The Life of Thomas More
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Authors: Peter Ackroyd
The Life of Thomas More
by Peter Ackroyd
“Frank and masterful.… [Ackroyd has a] gift for describing what it all looked and felt like.”
—
The Baltimore Sun
“An exceptionally fascinating, colorful and moving biography.”
—
The Christian Science Monitor
“Mr. Ackroyd skillfully captures the life of a consummate lawyer, humanist, martyr and Renaissance man.…”
—
The National Law Journal
“Beautifully written, comprehensively researched.”
—
Houston Chronicle
“Exquisite.… [Ackroyd has] a sense of history and a wonderful command of the English language.… Highly recommendable.”
—
Library Journal
“A limpidly written and superbly wrought portrait.”
—
Kirkus Reviews
PETER ACKROYDThe Life of Thomas More
Peter Ackroyd is a prizewinning writer. His biographies include
T.S. Eliot
, recipient of the Whitbread Biography of the Year Award and joint winner of the Royal Society of Literature’s William Heinemann Award; and
Blake.
His novels include
Chatterton, Hawksmoor
, and most recently,
The Trial of Elizabeth Cree
and
Milton in America.
He lives in London.
Y
P
ETER
A
CKROYD
FICTION
The Great Fire of London
The Last Testament of Oscar Wilde
Hawksmoor
Chatterton
First Light
English Music
The House of Doctor Dee
Dan Leno and the Limehouse Golem
Milton in America
The Plato Papers
NONFICTION
Dressing Up: Transvestism and Drag: The History of an Obsession
London: The Biography
Albion: The Origins of the English Imagination
BIOGRAPHY
Ezra Pound and His World
T. S. Eliot
Dickens
Blake
The Life of Thomas More
POETRY
Ouch!
The Diversions of Purley and Other Poems
CRITICISM
Notes for a New Culture
The Collection: Journalism, Reviews, Essays, Short Stories, Lectures
edited by Thomas Wright
F
IRST
A
NCHOR
B
OOKS
E
DITION
, D
ECEMBER
1999
Copyright © 1998 by Peter Ackroyd
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. Published in the United States by Anchor Books, a division of Random House, Inc., New York. Originally published in hardcover in the United Kingdom by Chatto & Windus, London in 1998. Originally published in hardcover in the United States by Nan A. Talese/Doubleday in 1998.
Anchor Books and colophon are registered trademarks of Random House, Inc.
The Library of Congress has cataloged the Nan A. Talese/Doubleday edition as follows:
Ackroyd, Peter, 1949–
The life of Thomas More / Peter Ackroyd. — 1st ed. in the U.S.A.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references.
1. More, Thomas, Sir, Saint, 1478–1535. 2. Great Britain—
History—Henry VIII, 1509–1547—Biography. 3. Great Britain—
Politics and government—1509–1547. 4. Christian martyrs—England—
Biography. 5. Statesmen—Great Britain—Biography. 6. Humanists—
England—Biography. I. Title.
DA334.M8A64 1998
942.05′2′092—dc21
[B] 98-24333
eISBN: 978-0-307-82301-4
Author photograph by Roderick Field
v3.1
FOR THOMAS WRIGHT
14.1
Sir Thomas More, Hans Holbein the Younger (
The Royal Collection © Her Majesty The Queen
)
14.2
The More household at Chelsea, Hans Holbein the Younger (
Kunstmuseum, Basle
)
14.3
Sir John More, Hans Holbein the Younger (
The Royal Collection © Her Majesty The Queen
)
14.4
William Roper, ascribed to Hans Holbein the Younger (
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
)
14.5
Margaret Roper, ascribed to Hans Holbein the Younger (
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
)
14.6
Elizabeth Dauncey, Hans Holbein the Younger (
The Royal Collection © Her Majesty The Queen
)
14.7
Cicely Heron, Hans Holbein the Younger (
The Royal Collection © Her Majesty The Queen
)
14.8
Anne Cresacre, Hans Holbein the Younger (
The Royal Collection © Her Majesty the Queen
)
14.9
John More, Hans Holbein the Younger (
The Royal Collection © Her Majesty The Queen
)
14.10
Henry VII, ascribed to Michael Sittow (
National Portrait Gallery, London
)
14.11
Richard III, unknown artist (
National Portrait Gallery, London
)
14.12
Elizabeth of York, unknown artist (
National Portrait Gallery, London
)
14.13
The young Henry VIII, unknown artist (
National Portrait Gallery, London
)
14.14
Catherine of Aragon, unknown artist (
National Portrait Gallery, London
)
26.1
Anne Boleyn, unknown artist (
National Portrait Gallery, London
)
26.2
Sir Thomas More, Hans Holbein the Younger (
Frick Collection, New York; Bridgeman Art Library
)
26.3
Desiderius Erasmus, Quentin Matsys (
Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Antica, Rome
)
26.4
Peter Gillis, Quentin Matsys (
Private collection; Courtauld Institute of Art
)
26.5
John Fisher, Bishop of Rochester, unknown artist (
National Portrait Gallery, London
)
26.6
Thomas Cromwell, unknown artist (
National Portrait Gallery, London
)
26.7
Martin Luther, Lucas Cranach the Elder (
City of Bristol Museum and Art Gallery; Bridgeman Art Library
)
26.8
Thomas Cranmer, Gerlach Flicke (
National Portrait Gallery, London
) John Colet, Pietro Torrigiano (
National Portrait Gallery, London
)
26.9
Cardinal Thomas Wolsey, unknown artist (
National Portrait Gallery, London
)
26.10
Coloured bust of Henry VII, Pietro Torrigiano (
Victoria & Albert Museum; Bridgeman Art Library
)
26.11
The Execution of William Tyndale, October 1536, unknown artist (
British Library
)
26.12
Henry VIII, Hans Holbein the Younger (
Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection, Lugano; Bridgeman Art Library
)
I should like to express my obligation and gratitude to the editors of the
Complete Works of St. Thomas More
, as well as to the Yale University Press, which has published the fourteen volumes of that enterprise. Theirs is a magisterial work of scholarship, and although many of the writings are available elsewhere the Yale edition has become the indispensable companion to More studies. The other major work, in this context is
The Correspondence of Sir Thomas More
, edited by E. F. Rogers and published by Princeton University Press. I also wish to express my thanks to the institutions and libraries that have harboured me over the last three years, in particular to the North Library of the British Library and to the London Library. I would like to thank Dr David Starkey for his suggestive advice. I must register a more private debt to my assistants, Thomas Wright and Carl Dennison.
CHAPTER ITHIS DARK WORLD