if honor were profitable, everybody would be honorable -Sir Thomas More
It’s odd and interesting how certain historical figures catch an interest and when others do not. Perhaps it is the biographical author, the presentation of the life, or the similarities to one’s own journey. Lately, I have been particularly interested in Reformation and pre-Elizabethan England, particularly where the Catholic Church and France (to a lesser extent, Spain) are players.
Having just completed several readings involving Sir Thomas More, I am captivated by his humanistic scholastic philosophy and richness, and of him as a political figure, author, and martyr.
Many of his quotes still hold true today: “Here bring your wounded hearts, here tell your anguish; Earth has no sorrow that Heaven cannot heal.” And “One of the greatest problems of our time is that many are schooled but few are educated.”
Thomas More was born at London in 1478. After a thorough grounding in religion and the classics, he entered Oxford to study law. Upon leaving the university he embarked on a legal career which took him to Parliament. In 1505, he married his beloved Jane Colt who had four children, and when she died young, he married Alice Middleton.
A wit and a reformer of his time, this learned man numbered Bishops and scholars among his friends and by 1516 wrote his world-famous book Utopia. Henry VIII appointed him to a succession of high posts and finally made him Lord Chancellor in 1529. However, he resigned in 1532, at the height of his career and reputation. The rest of his life was spent in writing.
In 1534, with his close friend, John Fisher, he refused to render allegiance to the King as the Head of the Church and was confined to the Tower of London. Fifteen months later, and nine days after John Fisher’s execution, More was tried and convicted of treason. He told the court that he could not go against his conscience and wished his judges that “we may yet hereafter in heaven merrily all meet together to everlasting salvation.” And on the scaffold, he told the crowd of spectators that he was dying as “the King’s good servant – but God’s first.”
He was beheaded 474 years ago today, on July 6, 1535.
