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What did Thomas More say before his execution on Tower Hill?

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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.

Before his execution on Tower Hill in 1535, Thomas More displayed characteristic composure and wit. As he ascended the scaffold, he remarked to the lieutenant, "See me safe up, and for my coming down let me shift for myself."1

Addressing the onlookers, he requested that they bear witness to the fact that he was dying "in the faith and for the faith of the Catholic Church, the king’s good servant and God’s first."1

More was executed for his refusal to acknowledge King Henry VIII as the supreme head of the Church of England and for his opposition to the king's marriage to Anne Boleyn. Although he was initially sentenced to be drawn, hanged, and quartered, the king commuted his sentence to beheading.21