How did people across Europe react to Thomas More’s execution?

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Portrait of Sir Thomas More by Hans Holbein the Younger, showing More in dark robes and a black hat, wearing a gold chain of office, seated against a green and yellow draped background. — Thomas More *Sir Thomas More*, oil on panel by Hans Holbein the Younger, 1527; in the Frick Collection, New York City.

The news of Thomas More’s execution in 1535 caused a shock across Europe. Despite the English government’s attempts to portray him as a traitor, this official narrative failed to gain credibility, even within Protestant lands.1

Prominent figures expressed deep sorrow over his death. The Dutch humanist Erasmus, who had frequently praised More during his lifetime, mourned him as a man whose soul was purer than snow and whose genius was unparalleled in English history. More’s commitment to his conscience and his martyrdom for the unity of the church left a lasting impression, eventually leading to his beatification in 1886 and his canonization as a saint by Pope Pius XI in 1935.12