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Thomas More

Type Figure Region England Time 1478–1535 Also known as Saint Thomas More、Thomas More (alt. Chinese name)

Thomas More (1478–1535) was an English humanist scholar, jurist and politician, author of Utopia and Lord Chancellor of England, executed for treason…

Timeline

  1. 1478–1501Milk Street, London · LondonThomas More was born in London in 1478, son of the lawyer John More. Educated in the household of Archbishop Morton of Canterbury, he studied at Oxford under humanists such as Linacre, then at Lincoln's Inn, forming deep friendships with Erasmus and other leading European humanists. He seriously considered becoming a monk before choosing the law and a political career.
  2. 1501–1529London · LondonMore practised law in London with great renown and entered Parliament in 1504. After Henry VIII's accession he entered court service, holding several offices. In 1516 he published his masterpiece Utopia in Latin, depicting an ideal republic and provoking wide discussion. He was knighted in 1521, became Speaker of the House in 1523, and became one of Henry VIII's most trusted advisers.
  3. 1529–1532Westminster · LondonAfter Wolsey's fall in 1529, More was appointed Lord Chancellor, the first layman to hold the office. Known for integrity and efficiency, he nonetheless remained silent or passively resistant toward Henry VIII's divorce and Reformation legislation. After the Act of Supremacy's precursor, the Act of Submission of the Clergy, passed in 1532, More resigned on grounds of health, in reality unable in conscience to support the English Church's break with Rome.
  4. 1532–1534Chelsea · LondonAfter resigning, More retired to his Chelsea house, deliberately maintaining public silence, neither supporting nor openly opposing the Act of Supremacy. He refused to attend Anne Boleyn's coronation and refused to make any statement recognizing Henry VIII as head of the church. The 1534 Act of Succession required all to swear to acknowledge the validity of Henry's new marriage; More refused and was promptly arrested.
  5. 1534–1535Tower of London · LondonMore was imprisoned in the Tower of London for about fifteen months, refusing to abandon his position. Tried for treason in July 1535 on perjured testimony that he had openly denied the Act of Supremacy, he was beheaded on Tower Hill on 6 July of that year, reportedly declaring at the end that he died 'the king's good servant, but God's first.' Beatified by the Catholic Church in 1886 and canonized in 1935.

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