Discussion: Thomas More's execution

"Yes, Margaret was her father's 'sidekick" I guess is a modern way to put it; he had all of his daughters educated, but Margaret was the closest to him. She adored her father. When he was brought out after his conviction with the axe pointing toward him to show that he had been sentenced to be executed, she broke through the line of soldiers guarding him and hugged him fiercely, crying "Oh, my father!" He wrote her a last letter from the Tower. I understand her; I adored my father who died almost 15 years ago. His ashes are on the bookcase in my room and will go with mine wherever they go. My parents divorced when I was three but Papa never let go of us; he never married again.
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"Yes I thought there was some brilliant acting both by Jeremy Northam at the trial and execution and Jonathan Rhys Meyers as he anguished by himself waiting for More's execution. It was a very emotional episode especially when Fisher said he was just a man who was frightened of death and the crowd shouted God bless you. Peter O'toole managed to appear as somewhat sarcastic that he and Campeggio couldnt' be martyrs for their faith and how lucky Fisher was that he could be.

As for the real Thomas More himself, I don't view him totally as a saint because he was instrumental in the burning of people who he deemed heretics, even watching as they died in agony. Obviously I am not a catholic so I tend to think differently. By not accepting the Oath of Supermacy he made life very hard for his wife and children. He was totally inflexible and unbending which in my mind makes him just as arrogant as Henry or Anne. "

"Okay, lettice, here is a source that says that More did have a care for his family before he refused the Oath, which is something that martyrs didn't usually do; they had put the concerns of the world behind them. The site is : http://www.thomasmorestudies.org/index.html (each dash in the following is an arrow leading to the next thing to click)
Library-About More's Family and Friends-Lady Alice-More's Attainder and Alice's Predicament. It says that before he refused the oath and brought himself into a position to be tried for that refusal, More actually disributed most of his estate 'by conveyances "...intended to secure the welfare of his family." Read the entire article to get the whole of it; it also seems that friends "... spirited away" More's moveable property. so that the King's agents could not take what wasn't there. This article quotes some primary sources. For me this is just proof that More was prudent, something that those made of the 'stuff of martyrs' usually aren't. He really did love his family and did not set out to be a martyr; His conscience forced him to become one. "

"Thanks for the info. As long as he cared for his family. However he did rob them of a husband and father that means more than material security.
I know it was difficult for him to go against his conscience, but lives of his loved ones remained effected.
I know there's many ways to look at More's actions and I do see him as a good person; I just believe it was a terrible waste of a life.

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"I am a Catholic, but I have forgotten a lot since Catholic school. I thought to be a Saint you had to perform three miracles? I guess since the Catholic Church in HVIII time was trying to hold on to England and other Countries and keep them Catholic, making TM a saint would help to keep them Catholic. I am sure it was all propaganda. "

"You are correct, but maybe there was some sort of polical agenda that More's canonization in 1935 served. More could be a symbol of a statesman who did not blindly follow a leader to save his own life. Wasn't the Nazi party coming to power in Germany about then? "

"Who else besides me thought that Jeremy Northam looked kind of hot when he was bound up and being dragged through the streets? Not that I condone his or Thomas More's suffering, but Northam cuts quite a figure at 6"2" ( which is the same height of both Herny VIII and the late Paul Scofield, who played More in "A Man For Alll Seasons"). I don't imagine that was a stunt double being dragged through the streets, so that's one more reason to root for him at awards time."