on foreign missions. Thus, in 1514, he was sent to Flanders, to secure favors from the prince afterwards known as emperor Charles V. More was also employed by his king on various public missions to France, and so interested did Henry VIII become in More that he ordered cardinal Wolsey, then his chancellor, to engage More in the service of the court. Accordingly jtlore was made treasurer of the exchequer in 1520, and not only acceptably performed his public functions, but also grew in popularity with the courtiers and the king, by- reason of his sweet temper and great conversational power. The king frequently met More, and enjoyed many hours with him, not only socially, but intellectu- ally. Indeed, in 1521, when king Harry was working up his reply to the German Reformer, More assisted his royal friend by casting that celebrated treatise against the Protestant effort into a proper method. It was pub- lished in 1521, under the title of Assertio sepie?n sacra- mentorum adcersiis M. Lutherum, etc., and in 1523 More himself published Hesponsio ad convitia M. Lutheri con- gesta in Henricum regem Anglim. "In this Amwer to Lulhei;" says Atterbury, "More has forgot himself so as to throw out the greatest heap of nasty language that perhaps ever was put together; and that the book throughout is nothing but downright ribaldry, without a grain of reason to support it, and gave to the author no other reputation but that of having the best knack of any man in Europe at calling bad names in good Latin, etc. The like censure do his English tracts against Tindal, Barnes, etc., deserve" (Ejjistokirg Cor- respondence, iif, 452). And though this criticism is rather harsh, it was yet in a large measure deserved (comp., however, More's Apology, in which he denies these charges of overzeal against heresy). In 1523 More was chosen speaker of the House of Commons, and now entered upon a career in which for a time he alienated both his royal master and the chancel- lor. The cardinal had taken the liberty of asking a greater subsidy for the king than he was entitled to, and was inclined to be generally lavish in his expendi- tures for the crown, as well as A-ery unmindful of the ancient liberties and privileges of the house. More val- iantly defended the people's cause, and hesitated not to speak out, though it endangered his popularity with the king. Indeed, More had never deceived himself as to the extent of his favor with the king, though his friend Erasmus had dared to assert that " the king would scarcely ever suffer the philosopher to quit him," and though Henry visited him uninvited at Chelsea, and walked with him by the hour in his garden, "holding his arm about his neck." More had a true insight into Henry's character, and clearly revealed this in an an- swer which he once gave when congratulated by his son-in-law. Roper, on the king's favor : " If my head would win him a castle in France, when there was war between us, it should not fail to go." Henry's faithful- ness, was, however, more lasting in More's case than it was wont to be, for he clung to him notwithstanding this waywardness, and shortly after caused his ajjpoint- ment as chancellor of Lancaster, and on the death of the cardinal in 1529 jMore was even more strongly impressed with his royal friend's affection by his appointment to the high chancellorship of all England, vacated by the disgrace of Wolsey. Here was more than usual ex- pression of confidence and affection. The favor was, moreover, the more extraordinary as he was a layman, and it was wont to be the custom to invest an ecclesi- astic with the office of lord chancellor. But it was af- terwards revealed why this apparent warmth and fervor. Henry had simply advanced More to the chancellorship with the hope that he would assist him in his divorce, and marriage with Anne Boleyn, and no sooner had he been elevated to the high chancellorship than the king pressed him strongly for his opinion on the subject. But More was sincerely attached to the Roman Catholic Church ; he looked with a certain degree of horror upon a project which was denounced by the pontifical head of
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English Chancellor's Costume in Sir Thomas More's time.
the Church, and therefore begged Henry to excuse him from giving an opinion. This was granted for a time ; but as it was evident that Henry had determined to ef- fect the divorce, and would soon reriuire the active co- operation of his chancellor, iMorc, who determined not to be a party to the transaction, finally asked and obtained permission to retire from the office, May 1(5, 1532. From this time Henry, who never seems to have recollected any former friendship when his purposes were in the least degree thwarted, appears to have resolved upon the destruction of his old favorite. Anne Boleyn's cor- onation being fixed for ]May 31, 1533, all fair means were used to win him over; and when these proved ineffect- ual, recourse was had to threats and terrors. More was included in the bill of attainder which was passed against Elizabeth Barton, the celebrated nun of Kent, and her accomplices for treasonable practices, on the ground that he had encouraged Elizabeth ; but his innocence in the case was made so clear that his name had to be Avithdrawn from the bill of accusation. He was then accused of other crimes, but with the same effect. Yet the court party soon found an opportunity of gratifying their vindictive master. By a law passed in the session of 1533-34 it was made high-treason, by writing, print, deed, or act, to do anything to the prejudice, etc., of the king's lawful matrimony with queen Anne ; and it was also provided that all persons should take an oath to maintain the whole contents of the statute. At the end of the session commissioners were appointed to ad- minister the oath, and on April 15, 1534, More was sum- moned before them to take it. This Jlore declined do- ing, but at the same time offered to swear that he would maintain the order of succession to the throne as estab- lished by Parliament. In consequence of his refusing to take this oath. More was committed to the Tower; and in the same year two statutes were passed to attaint IVIore and Fisher [see Fisiikk, .Ioiix] of misprision of treason, with the punishment of imprisonment and loss of goods. More remained in prison for thirteen months, during which time several efforts were made to induce him to take the oath, and also to subscribe to the king's eccle- siastical supremacy. His reputation and credit being very great in the kingdom, and tinuh being apprehend- ed from his conduct at that critical cimjuncture, all ar- guments that could be devised were alleged to him by archbishop Cranmcr and others to |)crsuade him to a compliance, and many fair promises were made from the king to induce him thereto; but, as nothing could pre- vail, he was finally brought to trial for high-treason. He appears to have been indicted under the statute al- luded to above, which made it high-treason to do any-