A Daughter's Love: Thomas More and His Dearest Meg (Hardcover)

~ John Guy (Author)
Key Phrases: great cloister, honest councillor, Thomas More, John More, Lady Alice (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

You alone have long known the secrets to my heart, affirmed Sir Thomas More to his eldest daughter, Margaret (1505–1544), shortly before his execution for defying Henry VIII. Guy (NBCC award winner for Queen of Scots) describes the Catholic More as a witty and flawed man: a future martyr who condemned others to be burned at the stake, who educated his daughter (Erasmus himself paid tribute to her for correcting his Latin) yet warned that women should not seek recognition for their intellectual work because it resulted in infamy. Yet Megs deep intellectual and religious kinship with her father ultimately strengthened More while in prison despite his crushing fears of suffering. Using extensive sources, Guy provides unprecedented insight into this intense relationship. Ironically, since More segregated his private and professional lives, there is less information about his relationship with Margaret during his years of ambition in the Tudor court, but Guy reveals an invaluable perspective on Henry VIIIs political and religious machinations. Because of Margarets dedication to her father and her own intellectual endeavors, Mores body of work was saved, preserving his memory, reputation and martyrdom. Illus. (Mar. 17)
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From Booklist

Renaissance historian Guy has penned a fascinating dual biography of Sir Thomas More and his beloved daughter Meg. Although history and Hollywood have paid due homage to the worthy Thomas More, both have relegated his daughter Margaret to the back burner. Guy rectifies this oversight by painting a vivid father-daughter portrait, breathing new life into an inspiring filial relationship and, at long last, providing Meg with her rightful place in history. The scholarly Meg shared an intellectual kinship with More, quickly earning favor with her accomplished father. After More’s fallout with the king, it was this daughter who stood steadfastly by his side, advocating for him, visiting him in prison, helping him compose his final letters, and eventually even rescuing and preserving his severed head. Though the basic facts of Sir Thomas More’s life and martyrdom are well known, Guy’s compelling account of Margaret elevates her well above adjunct status in the unfolding historical drama. --Margaret Flanagan

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 448 pages
• Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt; First Edition edition (March 17, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0618499156
• ISBN-13: 978-0618499151
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.2 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #145,332 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

29 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Father and Daughter, April 3, 2009

By	Stephanie (Wichita, KS USA) - See all my reviews

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There have been attempts to besmirch the reputation of Sir (Saint) Thomas More--unsubstantiated and denied rumors of torture, inflated numbers of executions for heresy under this administration as Chancellor, and emphasis on the more colorful language in his polemics against Luther and Tyndale. All are cited as unworthy of a canonized saint, either reflecting confusion about historical accuracy or what it means to be a saint.

In this book, John Guy describes the relationship between Thomas More and his dearest daughter, Margaret Roper. It is a loving relationship, demonstrating the richness of character and integrity of both father and daughter. Guy highlights Thomas More's progressive educational program for all his children, including his daughters, uncommon at the time, with the highest standards of contemporary humanism. Erasmus of Rotterdam found in Margaret More Roper a critical and discerning reader who could appreciate his efforts and correct his Latin.

Crucially, John Guy emphasizes that Thomas More had completely integrated the sacred and the secular in his way of life and yet steadfastly kept the public and the private aspects of his life separate. When he was with his family, or when he wrote to them when he was away from them, he did not discuss the efforts, burdens or issues of his working life, as lawyer, member of Parliament, ambassador, or Chancellor. It was only when he knew that public life was going to intrude violently and with deadly force on his private life that he gave his family a sign of what was to come: a brutal knock at the door, interrupting the family gathered at meal and a preemptory summons to answer charges of treason.

Also crucially, Guy highlights the ferocious will to power of Henry VIII once he knew what he wanted and experienced the satisfaction of obtaining it. Henry was then insatiable and only those who bowed utterly to his desire could hope to survive, and even they faced the danger of his changing mood and will. Thomas More tried to warn Thomas Cromwell (as depicted in the film "Anne of the Thousand Days") never to let the king focus on what he could do, but only on what he should do. More followed his own advice and was executed; Cromwell did not follow that advice and was still executed.

Margaret was one of the few who knew her father wore a hair shirt; she would thus be the only one who knew how to sustain him during his imprisonment in the Tower, engaging him with both intellectual diversion and prayer. She would be his champion after his execution, rescuing his head from its place in the row of traitors and preserving all his works, including the letters and treatises he wrote in the Tower, so that they could be published during the reign of Mary Tudor, Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon's surviving child and the first Queen Regnant of England, Ireland and Wales.

A sad and final irony I gained from the story of this relationship was an inkling of what might have been: if Henry VIII could have had the same respect and love for his daughter Mary, he could have fulfilled his early promise as a Renaissance prince. If Henry had seen Mary as the gift she was, with her intellect, her musical talent, and the same desire that Margaret had to please her father, what might have been? But then, we might not have the works Thomas More wrote in the Tower, when he put polemics aside and contemplated Jesus in His Passion, the soul facing comfort and tribulation, and that loving last letter to Margaret, praising her for her demonstration of love as he returned to the Tower of London after his trial.

John Guy has given us the great gift of this book, clarifying many aspects of Thomas More's life, including his relationships with his second wife Alice and his great friend Erasmus, who both sadly abandoned him when he faced the trials of the Tower. The supporting materials (illustrations, family trees, and bibliography) are great.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Scholarship, August 20, 2009

By	Victor C (Florida) - See all my reviews

The scholarship and extensive research by John Guy, to write this book,is extremely impressive. To write about, and blend in facts concerning life in the 16th century is difficult enough, without having to address the uniqe personalities of historical characters, magnitude of issues, and complexity of what transpired in that era.

The genre of the book makes for a pace of patient reading, but the content, and substance makes it very worthwhile.

2 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Thank you, Mr. Guy, June 21, 2009

By	P. Moroney "PaulMor" (Log Island, NY) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This is a very well-documented book on the More family and life under King Henry VIII. The author really did his research and presents it as a very pleasing read. It is the best book written on the Thomas More. We also learn of what happened to the rest of the More clan and how life was like under the tyrant, King Henry VIII. A must for history buffs!