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More than 5000 entries on the history, culture and life of Britain (published in 1993 by Macmillan, now out of print)
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Thomas More
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(1478–1535, kt 1521)
Statesman, author and saint. Born the son of a judge, and educated for the law, More was one of the first scholars in England to play an important part in the international humanism of the *Renaissance. Erasmus was a close friend; *Holbein stayed in More's house in Chelsea and painted his family; and More's Latin fable about a rational society, *Utopia, was an immediate success throughout Europe.
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His public career began in 1504 as a member of parliament; he was in the king's privy council by 1517, was at the *Field of Cloth of Gold in 1520 and became Speaker of the House of Commons in 1523. He helped *Henry VIII write his Latin attack on Luther in 1521 and became a personal friend of the king, even entertaining him at Chelsea. When Wolsey fell from favour in 1529, More succeeded him as lord chancellor; he was the first in that office to be neither cleric nor nobleman. He resigned in 1532, claiming ill health. He did so perhaps to sidestep the controversial issue of the day, the king's authority over the church. But even as a private citizen More was too prominent to avoid the question.
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He was content to accept the validity of the king's marriage to Anne Boleyn, but he would not deny the supremacy of the pope. The distinction became urgent with the Act of *Supremacy of 1534. More's refusal to swear the oath led to his conviction and execution for treason in 1535; at his trial in Westminster Hall he had used the legalistic argument that his silence implied assent. He was canonized in 1935. His feast day used to be July 9, but he now shares June 22 with John *Fisher. More is the central character of A *Man for all Seasons.
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