Sir Thomas More
Tudor chancellor, beheaded
Sir Thomas More was an English lawyer, statesman, and author who served as Lord Chancellor under Henry VIII before being executed in 1535 for refusing to acknowledge the king as head of the Church of England.
His *Utopia* (1516) gave English a word for idealized societies.
More was canonized by the Catholic Church in 1935.
The title *Sir* reflects his knighthood; he appears in historical contexts simply as Thomas More or More.
- UtopiaImagined perfect society
- martyrVictim for beliefs
- TudorSixteenth-century English ruling family
- chancellorSenior administrative official
- Tudor courtEnglish Renaissance monarchy circle
royal court · Catholic · saint · execution · Tower of London · Catholic martyr · conscience · heresy · treason · scaffold · Renaissance · humanist · Erasmus · beheading · oath · Act of Supremacy · reformation · integrity
- British KnightsSir Francis Drake, Sir Walter Raleigh, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Sir Alex Ferguson
- Shakespeare ApocryphaEdward III
- Legal FiguresThurgood Marshall, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, John Jay, Brett Kavanaugh, Blackstone
Sir Thomas MoreThomas Cromwell
Henry's chief minister
Martin Luther · Thomas Cranmer · Henry VIII · John Calvin · turncoat
Sir Thomas MoreThomas Cromwell
Henry's chief minister
Thomas Cranmer · sycophant · turncoat · collaborator · compromiser