Sir Thomas More is tried for High Treason

 

 On this day ~ 1st July 1535 
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 Sir Thomas More is tried for High Treason 

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 Sir Thomas More was an English lawyer, who served King Henry VIII as Lord High Chancellor of England, from October 1529 to May 1532.

More did not support the Protestant Reformation, and also opposed Henry VIII's separation from the Catholic Church.

More refused to acknowledge Henry as supreme head of the Church of England, and the annulment of Henry's marriage to Katharine of Aragon.

 More’s refusal to accept Henry’s claim that his marriage to Katharine had been illicit, meant that he was demonstrably in opposition to the king.

Inevitably, his resignation as lord chancellor followed in May 1532.

More handed King Henry the great seal, and bowed. Henry accepted the seal, telling More,

"For your service you have done me, you will find
me a good and gracious lord."

The two men, who had once been the greatest of friends, would never meet again.

 In 1533, More refused to attend the coronation of Anne Boleyn.

Technically, this was not an act of treason.
More had already written to Henry acknowledging Anne's queenship, and expressing his desire for the King's happiness and the new Queen's health.

Despite this, his refusal to attend was seen as a snub against Anne, Henry hardened his heart against More.

 On 12th April 1534, More was handed a summons to appear at Lambeth Palace to take the Oath of Succession - confirming Anne's role as queen, and the rights of their children to the succession.

More refused to sign the oath, and returned to Chelsea to spend with his family what he probably knew would be his last night as a free man.

 The next morning, More bid farewell to his family at the front gate, and boarded a boat for Lambeth.
When asked again to take the oath at Lambeth Palace, More claimed:

"His conscience would not allow him to take it"

More was arrested and held at the Tower of London. His fate was sealed......

 Having languished in the Tower for over a year, More was eventually charged with treason.

The Treason Act made it a capital offense to deny members of the royal family their "dignity, title, or name of their royal estates."

More's trial was held on 1st July 1535.
More must have realised that a guilty verdict was inevitable.

The jury took only fifteen minutes, to find More guilty of High Treason.

 More's eXecution was scheduled to take place on 6th July 1535, at Tower Hill.

The King commuted More's sentence from disembowelment to a simple b-heading, in recognition of More's many years of good service.

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The Tudor Intruders (and more)
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 The meeting of Sir Thomas More with his daughter, after his sentence of death.

Created: 1st January 1863~William Frederick Yeames.