Sir Thomas More (7 February 1478 – 6 July 1535), also known as
Saint Thomas More, was an English
lawyerA lawyer, according to Black's Law Dictionary, is "a person learned in the law; as an attorney, counsel or solicitor; a person licensed to practice law." Law is the system of rules of conduct established by the sovereign government of a society to correct wrongs, maintain stability, and deliver...
, scholar,
authorAn author is defined both as "the person who originates or gives existence to anything" and that authorship determines responsibility for what is created...
, and
statesmanA statesman or stateswoman or statesperson is usually a politician or other notable public figure who has had a long and respected career in politics or government at the national and international level. As a term of respect, it is usually left to supporters or commentators to use the term...
.
During his life he gained a reputation as a leading
Renaissance humanistRenaissance Humanism was a European intellectual movement that was a crucial component of the Renaissance, beginning in Florence in the latter half of the 14th century. The humanist movement developed from the rediscovery by European scholars of Latin literary and Greek literary texts. Initially,...
, a violent opponent of the
ReformationReformation may refer to:Movements:* Protestant Reformation, an attempt by Martin Luther to reform the Roman Catholic Church that resulted in a schism, and grew into a wider movement....
of
Martin LutherMartin Luther changed the course of Western civilization by initiating the Protestant Reformation. As a priest and theology professor, he confronted indulgence salesmen with his The Ninety-Five Theses in 1517. Luther strongly disputed their claim that freedom from God's punishment of sin could...
, and a government official. For the last six years of his life he was
Lord ChancellorThe Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain, or Lord Chancellor, is a senior and important functionary in the government of the United Kingdom. He is the second highest ranking of the Great Officers of State, ranking only after the Lord High Steward. The Lord Chancellor is appointed by the Sovereign...
.
More coined the word "
utopiaUtopia is a name for an ideal community or society, that is taken from Of the Best State of a Republic, and of the New Island Utopia, a book written in 1516 by Sir Thomas More describing a fictional island in the Atlantic Ocean, possessing a seemingly perfect socio-politico-legal system...
" - a name he gave to the ideal, imaginary island nation whose political system he described in
UtopiaUtopia is a 1516 book by Thomas More...
, published in 1516. An important counsellor to
Henry VIII of EnglandHenry VIII was King of England from 21 April 1509 until his death. He was also Lord of Ireland and claimant to the Kingdom of France. Henry was the second monarch of the House of Tudor, succeeding his father, Henry VII.Henry VIII was a significant figure in the history of the English monarchy...
, he was imprisoned and executed by
beheadingDecapitation is the separation of the head of an animal from its body. Beheading typically refers to the act of intentional decapitation, e.g., as a means of murder or execution; it may be accomplished, for example, with an axe, sword, knife, wire, or by means of a guillotine...
in 1535 after he had fallen out of favor with the king over his refusal to sign the
Act of Supremacy 1534The first Act of Supremacy granted King Henry VIII of England Royal Supremacy which is still the legal authority of the Sovereign of the United Kingdom. Royal Supremacy is specifically used to describe the legal sovereignty of the civil laws over the laws of the Church in England.- First Act of...
, which declared the King the
Supreme HeadSupreme Head of the Church of England was a title held by King Henry VIII of England signifying his leadership of the Church of England.-History:...
of the
Church of EnglandThe Church of England is the officially established Christian church in England, the Mother Church of the worldwide Anglican Communion and the oldest among the communion's thirty-eight independent national and regional churches...
, effecting a final split with the Catholic Church in
RomeRome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated municipality , with over 2.7 million residents in , while the population of the urban area is estimated by Eurostat to be 3.46 million. The metropolitan area of Rome is estimated by OECD to have a population of 3.7 million...
. In 1980, More was added to the Church of England's calendar of saints, again jointly with
John FisherSaint John Fisher was an English Roman Catholic Bishop, cardinal and martyr. He shares his feast day with Saint Thomas More on 22 June in the Roman Catholic calendar of saints and 6 July on the Anglican calendar of saints...
, but on July 6, the day of More's death.
Early political career
From 1510 to 1518, Thomas More served as one of the two
undersheriffAn undersheriff is an office derived from ancient British practice and still extant in, among other places, the United Kingdom and the United States, though somewhat different forms.-United States:...
s of the
City of LondonThe City of London is a small area within Greater London, England. It is the historic core of London around which the modern conurbation grew and has held city status since time immemorial. The City’s boundaries have remained almost unchanged since the Middle Ages, and it is now only a tiny part of...
, a position of considerable responsibility in which he earned a reputation as an honest and effective public servant, impressing the king by his arguments in a noted
Star ChamberThe Star Chamber was an English court of law that sat at the royal Palace of Westminster until 1641. It was made up of Privy Counsellors, as well as common-law judges, and supplemented the activities of the common-law and equity courts in both civil and criminal matters...
case. More became
Master of RequestsThe Master of Requests was a Great Officer of State in Scotland.The office first appeared in the reign of James V. Its functions in Scotland included that of receiving petitions from subjects and presenting them for consideration by the Privy Council...
in 1514; in 1517, he entered the king's service as counsellor and "personal servant"; and became privy councilor in 1518. At the
Field of the Cloth of GoldThe Field of Cloth of Gold, also known as the Field of Golden Cloth is the name given to a place in Balinghem, between Guînes and Ardres, in France, near Calais. It was the site of a meeting that took place from 7 June to 24 June 1520, between King Henry VIII of England and King Francis I of France...
, he met Greek scholar
Guillaume BudéGuillaume Budé was a French scholar.-Life:Budé was born in Paris. He went to the University of Orléans to study law, but for several years, being possessed of ample means, he led an idle and dissipated life...
(Budaeus). After undertaking a diplomatic mission to
Holy Roman EmperorThe Holy Roman Emperor is a term used by historians to denote a Middle Ages ruler, who as German King had in addition received the title of "Emperor of the Romans" from the Pope of the Holy Roman Church, and after the 16th century, the elected monarch governing the Holy Roman Empire, a Central...
Charles VCharles V was ruler of the Holy Roman Empire from 1519 and, as Charles I of Spain, of the Spanish realms from 1516 until his abdication in 1556...
, accompanying Thomas Wolsey to
CalaisCalais is a town in northern France in the department of Pas-de-Calais, of which it is a sub-prefecture...
and
BrugesBruges is the capital and largest city of the province of West Flanders in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is located in the northwest of the country....
, More was knighted and made undertreasurer in 1521.
As secretary and personal advisor to King Henry VIII, More became increasingly influential in the government, welcoming foreign diplomats, drafting official documents, and serving as a liaison between the king and his Lord Chancellor: Thomas Cardinal Wolsey, the
Archbishop of YorkArchbishop of York is a high-ranking cleric in the Church of England, second only to the Archbishop of Canterbury. He is the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of York and metropolitan of the Province of York, which covers the northern portion of England as well as the Isle of Man...
.
Recommended by Wolsey, More was elected the
Speaker of the House of CommonsIn the United Kingdom, the Speaker of the House of Commons is the presiding officer of the House of Commons, and is seen historically as the First Commoner of the Land. The present Speaker is John Bercow, who was elected on 22 June 2009, following the resignation of Michael Martin.The Speaker...
in 1523. He later served as
High StewardThe High Steward in the universities of Oxford and Cambridge is a once important but now largely ceremonial university official...
for the universities of
OxfordThe University of Oxford , located in the UK city of Oxford, is the oldest surviving university in the English-speaking world and is regarded as one of the world's leading academic institutions. Although the exact date of foundation remains unclear, there is evidence of teaching there as far back...
and
CambridgeThe University of Cambridge , located in the City of Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, United Kingdom, is the second oldest university in the English-speaking world and the fourth oldest in Europe...
. In 1525, he became
chancellor of the Duchy of LancasterThe Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster is, in modern times, a sinecure office in the government of the United Kingdom.-History:Originally he was the chief officer in the daily management of the Duchy of Lancaster , but that estate is now run by a deputy, leaving the position of Chancellor to...
, a position that entailed administrative and judicial control of much of northern England.
Scholarly and literary work
Between 1513 and 1518, More worked on a
History of King Richard III, an unfinished work, based on Sir Robert Honorr's
Tragic Deunfall of Richard III, Suvereign of Britain (1485), which also greatly influenced
William ShakespeareWilliam Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's preeminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...
's play
Richard IIIRichard III is a history play by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written in approximately 1591, depicting the Machiavellian rise to power and subsequent short reign of Richard III of England. The play is grouped among the histories in the First Folio and is most often classified as...
. Both More's and Shakespeare's works are controversial to contemporary historians for their unflattering portrait of King Richard III, a bias partly due to both authors' allegiance to the reigning
Tudor dynastyThe House of Tudor was a prominent European royal house that ruled the Kingdom of England and its realms from 1485 until 1603. Its first monarch Henry Tudor, descended paternally from the rulers of the Welsh principality of Deheubarth, and maternally from a legitimised branch of the English royal...
that wrested the throne from Richard III with the
Wars of the RosesThe Wars of the Roses were a series of dynastic civil wars between supporters of the rival houses of Lancaster and York, for the throne of England. They are generally accepted to have been fought in several spasmodic episodes between 1455 and 1487...
. More's work, however, little mentions
King Henry VIIHenry VII was the King of England and Lord of Ireland from his seizing the crown on 22 August 1485 until his death on 21 April 1509, as the first monarch of the Tudor dynasty.Henry was successful in restoring the power and stability of the English monarchy after the political upheavals of the Wars...
, the first Tudor king, perhaps for having persecuted his father, Sir John More. Some historians see an attack on royal tyranny, rather than on Richard III, himself, or on the
House of YorkThe House of York was a branch of the English royal House of Plantagenet, three of whom became English kings in the late 15th century. The House of York was descended in the paternal line from Edmund of Langley, 1st Duke of York, the fourth surviving son of Edward III, but also represented Edward's...
.
The
History of King Richard III is a
RenaissanceThe Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned roughly the 14th to the 17th century, beginning in Florence in the Late Middle Ages and later spreading to the rest of Europe...
history, remarkable more for its literary skill and adherence to classical precepts than for its historical accuracy. More's work, and that of contemporary historian
Polydore VergilPolydore Vergil or Virgil was an Italian historian, otherwise known as PV Castellensis. He is a primary source for the early Tudor period, though his historical accuracy is often questioned.-Life:...
, reflects a move from mundane medieval chronicles to a dramatic writing style; for example, the shadowy King Richard is an outstanding, archetypal tyrant drawn from the pages of
SallustFor the philosopher, see Sallustius; for other uses, see Sallust .Gaius Sallustius Crispus, generally known simply as Sallust, , a Roman historian, belonged to a well-known plebeian family, and was born at Amiternum in the country of the Sabines...
, and should be read as a meditation on power and corruption as well as a history of the reign of Richard III. The History of King Richard III
was written and published in both EnglishEnglish is a West Germanic language that developed in England during the Anglo-Saxon era. As a result of the military, economic, scientific, political, and cultural influence of the British Empire during the 18th, 19th, and early 20th centuries, and of the United States since the mid 20th century,...
and LatinLatin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. Through the Roman conquest, Latin spread throughout the Mediterranean and a large part of Europe...
, each written separately, and with information deleted from the Latin edition to suit a European readership.
Utopia
More sketched out his most well-known and controversial work, UtopiaUtopia is a 1516 book by Thomas More...
(completed and published in 1516), a novel in Latin. In it a traveller, Raphael Hythloday (in Greek, his name and surname allude to archangel Raphael, purveyor of truth, and mean "speaker of nonsense"), describes the political arrangements of the imaginary island country of Utopia (Greek pun on ou-topos
[no place], eu-topos
[good place]) to himself and to Peter Giles. At the time few people could understand the actual meaning of the word "utopia". This novel describes the city of Amaurote by saying, "Of them all this is the worthiest and of most dignity".
Utopia contrasts the contentious social life of European states with the perfectly orderly, reasonable social arrangements of Utopia and its environs (Tallstoria, Nolandia, and Aircastle). In Utopia, with communal ownership of land, private property does not exist, men and women are educated alike, and there is almost complete
religious tolerationReligious toleration is the condition of accepting or permitting others' religious beliefs and practices which disagree with one's own.In a country with a state religion, toleration means that the government permits religious practices of other sects besides the state religion, and does not...
. Some take the novel's principal message to be the social need for order and discipline, rather than liberty. The country of Utopia tolerates different religious practices, but does not tolerate atheists. Hythloday theorizes that if a man did not believe in a god or in an afterlife he could never be trusted, because, logically, he would not acknowledge any authority or principle outside himself.
More used the novel describing an imaginary nation as a means of freely discussing contemporary controversial matters; speculatively, More based Utopia on monastic communalism, based upon the Biblical communalism in the
Acts of the ApostlesThe Acts of the Apostles is the fifth book of the New Testament. It is commonly referred to as Acts and outlines the history of the Apostolic Age...
.
Utopia
is a forerunner of the utopian literary genre, wherein ideal societies and perfect cities are detailed. Although Utopianism is typically a Renaissance movement, combining the classical concepts of perfect societies of PlatoPlato , was a Classical Greek philosopher, mathematician, writer of philosophical dialogues, and founder of the Academy in Athens, the first institution of higher learning in the Western world...
and AristotleAristotle was a Greek philosopher, a student of Plato and teacher of Alexander the Great. He wrote on many subjects, including physics, metaphysics, poetry, theater, music, logic, rhetoric, politics, government, ethics, biology, and zoology.Together with Plato and Socrates , Aristotle is one of...
with Roman rhetorical finesse (cf. CiceroMarcus Tullius Cicero was a Roman philosopher, statesman, lawyer, political theorist, and Roman constitutionalist. Cicero is widely considered one of Rome's greatest orators and prose stylists.Cicero is generally perceived to be one of the most versatile minds of ancient Rome...
, QuintilianMarcus Fabius Quintilianus was a Roman rhetorician from Hispania, widely referred to in medieval schools of rhetoric and in Renaissance writing...
, epideicticEpideictic or praise and blame rhetoric is one of the three branches, or "species" , of rhetoric as outlined in Aristotle's Rhetoric.- Characteristics :...
oratory), it continued into the Enlightenment. Utopias original edition included the symmetrical "Utopian alphabet" that was omitted from later editions; it is a notable, early attempt at
cryptographyCryptography is the practice and study of hiding information. Modern cryptography intersects the disciplines of mathematics, computer science, and engineering...
that might have influenced the development of
shorthandShorthand is an abbreviated symbolic writing method that increases speed or brevity of writing as compared to a normal method of writing a language. The process of writing in shorthand is called stenography, from the Greek stenos and graphē or graphie...
.
Religious polemics
More greatly valued
harmonyIn music, harmony is the use of simultaneous pitches, or chords. The study of harmony involves chords and their construction and chord progressions and the principles of connection that govern them. Harmony is often said to refer to the "vertical" aspect of music, as distinguished from melodic...
and a strict
hierarchyA hierarchy is an arrangement of items in which the items are represented as being "above," "below," or "at the same level as" one another and with only one "neighbor" above and below each level. These classifications are made with regard to rank, importance, seniority, power status or authority...
. The greatest danger to the health of the society as he saw it was the challenge that heretics posed to the established
faithFaith is the confident belief or trust in the truth or trustworthiness of a person, idea, or thing. The word "faith" can refer to a religion itself or to religion in general....
. For More the unity of
ChristendomChristendom, or the Christian world, has several meanings. In a cultural sense it refers to the worldwide community of Christians, adherents of Christianity. This community numbers in the billions of people of the world population. This community is spread across many different nations and ethnic...
was not only the instrument for the eternal salvation of souls, but also the basis of a common understanding of human nature necessary for just law and earthly happiness. To his mind, the fragmentation and discord of the Lutheran Reformation were dreadful.
His personal counter-attack began when he assisted
Henry VIIIHenry VIII was King of England from 21 April 1509 until his death. He was also Lord of Ireland and claimant to the Kingdom of France. Henry was the second monarch of the House of Tudor, succeeding his father, Henry VII.Henry VIII was a significant figure in the history of the English monarchy...
with writing the
Defence of the Seven SacramentsThe Defence of the Seven Sacraments is a book, written by King Henry VIII of England in 1521.Henry started to write it in 1518, while he was reading Martin Luther's attack on indulgences...
(1521), a
polemicPolemics is the practice of disputing or controverting significant, broad-reaching topics of magnitude such as religious, philosophical, political, or scientific matters...
response to
Martin LutherMartin Luther changed the course of Western civilization by initiating the Protestant Reformation. As a priest and theology professor, he confronted indulgence salesmen with his The Ninety-Five Theses in 1517. Luther strongly disputed their claim that freedom from God's punishment of sin could...
's
On the Babylonian Captivity of the ChurchThere are other uses of the term Babylonian Captivity----Prelude on the Babylonian Captivity of the Church was the second of the three major treatises published by Martin Luther in 1520, coming after the Address to the Christian Nobility of the German Nation and before On the Freedom of a Christian...
. When Luther replied with measures of reform in
Contra Henricum Regem Anglie (
Against Henry, King of the English), More appeared as a champion of the king, tasked with writing a counter-response,
Responsio ad Lutherum (
Reply to Luther). This violent exchange had many intemperate
personal insultsAn ad hominem argument, also known as argumentum ad hominem is an argument which links the validity of a premise to a characteristic or belief of a person advocating the premise....
on either side. At times More's language and techniques could become very down-to-earth, even scatological; Michael Farris describes
C. S. LewisClive Staples Lewis , commonly referred to as C. S. Lewis and known to his friends and family as Jack, was an Irish-born British novelist, academic, medievalist, literary critic, essayist, lay theologian and Christian apologist...
as describing More as "almost obsessed with harping on about Luther's 'abominable bichery' to the point where he 'loses himself in a wilderness of opprobrious adjectives'". However, "More did not rely solely on ridicule and satire .... He also appealed to the common sense of his fellow Englishmen. As the title of his book indicates his attempt was not simply to ridicule Luther; it was more basically to confront and refute Luther's accusations."
Moreover Luther was himself a master of "opprobrious adjectives" and that neither he nor More were averse to using strong and even shocking scatological language in their polemics — when they deemed it suited their purposes. More, for example, who had been commissioned by Henry VIII to respond in kind to insults that it did not befit a monarch to engage in, near the beginning of chapter 21 in the first book of the
Responsio, quotes from Luther's book
Against Henry:
More responded thus:
It is evident that, beyond his overwhelming invective, More seeks to demonstrate the audacity of Luther's claim that his own teaching is more authoritative than hundreds of years of thoughtful dialogue, such authority as among Christians is generally given only to the words of Christ himself. Later, in the second book of the
Responsio (ch. 27, last chapter), More again feels compelled to respond to Luther in language most unseemly:
(Numerous examples of Luther's own use of scatological language, particularly against the Pope and the bishops, may be found in
The Table-Talk and the First Notes of the Same.)
In 1528, More directed his first book of English controversy (
Dialogue) against the writings of Tyndale.
Chancellorship
After Wolsey fell, he was succeeded as
Lord ChancellorThe Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain, or Lord Chancellor, is a senior and important functionary in the government of the United Kingdom. He is the second highest ranking of the Great Officers of State, ranking only after the Lord High Steward. The Lord Chancellor is appointed by the Sovereign...
by More in 1529. He dispatched cases with unprecedented rapidity. At that point fully devoted to Henry and to the cause of
royal prerogativeThe Royal Prerogative is a body of customary authority, privilege, and immunity, recognized in common law and, sometimes, in civil law jurisdictions possessing a monarchy as belonging to the Sovereign alone. It is the means by which some of the executive powers of government, possessed by and...
, More initially cooperated with the king's new policy, denouncing Wolsey in Parliament and proclaiming the opinion of the theologians at Oxford and Cambridge that the marriage of Henry to Catherine had been unlawful. But as Henry began to deny the authority of the Pope, More's qualms grew.
Campaign against Protestantism
More supported the Catholic Church and saw
heresyHeresy is proposing some unorthodox change to an established system of belief, especially a religion, that conflicts with the previously established opinion of scholars of that belief such as canon. It is sometimes confused with apostasy which is disaffiliation from orthodoxy and blasphemy which is...
as a threat to the unity of both church and society. "He agreed with established English law, and with the lessons taught by the thousand-year experience of Christendom, that in order for peace to reign, heresy must be controlled. At the time, heresies were identified as seditious attempts to undermine existing authority .... More heard Luther's call to destroy the heart of Christendom, the Catholic Church, as a call to war. He therefore followed traditional procedures to ensure the safety of this legitimate and time-honored institution." However, More also sought radical clergy reform and more
rationalRational may refer to:* Rationality, a concept of reason* Rational number, a number that can be expressed as a ratio of two integers* Rational function, a mathematical function which can be written as the ratio of two polynomial functions...
theology.
His early actions against the Protestants included aiding Wolsey in preventing Lutheran books from being imported into England. He also assisted in the production of a
Star ChamberThe Star Chamber was an English court of law that sat at the royal Palace of Westminster until 1641. It was made up of Privy Counsellors, as well as common-law judges, and supplemented the activities of the common-law and equity courts in both civil and criminal matters...
edict against heretical preaching, treating heretics mercilessly. During this time most of his literary polemics appeared. After becoming Lord Chancellor of England, More set himself the following task:
In June 1530 it was decreed that offenders were to be brought before the King's Council, rather than being examined by their bishops, the practice hitherto. Actions taken by the Council became ever more severe. In 1531,
Richard BayfieldRichard Bayfield was an English Protestant martyr. A graduate of the University of Cambridge, he became a Benedictine monk. Whilst acting as Chamberlain of the Abbey of Bury St Edmunds, he was approached by the Protestant reformer Robert Barnes and given a copy of the New Testament translated into...
, a graduate of the
University of CambridgeThe University of Cambridge , located in the City of Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, United Kingdom, is the second oldest university in the English-speaking world and the fourth oldest in Europe...
and former
BenedictineBenedictine refers to the spirituality and consecrated life in accordance with the Rule of St Benedict, written by Benedict of Nursia in the sixth century for the cenobitic communities he founded in central Italy. The most notable of these is Monte Cassino, the first monastery founded by Benedict...
monk, was burned at Smithfield for distributing copies of
Tyndale'sWilliam Tyndale was a 16th-century Protestant reformer and scholar who, influenced by the work of Desiderius Erasmus and Martin Luther, translated considerable parts of the Bible into the Early Modern English of his day...
English translation of the
New TestamentThe New Testament is the name given to the second major division of the Christian Bible, the first such division being the much longer Old Testament, both terms being associated with Supersessionism...
.
Further burnings followed at More's instigation, including that of the priest and writer
John FrithFor the Australian Rugby League player, see John Frith .John Frith was an English Protestant priest, writer, and martyr....
in 1533. In
The Confutation of Tyndale's Answer, yet another polemic, More took particular interest in the execution of Sir
Thomas HittonThomas Hitton is generally considered to be the first English martyr of the Reformation, although the followers of Wycliffe, the Lollards had been burnt at the stake as recently as 1519. . Hitton was a priest who had joined William Tyndale and the English exiles in the Low Countries...
, describing him as "the devil's stinking martyr".
Rumors circulated during and after More's lifetime concerning his treatment of heretics;
John FoxeJohn Foxe was an English martyrologist. He is remembered as the author of what is popularly known as Foxe's Book of Martyrs, an account of Christian martyrs throughout history but especially emphasizing the sufferings of English Protestants and proto-Protestants from the fourteenth century through...
(who "placed Protestant sufferings against the background of ... the Antichrist") in his
Book of MartyrsThe Book of Martyrs, by John Foxe, is an apocalyptically-oriented, English Protestant account of the persecutions of Protestants, mainly in England, many of whom had died for their beliefs within the decade immediately preceding its first publication. It was first published by John Day, in 1563...
claimed that More had often used violence or torture while interrogating them. A more recent Evangelical author, Michael Farris, also used Foxe's book as a reference in writing that in April 1529 a heretic, John Tewkesbury, was taken by More to his house in Chelsea and so badly tortured on the rack that he was almost unable to walk. Tewkesbury was subsequently burned at the stake. More himself refuted these charges throughout his life, swearing 'as helpe me God' that he had never used torture as a method of interrogation. He claimed that the heretics he detained in his household suffered 'neuer ... so much as a fyllyppe on the forehead'."
Resignation
In 1530 More refused to sign a letter by the leading English churchmen and aristocrats asking the Pope to annul Henry's marriage to Catherine; he also quarrelled with Henry VIII over the heresy laws. In 1531 he attempted to resign after being forced to take an oath declaring the king the Supreme Head of the English Church "as far as the law of Christ allows"; he refused to take the oath in the form in which it would renounce all claims of jurisdiction over the church except the sovereign's. In 1532 he asked the king again to relieve him of his office, claiming that he was ill and suffering from sharp chest pains. This time Henry granted his request.
Trial and execution
In 1533, More refused to attend the
coronationA coronation is a ceremony marking the investiture of a monarch or their consort with regal power, specifically involving the placement of a crown upon his or her head, and the presentation of other items of regalia...
of
Anne BoleynAnne Boleyn was Queen of England as the second wife of King Henry VIII, the mother of Queen Elizabeth I, and Marquess of Pembroke in her own right. Henry's marriage to Anne, and her subsequent execution, made her a key figure in the political and religious upheaval that was the start of the...
as the
Queen of EnglandA queen consort is the wife of a reigning king. A queen consort usually shares her husband's rank and holds the feminine equivalent of the king's monarchical titles...
. Technically, this was not an act of treason as More had written to Henry acknowledging Anne's queenship and expressing his desire for the king's happiness and the new queen's health. Despite this, his refusal to attend was widely interpreted as a snub against Anne and Henry took action against him.
Shortly thereafter More was charged with accepting bribes, but the patently false charges had to be dismissed for lack of any evidence. In early 1534, More was accused of conspiring with "holy maid of Kent"
Elizabeth BartonSr. Elizabeth Barton was executed as a result of her prophecies regarding the marriage of King Henry VIII of England to Anne Boleyn against the wishes of the Pope.Little is known of Barton's early life although she appears to have...
, a nun who had prophesied against the king's annulment, but More quickly produced a letter in which he had instructed Barton not to interfere with state matters.
On April 13, 1534, More was asked to appear before a commission and swear his allegiance to the parliamentary Act of Succession. More accepted Parliament's right to declare
Anne BoleynAnne Boleyn was Queen of England as the second wife of King Henry VIII, the mother of Queen Elizabeth I, and Marquess of Pembroke in her own right. Henry's marriage to Anne, and her subsequent execution, made her a key figure in the political and religious upheaval that was the start of the...
the legitimate queen of England, but he steadfastly refused to take the oath because of an anti-papal preface to the Act asserting Parliament's authority to legislate in matters of religion by impugning the authority of the Pope, which More would not accept; he also would not swear to uphold Henry's divorce from Catherine.
John FisherSaint John Fisher was an English Roman Catholic Bishop, cardinal and martyr. He shares his feast day with Saint Thomas More on 22 June in the Roman Catholic calendar of saints and 6 July on the Anglican calendar of saints...
, Bishop of Rochester, refused the oath along with More. The oath reads:
Four days later More was imprisoned in the
Tower of LondonHer Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress, more commonly known as the Tower of London , is a historic fortress and scheduled monument in central London, England, on the north bank of the River Thames...
, where he prepared a devotional,
Dialogue of Comfort against Tribulation. While More was imprisoned in the Tower, he had a few visits from
Thomas CromwellThomas Cromwell, 1st Earl of Essex was an English statesman who served as King Henry VIII's chief minister from 1532 to 1540. Cromwell rose to such power because he was one of the strongest advocates of the English Reformation, the English Church's break with the papacy in Rome...
who urged More to take the oath, but More persistently refused to do so.
On July 1, 1535, More was tried before a panel of judges that included the new Lord Chancellor,
Sir Thomas AudleyThomas Audley, 1st Baron Audley of Walden, KG, PC, KS , Lord Chancellor of England, born in Earls Colne, Essex, the son of Geoffrey Audley, is believed to have studied at Buckingham College, Cambridge...
, as well as Anne Boleyn's
fatherSir Thomas Boleyn, 1st Earl of Wiltshire and 1st Earl of Ormond, KG was an English diplomat and politician in the Tudor era, and the father of Anne Boleyn, the second wife of King Henry VIII. As such, he was the maternal grandfather of Queen Elizabeth I. He was born at the family home, Hever...
, brother, and uncle. He was charged with
high treasonHigh treason is criminal disloyalty to one's country. Participating in a war against one's country, attempting to overthrow its government, spying on its military, its diplomats, or its secret services for a hostile and foreign power, or attempting to kill its head of state are perhaps the...
for denying the validity of the Act of Succession. More believed he could not be convicted as long as he did not explicitly deny that the king was the head of the church, and he therefore refused to answer all questions regarding his opinions on the subject. Thomas Cromwell, at the time the most powerful of the king's advisors, brought forth the
Solicitor GeneralHer Majesty's Solicitor General for England and Wales, often known as the Solicitor General, is one of the Law Officers of the Crown, and the deputy of the Attorney General, whose duty is to advise the Crown and Cabinet on the law...
,
Richard RichRichard Rich, 1st Baron Rich , was Lord Chancellor during the reign of King Edward VI of England. He was the founder of Felsted School in Essex in 1564....
, to testify that More had, in his presence, denied that the king was the legitimate head of the church. This testimony was almost certainly
perjuredPerjury, also known as forswearing, is the willful act of swearing a false oath or affirmation to tell the truth, whether spoken or in writing, concerning matters material to a judicial proceeding. That is, the matter lied about would affect the outcome of the case...
(witnesses Richard Southwell and Mr. Palmer both denied having heard the details of the reported conversation), but on the strength of it the jury voted for More's conviction.
More was tried, and found guilty, under the following section of the Treason Act 1534.
After the jury's verdict was delivered and before his sentencing, More spoke freely of his belief that "no temporal man may be the head of the spirituality". He was sentenced to be hanged, drawn, and quartered (the usual punishment for traitors) but the king commuted this to execution by
decapitationDecapitation is the separation of the head of an animal from its body. Beheading typically refers to the act of intentional decapitation, e.g., as a means of murder or execution; it may be accomplished, for example, with an axe, sword, knife, wire, or by means of a guillotine...
. The execution took place on July 6, 1535. When he came to mount the steps to the scaffold, he is widely quoted as saying (to the officials): "I pray you, I pray you, Mr Lieutenant, see me safe up and for my coming down, I can shift for myself"; while on the scaffold he declared that he died "the king's good servant, but God's first." Another comment he is believed to have made to the executioner is that his beard was completely innocent of any crime, and did not deserve the axe; he then positioned his beard so that it would not be harmed. More asked that his foster daughter Margaret Giggs should be given his headless corpse to bury. He was buried at the Tower of London, in the chapel of St Peter ad Vincula in an unmarked grave. His head was fixed upon a pike over
London BridgeLondon Bridge is a bridge between the City of London and Southwark in London, England, over the River Thames. Situated between Cannon Street Railway Bridge and Tower Bridge, it forms the western end of the Pool of London...
for a month, according to the normal custom for traitors. His daughter
Margaret (Meg) RoperMargaret Roper, née More , translator, was the daughter of Thomas More and wife of William Roper. During More's imprisonment in the Tower of London, she was a frequent visitor to his cell, along with her husband...
then rescued it, possibly by bribery, before it could be thrown in the
River ThamesThe River Thames is a major river flowing through southern England. While best known because its lower reaches flow through central London, the river flows through several other towns and cities, including Oxford, Reading and Windsor....
.
The skull is believed to rest in the Roper Vault of
St. Dunstan's church, CanterburySt. Dunstan's is a church dedicated to St. Dunstan in Canterbury, Kent, slightly out of the city centre.-Thomas Becket:On Henry II's penitential pilgrimage here in 1174, he changed into his sackcloth and ashes in which he then walked to Thomas Becket's tomb....
, though some researchers have claimed it might be within the tomb he erected for himself in Chelsea Old Church (see below). The evidence, however, seems to be in favor of its placement in St. Dunstan's, with the remains of his daughter, Margaret Roper, and her husband's family, whose vault it was. Margaret would have treasured this relic of her adored father, and legend is that she wished to be buried herself with his head in her arms.
Canonization
More was
beatifiedBeatification is a recognition accorded by the Catholic Church of a dead person's accession to Heaven and capacity to intercede on behalf of individuals who pray in his or her name . Beatification is the third of the four steps in the canonization process...
by
Pope Leo XIIIPope Leo XIII , born Count Vincenzo Gioacchino Raffaele Luigi Pecci, was the 257th Pope of the Roman Catholic Church, reigning from 1878 to 1903, succeeding Pope Pius IX. Reigning until the age of 93, he was the oldest pope, and had the third longest pontificate, behind Pius IX and John Paul II...
in 1886 and canonized with
John FisherSaint John Fisher was an English Roman Catholic Bishop, cardinal and martyr. He shares his feast day with Saint Thomas More on 22 June in the Roman Catholic calendar of saints and 6 July on the Anglican calendar of saints...
on 19 May 1935 by Pope Pius XI after a mass petition of English Catholics in 1935, as in some sense a '
patron saintA patron saint is a saint who is regarded as the intercessor and advocate in heaven of a nation, place, craft, activity, class, or person. Patron saints, because they have already transcended to the metaphysical, are able to intercede effectively for the needs of their special charges...
of
politicsPolitics is a process by which groups of people make decisions. The term is generally applied to behavior within civil governments, but politics has been observed in all human group interactions, including corporate, academic and religious institutions...
' in protest against the rise of secular, anti-religious Communism. His joint feast day with Fisher is 22 June. Fisher was the only remaining
BishopA bishop is an ordained or consecrated member of the Christian clergy who is generally entrusted with a position of authority and oversight. Within the Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox Churches, in the Assyrian Church of the East, in the Independent Catholic Churches, and in the...
(owing to the coincident natural deaths of eight aged bishops) during the
English ReformationThe English Reformation was the series of events in 16th century England by which the Church of England first broke away from the authority of the Pope and the Roman Catholic Church....
to maintain, at the King's mercy,
allegianceAn allegiance is a duty of fidelity said to be owed by a subject or a citizen to his/her state or sovereign.-Origin of the word:Mid. English ligeaunce; med...
to the
PopeThe pope is the Bishop of Rome and, as such, is leader of the worldwide Catholic Church...
. In 2000 this trend continued, with Saint Thomas More declared the "heavenly Patron of Statesmen and Politicians" by
Pope John Paul IIPope John Paul II , born Karol Józef Wojtyła served as Supreme Pontiff of the Catholic Church and Sovereign of Vatican City from 16 October 1978 until his death almost 27 years later. His was the second-longest pontificate; only Pope Pius IX served longer...
. He is commemorated on 6 July, in the Anglican calendar of Saints and Heroes of the Christian Church.
Influence and reputation
The steadfastness and courage with which More held on to his religious convictions in the face of ruin and death and the dignity with which he conducted himself during his imprisonment, trial, and execution, contributed much to More's posthumous reputation, particularly among Catholics.
More's conviction for treason was widely seen as unfair, even among some Protestants. His friend Erasmus, himself no Protestant, but broadly sympathetic to reform movements within the Catholic Church, declared after his execution that More had been "more pure than any snow" and that his genius was "such as England never had and never again will have."
Roman Catholic writer
G. K. ChestertonGilbert Keith Chesterton was one of the most influential English writers of the 20th century. His prolific and diverse output included journalism, philosophy, poetry, biography, Christian apologetics, fantasy and detective fiction....
said that More was the "greatest historical character in English history."
Literary echoes and evaluations
More was portrayed as a wise and honest statesman in the 1592 play
Sir Thomas MoreSir Thomas More is an Elizabethan play by Anthony Munday and others that depicts the life of Thomas More. It survives only in a single manuscript, now owned by the British Library...
, which was probably written in collaboration by
Henry ChettleHenry Chettle was an English dramatist and miscellaneous writer of the Elizabethan era.The son of Robert Chettle, a London dyer, he was apprenticed in 1577 and became a member of the Stationer's Company in 1584, traveling to Cambridge on their behalf in 1588. His career as a printer and author is...
,
Anthony MundayAnthony Munday , was an English dramatist and miscellaneous writer. The chief interest in Munday for the modern reader lies in his collaboration with Shakespeare and others on the play Sir Thomas More and his writings on Robin Hood.-Biography:He was once thought to have been born in 1553, because...
,
William ShakespeareWilliam Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's preeminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...
, and others, and which survives only in fragmentary form after being censored by Edmund Tylney,
Master of the RevelsThe Master of the Revels was a position within the British royal household heading the "Revels Office" or "Office of the Revels" that originally had responsibilities for overseeing royal festivities, known as revels, and later also became responsible for stage censorship, until this function was...
in the government of
Queen Elizabeth IElizabeth I was Queen of England and Queen of Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death. Sometimes called the Virgin Queen, Gloriana, or Good Queen Bess, Elizabeth was the fifth and last monarch of the Tudor dynasty...
(any direct reference to the Act of Supremacy was censored out).
As the author of
Utopia, More has also attracted the admiration of modern
socialistsSocialism refers to various theories of economic organization advocating public or direct worker ownership and administration of the means of production and allocation of resources, and a society characterized by equal access to resources for all individuals with a method of compensation based on...
. While Roman Catholic scholars maintain that More's attitude in composing
Utopia was largely
ironicIrony is a situation, literary or rhetorical device, in which there is an incongruity, discordance or unintended connection that goes beyond the most evident meaning....
and that he was at every point an orthodox Christian, Marxist theoretician
Karl KautskyKarl Kautsky was a leading theoretician of Marxism. He became the leading promulgator of Orthodox Marxism after the death of Friedrich Engels.- Life :...
argued in the book
Thomas More and his Utopia (1888) that
Utopia was a shrewd critique of economic and social exploitation in pre-modern Europe and that More was one of the key intellectual figures in the early development of socialist ideas.
The 20th-century
agnosticAgnosticism is the philosophical view that the truth value of certain claims — particularly metaphysical claims regarding theology, afterlife or the existence of deities, spiritual beings, or even ultimate reality — are unknown or, in some forms of agnosticism, unknowable.It is not a...
playwright
Robert BoltRobert Oxton Bolt, CBE was an English playwright and a two-time Oscar winning screenwriter.- Career :He was born in Sale, Cheshire. At Manchester Grammar School his affinity for Sir Thomas More first developed. He attended Manchester University, and after war service Exeter University...
portrayed More as the ultimate man of
conscienceConscience is an ability or a faculty that distinguishes whether one's actions are right or wrong. It leads to feelings of remorse when a human does things that go against his/her moral values, and to feelings of rectitude or integrity when actions conform to moral values. It is also often viewed...
in his play
A Man for All SeasonsA Man for All Seasons is a play by Robert Bolt. An early form of the play had been written for BBC Radio in 1954, but after Bolt's success with The Flowering Cherry, he reworked it for the stage....
, the title drawn from what
Robert WhittingtonRobert Whittington was an English grammarian. He was a pupil of the grammarian John Stanbridge....
in 1520 wrote of him:
- "More is a man of an angel's wit and singular learning. I know not his fellow. For where is the man of that gentleness, lowliness and affability? And, as time requireth, a man of marvelous mirth and pastimes, and sometime of as sad gravity. A man for all seasons."
In 1966, the play was made into the successful film
A Man for All SeasonsA Man for All Seasons is a 1966 film based on Robert Bolt's play of the same name about Sir Thomas More. Paul Scofield, who had played More in the West End stage premiere, also took the role in the film. It was directed by Fred Zinnemann who had previously directed such films as High Noon and From...
directed by
Fred ZinnemannFred Zinnemann was an Austrian-American film director. He won four Academy Awards and directed movies like High Noon, From Here to Eternity and A Man for All Seasons.- Life :...
, adapted for the screen by the playwright himself, and starring
Paul ScofieldDavid Paul Scofield, CH, CBE was an English actor of stage and screen. Noted for his distinctive voice and delivery, Scofield received an Academy Award and a BAFTA Award for his performance as Sir Thomas More in the 1966 film A Man for All Seasons, a reprise of the role he played in the stage...
in an
OscarPerformance by an Actor in a Leading Role is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize an actor who has delivered an outstanding performance while working within the film industry...
-winning performance. The film won the
Academy Award for Best PictureThe Academy Award for Best Motion Picture is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to artists working in the motion picture industry. The Best Picture category is the only category in which every member of the Academy is eligible...
for that year. In 1988,
Charlton HestonCharlton Heston was an American actor of film, theatre and television.Heston is known for having played heroic roles, such as Moses in The Ten Commandments, Colonel George Taylor in Planet of the Apes, Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar in El Cid, and Judah Ben-Hur in Ben-Hur, for which he won the Academy...
starred and directed in a made-for-television remake of the film.
Catholic
science fictionScience fiction is a genre of fiction. It differs from fantasy in that, within the context of the story, its imaginary elements are largely possible within scientifically-established or scientifically-postulated laws of nature...
writer
R. A. LaffertyRaphael Aloysius Lafferty was an American science fiction and fantasy writer known for his original use of language, metaphor, and narrative structure, as well as for his etymological wit...
wrote his novel
Past MasterPast Master is a novel by science fiction writer R. A. Lafferty. It was first published in 1968, and was nominated for the 1968 Nebula award and the 1969 Hugo award...
as a modern equivalent to More's
Utopia, which he saw as a satire. In this novel, Thomas More is brought through time to the year 2535, where he is made king of the future world of "Astrobe", only to be beheaded after ruling for a mere nine days. One of the characters in the novel compares More favorably to almost every other major historical figure: "He had one completely honest moment right at the end. I cannot think of anyone else who ever had one." He was also greatly admired by the Irish Anglican clergyman and satirist,
Jonathan SwiftJonathan Swift was an Anglo-Irish satirist, essayist, political pamphleteer , poet and cleric who became Dean of St...
.
Karl ZuchardtKarl Zuchardt was a German writer of historical novels.Zuchardt was born in Leipzig, Kingdom of Saxony...
wrote a novel,
Stirb Du Narr! ("Die you fool!"), about More's struggle with King Henry, portraying More as an idealist bound to fail in the power struggle with a ruthless ruler and an unjust world.
A number of modern writers, such as
Richard MariusRichard Curry Marius was an American academic and writer.He was a scholar of the Reformation, novelist of the American South, speechwriter, and teacher of writing and English literature at Harvard University...
, have attacked More for alleged religious fanaticism and intolerance (manifested, for instance, in his persecution of heretics).
James WoodJames Wood is an English literary critic and novelist. He is Professor of the Practice of Literary Criticism at Harvard University and a literary critic at The New Yorker.-Life:...
calls him, "cruel in punishment, evasive in argument, lusty for power, and repressive in politics". The historian
Jasper RidleyJasper Godwin Ridley was a British writer, known for historical biographies. He received the 1970 James Tait Black Memorial Prize for his biography "Lord Palmerston"....
, author of several historical biographies including one on Henry VIII and the other on
Mary TudorMary Tudor may refer to:*Mary I of England, daughter of Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon, d.1558*Mary Tudor, Queen of France, daughter of Henry VII of England, wife of Louis XII of France and then of Charles Brandon, 1st duke of Suffolk...
, goes much further in his dual biography of More and Cardinal Wolsey,
The Statesman and the Fanatic, describing More as "a particularly nasty sadomasochistic pervert," a line of thinking also followed by the late Joanna Denny in her 2004 biography of
Anne BoleynAnne Boleyn was Queen of England as the second wife of King Henry VIII, the mother of Queen Elizabeth I, and Marquess of Pembroke in her own right. Henry's marriage to Anne, and her subsequent execution, made her a key figure in the political and religious upheaval that was the start of the...
.
Brian MoynahanBrian Moynahan is an English writer. He graduated from the University of Cambridge with first class honours and then became a journalist with The Yorkshire Post, Town Magazine, and The Times. He was also European Editor of The Sunday Times .Since 1989 he has concentrated on writing histories while...
in his book "God's Messenger: William Tyndale, Thomas More and the Writing of the English Bible", takes a similarly critical view of More, as does the
AmericanThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
writer, Michael Farris.
Aaron Zelman, in his nonfiction book "The State Versus the People" describes
genocideGenocide is the deliberate and systematic destruction, in whole or in part, of an ethnic, racial, religious, or national group.While precise definition varies among genocide scholars, a legal definition is found in the 1948 United Nations Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of...
and the history of governments which have acted in a totalitarian manner. In the first chapters "Utopia" is reviewed along with Plato's "The Republic". Zelman noted facts about "Utopia" which were ridiculous in the real world, such as agriculture, and could not draw a conclusion whether More was being humorous towards his work or seriously advocating a
nation-stateThe nation-state is a certain form of state that derives its political legitimacy from serving as a sovereign entity for a nation as a sovereign territorial unit. The state is a political and geopolitical entity; the nation is a cultural and/or ethnic entity...
. It is pointed out, as a serious point for consideration, that "More is the only Christian saint to be honored with a statue at the
KremlinKremlin is the Russian word for "fortress", "citadel" or "castle" and refers to any major fortified central complex found in historic Russian cities. This word is often used to refer to the best-known one, the Moscow Kremlin, or metonymically to the government that is based there...
", which implies that his work had serious influence on the
Soviet UnionThe Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. The name is a translation of the , tr. Soyuz Sovetskikh Sotsialisticheskikh Respublik, abbreviated СССР, SSSR. The common short name is Soviet Union, from , Sovetskiy Soyuz...
, despite its general antipathy towards organized religion.
Other biographers, such as
Peter AckroydPeter Ackroyd CBE is an English novelist and biographer with a particular interest in the history and culture of London.-Childhood and education:...
, have offered a more sympathetic picture of More as both a sophisticated humanist and man of letters, as well as a zealous Roman Catholic who believed in the necessity of religious and political authority.
The protagonist of
Walker PercyWalker Percy was an American Southern author whose interests included philosophy and semiotics. Percy is best known for his philosophical novels set in and around New Orleans, Louisiana, the first of which, The Moviegoer, won the National Book Award for Fiction in 1962...
's novels,
Love in the RuinsLove in the Ruins is a novel of speculative or science fiction by author Walker Percy from 1971. It follows its main character, Dr Thomas More, namesake and descendant of Sir Thomas More author of Utopia, a psychiatrist in a small town in Louisiana called Paradise...
and
The Thanatos SyndromeThe Thanatos Syndrome was Walker Percy's last novel before his death. It is a sequel to Love in the Ruins. It tells the story of a former psychiatrist who suspects that something or someone is making everyone in the town crazy....
, is Dr. Thomas More, a reluctant Catholic and descendant of Sir Thomas More.
He is also the focus of the
Al StewartAl Stewart is a British singer-songwriter and folk-rock musician.Stewart came to stardom as part of the legendary British folk revival in the sixties and seventies, and developed his own unique style of combining folk-rock songs with delicately woven tales of the great characters and events from...
song
A Man For All Seasons from the 1978 album
Time PassagesTime Passages is the eighth album by Al Stewart, released in 1978. It is the follow up of his 1976 album Year of the Cat. The album, like its predecessor, was produced by Alan Parsons...
, and of the
Far-History:After a number of local releases including their first demo tape Sweat A River, Live No Lies and two independent albums Listening Game and Quick they signed to Epic/Immortal Records and released their first major record, Tin Cans With Strings To You . Their next release was an E.P...
song
Sir, featured on the limited editions and 2008 re-release of their 1994 album
Quick-Track listing:# "Quick" – 2:35# "Man O' The Year" – 3:21# "Less" – 3:45# "Girl" – 4:05# "Ballad Of Simon & Constance" – 3:31# "Media" – 7:03# "All Go Down" – 6:40# "Sister" – 5:31...
.
Jeremy NorthamJeremy Philip Northam is an award-winning English actor.-Personal life:Northam was born in Cambridge, the son of Rachel, a potter and professor of economics, and John Northam, a professor of literature and theatre, as well as Ibsen specialist and teacher first at Clare College, Cambridge and later...
portrays More in the television series,
The TudorsThe Tudors is an Irish-produced historical fiction television series created by Michael Hirst. The series is based upon the reign of English monarch Henry VIII, and is named after the Tudor dynasty.-Production:...
, where he is shown as a peaceful man — a sometime-advisor to Henry VIII, a devout Catholic, and family head. However, Season 1, Episode 7 hints at a different side of More, as he unabashedly expresses his loathing for
LutheranismLutheranism is a major branch of Western Christianity that identifies with the teachings of the 16th century German reformer Martin Luther. Luther's efforts to reform the theology and practice of the church launched the Protestant Reformation...
. Yet throughout the season, it shows a conflicted side of More: He orders that Martin Luther's books be destroyed, yet when the books are actually burned, he expresses a sense of unease and regret. In episode 10 of the same series, More is shown exercising his new power as chancellor by burning convicted heretics. It also depicts him engaging in the conversation which Richard Rich testified as having taken place, regarding the King's status as Head of the Church in England, despite it being widely believed that this testimony was perjured.
Institutions named after Thomas More
As a Catholic saint, there are many
parish churchA parish church, in Christianity, is the church which acts as the religious centre of a parish, the basic administrative unit of episcopal churches....
es dedicated to More. Other legal and educational institutions are also named for him:
- The Thomas More Law Center
The Thomas More Law Center is a conservative Christian, not-for-profit law center based in Ann Arbor, Michigan and active throughout the United States. Its stated goals are defending the religious freedom of Christians, restoring "time honored values" and protecting the sanctity of human life...
is a legal aid organization that provides law services for those arguing conservative-aligned issues, especially those dealing with religious liberty and expression.
- Magdalen College School, Oxford
Magdalen College School is an independent school for boys located by The Plain in Oxford, England. It was founded as part of Magdalen College, Oxford by William Waynflete in 1480....
's politics society is named the St Thomas More Society.
- The Cathedral of Saint Thomas More
Cathedral of Saint Thomas More is the cathedral of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Arlington, located in Arlington County, Virginia. The parish was founded in 1938. The church was raised to cathedral status in 1974 when Pope Paul VI erected the Diocese of Arlington. The parish operates one...
is the seat of the Roman Catholic Diocese of ArlingtonThe Roman Catholic Diocese of Arlington is a diocese of the Roman Catholic Church in the southern United States. The Diocese of Arlington comprises 68 located within in the 21 northern-most counties within the Commonwealth of Virginia, including the Northern Virginia counties of Arlington,...
, which comprises Northern VirginiaNorthern Virginia consists of several counties and independent cities in the U.S. state of Virginia in a widespread region generally radiating southerly and westward from Washington, D.C...
.
- The Co-Cathedral of St. Thomas More in Tallahassee, Florida
Tallahassee is the capital of the State of Florida, USA, the county seat of Leon County , and the 133rd biggest city in the USA. Tallahassee became the capital of Florida in 1824. In 2008, the population recorded by the U.S...
, serves the Roman Catholic Diocese of Pensacola-TallahasseeThe Roman Catholic Diocese of Pensacola-Tallahassee is a Roman Catholic diocese in Florida; it was founded on October 1, 1975. The Bishop of Pensacola-Tallahassee is the pastor of the Cathedral of the Sacred Heart located in Pensacola, Florida...
and in particular the Catholic community at Florida State UniversityFlorida State University is a space-grant and sea-grant public university located in Tallahassee, Florida, United States. It is a comprehensive doctoral research university with medical programs and significant research activity as determined by the Carnegie Foundation...
.
- The Thomas More Building at the Royal Courts of Justice
The Royal Courts of Justice, commonly called the Law Courts, is the building in London which houses the Court of Appeal of England and Wales and the High Court of Justice of England and Wales...
in The StrandThe Strand is a street in the City of Westminster, London, England. It currently starts at Trafalgar Square and runs east to join Fleet Street at Temple Bar, which marks the boundary of the City of London at this point, though its historical length has been longer than this...
, London[]London is the capital of England and the United Kingdom. It has been a major settlement for two millennia, and the history of London goes back to its founding by the Romans, when it was named Londinium. London's core, the ancient City of London, the 'square mile', retains its medieval boundaries...
, is an 11 storey office block built in January 1990 containing the courts of the Chancery Division of the High Court of Justice. These are known as the Thomas More Courts.
- The Society of St. Thomas Moore youth group in Florence, Italy http://www.duomofirenze.it/sstm/whoarewe.html
- There is a Roman Catholic school in Westcliff-on-Sea, Essex, UK; named after him, called St. Thomas More High School.
There are various St Thomas More Societies for Catholic lawyers.
Westminster Hall
Visitors to the Houses of Parliament at the
Palace of WestminsterThe Palace of Westminster, also known as the Houses of Parliament, is the seat of the two houses of the Parliament of the United Kingdom—the House of Lords and the House of Commons...
in London will notice a plaque in the middle of the floor of Westminster Hall commemorating More's trial for treason and condemnation to execution in that original part of the Palace. This building would have been well known to More, who served as Speaker of the House of Commons prior to becoming Lord Chancellor of England.
Crosby Hall
More's home and estate along the Thames in Chelsea was confiscated by the Crown from his wife Alice after his execution. But in later times Crosby Hall, which formed part of More's London residence, was relocated to the site in his commemoration and reconstructed there by the conservation architect,
Walter GodfreyWalter Hindes Godfrey CBE, FSA, FRIBA , was an English architect, antiquary, and architectural and topographical historian. He was also a landscape architect and designer, and an accomplished draftsman and illustrator...
. Today after further rebuilding in the 1990s it stands out as a white stone building amid modern brick structures that apparently aim to recapture the style of More's manor that formerly occupied the site. Crosby Hall is privately owned and closed to the public. The modern structures face the Thames and include an entry way that displays More's arms, heraldic beasts, and a Latin maxim. Apartment buildings and a park are built over the former locations of his gardens and orchard, and some are named after their former functions: Roper's Garden is the park occupying one of More's gardens, sunken as his was believed to be. Other than these, there are no remnants of the More estate.
Chelsea Old Church
This small park sits between Crosby Hall and
Chelsea Old ChurchChelsea Old Church is on the north bank of the River Thames near Albert Bridge in Chelsea, London, England. It is the church for a parish in the Diocese of London, part of the Church of England. It is located on the corner of Old Church Street and Cheyne Walk. Inside, there is seating for 400...
, an Anglican church on Old Church Street whose southern chapel was commissioned by More and in which he sang with his parish choir. The medieval arch connecting the chapel to the main sanctuary was commissioned by More and displays on its capitals symbols associated with his person and office. On the southern wall of the sanctuary is the tomb and epitaph he erected for himself and his wives, detailing in a lengthy Latin inscription his ancestry and accomplishments, including his role as peacemaker between the Christian nations of Europe and a curiously altered portion detailing his curbing of heresy. This tomb was probably located here because it was his custom to assist the priest at Mass and he would leave by the door just to the left of it. He is not, however, buried here, nor is it entirely certain which of his family may be. Except for his chapel, the church was largely destroyed in the Second World War and was rebuilt in 1958. It is open to the public only at specific times. Outside the church is a statue commemorating him as "saint", "scholar", and "statesman", the back of which displays his coat-of-arms. In the same neighborhood, on Upper Cheyne Row, is the Roman Catholic Church of the Holy Saviour and St. Thomas More, which honours him according to the Church he defended with his life.
Tower Hill
More was executed on a scaffold erected on Tower Hill, London, just outside the
Tower of LondonHer Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress, more commonly known as the Tower of London , is a historic fortress and scheduled monument in central London, England, on the north bank of the River Thames...
. A plaque and small garden commemorate the famed execution site and all those who were executed there, many as religious martyrs or as prisoners of conscience. His body, minus his head, was unceremoniously buried in an unmarked grave in the Royal Chapel of St. Peter Ad Vincula, within the walls of the Tower of London. It was the custom for traitors executed at Tower Hill to be buried in the mass grave beneath this chapel, which is accessible to visitors to the Tower.
St. Dunstan's Church, Canterbury
St. Dunstan's Church, an Anglican parish church in Canterbury, possesses More's head, rescued by his beloved daughter
Margaret RoperMargaret Roper, née More , translator, was the daughter of Thomas More and wife of William Roper. During More's imprisonment in the Tower of London, she was a frequent visitor to his cell, along with her husband...
. This is sealed in the Roper family vault which lies beneath the altar of the Nicholas Chapel, which is to the right of the church's sanctuary or main altar. The stone marking the sealed vault is to the immediate left of the altar below which it lies.
St. Dunstan'sSt. Dunstan's is a church dedicated to St. Dunstan in Canterbury, Kent, slightly out of the city centre.-Thomas Becket:On Henry II's penitential pilgrimage here in 1174, he changed into his sackcloth and ashes in which he then walked to Thomas Becket's tomb....
Church has carefully investigated, preserved, and sealed this burial vault of the Roper family which lived in Canterbury. The last archaeological search of the Roper Vault demonstrated that the believed head of the martyr rests in a niche separate from the other bodies there, possibly due to later interference. A few displays in the chapel record the archaeological findings in written accounts and pictures. The walls of the chapel are host to impressive stained glass donated by Roman Catholics to commemorate the events in More's life. Down and across the street from the parish the facade of the former home of Margaret Roper and her husband William Roper survives and is demarcated by a small plaque.
Other relics
Our Lady Queen of Martyrs and St. Ignatius Catholic Church in
ChideockChideock is a village in south west Dorset, England, situated between Bridport and Lyme Regis. The village has a population of 597 based on the 2001 census.Chideock is a village in the south-west region of Dorset between Bridport and Charmouth...
,
DorsetDorset , is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The county town has been Dorchester since at least 1305, situated in the south of the county at . Between its extreme points Dorset measures from east to west and north to south, and has an area of...
is said to have the relic of his hairskin shirt, frequently worn by him as a form of penance and a reminder of humility underneath his robes of state. Other small relics of the Saint are known in Catholic churches, such as St. Thomas of Canterbury Catholic Church in Canterbury,
TyburnTyburn may refer to:* Tyburn, an historical place of public execution and martyrdom in central London* Tyburn , river and historical water source in London* Tyburn, West Midlands, an electoral ward in Birmingham, England...
Convent in London, and (in the United States) the Cathedral of St. Thomas More, in Arlington, Virginia.
Biographies
- William Roper, "The Life of Sir Thomas More" (written by More's son-in-law ca. 1555, but first printed in 1626)
- Cresacre More, The life and death of Sir Thomas More, Lord High Chancellour of England (written by his great-grandson), 1630
- Princesse de Craon, Thomas Morus, Lord Chancelier du Royaume d'Angleterre au XVIe siècle (First edition in French, 1832/1833 - First edition in Dutch 1839/1840)
- E.E. Reynolds, The Trialet of St Thomas More, (1964)
- E.E. Reynolds, Thomas More and Erasmus, (1965)
- John Guy
John Guy was a merchant from Bristol, England, and the first Proprietary Governor of Newfoundland leading the first attempt to establish a colony on the island...
The Public Career of Sir Thomas More (1980) ISBN 978-0300025460
- Jasper Ridley
Jasper Godwin Ridley was a British writer, known for historical biographies. He received the 1970 James Tait Black Memorial Prize for his biography "Lord Palmerston"....
, Statesman and Saint: Cardinal Wolsey, Sir Thomas More, and the Politics of Henry VIII(1983) ISBN 0-670-48905-0; published in Great Britain as The Statesman and the Fanatic (1982)
- Richard Marius
Richard Curry Marius was an American academic and writer.He was a scholar of the Reformation, novelist of the American South, speechwriter, and teacher of writing and English literature at Harvard University...
, Thomas More: A Biography (1984)
- Gerard Wegemer, Thomas More: A Portrait of Courage (1995)
- Peter Ackroyd
Peter Ackroyd CBE is an English novelist and biographer with a particular interest in the history and culture of London.-Childhood and education:...
, The Life of Thomas More (1999)
- John Guy
John Guy was a merchant from Bristol, England, and the first Proprietary Governor of Newfoundland leading the first attempt to establish a colony on the island...
, Thomas More (2000) ISBN 978-0340731383
- John Foxe
John Foxe was an English martyrologist. He is remembered as the author of what is popularly known as Foxe's Book of Martyrs, an account of Christian martyrs throughout history but especially emphasizing the sufferings of English Protestants and proto-Protestants from the fourteenth century through...
, Foxe's Book of MartyrsThe Book of Martyrs, by John Foxe, is an apocalyptically-oriented, English Protestant account of the persecutions of Protestants, mainly in England, many of whom had died for their beliefs within the decade immediately preceding its first publication. It was first published by John Day, in 1563...
- Brian Moynahan
Brian Moynahan is an English writer. He graduated from the University of Cambridge with first class honours and then became a journalist with The Yorkshire Post, Town Magazine, and The Times. He was also European Editor of The Sunday Times .Since 1989 he has concentrated on writing histories while...
"God's Messenger: William Tyndale, Thomas More and the Writing of the English Bible" (St Martin's Press, 2003).
- John Guy
John Guy was a merchant from Bristol, England, and the first Proprietary Governor of Newfoundland leading the first attempt to establish a colony on the island...
, "A Daughter's Love: Thomas More and his daughter Meg," 2009
External links