STM Whole School Prospectus 2021-22

ST THOMAS MORE
MAN & MARTYR
“RegisServusDeiPrius”
-“Iam theKing’sgood servant,but
God’sfirst”
Bornin1478thesonofalawyer,ThomasMoreatendedSt
Anthony'sSchoolinLondon.Afterreadinglaw atCanterbury
Colege,Oxford,hequalifiedasalawyerin1501. Hisfirst
mariagetoJaneColtproducedfourchildren.In1510hewas
appointedunder-sherifandMemberofParliamentfortheCityof
London. AfterJane'suntimelydeath,ThomasmariedAlice
Middleton,ayoungwidowwithadaughterofherown.
DisputewiththeKing
STTHOMAS MORE -MAN & MARTYR
BecauseHenryVIandKatherinehadnolivingmaleheir,theKing
appliedtothePopetohavehismariageannuled.ThePopewas
unwilingtograntadivorceandtheproceedingsforannulment
draggedon.BythistimeHenry'snew love,AnneBoleyn,was
alreadyexpectinghischild.Henrytookmatersintohisown
hands,separatedtheEnglishChurchfrom theChurchinRome,
styledhimselfsupremeheadoftheChurchinEngland,instructed
hisArchbishopto grantthedivorceandthenmariedAnne
Boleyn.
SirThomasMore,ashewasbythen,privatelydisagreedstrongly
withHenry'sactions,believingitwasimposiblefortheEnglish
Churchtomakelawswhichwereinconsistentwiththelawsofthe
ChurchinRome.In1532heresignedfrom oficeandrefusedto
atendthecoronationofAnnein1533. In1534theActof
SuccesiondeclaredthatAnne'schildrenratherthanKatherine's,
wouldsucceedHenry.AlMembersofParliamentwererequired
tototakeanoathacceptingtheAct,includingtheclausewhich
asertedthatthePopehadnopowertointerfereintheafairsof
England.NeitherMorenorBishopFishercouldacceptthis,so
theyrefusedto signtheAct.Theywerecondemnedto life
imprisonmentandhadtoforfeittheirgoods.
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