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Authors: Michael Foss
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Church, the bishops offered him the large sum of £4,000, but he refused even though the resignation of the chancellorship had left him poor.
Later writers such as Foxe, the propagandist of the faith More opposed, and the chronicler Hall, the propagandist of the State that put him to death, claimed that Chancellor More was a fierce persecutor of heretics. He took a severe view of what he thought tobe heresy, and perhaps his opinions hardened as the religious strife grew. But he never tried to compel the conscience of an individual by persecution. If a person held Protestant views quietly More left him alone; when the distinguished Lutheran Simon Grinaeus came to consult manuscripts at Oxford while More was chancellor, he was entertained and allowed to go about his business. When heretical views, however, led to sedition no government of whatever faith would tolerate it. Religious persecution began in the late twenties and three men were burnt at Smithfield in the last six months of More’s office. But heresy was the business of the ecclesiastical, not the chancellor’s, court. Neither did More force the hand of the clergy; when the men died, after February 1531, he had lost all influence and was only waiting a fit occasion to resign. The men died in London, which was always the home of Protestant feeling. 2 Londoners, who would not have forgot or forgiven, reverenced More. After forty-odd years of propaganda to the contrary, the popular play Sir Thomas More, written in Elizabeth’s reign, still spoke of More with affection as London’s hero and the friend of all the poor.
The legal side of the chancellor’s office was handled by More with notable speed and integrity. After his fall and at his trial he was accused of corruption, but this was only a ritual attempt to blacken a good name. Wolsey had used the chancellor’s court to soften the rigour of the common law. More continued this function, but also, by good humour and diplomacy, managed to soothe the angry common law judges. The cases which had built up alarmingly, because of Wolsey’s many interests elsewhere, were cleared off in good time by More. And at a time when even the chancellor’s doorkeeper ‘got great gains’, More would not be bribed. When a rich widow sent him gloves and money as a New Year’s gift, he kept the gloves out of courtesy and sent the money back. Another petitioner who sent a gilt cup received in return a cup worth more than the one sent. The Elizabethan, Sir John Harington, remembered More as ‘that worthy and uncorrupt magistrate’, and the common people commemorated his justice:
When More some time had Chancellor been,
No more suits did remain.
The like will never more be seen
Till More be there again.
The state of More’s health—he complained to Cromwell of pains caused by crouching over a writing desk—enabled him to retire gracefully without offending the King. He had not lined his pocket as chancellor and he now lost his official income. He could not go back to the bar; he was too old and weary, and he had been away from his city practice too long. Henry allowed him £100 a year until his arrest, and he had besides about £50 a year of his own. But he had a large household and many dependants. He placed his retainers as best he could with other great men and cheerfully advised his family to accept poverty, saying he had come up the scale of prosperity from Oxford to the King’s court and would now slide down again. His wife, Dame Alice, whom he had once called ‘neither a pearl nor a girl’, was inclined to nag and fret, but More was his usual equable self. For about a year after his resignation More was left alone, to work on his controversial writings against the Protestants. But he would not appear at the coronation of Anne Boleyn, on 1st June 1533, and perhaps from that moment was marked down. Henry, advised by his new confidant Thomas Cromwell, was determined to bring the English Church
Later writers such as Foxe, the propagandist of the faith More opposed, and the chronicler Hall, the propagandist of the State that put him to death, claimed that Chancellor More was a fierce persecutor of heretics. He took a severe view of what he thought tobe heresy, and perhaps his opinions hardened as the religious strife grew. But he never tried to compel the conscience of an individual by persecution. If a person held Protestant views quietly More left him alone; when the distinguished Lutheran Simon Grinaeus came to consult manuscripts at Oxford while More was chancellor, he was entertained and allowed to go about his business. When heretical views, however, led to sedition no government of whatever faith would tolerate it. Religious persecution began in the late twenties and three men were burnt at Smithfield in the last six months of More’s office. But heresy was the business of the ecclesiastical, not the chancellor’s, court. Neither did More force the hand of the clergy; when the men died, after February 1531, he had lost all influence and was only waiting a fit occasion to resign. The men died in London, which was always the home of Protestant feeling. 2 Londoners, who would not have forgot or forgiven, reverenced More. After forty-odd years of propaganda to the contrary, the popular play Sir Thomas More, written in Elizabeth’s reign, still spoke of More with affection as London’s hero and the friend of all the poor.
The legal side of the chancellor’s office was handled by More with notable speed and integrity. After his fall and at his trial he was accused of corruption, but this was only a ritual attempt to blacken a good name. Wolsey had used the chancellor’s court to soften the rigour of the common law. More continued this function, but also, by good humour and diplomacy, managed to soothe the angry common law judges. The cases which had built up alarmingly, because of Wolsey’s many interests elsewhere, were cleared off in good time by More. And at a time when even the chancellor’s doorkeeper ‘got great gains’, More would not be bribed. When a rich widow sent him gloves and money as a New Year’s gift, he kept the gloves out of courtesy and sent the money back. Another petitioner who sent a gilt cup received in return a cup worth more than the one sent. The Elizabethan, Sir John Harington, remembered More as ‘that worthy and uncorrupt magistrate’, and the common people commemorated his justice:
When More some time had Chancellor been,
No more suits did remain.
The like will never more be seen
Till More be there again.
The state of More’s health—he complained to Cromwell of pains caused by crouching over a writing desk—enabled him to retire gracefully without offending the King. He had not lined his pocket as chancellor and he now lost his official income. He could not go back to the bar; he was too old and weary, and he had been away from his city practice too long. Henry allowed him £100 a year until his arrest, and he had besides about £50 a year of his own. But he had a large household and many dependants. He placed his retainers as best he could with other great men and cheerfully advised his family to accept poverty, saying he had come up the scale of prosperity from Oxford to the King’s court and would now slide down again. His wife, Dame Alice, whom he had once called ‘neither a pearl nor a girl’, was inclined to nag and fret, but More was his usual equable self. For about a year after his resignation More was left alone, to work on his controversial writings against the Protestants. But he would not appear at the coronation of Anne Boleyn, on 1st June 1533, and perhaps from that moment was marked down. Henry, advised by his new confidant Thomas Cromwell, was determined to bring the English Church
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