audiences with the 1557 publication of Tottel’s Miscellany, the first printed anthology of English poetry, which included many of his poems. This collection helped secure his reputation as a foundational figure in the English Renaissance. Today, Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey, is remembered not only as a tragic courtier of Henry VIII but also as a poetic innovator whose experiments in form and metre shaped the course of English verse.