Thomas More (7 February 1478 – 6 July 1535) was the Lord High Chancellor of England from October 1529 to May 1532, succeeding Thomas Wolsey and preceding Thomas Audley. More is best known for his book Utopia, a 1516 book which discusses a perfect society located on an island - this book is one of the first examples of communism. More's idealism would ultimately lead to his downfall; he opposed the annulment of the marriage of King Henry VIII and Queen Catherine of Aragon, leading to King Henry having More beheaded in 1535.
Biography[]
More in 1518
Thomas More was born into a prominent family in 1478, and he pursued a legal career. More was a devout Catholic throughout his life, considering leaving law to become a priest; however, he ultimately decided to remain in law, and he became a member of Parliament in 1504 to represent Great Yarmouth. In 1516, More became a famous person when he wrote Utopia, a narrative about an island nation which allows for its people to live in decency and harmony. The society would see harsh punishments exacted against adulterers, premarital lovers, and atheists, but it would allow for people to share goods, live together in harmony, respect each other's religions, and be able to be in public without being afraid of violence. More's work painted the picture of an ideal society, and it criticized contemporary European society.
Politics[]
More in 1527
More would proceed to serve as an undersheriff of London, a privy councillor, under-treasurer of the Exchequer, secretary and adviser to King Henry VIII of England, and Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, and he succeeded Thomas Wolsey as Lord High Chancellor when Wolsey was charged with treason in 1529. More saw Protestantism as a form of heresy during the Protestant Reformation, and he had six men burned at the stake for being Protestant. However, he would be forced to resign as chancellor in 1532 when King Henry VIII decided to leave Catholicism for the Church of England, and More snubbed Queen Anne Boleyn by refusing to go to her wedding with King Henry; he was opposed to the divorce of Catherine of Aragon and King Henry.
Downfall[]
More at his execution
In 1534, he was sentenced to death for treason after refusing to swear an oath recognizing Anne Boleyn as the lawful wife of King Henry; he chose to stay silent on the matter, and he refused his family's requests for him to sign the oath. More decided to follow in the footsteps of Bishop John Fisher in becoming a martyr, refusing to go against his conscience and recognize the King of England, not God himself, as the head of the church. He was originally sentenced to be hanged, drawn, and quartered, but King Henry commuted his sentence to beheading. On 6 July 1535, More was taken to Tyburn to be beheaded. More told the crowd to remember that he died a faithful servant of the King, but God's first. Even the executioner was moved, and he kneeled, asking More for his blessing. More blessed him and told him not to worry, and asked him to perform his office. More was then beheaded with an axe.
Thomas More would become a Catholic saint and martyr after his death, and he inspired communists such as Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. Vladimir Lenin had a monument erected in his honor near the Kremlin in 1918 after the Russian Revolution due to his communist views, but this monument was dismantled by Vladimir Putin in 2013.