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THOMAS MORE

Thomas More

TIME LINE AND ADDITION FACTS ON THOMAS MORE. THOMAS MORE WAS

STATESMAN AND A LAWYER PHILOSOPHER AND A RENAISSANCE HUMANIST

THE TIME-LINE  OF  THOMAS MORE

DATE                                             EVENT
1478
  • 7TH FEBRUARY: Thomas is born in milk street in London. The Second son of John More and his wife Agnes, Née Graunger
1483
  • APRIL King Edward IV of England is dead. Now his son Edward V is king of England
  • JULY The young Edward V is deposed and kept with his younger brother Richard of Shrewsbury in the Tower of London. Richard the prince's uncle is now King of England.
  • SUMMER Both Princes  The deposed Edward V and Richard of Shrewsbury are missing from the Tower of London.
1485
1490 TO 1492
  • Thomas served as a page in the household of John Morton, the archbishop of Canterbury and lord chancellor of England, as a household page
  • Thomas began his studies at Oxford
1491
  • Thomas attends Firstly St Anthony’s School and joined the household of John Morton, Archbishop of Canterbury,
1494
  • Thomas begins his legal training in London at New Inn, one of the inns of chancery
1496-1502
  • Thomas became a student at Lincoln’s Inn, one of the inns of court.
1497
  • Thomas first met Erasmus the a   Catholic priest, social critic, teacher, and theologian
1499
  • Thomas ‘mother Agnes dies
1502
  • Thomas is called to the bar, legal term for when you can argue in court on behalf of another party
1503-04
  • Thomas lived near the Carthusian monastery outside the walls of London and joined in the monks' spiritual exercises
1504
  • Thomas is elected into parliament, for Great Yarmouth,
1505
  • Thomas married Jane colt they had at home at the Old Barge, Bucklersbury
  • Thomas daughter Margaret (moor) roper is born
1504-07
  • Thomas was invited to serve as a reader (senior lecturer) at a funeral in from
  • Elizabeth and Cicely, Thomas Daughter were born sometime during this period
1508
  • Thomas is thought to have , visited universities in France and Flanders
1509
  • APRIL king Henry VII is dead and now his son, Henry VIII is king of England.
  • 23RD JUNE King Henry VIII married Catherine of Aragon
  • John, Thomas son is born during this time.
  • Thomas wrote a "coronation ode" for Henry VIII of England that combined fulsome flattery of the new king with surprisingly frank condemnations of his father's rule. from then on, his public career rose steadily
  • Erasmus, stayed at Thomas’ home while in England.
1510
  • Thomas served as one of the two under-sheriffs of the city of London
  • Thomas is elected for parliament for London
1511
  • Thomas wife Jane colt died
1514
  • Thomas is now master of request and  is now privy Councillor
  • Thomas was also peripherally involved in the investigation of Richard hunne, a lollard sympathizer imprisoned and murdered for waging an unprecedented lawsuit that challenged Catholic intervention in civil affairs.
1515
  • Cuthbert Tunstall was sent to Flanders with Sir Thomas on a diplomatic mission.
1516
  • Thomas wrote a "Merry Jest"
1517
  • Thomas entered the service of King Henry VIII of England,
  • Thomas’ heroic if unsuccessful attempt to peacefully circumvent the "Evil May Day" race riot (1517) was long remembered in the city.
1518
  • Thomas is a member of the privy council.
BETWEEN 1512   AND 1519
JUNE 1520
  • Thomas is present at the Field of Clothe and gold
1516
  • Thomas wrote the bookUtopiaa, and Erasmus published this for him in Leuven
1521
  • Thomas is knighted and made-Treasurer Of The Exchequer
  • King Henry VIII responded to Martin Luther pamphlet with the assistance of Thomas, in his Defence of the Seven Sacraments.
1523
  • Thomas is elected knight of the shire (MP) for Middlesex
  • APRIL On Thomas Wolsey’s recommendations was elected Speaker for the House of Commons
  • Responsio Ad Lutherum book Thomas wrote in Latin against the teachings of martin Luther
1525
  • King Henry VIII begins his infatuation with Anne Boleyn
  • 31ST  DECEMBER Thomas is now chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and a speaker
  • Thomas is nowthe high steward of oxford and Cambridge universities
1527
  • SUMMER Thomas returns from a diplomatic mission for France.
  • Hans Holbein completes a portrait of Thomas
1528
  • The chapel to the south in Chelsea old Church, Chelsea, London  was rebuilt as a private chapel for Thomas.
  • MARCH Bishop Cuthbert Tunstall decided to commission More to mount an attack on those heretics producing religious books in English
1529
  • Thomas Wolsey is stripped of his office as Lord Chancellor and it is given to Thomas.
  • Thomas is a high steward of oxford and Cambridge universities
  • Thomas writes a dialogue concerning heresies, “confutation of Tyndale’s answer
1530
  • Thomas refused to sign a letter by the leading English churchmen and aristocrats asking pope clement vii to annul Henry VIII marriage to Catherine of Aragon, and argued with Henry VIII over the heresy laws.
  • John More, Thomas father died
1531
  • 11TH FEBRUARY The title "Supreme Head" was first been introduced by Henry VIII into a decree of Convocation
1532
  • 16th MAY Thomas petitioned the king to relieve him of his office of Lord Chancellor, due to ill health
  • JUNE Bishop John Fisher preaches publicly against the divorce of Henry VIII
  • Thomas writes a letter against frith
JUNE 1533
  • Henry VIII married Anne Boleyn
  • MARCH Bishop John Fisher is arrested and sent to the Tower.
  • Thomas wrote to Henry VIII seemingly acknowledging Anne Boleyn as Queen of England
  • 1st JUNE Thomas refused to attend the coronation of Anne Boleyn
  • Thomas writes answer to a poisoned book
  • 7TH SEPTEMBER Anne Boleyn gives birth to a daughter Elizabeth
1534
  • Thomas is accused by Thomas Cromwell of treasonously conspiring with, and being a disciple of the "holy maid of Kent," Elizabeth Barton. he was called before a committee of the privy council to answer these charges of treason, and after his respectful answers the matter seemed to be dropped
  • MARCH Oath of Royal Supremacy
  • The First Succession Act . The Act made Princess Elizabeth, daughter of King Henry VIII Anne Boleyn, who had been born on 7TH September 1533, the true successor to the Crown by declaring Princess Mary, daughter of the King by Catherine of Aragon a bastard
  • 13TH APRIL Thomas is asked to appear before a commission at Lambeth palace, and swear his allegiance to the parliamentary act of succession. more accepted parliament's right to declare Anne Boleyn the legitimate queen of England, but, holding fast to the teaching of papal supremacy, he steadfastly refused to take the oath of supremacy
  • APRIL 17TH Thomas is imprisoned in the Tower of London
  • Thomas wrote a Dialogue Of Comfort Against Tribulation, while imprisoned in the tower of London
  • NOVEMBER The Act of Supremacy
  • The Act Respecting the Oath to the Succession & The Treason Act 1534.
1535
  • 2ND MAY Thomas  met with Thomas Cromwell, Thomas Audley, Thomas Cranmer and others at the Tower of London. Told he was commanded by King Henry VIII to state his opinion of the Act of Supremacy, More stated he refused to “meddle in such affairs”
  • 3RD JUNE Thomas is re-visited By Thomas Cromwell in the Tower. Thomas remained silent
  • Richard Richard, Baron Rich of Leez and Solicitor-General, paid a visit along with Sir Richard Southwell to take away More’s books and reading materials.
  • 1ST JULY Thomas was tried before a panel of T judges, charged with high treason for denying the validity of the Act Of Supremacy and was tried under the following section of the Treason Act 1534:
  • 5TH JULY Thomas writes a final letter to his daughter Meg
  • 6TH JULY Thomas was decapitated at Tower Hill aged fifty-seven years old
Thomas was laid to rest in the church of St Peter Ad Vincula, London, England

EXTRA FACTS ON THOMAS MORE

  • Thomas More was a statesman and a layer Philosopher and a Renaissance humanist.
 
  • Thomas is remembered for not just his works, but also strongly objected to the Protestant Reformation, in particular, the theology of Martin Luther and William Tyndale. More also opposed the king's separation and his petition for divorce from the Catholic Church, refusing to acknowledge Henry as Supreme Head of the Church of England and the annulment of his marriage to Catherine of Aragon.
 
 
  • Thomas Father, Sir John More, was a successful lawyer and later judge. William More, His grandfather was a wealthy baker.
 
  • Thomas was Educated at St Anthony's School, then considered one of London's finest schools of its time.
 
 
  • According to Thomas’ friend, and theologian Desiderius Erasmus of Rotterdam, More once seriously contemplated abandoning his legal career to become a monk.
 
 
  • Thomas tutored his wife Jane Colt in music and literature
 
  • Within thirty days, of his wife Jane’s death More, had married one of the many eligible women Alice Harpur Middleton
 
  • Thomas had four children, Margaret, Elizabeth, Cecil, John. He wrote letters to his children whenever he was away on legal or government business, and encouraged them to write to him often
 
  • Thomas insisted upon giving his daughters the same classical education as his son. More's decision to educate his daughters set an example for other noble families. When Erasmus visited his home and witnessed How well educated his daughters were, he was impressed by their accomplishments.
 
  • Thomas supported the Catholic Church and saw the Protestant Reformation as heresy
  • Thomas early actions against the Reformation included aiding Wolsey in preventing Lutheran books from being imported into England
 
  • Thomas wrote about the Missing Princes from the Tower of London in 1483. In his history, More said that the princes were smothered to death in their beds by two agents of Tyrrell (Miles Forrest and John Dighton) and were then buried "at the stayre foote, metely depe in the grounde vnder a great heape of stones", but were later disinterred and buried in a secret place.
 
  • Thomas had been charged with accepting bribes, but the charges had to be dismissed for lack of any evidence
 
  • During Thomas’ fifteen months in prison, he wrote some of his finest religious work
 
 
  • In 1535, at his trial, it jury took only fifteen minutes, however, to find More guilty. On his panel of judges included Anne Boleyn's father, brother, and uncle, and was led by new Lord Chancellor Thomas Audley.
 
  • Margaret, Clement his adopted daughter, was the only one who witnessed his execution.
 
  • Thomas final words were. "the king's good servant, and God's first".
              
 
  • Margaret also called (Meg) Roper rescued her father’s decapitated head, possibly by bribery, before it could be thrown in the River Thames. The skull is believed to rest in the Roper Vault of St Dunstan's Church, Canterbury.
 
  • On The Catholic calendar, Thomas’s Feast day is the 22nd June , the same feast day as John Fisher.

 WRITTEN  WORKS OF THOMAS MORE

WRITTEN WORKS OF THOMAS MORE

FICTIONAL PORTRAYALS OF THOMAS MORE

WRITTEN WORKS OF THOMAS MORE

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