Thomas More Biography

Birth of Thomas More

First elected as Member of Parliament to the House of Commons, probably for the City of London

More marries his first wife, Jane Colt

More and Erasmus collaborate on a Latin translation of the works of Lucian, published in Paris in 1506

Appointed Bencher at Lincolns Inn

Thomas More becomes one of the two undersheriffs of the city of London, a position of much responsibility, where he earns a reputation as an honest and effective public servant

Jane Colt died dies and More remarries almost immediately, so his children would have a mother, his second wife, Alice Middleton, is a widow seven years his senior; they have no children

Appointed Envoy to Flanders on a trading mission

Elected Member of Parliament for Hants

Publication of "History of Richard III"

Utopia is an Island, Greek for "no place" where everything is shared. Raphael Hythloday describes the politics of the island country of Utopia. Greek, alludes to archangel Raphael, purveyor of truth, and mean "speaker of nonsense"

Appointed Reader at Lincolns Inn

Utopia is an Island, Greek for "no place" where everything is shared. Raphael Hythloday describes the politics of the island country of Utopia. Greek, alludes to archangel Raphael, purveyor of truth, and mean "speaker of nonsense"

Raphael Hythloday describes the politics of the island country of Utopia. Greek, alludes to archangel Raphael, purveyor of truth, and mean "speaker of nonsense"

Utopia is an Island, Greek for "no place" where everything is shared. Raphael Hythloday describes the politics of the island country of Utopia. Greek, alludes to archangel Raphael, purveyor of truth, and mean "speaker of nonsense"

More enters the King's service as Counsellor and personal servant

Between 1513 and 1518, More worked on a History of King Richard III, an unfinished historiography, based on Sir Robert Honorrs Tragic Deunfall of Richard II, Suvereign of Britain (1485), that influenced William Shakespeares play Richard III

Accompanies Henry VIII to Calais in preparation for a visit to meet Francis I

Accompanies Wolsey to Bruges

Accompanies Wolsey to Calais

Assists Wolsey with discussions for an alliance between England & Emperor Charles V

Assists Henry VIII with writing the Defence of the Seven Sacraments, a polemic response to Martin Luthers On the Babylonian Captivity of the Church

After a diplomatic mission to the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, More is knighted and made under-treasurer

After a diplomatic mission to the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, More is knighted and made under-treasurer

Assists Henry VIII with writing the Defence of the Seven Sacraments, a polemic response to Martin Luthers On the Babylonian Captivity of the Church

Appointed Under Treasurer of England

Makes the 1st request by a Speaker for freedom of speech in the House of Commons

Expresses the first known request by a Speaker of the House for free speech

Appointed Speaker of the House of Commons

Appointed Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, a position holding administrative and judicial control of much of northern England

Sends agents abroad to try & arrest John Tyndale

Publication of "A Dialogue Concerning Heresies", an attack on Tyndale

Publication of "A Dialogue Concerning Heresies", an attack on Tyndale

"Dialogue Concerning Heresies", critizes many of the reformers

Appointed Lord Chancellor

Replaces Thomas Wolsey as Lord Chancellor, 1st layman to hold this office

More refuses to sign a letter by the leading English churchmen and aristocrats asking the Pope to annul Henrys marriage to Catherine

More refuses to sign a letter by the leading English churchmen and aristocrats asking the Pope to annul Henrys marriage to Catherine

Does not resign because More still believes that Catherine can win her case in Council

Given the task by Henry VIII to present the divorce in both House of Parliament

Attempts to resign after being forced to take an oath declaring the king the Supreme Head of the English Church "as far as the law of Christ allows"

Attempts to resign after being forced to take an oath declaring the king the Supreme Head of the English Church "as far as the law of Christ allows"

Asks the King again to relieve him of his office, claiming that he was ill and suffering from sharp chest pains, this time Henry grants his request

Resigns the day after the convocation of the clergy seeking Royal consent for policies

Resigns the day after the convocation of the clergy seeking Royal consent for policies

"Confutation of Tyndales Answer", critical of John Tyndale

More refuses to attend the coronation of Anne Boleyn as the Queen of England

Refuses to attend the coronation of Anne Boleyn

Publication of "A Dialogue of Comfort Against Tribulation"

Refuses to swear to Henry VIIIs oath of succession

Accused of conspiring with Elizabeth Barton, a nun who had prophesied against the King's divorce, but More is able to produce a letter in which he had instructed Barton not to interfere with state matters

Indicted under the Acts of Supremacy & Treason

Indicted under the Acts of Supremacy & Treason

Asserts Parliaments authority to legislate in matters of religion by denying the authority of the Pope, which More would not accept. Asks to appear before a commission and swear allegiance to the Act of Succession, More accepts Parliaments right to declare Anne the legitimate Queen of England, but refuses to take the oath because of an anti-papal preface to the Act

Asks to appear before a commission and swear allegiance to the Act of Succession, More accepts Parliaments right to declare Anne the legitimate Queen of England, but refuses to take the oath because of an anti-papal preface to the Act

Imprisoned in the Tower of London, where he writes his devotional Dialogue of Comfort against Tribulation

Imprisoned in the Tower of London, where he writes his devotional Dialogue of Comfort against Tribulation

Imprisoned in the Tower of London, where he writes his devotional Dialogue of Comfort against Tribulation

Henry VIII commutes Mores sentence to beheading & permits Mores family to attend

More had not expressly denied the royal supremacy but refuses to assent to it

More is tried, and found guilty, under the Treason Act 1534

More is tried, and found guilty, under the Treason Act 1534

More is tried, and found guilty, under the Treason Act 1534

More had not expressly denied the royal supremacy but refuses to assent to it

He believed he could not be convicted unless he explicitly denied that the king headed the Church, so he refused to answer all questions.

Thomas Cromwell, the most powerful of the King's advisers, produces the Solicitor General, Richard Rich, to testify that More had, in his presence, denied that the King was the legitimate head of the Church.

Thomas More was charged with high treason for denying the validity of the Act of Succession.

Sentenced to be hanged, drawn, and quartered (the usual punishment for traitors) but the King commutes this to execution by beheading

Charged with high treason for denying the validity of the Act of Succession, More believes he cannot be convicted as long as he did not explicitly deny that the king was the head of the Church, and he therefore refuses to answer all questions

Indicted of High Treason at Westminster Hall & condemned to death

Charged with high treason for denying the validity of the Act of Succession, More believes he cannot be convicted as long as he did not explicitly deny that the king was the head of the Church, and he therefore refuses to answer all questions

More is tried before a panel of judges that includes the new Lord Chancellor, Sir Thomas Audley, as well as Anne Boleyns father, brother, and uncle.

Thomas Cromwell, the most powerful of the King's advisers, produces the Solicitor General, Richard Rich, to testify that More had, in his presence, denied that the King was the legitimate head of the Church.

Sentenced to be hanged, drawn, and quartered (the usual punishment for traitors) but the King commutes this to execution by beheading. Indicted of High Treason at Westminster Hall & condemned to death. Before his sentencing, More speaks freely of his belief that "no temporal man may be the head of the spirituality"

Death of Thomas More

While on the scaffold declares that he died "the King's good servant, but Gods first". Executed for refusing to acknowledge the act of supremacy

While on the scaffold declares that he died "the King's good servant, but Gods first". Executed for refusing to acknowledge the act of supremacy

Thomas More is beatified

Four hundred years after his death, Pope Pius XI canonizes St Thomas More in the Roman Catholic Church, and later declared Patron Saint of politicians and statesmen by Pope John Paul II

St Thomas More shares his feast day, June 22 on the Roman Catholic calendar of saints, with Saint John Fisher, the only remaining loyal Bishop owing to the deaths of eight bishops during the English Reformation

St Thomas More shares his feast day, June 22 on the Roman Catholic calendar of saints, with Saint John Fisher, the only remaining loyal Bishop owing to the deaths of eight bishops during the English Reformation

Sir Thomas More is added to the Church of Englands calendar of saints

John Paul II declares More "absolute priority of God in the heart of public affairs"