Comments on: Sir Thomas More

By: Sue E. Generis

Sue E. Generis — Sun, 18 Dec 2011 23:30:24 +0000

The War of the Roses would have still been going on in More’s youth and he would have heard stories of atrocities throughout his childhood. He feared that religious wars would tear England apart. That said, his stand on the treatment of heretics is lamentable. It’s hard to know exactly how much persecuting More actually did; Fox tried to blacken his name with tales of torture chambers in More’s home which hardly seem credible. As Lord Chancellor, however, More was responsible for implementation sentences that included death by burning.

By: GregY

GregY — Fri, 07 Oct 2011 03:30:51 +0000

alas, we are judging people in the 16th century by 21st century standards.
Heresy was a capital crime in Greece, Rome as well–and not without reason, as upstart religious sects not uncommonly led to wholesale wa.r Not trying to defend everything here, just saying, you can’t judge people by modern standards. I think if the Reformation were only a religious issue, More would not have resorted to such extreme measures. Read about the Peasant’s Rebellion in Luther’s Germany or the Albigensians (Cathars) and you can see why monarchs and Church-men would have been concerned to the point of executing those they considered to be ‘heretics.’ Plus they saw themselves as responsible before God for the souls of those in their kingdom. Just offering some food for thought.

By: julie b

julie b — Thu, 10 Feb 2011 19:02:55 +0000

I did not realize that his children were from his first wife and not Alice.

I get the same thought about Sir Thomas More whenever I hear about him, and after reading your “conclusion”, Claire, you summed it up for me.
I want to like him because of his strong faith and he seemed to have been a nice father, but the fact that he persecuted so many people makes me have a negative feeling toward him. Didn’t he have hundreds of people burned at the stake?
That doesn’t sound very Christian to me, murdering people so brutally.