Biography of Thomas More

I am reading a book about Sir Thomas More, the lawyer and friend of Henry VIII who did not support the king's divorce from Katherine of Aragon and his marriage to Anne Boleyn and his making himself the head of the English Church. The life of Thomas More was made known by the play/film "A Man for All Seasons" and he became a saint in the catholic church.

This book ("A Daughter's Love" by John Guy) is different in that it is approached as a piece of historical research. It goes into everything - even minute descriptions of what their furnished houses looked like and the design of their gardens - and you get such a good idea of how they lived, that you begin to know them as persons. It's a sad story - a man who never says anything controversial at all and maintains his loyalty to the king throughout, but will not give way on issues contrary to his religious conscience and has to pay the ultimate price for it. It is also a violent story. We have become so into "human rights" in one form or another, in democratic countries at least, that we have lost sight of how brutal threatened political power can become. (or perhaps we don't take our news bulletins seriously enough!).

The main thrust of the book is the relationship between the daughter, Margaret and her father, Thomas More, and how this friendship and support affected him and contributed in no small way to his greatness. She was highly educated - by her father - but in an age where women had no status she could do things and go places and be significant in her father's life because no one took her seriously. I haven't finished the book, but thus far she seems to be quite a remarkable woman.

I am looking forward to the rest of it.

I am lookinf forward to finishing it