Portrait of Sir Thomas More by Hans Holbein the Younger

Sir Thomas More (7 February 1478–6 July 1535), posthumously known also as Saint Thomas More, was an English lawyer, writer, and politician. During his lifetime he earned a reputation as a leading humanist scholar and occupied many public offices, including that of Lord Chancellor from 1529 to 1532. More coined the word "utopia", a name he gave to an ideal, imaginary island nation whose political system he described in a book published in 1516. He is chiefly remembered for his principled refusal to accept King Henry VIII's claim to be the supreme head of the Church of England, a decision which ended his political career and led to his execution as a traitor. More was canonized in 1935 by the Roman Catholic Church, in which he became the patron saint of statesmen, lawyers, and politicians. Download high resolution version (888x1150, 1909 KB)Thomas More, by Hans Holbein the Younger. ... Download high resolution version (888x1150, 1909 KB)Thomas More, by Hans Holbein the Younger. ... Hans Holbein the Younger (c. ... February 7 is the 38th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... Events February 18 - George, Duke of Clarence, convicted of treason against his older brother Edward IV of England, is privately executed in the Tower of London. ... July 6 is the 187th day of the year (188th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 178 days remaining. ... Events January 18 - Lima, Peru founded by Francisco Pizarro April - Jacques Cartier discovers the Iroquois city of Stadacona, Canada (now Quebec) and in May, the even greater Huron city of Hochelaga (now Montreal) June 24 - The Anabaptist state of Münster (see Münster Rebellion) is conquered and disbanded. ... Royal motto: Dieu et mon droit (French: God and my right) Englands location within the UK Official language English de facto Capital London de facto Largest city London Area  - Total Ranked 1st UK 130,395 km² Population  - Total (2001)  - Density Ranked 1st UK 49,138,831 377/km² Ethnicity... A lawyer is a person licensed by the state to advise clients in legal matters and represent them in courts of law (and in other forms of dispute resolution). ... Humanism is a term assigned different and contradictory meanings by different authors at different times. ... The Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain, or Lord Chancellor and in former times Chancellor of England, is one of the most senior and important functionaries in the government of the United Kingdom. ... Events April 22 - Treaty of Saragossa divides the eastern hemisphere between Spain and Portugal, stipulating that the dividing line should lie 297. ... Events May 16 - Sir Thomas More resigns as Lord Chancellor of England. ... Utopia, in its most common and general meaning, refers to a hypothetical perfect society. ... Events March - With the death of Ferdinand II of Aragon, his grandson Charles of Ghent becomes King of Spain as Carlos I. July - Selim I of the Ottoman Empire declares war on the Mameluks and invades Syria. ... Henry VIII (28 June 1491 – 28 January 1547) was King of England and Lord of Ireland (later King of Ireland) from 22 April 1509 until his death. ... The Church of England is the officially established Christian church in England and acts as the mother and senior branch of the worldwide Anglican Communion as well as a founding member of the Porvoo Communion. ... In law, treason is the crime of disloyalty to ones nation. ... Canonization is the process of declaring someone a saint and involves proving that a candidate has lived in such a way that he or she is worthy of sainthood. ... 1935 was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will take you to calendar). ... The Roman Catholic Church is the largest Christian body in the world. ... In several forms of Christianity, a patron saint has special affinity for a trade or group. ...

Early life

Born in Milk Street, London, Thomas More was the eldest son of Sir John More, a successful lawyer who served as a judge in the King's Bench court. Thomas was educated at St Anthony's School and was later a page in the service of John Morton, the Archbishop of Canterbury, who declared that young Thomas would become a "marvellous man". Thomas attended the University of Oxford for two years, where he studied Latin and logic. He then returned to London, where he studied law with his father and was admitted to Lincoln's Inn in 1496. In 1501 More became a barrister. St. ... Quick Overview Kings (Queens) Bench  Temple campus between the Thames River and Fleet Street. ... This article is about the 15th century English Bishop, for other uses see John Morton (disambiguation). ... Arms of the Archbishop of Canterbury The Archbishop of Canterbury is the senior clergyman of the established Church of England and symbolic head of the worldwide Anglican Communion. ... The University of Oxford, located in the city of Oxford, England, is the oldest university in the English-speaking world. ... Latin is the language originally spoken in the region around Rome called Latium. ... Logic (from Classical Greek λόγος (logos), originally meaning the word, or what is spoken, but coming to mean thought or reason) is most often said to be the study of arguments, although the exact definition of logic is a matter of controversy amongst philosophers (see below). ... Lincolns Inn is one of four Inns of Court in London to which barristers of England and Wales belong and where they are called to the Bar. ... Events January 3 - Leonardo da Vinci unsuccessfully tests a flying machine. ... Events Alexander becomes King of Poland. ... Barristers: traditional dress. ...

To his father's great displeasure, More seriously contemplated abandoning his legal career in order to become a monk. For about four years he lodged at a Carthusian monastery next to Lincoln's Inn while he considered joining the Franciscan order. Perhaps because he judged himself incapable of celibacy, More finally decided to marry in 1505, but for the rest of his life he continued to observe many monastic practices, including self-punishment in the form of wearing a hair shirt and occasional flagellation. A Roman Catholic monk A monk is a person who practices monasticism, adopting a strict religious and ascetic lifestyle, usually in community with others following the same path. ... A Carthusian Monastery in Jerez, Spain The Carthusians are a Christian religious order founded by St Bruno in 1084. ... The Order of Friars Minor and other Franciscan movements are disciples of Saint Francis of Assisi. ... Celibacy may refer either to being unmarried or to sexual abstinence. ... Events March 5 - Papal dispensation issued for the marriage of Henry VIII of England and Catherine of Aragon June 27 - Henry VIII of England repudiates his engagement to Catherine of Aragon, at his fathers command King Alexander_of_Poland signed Nihil_novi act - Poland became Nobles Democracy Poland prohibits peasants from leaving... The term cilice traditionally refers to the hair shirt, a garment or undergarment made of coarse cloth or animal hair. ... Whipping on a post Flagellation is the act of whipping (Latin flagellum, whip) the human body. ...

More had four children by his first wife, Jane Colt, who died in 1511. He remarried almost immediately, to a rich widow named Alice Middleton who was several years his senior. His new wife bore him no children, but More raised as his own her daughter by her previous husband. More provided his daughters with an excellent classical education at a time when such learning was usually reserved for men. Events Diego Velázquez and Hernán Cortés conquer Cuba; Velázquez appointed Governor. ...

Early political career

From 1510 to 1518, More served as one of the two undersheriffs of the city of London, a position of considerable responsibility in which he earned a reputation as an honest and effective public servant. In 1517 More entered the king's service as councilor and "master of requests". After undertaking a diplomatic mission to Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, More was knighted and made undertreasurer in 1521. As secretary and personal advisor to King Henry VIII, More became increasingly influential in the government, welcoming foreign diplomats, drafting official documents, and serving as a liaison between the king and his Lord Chancellor: Thomas Cardinal Wolsey, Archbishop of York. Events Conquest of Pskov by Grand Prince Vasili III of Muscovy. ... Events A plague of tropical fire ants devastates crops on Hispaniola. ... Events January 22 - Battle of Ridanieh. ... The Holy Roman Emperor was, with some variation, the ruler of the Holy Roman Empire, the predecessor of modern Germany, during its existence from the 10th century until its collapse in 1806. ... Charles V Holy Roman Emperor and King of Spain Charles V (Spanish: Carlos I, Dutch: Karel V, German: Karl V.) (24 February 1500–21 September 1558) was effectively (the first) King of Spain from 1516 to 1556 (in principle, he was from 1516 king of Aragon and from 1516 guardian... Events January 3 - Pope Leo X excommunicates Martin Luther. ... Thomas Cardinal Wolsey, PC (c. ... The Archbishop of York, Primate of England, is the metropolitan of the Province of York, and is the junior of the two archbishops of the Church of England, after the Archbishop of Canterbury. ...

In 1523 More became the Speaker of the House of Commons. He later served as high steward for the universities of Oxford and Cambridge. In 1525 he became chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, a position that entailed administrative and judicial control of much of northern England. Events April - Battle of Villalar - Forces loyal to Emperor Charles V defeat the Comuneros, a league of urban bourgeois rebelling against Charles in Spain. ... In the United Kingdom, the Speaker of the House of Commons is the presiding officer of the Lower House of Parliament, the House of Commons. ... The University of Cambridge is the second-oldest university in the English-speaking world. ... Events January 21 - The Swiss Anabaptist Movement was born when Conrad Grebel, Felix Manz, George Blaurock, and about a dozen others baptized each other in the home of Manzs mother on Neustadt-Gasse, Zürich, breaking a thousand-year tradition of church-state union. ... The standard of the Duchy of Lancaster The Duchy of Lancaster is one of the two Royal Duchies in the United Kingdom, the other being the Duchy of Cornwall. ...

Scholarly and literary work

Woodcut by Ambrosius Holbein for a 1518 edition of Utopia. The traveler Raphael Hythloday is depicted in the lower left-hand corner describing to a listener the island of Utopia, whose layout is schematically shown above him.

More combined his busy political career with a rich scholarly and literary production. His writing and scholarship earned him a considerable reputation as Christian humanist in continental Europe, and his friend Erasmus of Rotterdam dedicated his masterpiece, In Praise of Folly, to him. (Indeed, the title of Erasmus's book is partly a play on More's name, the word folly being moria in Greek.) Erasmus also described More as a model man of letters in his communications with other European humanists. The humanistic project embraced by Erasmus and Thomas More sought to reexamine and revitalize Christian theology by studying the Bible and the writings of the Church Fathers in the light of classical Greek tradition in literature and philosophy. More and Erasmus collaborated on a Latin translation of the works of Lucian, which was published in Paris in 1506. Download high resolution version (600x857, 240 KB)Woodcut by Ambrosius Holbein for the 1518 edition of Thomas Mores Utopia. ... Download high resolution version (600x857, 240 KB)Woodcut by Ambrosius Holbein for the 1518 edition of Thomas Mores Utopia. ... A woodcut is a method of printing in which an image is carved into the surface of a piece of wood, with the printing parts remaining level with the surface while the non-printing parts are removed, typically with chisels. ... Portrait of a Young Man 1518 Oil on wood 43 x 32 cm Hermitage Museum Ambrosius Holbein (1494 - 1519) was a German painter. ... Events A plague of tropical fire ants devastates crops on Hispaniola. ... This article deals with the Erasmus, the theologian. ... Hans Holbeins witty marginal drawing of Folly (1515), in the first edition, a copy owned by Erasmus himself (Kupferstichkabinett, Basle) The Praise of Folly (Latin title: Moriae Encomium, sometimes translated as In Praise of Folly, Dutch title: Lof der Zotheid) is an essay written in 1509 by Erasmus of... Theology is literally reasonable discourse concerning God (Greek θεος, theos, God, + λογος, logos, word or reason). By extension, it also refers to the study of other religious topics. ... The holy Jewish scripture: The Torah. ... The Church Fathers or Fathers of the Church are the early and influential theologians and writers in the Catholic Church, particularly those of the first five centuries of Christian history. ... Lucian Lucian of Samosata (greek Λουκιανὸς Σαμοσατεύς, latin Lucianus; c. ... The Eiffel Tower has become a symbol of Paris throughout the world. ... // Events Leonardo da Vinci completes the Mona Lisa. ...

History of King Richard III

Between 1513 and 1518, More worked on a History of King Richard III, an unfinished piece of historiography which heavily influenced William Shakespeare's play Richard III. Both More's and Shakespeare's works are controversial among modern historians for their exceedingly unflattering portrayal of King Richard, a bias due at least in part to the authors' allegiance to the reigning Tudor dynasty, which had wrested the throne from Richard at the end of the Wars of the Roses. Events January 20 - Christian II becomes King of Denmark and Norway. ... Events A plague of tropical fire ants devastates crops on Hispaniola. ... King Richard III (2 October 1452 – 22 August 1485) was the King of England from 1483 until his death and the last king from the House of York. ... Historiography is writing about rather than of history. ... Wikipedia does not yet have an article with this exact name. ... The Tragedy of Richard III is a play by William Shakespeare, in which the monarch Richard III of England is unflatteringly depicted. ... The Tudor dynasty or House of Tudor (Welsh Tudur) is a series of five monarchs of Welsh origin who ruled England from 1485 until 1603. ... The Wars of the Roses (1455–1487) is the name generally given to the intermittent civil war fought over the throne of England between adherents of the House of Lancaster and the House of York. ...

Utopia

In 1515 More wrote his most famous and controversial work, Utopia, a book in which a fictional traveler, Raphael Hythloday, describes the political arrangements of an imaginary island nation named Utopia (a play on the Greek ou-topos, meaning "no place", and eu-topos, meaning "good place"). In the book, More contrasts the contentious social life of Christian European states with the perfectly orderly and reasonable social arrangements of the non-Christian Utopia, where private property does not exist and an almost complete religious toleration is practiced. Many commentators have pointed out that Karl Marx's later vision of the ideal communist state strongly resembles More's Utopia. Events June - Invasion of Persia by Sultan Selim I of the Ottoman Empire. ... Utopia, in its most common and general meaning, refers to a hypothetical perfect society. ... Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as presented in the New Testament writings of his early followers. ... A satellite composite image of Europe Europe is geologically and geographically a peninsula, forming the westernmost part of Eurasia. ... // Use of the term The concept of property or ownership has no single or universally accepted definition. ... Freedom of religion is the individuals right or freedom to hold whatever religious beliefs he or she wishes, or none at all. ... Karl Marx Karl Heinrich Marx (May 5, 1818 Trier, Germany – March 14, 1883 London, UK) was an influential German philosopher, political economist, and revolutionary organizer of the International Workingmens Association, whose two books in particular, Das Kapital and The Communist Manifesto (the latter with Friedrich Engels), laid the foundations... This article is about communism as a form of society and as a popular movement. ...

More might have chosen the literary device of describing an imaginary nation primarily as a vehicle for discussing controversial political matters freely. His own attitude towards the arrangements he describes in the book is the subject of much debate. While it seems unlikely that More, a devout and conservative Christian, intended pagan, proto-communist Utopia as a concrete model for political reform, some have speculated that More based his Utopia on monastic communalism or on the Biblical communalism described in the Acts of the Apostles. A Roman Catholic monk A monk is a person who practices monasticism, adopting a strict religious and ascetic lifestyle, usually in community with others following the same path. ... The holy Jewish scripture: The Torah. ... The Acts of the Apostles, (Greek Praxeis Apostolon) is a book of the Bible, which now stands fifth in the New Testament. ...

Religious polemics

As Henry VIII's advisor and secretary, More helped to write the Defense of the Seven Sacraments, a polemic against Protestant doctrine that earned Henry the title of "Defender of the Faith" from the Pope in 1521. After Martin Luther responded, More published a Reply to Luther which was much criticized for its slanderous ad hominem attacks. Defence of the Seven Sacraments In Latin, Assertio Septem Sacramentorum. ... Look up Polemic in Wiktionary, the free dictionary Polemic is the art or practice of inciting disputation or causing controversy, for example in religious, philosophical, or political matters. ... Protestantism is a movement within Christianity. ... The Pope is the Catholic Bishop and patriarch of Rome, and head of the Roman Catholic Church and the Eastern Catholic Churches. ... Events January 3 - Pope Leo X excommunicates Martin Luther. ... Martin Luther (originally Martin Luder or Martinus Luther) (November 10, 1483–February 18, 1546) was a German theologian and an Augustinian monk whose teachings inspired the Protestant Reformation and deeply influenced the doctrines of Lutheran, Protestant and other Christian traditions (a broad movement composed of many congregations and church bodies). ... An ad hominem argument, also known as argumentum ad hominem (Latin, literally argument [aimed] at the person, but usually translated as argument to the man), is a logical fallacy that involves replying to an argument by addressing the person presenting the argument as a basis for the argument being incorrect...

Henry VIII's divorce

On the death in 1502 of Henry's elder brother, Arthur, Prince of Wales, Henry became heir apparent to the English throne and was compelled to marry his brother's widow, Catherine of Aragon, daughter of the Spanish king, as a means of preserving the English alliance with Spain. At the time, Pope Julius II had issued a formal dispensation from the biblical injunction against a man marrying his brother's widow. This dispensation was based partly on Catherine's testimony that the marriage between her and Arthur had not been consummated. Events January 1 - Portuguese explorers sailed into Guanabra Bay, Brazil and mistook it for the mouth of a river which they named Rio de Janeiro May 9 - Christopher Columbus leaves Spain for his fourth and final trip to the New World. May 21 - Portuguese discover island of St Helena. ... Arthur Tudor (20 September 1486 – 2 April 1502) was the eldest son of Henry VII of England. ... Contrasting with heir presumptive, an heir apparent is one who cannot be prevented from inheriting by the birth of any other person. ... The recently-widowed young Catherine of Aragon, by Henry VIIs court painter, Michael Sittow, c. ... Pope Julius II Julius II, né Giuliano della Rovere (December 5, 1443 - February 21, 1513), was pope from 1503 to 1513. ... As a verb, consummate means to bring something to its completion, such as a transaction, concept, plan or action. ...

Henry was at first happy in his marriage, but Catherine failed to provide him with a male heir and Henry eventually became enamored of Anne Boleyn, a lady of the court. In 1527, Henry instructed Cardinal Wolsey to petition Pope Clement VII for an annulment of his marriage to Catherine of Aragon, on the grounds that the pope had no authority to override a biblical injunction, and that therefore Julius's dispensation had been invalid, rendering his marriage to Catherine void. After the pope steadfastly refused such an annulment, Henry forced Wolsey to resign as Lord Chancellor and appointed Thomas More in his place in 1529. Henry then began to embrace the Protestant teaching that the Pope was only the Bishop of Rome and therefore had no authority over the Christian church as a whole. A portrait of Anne painted some years after her death Anne Boleyn, Marchioness of Pembroke and Queen Consort of England (c. ... Events January 5 - Felix Manz, co-founder of the Swiss Anabaptists, was drowned in the Limmat River in Zürich by the Zürich Reformed state church. ... For the antipope (1378-1394) see Antipope Clement VII. Clement VII, né Giulio di Giuliano de Medici (May 26, 1478 – September 25, 1534) was pope from 1523 to 1534. ... Annulment is a legal procedure for declaring a marriage null and void. ... Events April 22 - Treaty of Saragossa divides the eastern hemisphere between Spain and Portugal, stipulating that the dividing line should lie 297. ... In the Roman Catholic Church, Saint Peter, given the keys to heaven by Jesus, was the first Bishop of Rome. ...

Chancellorship

More, until then fully devoted to Henry and to the cause of royal prerogative, initially cooperated with the king's new policy, denouncing Wolsey in parliament and proclaiming the opinion of the theologians at Oxford and Cambridge that the marriage of Henry to Catherine had been unlawful. But as Henry began to deny the authority of the Pope, More's qualms grew.

During his time as chancellor, More wrote several books in which he attacked Protestantism and defended the existing anti-heresy laws, which he vigorously enforced. In 1530 he refused to sign a letter by the leading English churchmen and aristocrats asking the Pope to annul Henry's marriage to Catherine. In 1531 he attempted to resign after being forced to take an oath declaring the king the supreme head of the English church "as far the law of Christ allows". In 1532 he asked the king again to relieve him of his office, claiming that he was ill and suffering from sharp chest pains. This time Henry granted his request. Heresy, according to the Oxford English Dictionary, is a theological or religious opinion or doctrine maintained in opposition, or held to be contrary, to the ‘catholic’ or orthodox doctrine of the Christian Church, or, by extension, to that of any church, creed, or religious system, considered as orthodox. ... Events June 25 - Augsburg confession presented to Charles V of Holy Roman Empire. ... Events January 26 - Lisbon, Portugal is hit by an earthquake-- thousands die October 1 - Battle of Kappel - The forces of Zürich are defeated by the Catholic cantons. ... Events May 16 - Sir Thomas More resigns as Lord Chancellor of England. ...

Trial and execution

The last straw for Henry came in 1533, when More refused to attend the coronation of Anne Boleyn as the queen of England. Shortly thereafter More was charged with accepting bribes, but the charges had to be dismissed for lack of any evidence. In 1534 he was accused of conspiring with Elizabeth Barton, a nun who had prophesized against the king's divorce, but More was able to produce a letter in which he had instructed Barton not to interfere with state matters. Events January 25 - King Henry VIII of England marries Anne Boleyn, his second Queen consort. ... Bribery is the practice of offering a professional money or other favours in order to circumvent ethics in a variety of professions. ... Events May 10 - Jacques Cartier explores Newfoundland while searching for the Northwest Passage. ... Elizabeth Barton (1506?–April 20, 1534) was known as both The Nun of Kent and The Holy Maid of London/Kent. ... In general, a nun is a female ascetic who chooses to voluntarily leave the world and live her life in prayer and contemplation in a monastery or convent. ...

On 13 April of that year More was asked to appear before a commission and swear his allegiance to the parliamentary Act of Succession. More accepted Parliament's right to declare Anne the legitimate queen of England, but he refused to take the oath because it would have required him to recognize Parliament's authority to legislate in matters of religion by denying the authority of the Pope. Four days later he was imprisoned in the Tower of London. There he wrote his devotional Dialogue of Comfort Against Tribulation. April 13 is the 103rd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (104th in leap years). ... The English Act of Succession was first passed on March 23, 1534, whereby Parliament decided the heir to the Crown of England from the children of King Henry VIII. The Act made Princess Elizabeth, daughter of Anne Boleyn, the true successor to the Crown by declaring Princess Mary, daughter of... The Tower of London, seen from the river, with a view of the water gate called Traitors Gate. ...

On 1 July 1535, More was tried before a panel of judges that included the new Lord Chancellor, Sir Thomas Audley, as well as Anne Boleyn's father, brother, and uncle. He was charged with high treason for denying the validity of the Act of Succession. More believed he could not be convicted as long as he did not explicitly deny that the king was the head of the church, and he therefore refused to answer all questions regarding his opinions on the subject. Thomas Cromwell, at the time the most powerful of the king's advisors, brought forth the Solicitor General, Richard Rich, to testify that More had, in his presence, denied that the king was the legitimate head of the church. This testimony was almost certainly false, but on the strength of it the jury voted for More's conviction. July 1 is the 182nd day of the year (183rd in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 183 days remaining. ... Events January 18 - Lima, Peru founded by Francisco Pizarro April - Jacques Cartier discovers the Iroquois city of Stadacona, Canada (now Quebec) and in May, the even greater Huron city of Hochelaga (now Montreal) June 24 - The Anabaptist state of Münster (see Münster Rebellion) is conquered and disbanded. ... Thomas Audley, 1st Baron Audley of Walden (c. ... Thomas Cromwell: detail from a portrait by Hans Holbein, 1532-3 Thomas Cromwell, 1st Earl of Essex ( 1485 - July 28, 1540) was an English statesman, one of the most important political figures of the reign of Henry VIII of England. ... Her Majestys Solicitor General for England and Wales, often known as the Solicitor General, is one of the Law Officers of the Crown, and the deputy of the Attorney General, whose duty is to advise the Crown and Cabinet on the law. ... Richard Rich, 1st Baron Rich (1490? - June 12, 1567), was Lord Chancellor during the reign of King Edward VI of England. ...

After his conviction, More spoke freely of his belief that "no temporal man may be head of the spirituality". He was sentenced to be drawn and quartered, but the king commuted this to execution by beheading. Some contemporary reports claim that More's hair turned white overnight before his execution. On the scaffold he declared that he died "the king's good servant and God's first." The execution took place on 6 July. More's body was buried at the Tower of London, in the Church of St. Peter ad Vincula. His head was placed over London Bridge for a month and was rescued by his daughter, Margaret Roper, before it was to be thrown in the River Thames. The skull is believed to reside in the Roper Vault of St. Dunstan's Church, in Canterbury. Drawing and quartering was part of the penalty once ordained in England for treason. ... Alopecia areata (baldness in spots) is a form of hair loss from areas of the body, usually from the scalp. ... July 6 is the 187th day of the year (188th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 178 days remaining. ... The current London Bridge London Bridge is a bridge over the River Thames, between the City of London and Southwark. ... Length 346 km Elevation of the source 110 m Average discharge entering Oxford: 17. ... Location within the British Isles. ...

Influence and reputation

The steadfastness with which More held on to his religious convictions in the face of ruin and death, and the dignity with which he conducted himself during his imprisonment, trial, and execution, contributed much to More's posthumous reputation, particularly among Catholics. More was beatified by the Pope in 1886 and canonized in 1935. His feast day is 22 June. In 2000, Saint Thomas More was declared "heavenly patron of statesmen and politicians" by Pope John Paul II. In Catholicism, beatification (from Latin beatus, blessed, via Greek μακαριος, makarios) is a recognition accorded by the church of a dead persons accession to Heaven and capacity to intercede on behalf of individuals who pray in their name (intercession of saints). ... 1886 is a common year starting on Friday (click on link to calendar) // Events January 18 - Modern field hockey is born with the formation of The Hockey Association in England. ... 1935 was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will take you to calendar). ... June 22 is the 173rd day of the year (174th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 192 days remaining. ... 2000 is a leap year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The Servant of God Pope John Paul II (Latin: ), born Karol Józef WojtyÅ‚a [1] (May 18, 1920 – April 2, 2005), reigned as pope of the Catholic Church for almost 27 years, from 16 October 1978 until his death, making him the third-longest in the history of the...

More's conviction for treason was widely seen as unfair, even among Protestants. His friend Erasmus, who was broadly sympathetic to reform movements within the Christian church, declared after his execution that More had been "more pure than any snow" and that his genius was "such as England never had and never again will have." More was portrayed as a wise and honest statesman in the 1592 play Sir Thomas More, which was probably written in collaboration by Henry Chettle, Anthony Munday, William Shakespeare, and others, and which survives only in fragmentary form after being censored by Edmund Tylney, Master of the Revels in the government of Queen Elizabeth I. Events January 30 - The death of Pope Innocent IX during the previous year had left the Papal throne vacant. ... Henry Chettle (1564?-1607?) was an English dramatist and miscellaneous writer of the Elizabethan era. ... Anthony Munday (or Monday) (c. ... Wikipedia does not yet have an article with this exact name. ... Master of the Revels was an office within the British royal household that originally had minor responsibilities for overseeing royal festivities. ... Elizabeth I (7 September 1533 – 24 March 1603) was Queen of England and Queen of Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death. ...

As the author of Utopia, More has also attracted the admiration of modern socialists. While most Catholic scholars hold that More's attitude in composing Utopia was largely ironic and that he was at every point an orthodox Christian, Marxist theoretician Karl Kautsky argued in the book Thomas More and his Utopia (1888) that Utopia was a shrewd critique of economic and social exploitation in pre-modern Europe and that More was one of key intellectual figures in the early development of socialist ideas. The color red and particularly the red flag are traditional symbols of Socialism. ... Adolf Hitler: layered visual irony? // Defining irony Irony is a form of speech in which the real meaning is concealed or contradicted by the words used. ... Karl Kautsky (October 18, 1854 - October 17, 1938) was a leading theoretician of social democracy. ... 1888 is a leap year starting on Sunday (click on link for calendar). ... A satellite composite image of Europe Europe is geologically and geographically a peninsula, forming the westernmost part of Eurasia. ...

Catholic writer G. K. Chesterton declared that More was the "greatest historical character in English history." The 20th-century agnostic playwright Robert Bolt portrayed More as the ultimate man of conscience in his play A Man for All Seasons. That title is borrowed from Robert Whittinton, who wrote in 1520 that More G.K. Chesterton Gilbert Keith Chesterton (May 29, 1874 – June 14, 1936) was an English writer of the early 20th century. ... The 20th century lasted from 1901 to 2000 in the Gregorian calendar. ... Agnosticism is the philosophical view that the truth values of certain claims, particularly theological claims regarding the existence of God, gods or deities, are either unknown or inherently unknowable. ... Robert Oxton Bolt (15 August 1924 - 12 February 1995) was an English playwright and screenwriter. ... A Man for All Seasons is a play by Robert Bolt, first performed on November 22, 1961. ...

is a man of an angel's wit and singular learning. I know not his fellow. For where is the man of that gentleness, lowliness and affability? And, as time requireth, a man of marvelous mirth and pastimes, and sometime of as sad gravity. A man for all seasons. [1]

In 1966, Bolt's play was made into a successful film directed by Fred Zinnemann. Karl Zuchardt wrote a novel, Stirb Du Narr! ("Die you fool!"), about More's struggle with King Henry, portraying More as an idealist bound to fail in the power struggle with a ruthless ruler and an unjust world. 1966 was a common year starting on Saturday (link goes to calendar) // Events January January 1 - In a coup, Colonel Jean-Bédel Bokassa ousts president David Dacko and takes over the Central African Republic. ... Fred Zinnemann (April 29, 1907—March 14, 1997) was a noted film director. ... Karl Zuchardt was a German writer, born in the German Empire in Leipzig, 1887 and died in 1968 in the then German Democratic Republic. ...

On the other hand, a number of modern writers, such as Richard Marius, have attacked More for his religious fanaticism and intolerance (manifested, for instance, in his enthusiastic persecution of heretics). Biographer Jasper Ridley goes much further, describing More as "a particularly nasty sadomasochistic pervert" in his book The Statesman and the Fanatic. In her biography of Anne Boleyn, Joanna Denny declares that Jasper Godwin Ridley (1920 – 2004) was a British writer, known for historical biographies. ...

His zeal for public order verged on the fanatical. His early desire to become a priest exacerbated a repressed nature that led him secretly to wear a hair shirt and practise self-flagellation. He even imprisoned evangelicals in his own house at Chelsea and had them whipped on a tree in the garden.

Other biographers, such as Peter Ackroyd, have offered a more complicated picture of More as both a sophisticated humanist and man of letters, as well as a zealous Catholic who believed in the necessity of religious and political authority. Peter Ackroyd (born October 5, 1949 in London) is a British author. ...

Biographies

• Richard Marius, Thomas More: A Biography (1984)
• Peter Ackroyd, The Life of Thomas More (1999)

Peter Ackroyd (born October 5, 1949 in London) is a British author. ...

External links

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations by or about:

Thomas More

• More and The History of Richard III
• Project Gutenberg e-text of Sir Thomas More's Utopia
• Thomas More Law Center, a conservative USA public-interest law firm inspired by More's legal service
• Thomas More and his Utopia by Karl Kautsky
• Utopia HTML-formated text on Marxists.org

Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ... Wikiquote is a sister project of Wikipedia, using the same MediaWiki software. ... Project Gutenberg (PG) was launched by Michael Hart in 1971 in order to provide a library, on what would later become the Internet, of free electronic versions (sometimes called e-texts) of physically existing books. ... Public interest is a term used to denote political movements and organizations that are in the public interest—supporting general public and civic causes, in opposition of private and corporate ones (particularistic goals). ... Karl Kautsky (October 18, 1854 - October 17, 1938) was a leading theoretician of social democracy. ... The Marxists Internet Archive (also known as MIA or Marxists. ...

In the United Kingdom, the Speaker of the House of Commons is the presiding officer of the Lower House of Parliament, the House of Commons. ... Thomas Audley, 1st Baron Audley of Walden (c. ... Sir Richard Wingfield (c. ... The Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster is, in modern times, a sinecure office in the British government. ... Thomas Cardinal Wolsey, PC (c. ... The Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain, or Lord Chancellor and in former times Chancellor of England, is one of the most senior and important functionaries in the government of the United Kingdom. ... Thomas Audley, 1st Baron Audley of Walden (c. ...