Perished in vain? Whether you or I hold to the full range of More’s personal beliefs his death was as much a testimony to his convictions about the Rule of Law over the whim of kings.
But he failed—England left (thank God) the RCC and he was the “prophet” not without honor save in his own country” as the saying goes—and if he had not been martyred Catholicism may have stayed in England and America today would have started out a maladroit proto basket republic like so many other colonies established by the RCC.