It is a testament to Hilary Mantel's perceptive writer's eye that Wolf Hall, one of the few negative fictional portraits of Thomas More, essentially captures how art has portrayed the martyr saying that history "is a mirror that flatters Thomas More." Even in his lifetime, writers complimented More, suggesting that the flattery is justified.
Contemporary Tudor Portraits of Thomas More
In 1519, More had written Utopia and was working on a biography about Richard III. He had not been knighted, but he was an undersheriff in London and in Henry VIII's privy council. More's friend, Desiderius Erasmus, described him in a letter, saying, "He seems born and framed for friendship, and is a most faithful and enduring friend."
Erasmus' portrait of More is as endearing and enduring as the Hans Holbein's paintings. In Vulgaria a year later, Robert Wittinton described friend More as "a man of an angel's wit and singular learning...a man for all seasons."
Contemporary accounts of More's death vary on the conjunction in his final statement: "I die the King's good servant, but God's first." A Paris newspaper reported that More, "died his faithful servant, and God's first." The Paris report, as well as the original French quotation, are available from The Center of Thomas More Studies.
Post-Execution Portraits of Thomas More
After More died, his reputation traveled through the peaks and valleys of religious and political perspectives. His son-in-law, Will Roper, wrote one of the definitive biographies about More, The Mirror of Virtue. His characterization of More as a hardworking, honorable public servant and family man were complemented by the biographies written by Nicholas Harpsfield and Thomas Stapleton.
John Foxe was writing at the same time as Harpsfield and Stapleton, and his protestant Book of Martyrs painted More as "a bitter persecutor of good men." More's authorization of the burning of heretics was discussed more frequently after his collected works were published in English (rather than the original Latin that More favored for his academic writing) in 1557.
Modern Portraits of Saint Thomas More
More became a saint in 1935. Robert Bolt's 1960 play is one of the most well-known portraits of Thomas More. One of the most iconic lines, "I'd give the devil the benefit of the law, for my own safety's sake," which is derived from a conversation described by Roper. The impact of the play, and by extension Roper's original vignette, reverberated beyond the world of entertainment; C-SPAN shows Representative Neil Abercrombie using the devil and the law quotation during arguments about amendment to the Attorney Accountability Act in 1995.
Historians continue to debate More's place in history. Richard Marius portrayal of More as a complicated, conflicted man is a widely recommended biography and Thomas More: a Biography was a finalist for the National Book Award. Jasper Ridley's dual biography of Thomas Wolsey and Thomas More, The Statesman and the Saint, was also published as The Statesman and the Fanatic, a situation that might best illustrate the multiple interpretations of More's actions.
Thomas More frequently wanders from historical biographies into the pages of fiction, and even the negative characterizations of him allow for his undisputed professional integrity, his devotion to the Catholic Church, his loyalty to England, and his love for his daughter Margaret.
Additional Reading
An Overview of Artistic Portraits of Sir Thomas More discusses More as presented by artists from Hans Holbein the Younger Stephen Whatley.
Sources:
Mantel, Hilary. Wolf Hall MacMillian, 2009 (ISBN:0805080686): p. 436.
Moulton, Charles Wells. The Library of Literary Cricisim of English and American Authors. Moulton Publishing, 1901. It is accessible on Google Books.
Robert Wittinton is also spelled Robert Whittington. His translated quotation appears on The Center of Thomas More Studies "About Famous Quotes" page. His book, Vulgaria, is in the public domain.
Foxe, John and Seymour, M. Hobart. The Acts and Monuments of the Church Containing the History and Sufferings. It was republished in 2004 by Kessinger Publishing. The ISBN is 1417946105.
Bolt, Robert. A Man for All Seasons has appeared in different publication forms; this quotation is from the 1990 printing by Vintage. The ISBN is 0679728228.
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