The Significance of Thomas More

Thomas More was born February 7, 1478 to Sir John More and a mother who would die when More was seven. John More was a judge, who felt education was very important. Thomas More began his education at St. Anthony's School in London. Later he would intern for Archbishop Morton. After his internship More went onto Oxford. When More finished his time at Harvard, he was faced with a dilemma: His father wanted him to be a lawyer like he had been, but he was seriously thinking of devoting his life to a monastery. More decided to enroll in law school, but he lived with the Carthusian monks near his school. More studied law at the New Inn and then later at the Lincoln Inn.

In the end More decided to follow the more secular path. He became a lawyer. In 1504 More entered Parliament. More strongly opposed the amount of power the king, then Henry VII, held. After pushing for some type of recession of power More's Father was arrested; More was forced to withdraw from the public eye and pay a fine. When Henry VII died More began to take a serious role in politics, he was named undersheriff of London. Soon More drew the attention of the Lord Chancellor, Cardinal Wosley, and King Henry VIII. More was involved with many diplomatic missions, specifically to the Low Countries. In 1529, with the dismissal of Cardinal Wosley, More was named the Lord Chancellor of London. He was the first layman to hold this position. More lived a great life, that is until Henry VIII decided he wanted to divorce his wife Catharine of Aargon.

More was a strict Catholic and when the Pope refused to grant the annulment he stood in defense of the pope. More refused to sign the Oath of Supremacy, which gave the king more power than the pope. More resigned his office and once again withdrew from public life. A year later Henry had More imprisoned in the Tower of London.

Thomas More spent several months in the Tower of London. He was tried for his refusal to sign the Oath of Supremacy. More was beheaded July 7, 1535. However his history does not stop there. Four hundred years later he was canonized by Pope Pius XI. Sixty-five years afterwards, in 2000, Pope John Paul II made him the patron saint of civil servants.

During his times Thomas More would have been considered a Renaissance man because he limited did not limit himself to one particular arena of life. More was a politician, a devote member of the Catholic Church, a writer, a father, and held numerous positions besides that. Through the many facets of his life, Thomas More, greatly altered the world during his time, and for future generation. In his writing, his faith, and his work in politics, More became an example for others, an archetype in many fields, a lot of which are still followed today.

As a writer More is best known for his book Utopia, published in 1516. Utopia was fist published in Latin. It wasn't until 1551, twenty years after More's death, that Utopia was translated into English. During More's time scholars still wrote and published in Latin. It wasn't until later in his life, when the Renaissance had begun, that literature was also transcribed in secular languages. Utopia was translated into German, Italian, and French. Utopia begins (the complete version: More actually wrote Book 1 of Utopia after he wrote Book 2) with More and traveler, Raphael, discussing the general disintegration of English society caused by the end of serfdom and the movement of peasants from rural communities to urban cities. In Book 2 Raphael retells how he is salvaged from the pitfalls of his corrupt society when he is shipwrecked on an island called Utopia.

Through his book Utopia More has become known as 'the father of the Utopian novel'. More's Utopia was the blueprint for Utopian Literature. In his book, he develops the defects of his society, he then explains what changes could be made to redeem his society. This is all done in prose, lending each artist a large landscape for them to develop their 'perfect' societies. The genre of Utopian literature is based mainly on society: What is the structure of society currently? How could this structure be improved upon? Can Society be improved at all?

As with his creation of the Utopian genre More was also responsible for the sub genre: Anti-Utopian literature. The Anti-Utopian novel has become more popular in the recent past. The most famous anti-utopian novels being Brave New World by Aldous Huxley and 1984 by George Orwell. These novels present societies that have become corrupted to the point they no longer resemble the author's relative societies. Instead of developing a society were the social structure has been improved upon, they relay the degeneration of society to the peak. The anti-utopian novel does not offer methods of improvement like the utopian novel.

Thomas More's writing of Utopia changed the face of literature in many ways. It gave authors a new way to express their ideals. It also spawned, or at least facilitated, the movement of literature from pure entertainment to realistic portrayals of society and social conscious in writers. After More (and several other writers) it was acceptable, if not ideal, that literature come with a message. Such works have had a wondrous impact on society in general as well as improving innumerable individual lives.

Thomas More was a devote catholic. For a time he was even considering dedicating his life to the Church. He lived in a monastery with the Carthusian monks while studying to become a lawyer. It was this deep loyalty to his faith that made More such an important member of the Reformation. Thomas More was perhaps one of the strongest foes of reformation in London. He had people burned at the stake for heresy. And spent most of the end of his political career trying to combat the theories expressed by Martin Luther.

More was also a Christian humanist. Humanism was a movement began in the Renaissance that placed emphasis on human potential and achievement. Christian Humanist took this ideal and put a religious slant to it. More's Christian humanist views can be seen in his book Utopia and how humanity has the potential for greatness if they are right with God. More believed in the individual achievements of man as long as they realized that it was all from God and for God.

Humanists were scholars who tried to influence society through art, literature and several other mediums. Their questioning of society helped further the Reformation. As humanist began to examine religion, new ideals were discovered. These new ideals gave way to new religions. At first Protestantism, which was further dissected: Calvinism, Huguenots, Anabaptist, Lutheranism, Presbyterianism, and many other sects.

The Reformation in itself, and the examination of the Church by Christian humanist like Thomas More, eventually led to the Catholic Reformation. During the Catholic Reformation many of the idiosyncrasies of the practice of Catholicism were adapted. The world around the Church was changing and the Church had to change with it. During the Catholic Reformation a lot of practices that spawned the dissention of the Protestants were reviewed. The Catholic Reformation expelled a lot of corruption out of the Church.

In October of 1529 Cardinal Thomas Wosely was stripped of his title, Lord Chancellor. Wosely had lost his position after failing to convince the pope to allow Henry VIII to divorce Catherine of Aargon and remarry Anne Boleyn. After Wosely was removed from office, More (now Sir Thomas More), was named Lord Chancellor. The Lord Chancellor acted as a Prime Minister would now. This new position made More one of the most influential political figures in Europe at the time.

More added Henry VIII in many diplomatic situations, such as the Field of the Cloth of Gold, the name given to a diplomatic mission to France. The Field was a meeting to discuss peace between Henry and Francis I of England. The Meeting never actually lead to anything because Henry had already decided to ally himself with Francis I enemies in the Holy League. More also took part in the beginning of the Reformation Parliament. The Reformation Parliament dealt with the aligning the changes in the religious world at the time.

Henry VIII was married to Catherine of Aargon, but he wanted a divorce. At that time any English citizen needed approval from the pope to have a marriage annulled. The pope refused to grant Henry his divorce. Henry married Anne Boleyn, his new wife, in secret. In 1533 he defied the pope and had Anne crowned. Thomas More refused to go. Later when Henry had Parliament create the Oath of Supremacy and the Act of Succession More refused to sign. More refused to go against the commands of the pope. Henry was furious with him. More's refusal encouraged other officials to speak out against the 'wrongful divorce'.

More later resigned his position and retired from public life. This wasn't enough, Henry had him arrested and thrown in the Tower of London. More spent several months in the Tower of London, he never reputed his earlier claims of Henry's sin. More was put through a speedy trial where he was found guilty and sentenced to die. On July 7, 1535 Sir Thomas More was taken to the gallows and beheaded. His last words: "The King's servant, but God's first", were an inspiration to many. Thomas More stood for his faith to the end of his life, which is why he was recognized as a martyr for Catholicism. He was later sainted for his contributions to the Church. His diligence in upholding the faith, in the face of Reformation. In 2000 he was made the patron saint of civil servants or politicians because of his great work in the political development in English history.

Thomas More is not the most well known man in history. His predecessor Cardinal Wosely certainly got more recognition for his work as the Lord Chancellor of England. However More had a great impact on historical Europe and our world today. More helped spread Christian humanism and by default Reformation throughout Europe. He helped England negotiate peace between the religious conflict of Reformation and the secular government. He gave many politicians at that time the courage to stand against Henry VIII's decision to disobey the pope. He aided our times by developing a new form of literature, a new form of expression, the Utopian novel. His part in spreading of religious reform gave rise to many of the religions practiced around the world today. More made a significant but silent impact on the world with his life and his death.