Thomas More (1478 - 1535) was an English lawyer, humanist scholar and statesman who rose to become Lord Chancellor of England under Henry VIII. [1] He is best known for Utopia (1516), a Latin dialogue describing an imaginary island society that gave its name to an entire genre of political writing. [2] More refused to accept Henry VIII's claim to supremacy over the Church in England and was tried for treason and beheaded in 1535; the Catholic Church canonised him in 1935.
Early life and education
More was born in London on 7 February 1478, the son of Sir John More, a lawyer who later became a judge of the King's Bench. He was educated at St Anthony's School and at Magdalen College School, and served as a page in the household of Cardinal John Morton, Archbishop of Canterbury. He studied at Oxford before being called back to London to train in the law at New Inn and then Lincoln's Inn. [1]
As a young man More considered a religious vocation and spent a period living close to the London Charterhouse under monastic discipline, but he ultimately chose a public career. He became one of the leading figures of English humanism and formed a lasting friendship with Erasmus of Rotterdam, who wrote In Praise of Folly while staying at More's house and dedicated it to him. [2]
Utopia and scholarship
More's most influential book, Utopia, was published in Latin at Leuven in 1516. Cast as a traveller's report delivered by the fictional Raphael Hythloday, it describes an island commonwealth without private property, with religious toleration, universal education and a six-hour working day, and contrasts that society with the poverty, enclosure and harsh criminal law of contemporary Europe. [2] Scholars continue to debate how far the book was intended as a programme, a satire, or a humanist thought experiment.
More also wrote a History of King Richard III, left unfinished, which shaped later Tudor accounts of that reign, as well as devotional works, poetry and a large body of polemical writing against Protestant reformers, including a long controversy with William Tyndale. [3]
Public office
More entered Parliament in 1504 and became Under-Sheriff of London, a post that gave him wide experience of commercial and civic disputes. He entered royal service in the late 1510s, undertaking diplomatic missions abroad, and was knighted in 1521. He served as Speaker of the House of Commons in 1523 and, in 1529, succeeded Cardinal Thomas Wolsey as Lord Chancellor - the first layman in generations to hold the office. [1]
As chancellor he was known for the speed with which he cleared the court's backlog. He also acted vigorously against the circulation of Protestant books and beliefs, and several people convicted of heresy were burned during his tenure, a record that has remained central to assessments of his career. [3]
Trial and death
More resigned the chancellorship in 1532 as Henry VIII moved towards annulling his marriage to Catherine of Aragon and breaking with Rome. He declined to attend Anne Boleyn's coronation and refused to swear the oath attached to the 1534 Act of Succession, which required acknowledgement of the king's supremacy over the church. He was imprisoned in the Tower of London, where he wrote A Dialogue of Comfort against Tribulation.
Tried for treason in July 1535 on the evidence of a disputed conversation, More was convicted and beheaded on Tower Hill on 6 July 1535. [1]
Legacy
More was beatified in 1886 and canonised by Pope Pius XI in 1935; in 2000 Pope John Paul II named him patron of statesmen and politicians. His portrait by Hans Holbein the Younger is among the best-known images of the Tudor age. The word "utopia" itself, coined from Greek roots meaning "no place", has passed permanently into political vocabulary. [2]
