How did the sonnet come to England?

The Sonnet form was introduced to England by Sir Thomas Wyatt and Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey in the 16th century. They adapted the Petrarchan form of the sonnet popularized by Italian poet Petrarch, creating the English or Shakespearean sonnet structure with 14 lines and a specific rhyme scheme. William Shakespeare later popularized the sonnet form in England through his famous sonnet sequences.