Thomas More

Birth: 1478-02-07 , Londres

Death: 1535-07-06 , Tower Hill

Sir Thomas More was a prominent English statesman, jurist, writer, and humanist. Born in London, he is best known for his work 'Utopia', a political novel describing an ideal fictional society, and for his opposition to Henry VIII's divorce, which led to his execution.

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Believe me, if all those endearing young charms,

And joyless, if not shared with him!

Like Dead Sea fruits, that tempt the eye, But turn to ashes on the lips.

Oh! ever thus, from childhood’s hour, I’ve seen my fondest hope decay; I never loved a tree or flower, But ’twas the first to fade away. I never nurs’d a dear gazelle To glad me with its soft black eye, But when it came to know me well, And love me, it was sure to die.

Some banquet hall deserted, And all but he departed.

What though youth gave love and roses, Age still leaves us friends and wine.

Oft in the stilly night, Ere Slumber’s chain has bound me, Fond Memory brings the light Of other days around me; The words of love then spoken; The cheerful hearts now broken.

And folly’s all they’ve taught me.

The light that lies In woman’s eyes, Has been my heart’s undoing.

You may break, you may shatter the vase, if you will, But the scent of the roses will hang round it still. 1

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Thomas More (1478-1535) was a central figure of the English Renaissance. A lawyer, judge, and later Lord Chancellor of England, More was a respected intellectual and a close friend of Erasmus of Rotterdam. His most famous work, 'Utopia' (1516), coined the term and presented a critical view of European societies through the description of an imaginary island with a perfect political and social system. His unwavering Catholic faith put him at odds with King Henry VIII when the latter broke with the Roman Catholic Church. More's refusal to swear allegiance to the king as the supreme head of the Church of England led to his imprisonment and subsequent beheading on the Tower of London, and he was canonized by the Catholic Church as Saint Thomas More.