Customer Reviews

The Life of Thomas More

5 star:		(24)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is a first-rate biography of the sainted Thomas More. Ackroyd's goals in this biography are to present a non-anachronistic depiction of More, and through his portrait of More, to give readers a sense of the late Medieval world destroyed by the Reformation and the emergence of nation-states. Ackroyd presents More as a man exemplifying the late Medieval ethos. Deeply religous, highly intelligent, and well educated, More existed with a profound sense of human fallibility and saw all aspects of his world as manifestations of a divine order. The world as the body of Christ, a metaphor to which Ackroyd returns repeatedly, is a recurring theme. The temporal world is transient and a necessary preparation for the eternal and in a crucial sense, less real than the eternal world of Christian teachings. This world is bound by custom and inherited legal and religous traditions, hierarchial and paternalistic in its structure of authority, and deeply enmeshed in rituals that mirror the structure of divine authority. More was not, however, a reactionary except when the radicalism of the Lutherans pushed him to stringent and violent acts needed to defend the integrity of his perception of the Christian world. A prominent member of the Northern European Humanist movement, More was dedicated to the recovery of a renovated faith based on a new reading of the Patristic fathers, attention to classical, particularly Greek neoplatonic authors, and disdain for complex scholastic theology. He and his fellow Humanists hoped for reformation of the Church without abandoning the unity of Christendom, the apparatus of ritual and hierarchy that defined so much of their lives, and the primacy of papal authority.

Ackroyd's efforts to present More and the late medieval ethos are very successful. Readers will be introduced to a foreign world, but one which is an ancestor of our contemporary society. Ackroyd's efforts at depicting the lost of world of More include not only the content but the structure of the book. Some prior reviewers commented adversely on Ackroyd's use of unmodified quotations from More's English writings. While interpreting these lines requires a little effort, that effort helps to appreciate More's style. As Ackroyd points out, for More and his contemporaries, style was not simply a matter of presentation but had a significant moral dimension. While chronologically arranged, this biography is not strictly a narrative of More's life. Each chapter is presented as an almost self contained vignette or episode from More's life. I believe this is a deliberate effort on Ackroyd's part to mimic aspects of medieval ritual and theater. This is another and I think successful effort on the part of Ackroyd to present the late Medieval world. Ackroyd argues that not only that More was dedicated to the importance of ritual and theater but that it formed a very important part of More's character and perhaps self-image. Ackroyd's construction of this book is then a doubly artful device to mirror both the world of late medieval England and More himself.

Gosh, golly gee, crikey - the superlatives could go on all day. This is a superb, densely textured biography. Ackroyd revels in the complex psychology and sociology of his subject, e.g., his devotion to duty, his father fixation, etc. He also places Thomas More firmly in the London of his time and in his historical moment - the Reformation - especially through More's own writings.

It has been remarked that the chapters amount to a series of vignettes. That's true, and the amount of knowledge retailed in each glimpse of More and his world is staggering.

To give but a few examples:

Chap. 3 - St. Anthony's Pigs: we follow young More through the streets of Tudor London to his school and get insight into the Renaissance education system.

Ch 4 - Cough Not, Nor Spit: Thomas' early career as a page to Archbishop (of Canterbury) Morton, Henry VII's notorious "enforcer". This relationship illuminates More's later dealings with Cardinal Wolsey.

Ch 8 - We Talk Of Letters: sketches of Grocyn, Linacre, Lily, Colet, More - the "London humanists", or More's intellectual circle.

And so on. The book continues in the same fascinating vein. It is a hard slog to read, and I'm sorry that Peter Ackroyd did not give a glossary of A) Latin and Greek expressions, and B) even some of his more obscure English words. I also regret that there's no map to illustrate Ackroyd's loving depiction of the London where More learned, lived, worked and suffered.

More's story is well known and often told. Ackroyd has given a fully-rounded portrayal of the man, his background, career, family and friends.

What a pleasure to read.

Thomas More lived an exemplary life during hard times. His faith in the Catholic Church was put to the test by his king, and though he failed his king and paid the price on the scaffold, he served his God and was rewarded with martyrdom and sainthood. Peter Ackroyd's book is a brilliant and dramatic telling of More's life.

Thomas More was born in London in 1478. He was educated at Oxford where upon his father's insistence he studied law. But he was also interested in theology and thought for a while of becoming a monk. Famously he wore a hair shirt his entire life. Instead of taking vows, however, he took a wife and had four children. He made sure his daughters received as rigorous an education as his sons. (His wife died in 1511 and he married Alice Middleton and adopted her daughter.)

The law was More's lifelong profession where he represented various groups in the courts and helped settle trade disputes abroad. He wrote a history of King Richard III, wherein he portrayed Richard as a cruel, even criminal, ruler. In 1516, he published his most famous book, UTOPIA, which described an ideal community governed totally by reason. When Cardinal Wolsey failed to secure an annulment of Henry VIII's marriage to Catherine of Aragon, he was replaced by More as lord chancellor. He worked diligently in this position and became a friend to the king. But troubles were already visible in the horizon.

When Henry, through the Act of Supremacy, declared himself the head of the Church of England, More was in opposition to him: he refused to take an oath of allegiance to Henry that would deny papal supremacy of the church. He was tried, found guilty, and beheaded five days later.

Ackroyd is especially good in relating the dramatic events during these last few years in More's life. He narrates this with the power and skill of a novelist; indeed, it's almost impossible to put the book down during the last 100 pages. Anyone in want of moral uplift need only read these last pages for complete satisfaction. More went to the scaffold bravely, even telling the executioner to stay calm and aim true. He joked after stumbling on the scaffold steps and received help: "When I come down again let me shift for myself as well as I can." Then "he died the King's good servant but God's first," which is his life in a nutshell. Ackroyd writes with authority and tremendous style, but it's the drama that he infuses in his account that truly sets this book apart. Highly recommended.

My interest in Thomas More began when I learned that he was the Patron Saint of Lawyers, when I as about to graduate from law school. This book seemed to be the most realistic and comprehensive work on the life of Thomas More. Naturally, many of the works devoted to him are much more spiritual or political in nature. Peter Ackroyd, however, covers it all. His discussion of More's childhood and family life provide insights into his political career and spirtuality.

At first glance, the contrast between More's "worldly" political career and his deep, sincere spirituality might seem jarring to contemporary eyes. Ackroyd deftly points out, though, that for More's contemporaries, there really isn't a contrast. Religion, politics, and social hierarchy were all part of the same system -- to a point. The Life of Thomas More shows that, given the right elements (e.g., Henry the Eighth on the throne, the Protestant Reformation in full swing, More's own faith), religion and politics can (and will) clash violently.

Ackroyd's writing is, quite simply, wonderful. While the material can be quite dense, Ackroyd's prose keeps you moving swiftly through the book. Although the book is certainly well-researched and up to anyone's standards of scholarship, Ackroyd's tone is not at all distant.

On a more personal note, I found Thomas More's strength and faith to be very inspiring. While few of us will become martyrs to our faith or wear a hairshirt, Thomas More's life shows that strength of character and strong faith require a lot of work, but are valuable attributes in a complicated world.

The book is first a work of history and secondly an historical story. No license is taken in creating events without historical records to back up the author's interpretation. The book is well written and interesting though some of the subject matter (such as legalities of 16th centrury England) a bit dry.

I liked best that the book in no way presented the historical character of Thomas More in supernatural or propagandistic terms but showed his life, not as a "saint", but as a man struggling with issues of conscience versus political expediency under the tyranny of Henry VIII. He stayed true to his conscience without showing at any time even the slightest disloyalty to the king yet was executed for treason anyway. Erasmus said that More should have left theology to the theologians and signed the oath of succession and thus saved his life.

No matter what anyone else might have done in similar circumstances, Sir Thomas More was a man of honor and his life is interesting to read about.

If you like history and fact-based biography, you'll love this book.

Anyone with even the faintest interest in English history will thorougly enjoy Ackroyd's biography of Thomas More. The author's obvious erudition is never intrusive. His description of London at the time often reads like a modern guide book and his accounts of More's frienships, with Erasmus among others, are fascinating. Mr.Ackroyd should write one book a month like this one !

As a voracious biography reader I have never come across a more loving, generous, and fascinating biography than this one by Peter Ackroyd. The book is resplendent with tales of life in the latter part of the middle ages. It is not only a biography but a cornucopia of interesting facts about this period of history. The author shows a remarkable ability to take you from the Christian baptism of Thomas More all the way to his death as a martyr under the brutish reign of King Henry the VIII. One of the most stunning, prolific, polished biographies I have ever read in my life! I highly recommend this one for anyone interested in history and in the life of Thomas More.

I had enjoyed Richard Marius's 1985 biography of More enormously, as giving an insight into More's thinking - and particularly how a clever, generous and decent man could see it as his duty to be a persecutor of perceived heretics. Ackroyd's biography goes even further, addressing not only More's intellectual and spiritual development, but also giving a lively feeling of the daily realities of the world in which he lived and worked. More's "job challenge" as a lawyer, diplomat and statesman is particularly well explained and the descriptions of his surroundings, and of his friends and colleagues, add powerfully to the sense of immediacy - even familiarity - which is created. More's final dilemma, which will bring him to the scaffold, is skillfully placed in the context of his spiritual development over earlier years, so that when it arises his inability to chose any road other than he does appears wholly inevitable. In its recreation of the mentality of a figure of another age, this biography approaches the stark immediacy and credibility usually only achieved in the fiction of the highest order, such as the novels of Zoe Oldenburg. As such I was strongly remined of the portrayal of the Albegensian mind, conscience and dilemmas in Oldenburg's "Destiny of Fire".

"The Life Of Thomas More" introduces the reader, not only to his life story, but also to the world of the Upper Class Englishman of his day. A life long Londoner, More earned his way into a rarefied world of legends. Henry VIII was his patron turned persecutor, Erasmus was his friend and St. John Fisher was his co-martyr.

In his early life, More lived a life of sanctity, but displayed traits which would not suggest a saintly temperament. Working his way into high office in what was then Catholic England, More was confronted by the early infiltration of the Protestant movement. A strong supporter of the Church of Rome, More aggressively worked to suppress the rising heresy.

More's religious fervor, which initially put him in good stead, became a handicap when Henry VIII chose to divorce and remarry. His religious consistency then led his patrons to turn on him. His efforts to avoid taking a stand on the issues of the King's divorce and remarriage and papal supremacy ultimately failed to save his life. Recognizing his fate, More made his last testimonies at his trial and in prison to supplement his prior writings such as "Utopia".

Although this book does well at relating More's outstanding life and public career it fails to give the reader a feel for the man. Upon completion of the book, I felt that I knew about Thomas More, but did not feel that I knew him. I am glad that I read it, but I had hoped for more.

Peter Ackroyd's love of London and its stories shines through in this wonderful book. The life of Thomas More is one of the great stories of London. Ackroyd is unmatched in his ability to give just the right historical context to make his telling of his subject's story vivid and alive. The author loves his subject enough to give More an honest and complex portrait. The writing is wonderful, but there is also no white washing or simplifying for the kiddies.

Yet More's greatness and honesty are clear and impressive. His humanity and what we would judge as failings (often mistakenly, I believe) serve, in my mind, to accentuate what he was able to become out of the lump of imperfect clay we all are. His work and faith and integrity stand as a monument to his name for all time.

There are some wonderful pictures and discussions of the portraits in the context of More's life. This is very good stuff and I am grateful to the author for this brilliant book.