[True North Strong and Free]

Was he the Archbishop of Canterbury that Henry II had... never mind, that was Thomas a Becket. Who was Thomas More?

He was Henry VIII's Chancellor of the Exchequor. He was beheaded because he would not renounce Catholocism

[Chemist_Geek]

He was Henry VIII's Chancellor of the Exchequor. He was beheaded because he would not renounce Catholocism.

Ah, yes, I remember now. The Pope was sitting on Henry's divorce for political reasons, and when his new girlfriend got pregnant, things came to a head.

[Notwithstanding]

St. Thomas More was the Lord Chancellor of England. He ghost-wrote a defense of Catholicism for which King Henry VIII took credit. This is the work for which the reigning British monarch still bears the title "defender of the Faith" - and which contained a forceful prohibition against divorce. Henry VIII had lobbied hard for special papal dispensation to marry his brother's widow. The pope aved in to the pressure and later when this marriage did not satisfy Henry's needs he insisted that he be allowed to divorce claiming that the marriage was void in the first place because the pope had no right to grant him permission (how Clintonesque to argue against ones own prior position when it is convenient to do so). Thomas More was Henry VIII's closest advisor but he refused to acknowledge the validity Henry's new marriage because the pope forbade it. The king demanded that the very influential (throughout Europe) Thomas More publicly declare the validity and swear that the act of parliament allowing the divorce was valid. St. Thomas More could have saved his life by swearing the false oath demanded of him but he could not betray his conscience. For years he was given a chance to change his mind but refused on the grounds that his soul was more important than his earthly life.

Thomas knew that if he never said aloud how he felt about the marriage then the law could do nothing to him. But the new leader of the new Church of England (King Henry VIII) was ruthless in intimidating all of England to bow to his whimsy and or face death. Thus a jury convicted him with absolutely no evidence that he opposed the marriage - he was convicted for failing to take a loyalty oath.

His commitment to the rule of law and to his conscience has earned him the honor of being the patron of lawyers.