Discussion: Thomas Moore

"If you were Thomas Moore will you have signed the Act of Succession or the Oath of Supremacy in order to saved the life of you and let your family lived in peace"

"I would have signed as well(both). I can understand not wanting to have your principles violated, but wouldn't the pope give a dispensation for signing under duress? As the family of a traitor, all lands and income would be forfeit, as well as being branded as the family of a traitor. My principles are not worth making my loved ones suffer, especially when in the end, it doesn't change who I believe in(God)"

"More should have encouraged France and the Emperor to invade England before it got to late."

"If I were Thomas More, I would have signed both. I totally respect that he didn't sign the Oath of Supremacy, but I feel like he was being a *bit* selfish. His family were going into poverty, and he kind of just let it happened. But I respect what he did, but if I were him, I would have signed the damn Oath/ Act!"

"More should have encouraged France and the Emperor to invade England before it got to late."

"For all the good intentions of loyalty towards the King, much good did it do to them. Its also a convenient excuse for cowards like show-Brandon to go and kill off hunderds.
The decent action was what Aske and the others did in 1536 with the uprising. To bad they did not finish the job and had the King thrown into a dungeon."

"no i would not sign the oathjustlike thomas more did. it is not selfish what he did his family knew about his beliefs his devotion to his faith. he did nt one day wake up and said his whole life about god. thomas and his wife was married a long time his wife knew about his beliefs so it wasnt a surprise to her that he will refuse to sign the oath. i do have symathy for his family but she must have known that he would not sign that oath. maybe it is a little selfish of them to insist that he should sign the oath. and drop his beliefs just because they didnt want to lose their things. i would not expect my husband to drop his beliefs and sign the oath."

"LadyJane1961 I'm sorry but i will have to disagree with you, yes Thomas Moore was very strong in his beliefs, but he should have thought of his family and how they were going to survive if he didn't he should have signed even if he didn't believe sometimes it'd better to walk hand in hand with the devil then stand in his path"

"If I were Thomas More, I would have his conscience, so of course I would not have signed the Oath. The mind of a martyr does not consider consquences (St. Perpetua gave her newborn baby to her family, so she could accept martyrdom), but More did. He tried to protect his family by placing his property in a sort of trust as soon as he realized that his refusal to sign the Oath would probably result in his imprisonment. In small ways, he succeeded, but much was seized by Henry anyway. It seems some of More'schildren were in tune with his thinking, although his wife was not. The two daughters, one adopted, and one by blood retated, were in agreement with him, and carried on in his way after his death. Margaret Giggs, More's adopted daughter was given More's corpse, and assisted his elder daughter Meg, with her father's burial in St. Peter ad Vincula, afterward she worked at Newgate Prison, helping to bathe and feed the inmates. She eventually fled persecution with her family to Louvain, where she died. Meg took the Oath but with a reservation ('insofar as will stand the will of God'; doing so allowed her to visit her father in prison because Cromwell thought she might convince More to take it also; she did not try) devoted her the rest of her life (she died at age 39, and was buried holding her father's skull) to her children and to getting More's writings published. She, too, came under charges of attempting to create a cult after she ransomed More's head from London Bridge, but was able to convince the court that she was not.
Continued..."