Thomas More
Thomas More was Lord Chancellor of England, wrote Utopia, and was beheaded for refusing to acknowledge Henry VIII as head of the church. Born in London in 1478, the son of a judge, he served as a page in Cardinal Morton's household, studied at Oxford, and trained at Lincoln's Inn. He spent four years living among the Carthusians and considered the religious life before deciding on marriage and public service. He became a lawyer of great reputation, an under-sheriff of London, a member of parliament who opposed a royal tax demand at twenty-six, and a diplomat. Utopia, published in Latin in 1516, describes an island commonwealth with communal property, six-hour working days, religious toleration, euthanasia and no money, and it has been read since as satire, blueprint and both. It gave the language a word meaning nowhere and a good place at once. He was a leading humanist, a close friend of Erasmus, who wrote In Praise of Folly in his house, and he educated his daughters to a standard almost unheard of. He rose through royal service and became Chancellor in 1529 on Wolsey's fall, the first layman to hold it in a century. In that office he pursued Protestants with genuine severity, and six were burned. He resigned in 1532 as the break with Rome advanced, and then kept silent, refusing to state a view. He would not swear the oath under the Act of Succession in 1534 and was imprisoned in the Tower for over a year. He was convicted on the perjured evidence of Richard Rich and beheaded in July 1535.
- Lived: 1478 CE – 1535 CE
- Nationality: English
- Roles: statesman, humanist, writer
