The Beheading of Thomas More
July 6, 1535
On July 6, 1535, Sir Thomas More, lately chancellor of England, was beheaded on the orders of Henry VIII after being convicted of high treason. His offense was his refusal to swear to the Oath of Supremacy, acknowledging the king as Supreme Head of the Church in England under the Act of Supremacy. This break with Rome followed the refusal of Pope Clement VII to annul Henry’s marriage to Catherine of Aragon—who had previously been married to Henry’s now-deceased brother, Arthur Tudor—so that the king might marry Anne Boleyn, whom Henry had beheaded less than a year into their marriage.
I suspect most readers already know the outlines of this story, and those who have read or seen Robert Bolt’s play A Man for All Seasons will understand why Thomas’s portrait hangs in our offices at Touchstone. Or perhaps you learned about Thomas through Christopher Hollis’s 1934 biography, praised by G. K. Chesterton.
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J. Douglas Johnson is the executive editor of Touchstone and the executive director of the Fellowship of St. James.
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