Data Bases • Custom Term Papers • Free Term Papers • Free Research Papers • Free Essays • Free Book Reports • Plagiarism? Links • Top 100 Term Paper Sites • Top 25 Essay Sites • Top 50 Essay Sites • Search 97,000 Papers @ DirectEssays.com • Search 101,000 Papers @ ExampleEssays.com • Search 90,000 Papers @ MegaEssays.com Free Essays • Term Paper Sites • Chuck III's Free Essays • Free College Essays • TermPaperSites.com • Free Essays • My Term Papers • Essay World • Planet Papers	Search Lots of Essays Back to Subjects - European History Sir Thomas More Sir Thomas More Thomas More was born on February 7th, 1478. He had six brothers and sisters, while only three made it to adulthood. When More was thirteen years old he was brought as a page into household of the Archbishop of Canterbury. At the age of fourteen, the Archbishop sent More to Oxford. He began studying Greek theology, and it enjoyed it immensely. His father worried about his future and pulled Thomas out after only two years of study. At sixteen More began serious study of the law, to follow in his fathers footsteps as a barrister. After attending many schools around London, More became a barrister. He didn’t know if it was that was right for him, and thought of joining a monastery. He spent almost four years staying with the Cistercian monks outside of London. While in the end he decided that it was not the life for him, the traditions of the monks stayed with him all his life. On leaving the monastery More felt he needed a companion. He began to look for a wife. He soon met and married Jane Colette who bore him 4 children: Margaret, Elizabeth, Cecily, and John. Their mother died early and left More with 4 young children to raise. Within a few weeks of Jane’s death he married a widow named Alice Middleton. He was working as a barrister and was very busy; he needed someone to help raise the young children. More surrounded himself with some of the greatest humanist and theological scholars of his time. Among them were Erasmus, John Colette, John Fisher, and Antonio Bonvisi. They were the greatest minds of their time. Together, More and his friends called for reform in education, in the Church, in government, in society itself. Thomas became very interested in politics. He took on different roles in public service, such as representing London in Parliament during the reign of Henry VII and representing England on various trade ventures. It wasn't long before he attracted the attention of both Cardinal Wolsely the Chancellor and King Henry VIII himself. While reluctant to take on service to the court, More felt it his duty to serve God through service to the King and so took the jobs given to him. Over the years the King's dissatisfaction with Queen Catherine of Aragon grew. She wasn’t bearing any male children. The King soon fell in love with Anne Boleyn. Henry asked Wolsely to get him out of his marriage to Catherine, on the grounds that it was never a proper marriage, she being first married to his brother Arthur. The Pope was the prisoner of the King of Spain, who happened to be Catherine's nephew, and Catherine of course was opposed to being divorced from the King and having their only living child, Mary, proclaimed illegitimate and taken out of the line of succession. Thomas More became the King's choice for Chancellor of England, the second highest position in the realm. He tried his best to stay out of the King's problems, telling the King that it was not his place to comment or judge the positions of the Church. Henry's only alternative seemed to be to take what Rome would not grant him and to take over the Church so he could have what he wanted. Had he been a stronger man, more in control of his feelings, things probably wouldn’t have gone as they did. But Henry was in love and surrounded by greedy people. Henry called Parliament together and ordered them to grant him the title of Supreme head of the Church in England. The Clergy were called together and accused of treason for making an oath to Rome in addition to their oath to Henry and were put in the position of choosing between their loyalty to Rome or death. A few, like Bishop John Fisher stood for what they believed to be right and choose death over breaking with Rome, but they didn’t make a difference and in the end they sold out to Henry and Cromwell. The day after Henry was proclaimed Supreme Head of the Church, More resigned as Chancellor of England telling the King he was very sick. He retired to his home in Chelsea, hoping that he could stay out of the whole thing and enjoy the rest of his life peacefully. He thought that as long as he remained silent, it would be taken as assent and the King would not trouble him. But he hadn't counted on the jealousy of Cromwell, or the maliciousness of Boleyn, both of whom feared More and the respect that the King accorded him. It was when Thomas failed to appear at the wedding and later at the coronation of Anne that she began to hate him and sue Henry for his punishment for what she perceived as an insult to her. Cromwell appeared before Parliament with a new bill to be passed. Parliament be required to pass a Bill of Succession, declaring Mary Tudor illegitimate, and Anne Boleyn’s children with Henry heirs to the throne. The bill would also call for all citizens to take an oath of loyalty to the succession. More had no problem with the oath of succession, Parliament could declare by law any one they wanted to be heir. Moore’s problem lay in the wording of the oath which included Henry's title as Supreme Head of the Church in England. Thomas refused, along with Bishop Fisher and various others members of the clergy to take the oath on the grounds of conscience. All stood before a "jury” and heard themselves charged with treason; all were found guilty and were beheaded. Bibliography: Word Count: 946
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