To cross King Henry VIII usually meant only one thing, that you would lose your life either
at the scaffold or the executioners block.
Henry VIII during his reign had over 70,000 people executed inside of England for various
crimes, and this figure also included two of his own wives.
His closest friends and advisors were not exempt either, as figures such as Thomas Cromwell
went to their deaths on Tower Hill.
But there was one man who was regarded in England as one of the most influential Tudor
Scholars, and a man regarded as a skilled author and historian, and he too would go
to his execution.
Sir Thomas More was a man of many skills and professions, and he became the King’s chancellor.
HE wrote many different books including key works such as Utopia and A History of King
Richard III.
But how did Thomas More end up being on the wrong side of the King he worked very closely
with?
It’s all to do with going against the reformation, and also the King’s second wife Anne Boleyn.
So join us today as we look at the Horrific Execution Of Thomas More, and remember as
always to support our channel, please make sure to subscribe.
Thomas More was born in February 1478 inside of London to a father who was a lawyer.
Whilst he was young, he briefly spent time in the household of John Morton the Archbishop
of Canterbury.
This stood the young boy in good stead for his future career.
Following his schooling, he then attended Oxford University and qualified as a lawyer.
More was a pious young man, and he did consider becoming a monk also, but favoured a career
in the legal profession.
He rose throughout London, and worked as one of the under sheriffs of the city from 1510
to 1518, but in 1514 he became involved in royal affairs.
He was appointed as the Master of Requests, and then also became a member of the Privy
Council, which brought him into almost daily contact with Henry VIII and a number of other
prominent members of Tudor society.
He was part of a delegation sent to the Holy Roman Emperor Charles VI, and around 1515
he wrote the History of Richard III.
This book documented the life of the notorious King, and established Richard as a tyrannical
ruler.
But in 1516 he wrote his most significant work, Utopia and this was published in many
different countries.
He continued to rise throughout the reign of King Henry VIII and was knighted, and then
he became the under treasurer of the Exchequer in 1521.
This placed him involved in the royal finances, and he also became a secretary and close advisor
to the King and his influence over court began to grow.
He was seen as a prominent member of court, and a reliable one.
He was involved in drafting official legislation for the King and also Cardinal Wolsey, was
well as welcoming diplomats and visitors to court.
His growing reputation led him to become a Member of Parliament for Middlesex and he
also became the Speaker of the House of Commons and the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster.
In this role he was involved in justice and law in the north, but More’s greatest role
saw him become the King’s Lord Chancellor in 1529.
Cardinal Thomas Wolsey who formerly held this position had fallen from grace after he could
not gain the King his divorce from his first wife Catherine of Aragon, and he later died.
But by becoming the Lord Chancellor, More was one of the most powerful and significant
people in the whole of England.
He worked for a number of years closely with the notorious Tudor King, but it was in this
position that More fell from grace rather sharply.
More was a staunch and strong Catholic and supporter of the church in Rome.
But Henry VIII would split from Rome and this caused huge problems for Thomas More.
He saw the Protestant Reformation which was taking hold across Europe as a gross act of
heresy, and he even began to persecute prominent protestants within England.
He later had to content with the King’s break from Rome which went against his own
beliefs.
He banned Protestant texts and the work of Martin Luther from coming to England and spreading,
and he also was involved in investigation Protestants.
He investigated book publishers who could have been printing the books he deemed to
be heretical, and anyone who possessed a Lutheran text or a translated bible was arrested.
He also opposed William Tyndale’s translation of the New Testament into English, and he
found it horrifically offensive.
In Foxes’ Book of Martyrs it was documented that Thomas More was involved in the persecution
and torture of many Protestants in England, and that he personally used violence to obtain
confessions.
One account states that More tied heretics to trees and whipped them, and that he went
further using barbaric torture devices such as the Rack.
Thomas More also sentenced a number of heretics to death, and had them burned at the stake
in Smithfield, and he later also admitted using torture onto heretics including children.
But although he was known for acts of brutality, today he’s considered a saint by many inside
of England.
As Henry VIII split from Rome, it was clear that More had an issue with accepting Henry
VIII’s supremacy over the church in opposition to the Pope.
More supported the Pope over the King, and he refused to accept Henry, and refused to
sign a letter in 1530 asking the Pope to annul Henry’s marriage to his first wife Catherine
of Aragon.
Henry VIII made a law stating that it was a crime to support the Pope or anyone else’s
supremacy over the church, and More argued personally with the King over a number of
points with religion.
In 1531, Henry issued a law that forced all the clergy to support the King’s supremacy
and role as the Supreme Head of the Church of England, and More as expected refused to
accept the Oath of Supremacy.
He went further also and rejected the annulment of Henry and Catherine, and because of this
defiance it was clear his career was only going one way.
More was forced to resign from his role as the Lord Chancellor on the 16th May 1532,
but he did stay at court to advise the King.
But his religious views and opposition to the changes and also Anne Boleyn caused him
to lose his job.
He refused to attend the coronation of Anne Boleyn as the Queen of England, and this grossly
offended the King and new Queen.
His refusal to attend was viewed as opposition to the King and Queen, and Henry took strong
action and charged him with the crime of taking bribes.
This was dismissed, but then Thomas Cromwell was put to work trying to find charges against
More.
Cromwell accused More of giving advise to the Nun of Kent Elizabeth Barton who predicted
the death of Henry VIII.
This was seen as More being implicated in the treasonous comments, but on the 13th April
1534, More was summoned to a meeting regarding the Act of Succession.
He was told to swear his allegiance to it, and accepted Parliament’s right to declare
Anne the Queen, but he refused to accept the second marriage questioning the ‘spiritual
validity,’ of it and saying the Henry and Anne’s marriage was not viewed in Gods eyes
as proper.
He refused yet again to sign the oath of succession, and he preached to the meeting about the Pope’s
supremacy over the church, but for More this was enough.
He rejected Henry’s supremacy over the church yet again, and rejected his second marriage
and for this was sent to the Tower of London to be imprisoned.
Whilst he was held at the notorious Tower, Cromwell did visit a number of times to try
to get him to change his mind, but Thomas More was willing to die for his conscience.
He was charged with High treason, and was tried on the 1st July 1535.
His judges included Anne Boleyn’s father, brother and uncle which meant that he stood
no chance.
He refused to answer a number of questions, but Cromwell had gathered a star witness,
Richard Rich who stated that in his presence, More had denied the King’s supremacy as
the Head of the Church.
More questioned this, and he was found guilty of treason 15 minutes later and was sentenced
to death.
After his guilty verdict was announced he said, ‘no temporal man may be the head of
spirituality,’ and stated that the King’s Act of Supremacy went against Magna Carta.
But he was sentenced to die a horrific traitors death, to be hanged drawn and quartered, but
Henry did allow some concessions switching his method of execution to a more simpler
beheading, which was regarded as less painful.
On the 6th July 1535, Thomas More was brought from the Tower of London to Tower Hill where
he was to face his execution.
The crowd that day was huge, and they saw a man who believed he was doing the right
thing going to his death.
An account written at the time of his execution tells us what happened, it says ‘‘about
9 he was brought out of the Tower, his heard was long, his face pale and thin and carrying
a Red Cross in his hand.
He often lifted his eyes to heven, a woman meeting him with a cup of wine, he refused
it saying, Christ at his passion drank no wine, but gall and vinegar.
Another woman came crying and demanded some papers, she said she had left in his hands
when he was lord chancellor, to whom he said, good woman have patience but for an hour,
the king will rid me of the care I have for those papers, and everything else.
Another woman followed him crying.
He had done her much wrong when he was Lord chancellor, to whom he said, I very well remember
the cause, and is I were to decide it now I should make the same decree.’
When he came to the scaffold, it seemed ready to fall, whereupon he said merrily to the
lieutenant, pray sit, see me safe up and as to my coming down, let me shift for myself.
Being about to speak to the people, he was interrupted by the sheriff and thereupon he
only desired the people to pray for him, and bear witness he died in the faith of the Catholic
Church, a faithful servant to Go and the King.
Then kneeling he repeated the Miserere Psalm with much devotion, and rising up the executioner
asked him forgiveness.
He kissed him and said, pick up thy spirits, man, and be not afraid to do thine office,
my neck is very short, take heed therefore thou strike not awry for having thine honesty.
Laying his head upon the block, he bid the executioner stay till he had put his beard
aside, for that had committed no treason.
Thus he suffered with much cheerfulness, his head was taken off at one blow and was placed
upon London Bridge, where having continued for some months and being thrown into the
Thames to make room for others, his daughter Margaret brought it, in closed it in a leaden
box and kept it for a relic.’
Thomas More’s execution took place on Tower Hill and the site shocked the large crowd.
His head was taken clean off with one swing of the Axe, the executioner doing his job
successfully.
After this, his remains were taken into the Tower of London and were buried inside the
Chapel of St Peter ad Vincula, wit his head then being placed on a pike above London Bridge
to tell people not to mess with the King.
But Thomas More’s execution on Tower Hill was incredibly shocking as at the time he
had gained a huge amount of power during the reign of King Henry VIII.
But he went to his death a man who could not relent upon his own beliefs, and because of
his religious convictions he was executed crossing Henry VIII.
He rose to the position of Lord Chancellor, but fell incredibly sharply.
Today he’s seen as a celebrated scholar of the Tudor Period, and as a key renaissance
philosopher and author.
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