Sir Thomas More lived during the 16th century in England. He influenced many aspects of politics in Medieval England, including the church. England during this time consisted of people of varying education, social classes, wealth, and influence. However, despite some issues, the culture has influenced many aspects of modern life in England and many parts of the culture have survived to today.
The children of the aristocracy and the wealthy classes might be tended to by hired nursemaids and servants, and as he grew older, tutors. The offspring of royalty usually had a team of people assigned to him, which often included about four grooms, a laundress in charge of his clothes, as many as five cradle rockers, and tutors. However, because nursing was thought to reduce fertility and a royal mother had to bear as many children as possible to produce heirs, his mother did not nurse him. On the other side of the spectrum, the mother of a commoner baby, having no other alternative, nursed her own child. Instead of having servants and nursemaids, the other children in the family helped by rocking the cradle or changing diapers.
As the children began to get older, a tutor was hired to teach him, or else he began an apprenticeship or learned a trade from someone in his family. Women and girls in a wealthy family hired a tutor that taught them at home. In a middle class family, the mother would usually teach the girls household skills. Lower class women were not educated at all. Women in the lower classes often helped their husbands during the busiest times of the year and during the harvest. According to the Bible, Eve ate the forbidden fruit, which was responsible for man’s expulsion from paradise. This story was widely believed, led to the idea that women were inferior to men, and that they were morally weaker and more likely to tempt men into sin. Because of this, few women exercised power, and women were only supposed to be wives and to bear children.
Education in the 1500s was mainly for men and boys. Grammar and rhetoric formed the basis of the studies. Students read, analyzed and commented on the Classical authors of the time and imitated them by composing certain types of exercises, called dictiones. If a student failed to comply with instructions or acted out, discipline was rather brutal. The teacher often had a stick with birch twigs attached to it, that the teacher used to spank the boys.
At about age 15 or 16, some of the best students might go to one of England’s two universities, Oxford or Cambridge. Those who did not go to college and those who did not go to school at all might get a 7-year apprenticeship and learn a trade.
The church influenced school as well as daily life. There was one religion, Christianity, especially the Catholic Denomination. Religion made up a large portion of schooling. The church controlled almost every aspect of daily life, and the Pope held great power over the king. The church also influenced all social classes, including the nobles.
Because of the dictations of the church, burial of dead differed from today’s customs. For example, cremation was not practiced. There were no huge granite monuments or ornate headstones, as they were very expensive. Burials ranged from a simple paupers’ graves, very similar to the monastic or leper colony burial, to very elaborate and opulent for those who could afford it. In the burial process, first, the family or a hired person washed and shrouded the body, and would be set to lie in state at home or at the church for a few days. The body had candles placed around it, and everything was draped in black. After this, a priest or the family perfumed the body with exotic spices like cinnamon, for those who could afford it. After the burial of the body, mass and prayers for the dead person’s soul.
The social classes were royalty, which was the highest class, nobility, including hereditary nobility, non-hereditary nobility, such as Dukes and Barons, Knights,and peasants, which was the lowest social rank in the Middle Ages; The peasant class included Freemen, who had some rights and land, serfs, who had no rights, and slaves, who were bought and sold.
The highest social classes, namely the the monarchy, ruled the country, the government, and the economy. The economy thrived during this time. The country had monarchs and aristocracy, including classes such as King, Queen, Prince, Princess, Duke, Duchess, Marquess, Marchioness, Earl, Countess, Viscount, Viscountess, Baron, and Baroness. Because the government relied on just a few people, money could buy power, and bribes were common. The church also held great power over the state. However, aside from the monarchy and the church, there was also Parliament. Parliament created laws, acted on behalf of citizens as well as voters, and formed the government into a cohesive whole.
Punishment was brutal in Medieval England. For instance, if someone was caught stealing something, their hands were cut off. Women who commited murder, especially if they killed a man, were burnt and then strangled. People who hunted on illegal land had their ears cut off. If one committed high treason, he was punished by being hung, drawn and quartered. Because prisons were expensive to build and maintain, and local communities did not want to pay for this, there were very few of them; it was cheaper to execute or maim them and then let them go. The people in charge of law and order thought that because of man’s sinful nature, fear of retribution was the only way people would only learn how to behave according to the law. Because of this, there were severe punishments for even the smallest offenses.
Social classes affected the clothing worn. Both men and women wore ruffs, as well as by courtiers and working people. Some were white, as commonly seen in portraits, but they could also be shades of pink or yellow; blue ruffs were only worn by prostitutes. Women generally wore full skirts accompanied by a tightly-fitted bodice. A major fashion statement of the era was to flatten the bodice to lie flat across the chest using a starch mixture. Women also wore underskirts, which could be seen through a divided overskirt. The edges of the divided overskirt were often decorated with a jeweled border or ribbons. They wore Sleeves, a bodice, a ruff, a skirt, and an underskirt. Men generally wore doublets and hose. Showing leg was very fashionable, and would occasionally be exposed up to the crotch level. Men also wore a white linen shirt as an undergarment that supported the ruff.
Clothing was also a status symbol. For example, only earls could wear clothing made of purple of gold cloth. Someone whose rank was lower than that of a knight was not allowed to wear “nether stocks” (long stockings) or any outer garments made of velvet. The eldest son of a knight could wear a velvet doublet and hose, but not his younger brothers. The wife of the Baron’s eldest son was allowed to wear silver or gold lace, but women below her ranking could not.
Occupations were also based on social classes. Some of the more common occupations included Miller, Merchant, StoneMason, BlackSmith, Armorer, Falconer, Tailor, Carpenter, Plowman, Butcher, MetalSmith, Groom, Squire, Page, Grocer, Draper, Furrier, FishMonger, Baker, Cooper, Cordwainer, Cartwright, Chandler, Hayward or HedgeWarder, Bailiff, and jester. Peasants were mostly farmers. There were also positions such as Clergy, Nobles and Kings, Merchants, Guildsmen, Craftsmens and Laborers.
Housing was generally based on occupation, or on how much money you had. The wealthy had houses made out of brick. Those who could not afford brick had half-timbered houses that are now referred to as Tudor houses. Tiles covered the roofs, and some had chimneys and glass windows, if the family could afford it. These Tudor houses had two or more floors, and the servants slept upstairs. For peasant houses, workers would build a rough wooden framework, then fill in the empty spaces with wattle (woven twigs). The workers then daubed the twigs with mud which, when dried, made a hard wall.
Just as social class dictated clothing, occupation, and housing in Renaissance England, food was too. Most people had two meals a day; Dinner, the largest meal between 10-11 am, and Supper a lighter meal eaten at about 4-5 pm. Some might have had bread and cheese when they woke up if traveling. Cabbage was a staple. Availability of certain foods was very reliant on season. Fruits were available in autumn, so at harvest time there were more bread, pies, and pastries. Meat was also more plentiful in autumn due to slaughtering. Fish was more available in the summer because the seas were not as rough. At this time there were no potatoes, tomatoes, turkeys, carrots, pasta, because they were not developed at this time or imported. The church governed the consumption of meats: there were meat days, and non-meat days, which were Wednesday, Friday, Saturday, and during lent and advent which equaled about one half of the year. On non-meat days they ate fish, including lampreys, eel pie, sole and other fishes. They also ate welks, mussels, shrimp, swordfish, flounder, dogfish, seals, porpoises, dolphins, barnacle geese, puffins, and beaver. When the church allowed meat, the wealthy ate things like swan, goose, ham, beef, bacon in five courses.
They often ate meats in sauces, or haggis for the first course, fruits and nuts or decorative pies for intermediate course, roast venison, fawn, kid, baby rabbit, bustard, crane, stork, peacock, heron, partridge, etc. for the second course, delicate smaller animals such as swallows, quices, apples and pears with sugar, fruit compote for second intermediate course. They ate cheese and red wine for the third course. The middle class ate things like blood pudding, goats milk, pheasants, other wild birds and hares, salted herring or eels (baked in pie or pastries), ale and beer, cider, pear cider. They actually ate much the same as the peasants. Peasants ate varieties of bread, such as dark rye bread, and a wheat and rye mix called Maslin, but no white bread. Their diet consisted of lots of oats, wheat, and barely, which made up things like oatcakes, brown whole grain bread, called Tourt, Horse Bread, and Pottage, of which there were many varieties; white oat porridge, green pea porridge, leek porray, sometimes contains peas, herbs, bacon, and white beans.
Thomas More was born on February 7, 1478, Milk Street, London. His father was John More, and his mother was Agnes Granger, although she died when he was a child. Because of this there are no recorded memories of his mother. Young Thomas was very fond of his father. His siblings were John More, Elizabeth More, Agatha More, Edward More, and Joanna More.
When Thomas More was young, his family had early economic stability. Because of this, he was able to attend London’s finest grade school, St. Anthony’s. After this he went on to Oxford, which was mostly a federation of colleges for boys planning on priesthood at age fourteen. After two years, he attended New Inn of London, which was a very prestigious law school. His father was very well connected, and made important connections in high places. He was friends with the king and with the Lord Chancellor and Archbishop John Morton. At the age of 12, Thomas began a two year period of service to Morton at Lambeth palace.
Morton delighted in Thomas’s “Wit and towardness”, and so Morton groomed and trained More. Morton also allowed him to observe the politicians and the lords and ladies as they conducted their business about the palace, which helped him add a great deal of experience. More ended his formal education after Morton died in the year 1500. He became a monk in 1503, and joined the Carthusians, but found his call to politics to strong and left in 1504 after about a year of service. After this, he waited fifteen years before he joined royal service, and around this time he became very close friends with the radical scholar Erasmus.
More entered parliament in 1504, and married Jane Colt in 1505. His children were Margaret Roper, Cicely More, John More, and Elizabeth More. His humility and integrity caused him to become “a chaste husband rather than a licentious priest”. There was a prevailing orthodoxy concerning marriage and the priesthood. Many young priests entered without the necessary virtues or vocation, and priesthood was not taken very seriously. Priests and other leaders of the church occasionally neglected their duties to test those who wished to be a priest, and allowed anyone to join. More considered this a great problem. In 1511, Jane Colt, his first wife died. After this, he did not long remain a widower, but a few months after her death married a woman named Alice More. He originally remarried because he needed someone to look after his household, through in time the two grew to truly love each other, and lived on close and affectionate terms with each other.
With support from his father, More became a successful lawyer. After this, he was dependant on income from his clients. As a lawyer, he thought more about his client’s advantage than his own, showing absolute integrity, and tried to save everyone expense, and some people even had money returned to them. He stayed in London he for many years as a judge in civil cases. The people of the city of London held him in deep affection. Because he was so popular, the king requested that Cardinal Wolsey, the Lord Chancellor at the time, to ask More to join the service of the king. In 1518, More joined the king’s service. Being a lawyer gave him sufficient standing, and he was not exposed to serious risks. He sometimes went on diplomatic mission for King Henry VIII, and brought men to his court. More was also one of London’s two undersheriffs from 1510-1518. After this he was knighted in 1521, and also became an ambassador to the cities Brutus and Calais. More then became treasurer of England’s exchequer, and also served as ‘Henry’s intellectual courtier,’ secretary and confidant. He was elected the speaker of the House of Commons in 1523.
Between the years 1513 and 1518, More wrote the History of King Richard III, in both English and Latin. Even though it is still unfinished, many historians consider his work the first great masterpiece of English historiography. More published another writing, the book Utopia in 1516, a satire about an island inhabited solely by communists and pagans, where all social and political customs are dictated by reason. The intended statement was that the only cure for egoism was Communism in both public and private life. This was meant as an insult to Christian Europe at this time, because More thought that it had been corrupted by self-interest and greed. More also wrote arguments against the protestant reformation and against Martin Luther, as he was a strong believer in the Catholic orthodoxy. While he took this stance, he banned books that he considered unorthodox, wrote arguments against heresy, and took responsibility when he held the position of Lord Chancellor for the interrogation of heretics, often sentencing them to death.
In 1529, More assumed the position of Lord Chancellor, which was around the same time King Henry VIII decided to try to divorce his wife, Catherine of Aragon. The king was ready to break away from the Church of Rome and create a schism. He was on the verge of calling his Reformation parliament, which lasted from 1529 to 1536. In order to get his divorce to pass, the king declared himself Supreme head of the Church in England, which finally created a divide between church and state. At this, Thomas More resigned from his position of chancellorship. After his resignation, More continued to vehemently oppose the king’s divorce and his split with Rome and the papacy.
Later, however, the king’s men arrested More in 1534, after More refused to swear an oath of succession denying the Catholic Church and it’s pope, which forced him to accept Henry’s divorce and annulment.
More was tried on July first in Westminster court for treason. He was convicted by a court that consisted of Anne Boleyn’s brother, father, and uncle. In his defense, however, More could remain silent,which he chose to do, and through his silence he could not break the law he was accused of. Unfortunately, he lacked a defense against treachery, because multiple different witnesses had stated that he had spoken treasonous words. Despite his brilliantly logical defense of himself and his testimony, the court convicted him in about fifteen minutes. For more than a year he was held captive in the bell tower of the Tower of London. More was executed on the 6th of July, 1535, on the top of Tower Hill, London. He was originally going to be hanged, drawn, and quartered as punishment, but as a final act of mercy, because More had served him well, King Henry changed his punishment to decapitation.
More jokingly said to his executioners that he needed help to ascend the scaffold, but that he would see himself down. He then made a final statement, saying that he was ‘the king’s good servant, but God’s first.’
His body is buried in the Chapel of st. Peter ad Vincula. His will transferred all his land and money to his wife and children, and made a second will giving one of his children and his wife some land and property. After that, the king seized the land, the property and the will, but not the land and property named in the second will.
Pope Leo XIII declared Thomas More beatified in 1886, and later More was canonized by Pope Pius XI almost fifty years later, on May 19, 1935. June twenty second became his feast day. He is the patron saint of lawyers, adopted children, politicians, civil servants, and difficult marriages.
More allowed many of the religions practiced today to flourish by his part in the spreading of religious reform. He drastically changed the Catholic church, and was a passionate defender of Catholicism, and also a humanist. More helped spread Catholic Reformation as well as Christian Humanism throughout Medieval Europe. He also helped England negotiate peace during the religious dispute of the Catholic Reformation and the secular monarchy. During his life, he gave many other politicians of that time the courage to stand against Henry VIII’s decision to violate the laws of the Catholic church. Also, although this may not be considered his greatest accomplishment, he introduced a new genre of literature to our age, known as the Utopian novel.
