Thomas More

Introduction & Top Questions
Early life and career
The Utopia
Career as king’s servant
Years as chancellor of England
Indictment, trial, and execution
Legacy

Quotes References & Edit History Quick Facts & Related Topics

Images & Videos

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.

Woodcut map of the island of Utopia from Thomas More's Utopia, showing a circular island with towns, ships in the water, and Raphael Hythlodaeus speaking to figures in the lower left.

Painting of Cardinal Thomas Wolsey in red robes standing across a table from Sir Thomas More, who is dressed in black, surrounded by courtiers in a grand hall with arched windows.

Oil painting by Antoine Caron showing the arrest and execution of Sir Thomas More, with Henry VIII in red under an archway at left and a small dog at right foreground.

Why did Henry VIII form the Church of England?

At a Glance

Saint Thomas More summary

Related Questions

How did Erasmus and Thomas More become lifelong friends?
How did Robert Bolt’s A Man for All Seasons shape Thomas More’s legacy?
How did Thomas More continue monastic practices after choosing a lay life?
How did Thomas More create the word utopia?
How did Thomas More educate his daughters?
How did Thomas More respond when England’s clergy accepted Henry VIII as supreme head of the church?
How did Thomas More’s History of King Richard III influence William Shakespeare?
How did Utopia influence later utopian literature?
How did education work for men and women in Utopia?
How did people across Europe react to Thomas More’s execution?
How did private property work in the society described in Utopia?
How did work and shared goods function in Thomas More’s Utopia?
How long did Thomas More serve as lord chancellor of England?
How many children did Thomas More have with Jane Colt?
How was Thomas More sentenced after being found guilty of treason?
What did Erasmus write about Thomas More’s character and family life?
What did Thomas More say before his execution on Tower Hill?
What did Thomas More write while imprisoned in the Tower of London?
What duties did Thomas More perform as Henry VIII’s secretary and confidant?
What evidence did Richard Rich give against Thomas More at his trial?
What public role did Thomas More hold in London from 1510 to 1518?
When and where was Thomas More born?
When and where was Thomas More executed?
When did Thomas More become a member of King Henry VIII’s council?
When was Thomas More declared a saint by the Roman Catholic Church?
When was Thomas More’s Utopia published?
Where did Thomas More begin writing Utopia?
Where did Thomas More study before beginning his legal career?
Which book did Erasmus write while staying at Thomas More’s home?
Which writings did Thomas More publish against Protestant heresy?
Who was Thomas More’s first wife, Jane Colt?
Why did Londoners view Thomas More as a defender of poor people?
Why did Thomas More become lord chancellor of England in 1529?
Why did Thomas More criticize the enclosure of English farmland?
Why did Thomas More disagree with Henry VIII about his marriage to Catherine of Aragon?
Why did Thomas More oppose Henry VIII’s annulment of his marriage to Catherine of Aragon?
Why did Thomas More refuse money from church leaders for his polemical writings?
Why did Thomas More refuse the oath required by the Act of Succession?
Why did Thomas More refuse to attend Anne Boleyn’s coronation?
Why did Thomas More reject Henry VIII’s claim to be head of the Church of England?
Why did Thomas More write Utopia in Latin?
Why do some readers connect Thomas More’s Utopia with communist ideas?
Why is Thomas More considered the patron saint of lawyers and politicians?
Why was Thomas More imprisoned in the Tower of London in 1534?
Who was Thomas More?
Why was Thomas More executed?
What is Thomas More’s most famous literary work?
What were Thomas More’s last words?
What did David Hume write?
Why is David Hume famous?
Why is Thomas Hobbes important?
What was Thomas Hobbes’s childhood like?
What is Charles I known for?
What was Charles I’s early life like?

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External Websites

Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy - Thomas More
Humanities LibreTexts - Thomas More
St. John's Law Scholarship Repository - Thomas More, A Man For Our Time (PDF)
World History Encyclopedia - Sir Thomas More
Official Site of Thomas More Society
History of Parliament Online - Thomas More I of London and Chelsea, Mdx.
Heritage History - More
Brigham Young University - ScholarsArchive - The Changing Portrayal of Sir Thomas Moreï¿½s Life (PDF)

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Thomas More - Student Encyclopedia (Ages 11 and up)

Thomas More

English humanist and statesman

Also known as: Saint Thomas More

Written by

Germain P. Marc'hadour

Professor of Philology, Catholic University of the West, Angers, France. Director, Moreana Quarterly. Author of L'Univers de Thomas More and other works on Thomas More.

Germain P. Marc'hadour

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Britannica Editors

Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree....

Britannica Editors

History

Thomas More (born February 7, 1478, London, England—died July 6, 1535, London; canonized May 19, 1935; feast day June 22) was an English humanist and statesman and chancellor of England (1529–32) who was beheaded for refusing to accept King Henry VIII as head of the Church of England. He is recognized as a saint by the Roman Catholic Church and is venerated as a patron saint of lawyers, statesman, and politicians. His book Utopia (1516)...

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