The year is 1535, and an educated scholar, father, writer, and the former Chancellor of England marches to his demise. His crime was staying silent on an issue that the King deemed extremely important: the idea that the King of England should be the Supreme Head of the Church of England, not the Pope. As a Catholic, Sir Thomas More does not agree with this decree and must die. How did one of the most prominent Tudor scholars of his age fall so quickly? Joanne Paul explores the rise and dramatic fall of this infamous Tudor figure in her latest biography, “Thomas More: A Life.”
Joanne Paul is slowly becoming one of my favorite nonfiction writers. Her debut, “The House of Dudley,” was spectacular, and when I heard that she was writing a biography about Thomas More, I knew I wanted to read it. I know the basic information about Thomas More’s life and his books about the Wars of the Roses and Utopia, but I wanted a book that gives more details about his life.
Thomas More was the son of the lawyer John More and his wife Agnes, born in 1478. A child of the Wars of the Roses, the shifting sands of the political landscape of his youth will prepare him for the tumultuous Tudor court of his adulthood. While he recalls the reign of King Richard III in his book about the period, it should be noted that he was a boy during the king’s reign.
Thomas became a scholar who specialized in Humanism and created a community of like-minded scholars and artists, including men like Desiderius Erasmus. Thomas More would marry twice, to Jane Colt, the mother of his children, Margaret, Elizabeth, Cecily, and John, and Alice Harpur. He would ensure that all his children received a proper Humanist education, and his children, especially Margaret, were praised for their scholarly abilities. He would begin to write like he was running out of time and create one of his most famous works about politics, Utopia, as well as go toe to toe against Martin Luther himself.
More would continue his academic pursuits, even when he captured the attention of King Henry VIII, who would appoint him Chancellor of England. While a great honor, Thomas did not agree with the King on the Great Matter as he believed Queen Katherine of Aragon was the rightful wife of King Henry VIII. He would persecute those whom he deemed as heretics as a devout Catholic man, and it was ultimately his faith that would lead to his earthly doom. When Henry VIII decided that he wanted his people to swear an oath that Henry VIII was the Supreme Head of the Church of England instead of the Pope. As a devout Catholic, Thomas More’s silence was deafening, and he was condemned as a traitor to the crown, destined to be executed.
Even though Thomas More was a controversial figure of the Tudor era for Ricardians and Protestants alike, we in the modern age can learn a lot from his life and apply it to our own time. Paul does it again, as this is a stunning biography of a man who was a scholar and an outspoken Catholic in a time when the King’s power was becoming dangerous. The way she weaves the historical facts, including More’s numerous pieces of writing, with a narrative that is easy to follow is astounding. Truly, this is the definitive biography on Sir Thomas More. If you want a fabulous biography on such an infamous figure of the Tudor age, I highly recommend you read “Thomas More: A Life” by Joanne Paul.
The year is 1480. Intrigue and murder lurk everywhere at the Palace of Westminister, where no one is safe. A mysterious letter and the men who want the letter back lead to the murder of one of the clerks from the Office of the King’s Secretary. Under the orders of powerful men at court, including King Edward IV himself, Seb Foxley must join his wayward brother Jude as one of Secretary Oliver’s clerks to uncover the truth of the conspiracy against the crown. Can the brothers work together to decode the truth and save the life of the king’s beloved heir in time? Seb Foxley’s latest adventure is told in book ten of Toni Mount’s Sebastian Foxley Medieval Murder Mystery series, “The Colour of Rubies.”
A banner decorated with three suns flaps in the wind on the field of battle. The young man behind this emblem is Edward, Earl of March, whose father Richard Duke of York and brother Edmund Earl of Rutland were tragically slain at the Battle of Wakefield. His younger brothers, George Duke of Clarence and Richard Duke of Gloucester, will help Edward carry their father’s cause for the family of York to rule England. When loyalty is questioned even among family members, only one man would truly stand behind Edward until the bitter end. That man would be Richard Duke of Gloucester, or as we know him today, the much-maligned King Richard III. He is often viewed as a treacherous child-killer who coveted the throne after Edward IV’s death, but is that accurately portraying the last Plantagenet king? Who was the real King Richard III? In her magnum opus, “The Sunne in Splendour,” Sharon Kay Penman presents her case for Richard III as a man betrayed, both in life and after his death.
Adventures of a Tudor Nerd 