Sir Thomas More: The Greatest of Statesmen

Not a politician, but a leader

This writing comes from an answer essay written for an application to a fellowship I am interested in doing this summer.

Who is your favorite statesman and why?

I can answer this question with little deliberation or hesitation. My favorite statesman is, without a doubt, Sir Thomas More, who served as Lord High Chancellor of England under King Henry VIII, from 1529-1532. He previously served as Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster (1525-29), and briefly as Speaker of the House of Commons from April to August of 1523. Before that he practiced law and served as a judge.

I believe More serves as a paradigm of everything that a Christian statesman should be. Formed by a tradition and education in Christian humanism, More directly believed that the reading of literature, the learning of ancient languages, and the writing of poetry could help form and refine a person’s wit. Unsurprisingly, More is renowned for his use of wit and irony in his writings, which he believed could serve to subtly and in a special way deliver the truth and heart of matters which were important. He extols and can be compared to ancient Roman intellectual figures, such as the poet Horace and the great orator and political writer Cicero.

Thomas More exemplifies what any Christian leader should be. A good statesman’s primary goal in mind should be to foster virtue amongst the people he leads, whether he is a minor elected representative, or a great king. Thomas More believed this, and knew that if he wanted to see virtue in those placed under his care, then he ought to practice it himself. And practice it he did. His character can be described by no one better than his good friend Desiderius Erasmus in a 1532 letter: "such is the kindliness of his disposition, or rather, to say it better, such is his piety and wisdom, that whatever comes his way that cannot be corrected, he comes to love just as wholeheartedly as if nothing better could have happened to him.” Yet More was not a doormat that could be walked over, his being “designed for friendship” (1519 Erasmus writing) paired well with his confident and assertive nature, in a 1533 letter Erasmus called him “imperiosus” (Latin) – commanding, far-ruling, not at all timid.

More can truly be called magnanimous, a combination of bold confidence and largesse generosity which have often made the very best leaders and statesmen.

His personal piety as a father and a Christian layman was developed by his desire for personal holiness. Before marrying, he had spent 2 years as a young man living with a community of Carthusian monks, greatly admiring their life of devotion to God. Having a deep attraction to the lifestyle, he seriously considered taking vows as a monk. He determined however, that it was not what the Lord called him to do, and ended up marrying Jane Colt in 1506, with whom he bore four children. After Jane’s death in 1511 he married Alice Middleton, a widow herself with children whom More loved as his own. More took the mindset of virtue-fostering leadership to his role as a father and his fatherhood into his statesmanship. He provided his children with an extremely fine education, including his daughters, which was uncommon at the time. He grew to be especially fond of his eldest daughter Margaret, whom he affectionately called “Meg.” Meg was incredibly well-read even compared to the learned men around her, and has been regarded as one of the most well-educated, non-royal women of her time, being able to read and write Latin and Greek and was a practiced poet and treatise-writer. More’s education of his children was directly tied to his belief that it could greatly aid in the growth of virtue of any person, man or woman.

Thomas More is often called the ultimate man of conscience, sticking to his principles and what he sincerely believed was right according to a well-formed moral sense. This conviction, famously, would ultimately cost him his life. His strong belief in conscience can be described in the words of More to the Duke of Norfolk in the 1966 film adaptation of the famous play of his life, A Man for all Seasons: 

NORFOLK: “And will you forfeit all you have, which includes the respect of your country, for a belief?”

MORE: “Because what matters is that I believe it. Or rather, no. Not that I believe it, but because I believe it” (gestures emphatically to his own person).

For a long time, I did not know what this truly meant, it just sounded like he said the same thing three times for no reason. But what More is doing is indicating his conscience is not just a scrupulous little voice in your head, but an aspect of the human person which encapsulates the veritable whole of the person. Violating, therefore, the moral principles of a man who has placed his belief in something according to his well-formed conscience should truly be considered criminal, a grave injustice. As we know, someone attempted to do just that, and unfortunately it was the king of England.

More’s refusal to swear by Henry VIII’s Act of Succession (which not only declared Anne Boleyn Queen and her children successors to Henry, but also declared Henry to be head of the Church in England), placed him in hot water, and some time after his resignation as Chancellor he was indicted, imprisoned, and tried. When his daughter Meg visits him in the 1966 film, she tries to persuade him to swear by the act publicly while denying it in his heart, so that he may be reunited with his family again, Thomas says: “When a man takes an oath, he's holding his own self in his own hands like water, and if he opens his fingers then, he needn't hope to find himself again.”

Here again we see More’s clear belief in virtuous integrity for a statesman and a leader, and that public acts ought to be morally in accord with a man’s private life; an oath involves the whole person, inner and outer. It is somewhat ironic therefore, that the means that his enemies used to convict such a man of integrity of treason is perjury. Thomas Cromwell’s crony, Richard Rich, (who is likely bitter at More for having been denied career advancement from him) perjures himself at More’s trial, falsely testifying under oath that More had denied Henry’s headship of the Church to him in plain conversation while in prison.

More was convicted and executed by beheading not long after. He died with some version of these words on his lips: “I die the king’s faithful servant, but God’s first.” For his steadfast loyalty to the Catholic religion he was declared a martyr of the faith and canonized in the Catholic Church as St. Thomas More. He is the patron of lawyers, statesmen and politicians.

Such bravery and dedication to virtue and integrity should only ever be praised, and I believe few statesman and leaders before or since have achieved such heights as Thomas More when it comes to leading, ruling and administering both for the common good, and for individuals, all of whom have a destiny in virtue, and therefore, as Thomas More would believe, in Christ.

I end with the words of the English Grammarian Robert Whittington, a contemporary of More’s:

“More is a man of an angel's wit and singular learning. I know not his fellow. For where is the man of that gentleness, lowliness and affability? And, as time requireth, a man of marvelous mirth and pastimes, and sometime of as sad gravity. A man for all seasons.”