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St. Thomas More Biography
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Prayer of St. Thomas More

Good Lord,
give me the grace so to spend my life,
that when the day of my death shall come,
though I may feel pain in my body,
I may feel comfort in soul;
and with faithful hope of thy mercy,
with due love toward thee,
and charity toward the world,
I may, through thy grace,
part hence into thy glory.

A Chronology of Saint Thomas More's Life

1477, Feb. 7 - Born in London to John and Agnes More

1484-1489 - Attends St. Anthony's School, London (More's age: 7-12)

1489-1491 - Page for Archbishop and Chancellor Morton (12-14)

1491-1493 - Student at Oxford (14-16)

1493-1495 - Pre-law student, New Inn, London (16-18)

1496-1501 - Law student, Lincoln's Inn; called to bar (18-23)

1499 - Meets Erasmus for the first time (22)

1501-1504 - Frequents Charterhouse (Carthusians) (24-27)

1501 - Lectures on St. Augustine's City of God; begins Greek (24)

1503-1506 - Reader at Furnival's Inn (26-29)

1504 - Elected to Parliament (27)

1505 - Marries Jane Colt; Margaret born (28)

1506 - Studies intensely; visits Coventry; Elizabeth born (29)

1507 - Financial secretary of Lincoln's Inn; Cecily born (30)

1508 - Visits universities at Paris and Louvain (31)

1509 - Member of Mercers' Guild; John born; Henry VIII crowned (32)

1510 - Elected to Parliament (33)

1510-1518 - Undersheriff of London (33-41)

1511 - After Jane's death, marries Alice Middleton; Autumn Reader at Lincoln's Inn (34)

1512 - Governor and treasurer of Lincoln's Inn (35)

1513 - Henry VIII leads an army against France; to Henry, Erasmus dedicates his translation of Plutarch's essay on flattery (36)

1514 - Elected to Doctors' Common; serves on sewers commission (37)

1515 - Embassy to Bruges and Antwerp for commercial treaties; Lenten Reader at Lincoln's Inn; refuses royal pension (38)

1516 - Continues to study history and political philosophy (39)

1517 - Embassy to Calais; counsel to pope's ambassador in England; Evil May Day; Wolsey's Treaty of Universal Peace; Luther's "Ninety-five Theses" (40)

1518 - Joins King Henry's service; Master of Requests (41)

1520 - Field of Cloth of Cold: peace with France (43)

1521 - Knighted; undertreasurer; ambassador to Bruges and Calais; cautions Henry not to exaggerate the pope's secular authority; Margaret marries Roper; Buckingham executed (44)

1522 - Gives public oration welcoming Emperor Charles V; serves as Henry's secretary and cautions against war; war with France resumed (45)

1523 - Speaker of the House of Commons, proposes free speech; leases Crosby Hall; truce with France (46)

1524 - High Steward, Oxford; moves to Chelsea; war with France resumes: "If my head could win [the King] a castle in France, . . . it would not fail to go." (47)

1525 - High Steward, Cambridge; chancellor of Lancaster; Peasants' Revolt; peace treaty with France; Cecily marries Heron; Elizabeth marries Dauncey (48)

1526 - Appointed to royal council's subcommittee of four; urges Erasmus to complete writings against Luther; Turks invade Hungary; Tyndale's New Testament secretly distributed (49)

1527 - Accompanies Wolsey to France; sack of Rome; Henry consults More about divorce; More's daughters' dispute before Henry; Holbein paints the More family (50)

1528 - Tunstall asks More to defend Church in English; Margaret almost dies; More chosen as alternate Master of Revels, Lincoln's Inn; More's three great wishes (51)

1529 - Delegate, Peace of Cambrai; fire at Chelsea; appointed Lord Chancellor; addresses Parliament; John marries Anne Cresacre (52)

1530 - More almost dismissed for his opposition to Henry; Cranmer completes his defense of caesaropapism (53)

1531 - Henry declared Supreme Head of the Church in England (54)

1532 - Counters Cromwell's and St. German's attacks on the clergy; reports universities' approval of royal divorce; Henry enraged by undiplomatic clerics; Submission of Clergy (May 15); More resigns his office (May 16) (55)

1533 - Restraint of Appeals to Rome; England declared an empire (April); Cranmer authorizes royal divorce (May); Anne Boleyn's coronation (June 1); Pope Clement VII condemns the divorce (July); to defend his reputation, More writes to Erasmus (56)

1534 - Henry asks for More's indictment (Feb. 21), but House of Lords refuses three times; More questioned by royal commission (March), interrogated at Lambeth Palace (Apr. 13), and finally imprisoned (illegally) for refusal to take Cromwell's oath regarding the Act of Succession (Apr. 17); Chancellor Audley sends a warning to More (August) (57)

1535 - Margaret visits while monks are led to execution (May 4); More interrogated on May 7, June 3, and June 14; Richard Rich removes writing materials (June 12); More's trial (July 1) and execution July 6) (58)

A Chronology of More's Writing

More was a ready writer and not a few of his works remained in manuscript until some years after his death, while several have been lost altogether. Of all his writings the most famous is unquestionably the Utopia, first published at Louvain in 1516. The volume recounts the fictitious travels of one Raphael Hythlodaye, a mythical character, who, in the course of a voyage to America, was left behind near Cape Frio and thence wandered on till he chanced upon the Island of Utopia ("nowhere") in which he found an ideal constitution in operation. The whole work is really an exercise of the imagination with much brilliant satire upon the world of More's own day. Real persons, such as Peter Giles, Cardinal Morton, and More himself, take part in the dialogue with Hythlodaye, so that an air of reality pervades the whole which leaves the reader sadly puzzled to detect where truth ends and fiction begins, and has led not a few to take the book seriously. But this is precisely what More intended, and there can be no doubt that he would have been delighted at entrapping William Morris, who discovered in it a complete gospel of Socialism; or Cardinal Zigliara, who denounced it as "no less foolish than impious"; as he must have been with his own contemporaries who proposed to hire a ship and send out missionaries to his non-existent island. The book ran through a number of editions in the original Latin version and, within a few years, was translated into German, Italian, French, Dutch, Spanish, and English.

English poems (c. 1496-1504)
Correspondence (Latin and English, 1499-1535)
Latin verses to Holt's Lac Puerorum (c. 1500)
"Letter to John Colet" (c. 1504)
The Life of John Picus (c, 1504; published 1510)
Translations of Lucian (1505-1506; published 1506)
Latin poems, Epigrammata (1496-1516; published 1518)
Coronation ode (1509)
Epigrams on Brixius (1513)
The History of King Richard III (c. 1513-1518)
"Letter to Dorp" (1515)
Utopia (1516)
Poem and letters to his children, and letter to their tutor (1517-1522)
Letters to Oxford (1518), to a Monk (1519), and to Brixius (1520)
Quattuor Novissima (The Four Last Things] (c. 1522)
Responsio ad Lutherum (1523)
"Letter to Bugenhagen" (1526; published 1568)
A Dialogue Concerning Heresies (June 1529)
Supplication of Souls (September 1529)
A Dialogue Concerning Heresies, 2nd edition (May 1531)
Confutation of Tyndale's Answer I-III (March 1532)
"Letter against Frith" (December 1532; published December(1533)
Confutation of Tyndale IV-VIII (Spring 1533)
The Apology of Sir Thomas More (April 1533)
The Debellation of Salem and Bizance (October 1533)
The Answer to a Poisoned Book (December 1533)
A Treatise upon the Passion; A Treatise to Receive the Blessed Body; A Dialogue of Comfort against Tribulation; "A Dialogue on Conscience" (1534)
"Imploring Divine Help against Temptation"; "A Godly Instruction [on How to Treat Those Who Wrong Us]'; "A Godly Meditation [on Saving One's Life]"; "A Godly Meditation [on Detachment]" (1534-1535)
De Tristitia Christi (The Sadness of Christ) (1535)
"A Devout Prayer [before Dying]" (July 1535)

"more" about MORE

Thomas More's London

• All Hallows Church: More regularly made pilgrimages, always on foot, in and around London. He visited the famous Marian shrine at this church, which was near the Tower.
  
• The Barge: More's first home, where all his children were born, was called "The Barge." This was in an attractive part of London, on Bucklersbury Street, and was aromatic because of the many spice dealers in the area.
  
• Blackfriars: When Parliament met here in 1523, More served as Speaker of the House of Commons. In his opening address, More argued for freedom of speech-the first such appeal ever recorded.
  
• Charterhouse: While studying law, More attached himself to this strict Carthusian monastery to receive spiritual formation. It was Henry II who originally invited the Carthusians to come into England-as part of his reparation for the murder of Thomas Becket in 1170.
  
• Crosby Hall: More bought the lease of this magnificent home in 1523 (Richard III had been a previous resident), but shortly afterwards sold it to his good friend Antonio Bonvisi. In 1910 the great hall of this estate was moved to Chelsea.
  
• Furnivall's Inn: More taught law at this school from 1503 to 1506.
  
• Guildhall: More served as undersheriff and handled a great deal of city business in this grand municipal center.
  
• Lincoln's Inn: Both Thomas and his father studied law at this inn of court and remained active there throughout their careers. Lincoln's Inn was considered the best law school in England.
  
• London Bridge: Both Thomas and his father served on commisions charged with the maintenance of London Bridge.The head of Thomas More was displayed here just after his execution.
  
• Milk Street: More's birth place. Milk Street was a prosperous residential area off the busy commercial district of the city. Sir John More lived here for most of his life; the exact location of his home is no longer known.
  
• Old Swan's Wharf: After his trial at Westminster on July 1, 1535, More landed at this wharf and then walked along lower Thames Street to the Tower.
  
• St. Anthony School: The school More attended as a child. Just north of Threadneedle Street, St. Anthony's was among the best grammar schools in London.
  
• St Lawrence Jewry, Church of: This was the Mores' parish church, where young Thomas lectured on Augustine's City of God.
  
• St. Paul's Cathedral: More's good friend and spiritual advisor Fr. John Colet was rector of this church.
  
• St. Stephen's, Walbrook: While More lived at The Barge, this was his parish church. It was here that he buried Jane, that he married Alice, and that Margaret married William Roper.
  
• The Tower: More was imprisoned in the Bell Tower of this fortress for more than a year before his public execution on Tower Hill. His body is buried in the Chapel of St. Peter ad Vincula.
  
• Tower Wharf: Margaret's last meeting with her father occurred at this spot.
  

More's Travels near London

• Chelsea: More built his family home on a thirty-four-acre farm two miles from London. This location gave him easy access downstream to Westminster Hall, where he did much of his business, and upstream to Hampton Court.
  
• Eltham, Kent: More surprised Erasmus in 1499 by having him come along for an unannounced visit to Prince Henry at the royal palace. The Ropers had their family estate here.
  
• Gobions: More's father owned this country estate in North Mimms, Hertfordshire.
  
• Greenwich: The court at Greenwich was one of King Henry's favorites; it was just east of London, on the Thames.
  
• Hampton Court: Cardinal and Chancellor Wolsey built this magnificent palace in 1514, and Henry confiscated it in 1529 upon Wolsey's fall. More was often in this palace to do business with both Wolsey and Henry.
  
• Lambeth Palace: At twelve, More served as page to Archbishop and Chancellor Morton. It was probably here, at a feast in November 1503, that More delivered the comic poem he is thought to have written in honor of his father, who had become a sergeant-at-law, and his maternal grandfather, who had been elected sheriff of London. Later, More would come to this place to see William Warham, Archbishop of Canterbury and former Lord Chancellor of England. Just prior to his imprisonment, More was interrogated in this palace by Cranmer, Cromwell, Audley, and Benson.
  
• Netherhall: More's wife Jane Colt, one of eighteen children, lived on this country estate in Essex.
  
• Shackelwell, Hackney: More became responsible for this magnificent manor and all of its lands when he became the guardian of Giles Heron, in 1523. After More's death, Heron was accused by a disgruntled former tenant of having "mumble[d] certain words touching the King" in the parlor of Shackelwell; he was imprisoned in 1539 and executed in 1540.
  
• Wanstead: This was another estate owned by Giles Heron, a property that Richard Rich acquired after Heron's execution.
  
• Westminster: Here the English Parliament began, and here More practiced law. He served in the Parliament of 1504, which met in the Chapter House of Westminster Abbey. He met with Wolsey frequently at Whitehall; here, during that famous incident of 1523, he tactfully broke off the Cardinal's "displeasant talk" by complimenting him on his beautiful gallery. More was tried and found guilty in Westminster Hall.
  
• Willesden: Giles Alington, husband of Alice (More's stepdaughter), owned an estate near this town. In 1525 a double wedding took place in Alington's private chapel: Elizabeth More married William Dauncey, and Cecily More married Giles Heron.
  
• Willesden, St. Mary: This shrine to our Lady dates back to the tenth century. More walked the seven miles to make his pilgrimage here.
  
• Windsor: At this castle, built as a fortress by William the Conqueror, More served at Henry's court.
  

More's Travels in Europe

• Amiens: In 1527 More accompanied Wolsey to complete peace negotiations with France.
  
• Antwerp: More visited this important commercial center in 1515, during his embassy to Bruges. His Utopia opens outside its beautiful cathedral.
  
• Barnborough Hall, Yorkshire: As a baby, Anne Cresacre became heir to this estate after her parents died in 1512. More became her guardian and assumed responsibility for her lands until she came of age.
  
• Bruges: More made embassies to this city in 1515 and 1521, primarily to negotiate the trade of wool and cloth between England and Flanders. He was appointed by the King, but was probably nominated by the London merchants. In 1520 he was in the King's retinue for the peace-keeping mission at the Field of Cloth of Gold.
  
• Calais: More went to Calais in 1517 to negotiate with French merchants, and again in 1521 to help Wolsey in peace negotiations between Emperor Charles V and King Francis I.
  
• Cambrai: More considered the 1529 Peace of Cambrai treaty to be the most important achievement of his diplomatic career. It is the only public event he mentions in his epitaph. He rejoiced that peace had finally been restored to Christendom.
  
• Cambridge: More served as High Steward of Cambridge. His friend Bishop John Fisher was its chancellor.
  
• Canterbury: The shrine of St. Thomas Becket was the most popular place of pilgrimage in England. More considered it significant that the date set for his own execution was the eve of Becket's feast. Henry VIII eventually outlawed pilgrimages to this spot. More's head is buried in St. Dunstan's Church in Canterbury.
  
• Coventry: More's sister Elizabeth Rastell lived in this city. On a visit in or about 1506, he met the ignorant friar whom he describes in his "Letter to Dorp." Elizabeth's most famous grandson would be John Donne.
  
• Lancaster, Duchy of: From 1525 to 1529, More served as chancellor of this territory, which encompassed some forty thousand people.
  
• Louvain: More visited Louvain's university around 1508.
  
• Oxford: More attended Oxford for two years and later served as High Steward. In 1518 he wrote an official letter in defense of Greek studies there.
  
• Paris: More visited the University of Paris around 1508.
  
• Rochester: Here More visited his longtime friend Bishop John Fisher.
  
• Southampton: In 1517 More served as counsel and interpreter for the pope's ambassador in a case involving forfeiture of a papal ship that was docked at Southampton.
  
• Woodstock: More often accompanied Henry's royal retinue to Woodstock, where the King loved to hunt. More was here when news of the great fire at Chelsea reached him, on September 3,1529.

More's Family

	The More Family Elizabeth (21) Margaret Giggs (29) [adopted daughter] Judge John More (76) Anne Cresacre (15) [ward] Sir Thomas (50) John (18) Henry Patenson (40) [family "fool"] Cecily (20) Margaret (22) John Harris (27) [More's secretary] Lady Alice (57)

Sir Thomas More and his daughter