The Life And Illustrious Martyrdom Of Sir Thomas More

In 1588, the year of the Spanish Armada, Thomas Stapleton sat down to write the book Tres Thomae; his subject was the life and works of St. Thomas the Apostle, St. Thomas of Canterbury, and Sir Thomas More. He wrote it in Latin (as More had done with his Utopia) since a knowledge of English was a rare accomplishment among European scholars and readers. Apart from its entertainment value as an account of More's life, the book is also a document of great importance; his list of sources is impressive since it includes many of the exiled members of More's circle from whom he gathered the information treasured in their memories. Most valuable of all was the collection of letters preserved by John Harris, More's secretary; from these, Stapleton gives us more than thirty letters or extracts from letters not to be found elsewhere. Apart from such documentary evidence, the book also gives us the recollections of those who were intimate members of More's household; it records the reputation Thomas More had gained within a half century of his death and it emphasizes the remarkable place that he had achieved in the popular mind even before any written account of his life was available.The fascination of the life of a man who preferred to obey the law of God rather than the command of a king has not diminished with the passage of time. That such a life should be the subject of awards for its portrayal on stage and screen is not only a testimony to the incomparable artistry of an actor and a playwright; it is, as well, an acknowledgement of (in the words with which Stapleton brings his book to a close), the admiration of modern man for the life, the character, the achievements, and the glorious martyrdom of that noble and illustrious man, Sir Thomas More.

Excerpt from Life and Writings of Sir Thomas More: Lord Chancellor of England and Martyr Under Henry VIII In More's dedicatory letter to Thomas Ruthal of his translation into Latin of three of Lucian's dialogues, he complained that writers of the lives of saints sometimes indulge in falsehoods: "They have scarcely left. a life of martyr or of virgin without foisting into it something untrue - piously, no doubt! for of course there was a danger lest truth, left to itself, should not be able to stand upright; so that it was necessary to prop it up with lies!" I may say that my first anxiety in composing this Life of the illustrious writer, chancellor and martyr, has been not to merit this reproach; to state nothing that I did not believe, and to accept nothing for which I had not historical evidence. My first care was to collate the biographies of More already in existence. In giving some account of the principal of these, I shall be able at the same time to state the sources from which a correct and complete life of More can be drawn. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

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This is a photographic reprint of the original to preserve accuracy. IN More's dedicatory letter to Thomas Ruthal of his. translation into Latin of three of Lucian's dialogues, he complained that writers of the lives of saints some-. times indulge in falsehoods: "They have scarcely left a life of martyr or of virgin without foisting into it something untrue-piously, no doubt! for of course there was a danger lest truth, left to itself, should not be able to stand upright; so that it was necessary to prop it up with lies! I may say that my first anxiety in composing this Life of the illustrious writer, chancellor and martyr, has. been not to merit this reproach; to state nothing that I did not believe, and to accept nothing for which I had not historical evidence. My first care was to collate the biographies of More already in existence. In giving some account of the principal of these, I shall be able at the same time to state the sources from which a correct and complete life of More can be drawn. My own conclusion was, that such a Life still remained to be written; and I have made a serious attempt to supply the want. My readers and critics must judge how far I have succeeded. ERASMUS. In the letters of Erasmus there are descriptions of More so minute and full, though written during his lifetime, that Erasmus may almost be called his first biographer. There is also a large correspondence between the two friends. This source had already been well used by Stapleton; but I have taken nothing at second-hand. It will be seen that the writings of Erasmus have supplied me with some of my best materials. ROPER. More's son-in-law, William Roper, resided with him for sixteen years. In the time of Queen Mary he wrote down his reminiscences, as well as details learnt from his wife, Margaret More. These reminiscences were not intended as a complete Life. They were notes supplied to Dr. Nicholas Harpsfield. Archdeacon of Canterbury, by whom they were worked up into a Life to be mentioned immediately. Roper, writing from memory twenty years after the death of More, makes a few mistakes in dates, but his narrati"e bears intrinsic evidence of the simple uprightness of the narrator and of his substantial accuracy, which is confirmed by historical documents. This Life, or rather these notes, were in circulation in MS. and were used by compilers of lives long before they were printed. They were first printed in Paris in 1626; then by Hearne in 1716; and by Lewis in 1729, 1731, 1765, who added a valuable appendix of documents. The best edition is that of Singer in 1817, of which only 150 copies were printed. Roper's Life of More is also annexed to Mr. Lumley's edition of the Utopia.