Thomas More in the Subtext of Shakespeare and Fletcher’s Henry VIII

Moreana ◽  
2005 ◽  
Vol 42 (Number 163) (3) ◽  
pp. 105-118
Author(s):  
Clare M. Murphy
Keyword(s):  
Henry Viii ◽  
Thomas More ◽  
Dominant Theme ◽  
Sir Thomas More ◽  
Relationship Of ◽  
The Relationship

Since the dominant theme of the play is that of “The King’s Great Matter” (his divorce of Katherine and marriage to Anne) it would be difficult for a viewer or reader not to think of Thomas More as the play unfolds, so much was he involved in this event. But Sir Thomas More—which also had Shakespeare among its authors—was not approved by the Master of the Revels, and the playwrights no doubt wished to avoid a similar rejection. A solution for them was to suggest More in the subtext, particularly since his cult was by then well established. This article studies the relationship of the absent More to several of the characters present on stage.

Giovanni Pico della Mirandola

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
M.V. Dougherty
Keyword(s):  
Thomas More ◽  
The Past ◽  
Support Points ◽  
Marsilio Ficino ◽  
Relationship Of ◽  
Scholastic Philosophy ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Pope Alexander Vi ◽  
Aristotelian Metaphysics ◽  
And Training

The Renaissance philosopher Giovanni Pico della Mirandola (b. 1463–d. 1494) is best known today for his Oratio de hominis dignitate, a speech often touted as an emblematic expression of the Renaissance. Originally, however, the Oratio was intended to open a debate in Rome where Pico had hoped to dispute his Conclusiones nongentae, a work of nine hundred theses covering a vast array of philosophical, theological, and esoteric topics that Pico had published in late 1486. A papal prohibition by Innocent VIII, however, canceled the planned disputation, and Pico was excommunicated after he authored in 1487 his Apologia, a sharp defense of thirteen of the nine hundred theses that had been identified as doctrinally problematic by an ecclesiastical commission. Pico was only fully rehabilitated in 1493 by the new pope Alexander VI. Pico’s other extant works testify to his wide-ranging interests and training. In addition to studying ancient and scholastic philosophy, Pico learned Hebrew, Aramaic, and Arabic, and he was one of the first to use Kabbalah to support points of Christian doctrine. He had a life-long interest in reconciling philosophers of the past, arguing that the main oppositions between Platonic and Aristotelian metaphysics were simply verbal, and he intended to publish a work titled Concordia Platonis Aristotelisque. He had an early epistolary debate with Ermolao Barbaro on the relationship of philosophy and rhetoric, wrote on metaphysics in De ente et uno, engaged in biblical exegesis in the Heptaplus, and criticized astrology in his longest book, the unfinished Disputationes. Pico enjoyed the protection of Lorenzo de’ Medici and his intellectual contacts included Marsilio Ficino, Angelo Poliziano, and Girolamo Savonarola. Much of Pico’s work was published posthumously in 1496 by his nephew and literary executor, Gianfrancesco Pico della Mirandola. Pico was introduced to an English audience in the early 16th century by Thomas More, who produced an abbreviated English rendering of Gianfrancesco’s biography of his uncle, along with translations of three letters and several short spiritual writings by Pico.

“Still more things to forget, in the wiping of Henry Patenson’s bottom in the Exchequer”

Moreana ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 51 (Number 195- (1-2) ◽  
pp. 29-43
Author(s):  
Roger Schofield
Keyword(s):  
High Rank ◽  
Henry Viii ◽  
Thomas More ◽  
Sir Thomas More ◽  
The One ◽  
Very High

The final piece of parchment of the roll kept by the Lord Treasurer’s Remembrancer for 16 Henry VIII, or 1524–5, contains a very strange case. Written partly in Latin and partly in English, as was the normal practice of the Court of the Exchequer, it contains a pretended report on the dispute between John Hone, a citizen and maker of candles, on the one hand, and Henry Patenson, more familiarly known as Harry Patenson, because of his physical likeness to king Henry VIII. The defendant in the Exchequer case was described as the ‘Simperyng fole of london’. This case in the Exchequer court had some exceptionally well known participants, including the Second and Third Barons of the Exchequer, who were of very high rank. This article sheds new light on Sir Thomas More.

Tunstal—Trimmer or Martyr?

1973 ◽  
Vol 24 (4) ◽  
pp. 337-355 ◽  
Author(s):  
Morley Thomas
Keyword(s):  
Close Friend ◽  
Henry Viii ◽  
The Sun ◽  
Thomas More ◽  
The World ◽  
Sir Thomas More

Was Cuthbert Tunstal a ‘trimmer’—that is, one primarily concerned with his own advantage—rather than a partisan in the religious revolution initiated by Henry VIII? We might have expected the latter contingency after reading the glowing tribute paid to him by Sir Thomas More: ‘… the incomparable Cuthbert Tunstal, who, to everyone's satisfaction, has recently been appointed Master of the Rolls. I will not try to praise him, not simply because the world would discount such praise from a close friend, but because his fine qualities and learning defy description. His fame is so widespread, that praising him would be, as they say, like lighting up the sun with a candle’. Yet the historiographical neglect of Tunstal seems to indicate that historians have preferred the pejorative judgement of Foxe, who says that he ‘dissembled’ in taking the Oath of Supremacy to Henry VIII. All the conservative bishops who took the oath ‘turned cat-in-the-pan’ in Mary's reign, but when they took it in 1535 they were, according to Foxe, ‘right Lutherans’. He, unquestionably, thought Tunstal was a ‘trimmer’.

scholarly journals Charles V’s ‘Encomium Mori’ as Reported By Ambassador Elyot

2020 ◽  
Vol 27 ◽  
pp. 71-82
Author(s):  
Eugenio M. Olivares Merino
Keyword(s):  
Historical Evidence ◽  
Thomas More ◽  
Tower Of London ◽  
Charles V ◽  
Imperial Court ◽  
Ultimate Source ◽  
Sir Thomas More ◽  
The Relationship

William Roper is the author of the first and most influential biography of Sir Thomas More, his father-in-law, finished in 1557. As stated in this source, shortly after More’s execution for high treason at the Tower of London (1535), the Emperor Charles V met Thomas Elyot then serving as ambassador at the imperial court. The content of this meeting was later on disclosed by Elyot himself to some members of More’s closest circle, among them Roper himself, whose testimony has remained the ultimate source of the episode. As soon as Charles had come to know about More’s execution, he communicated the news to Elyot and shared with him his admiration for the ex-Chancellor. Several scholars, however, have questioned the reliability of Roper’s memory in the light of historical evidence for Elyot’s whereabouts at the time of More’s death. This paper revises the main stances in the discussion of this episode, and brings into consideration other issues that might cast some light, not only on the details of this story, but also on the relationship between these two Thomases (More and Elyot) and Charles, the most powerful ruler in Europe at the time.

scholarly journals Sir Thomas More, Utopia, and the Representation of Henry VIII, 1529-1533

2009 ◽  
Vol 32 (4) ◽  
pp. 59-72
Author(s):  
J. Christopher Warner
Keyword(s):  
Henry Viii ◽  
Thomas More ◽  
Open Debate ◽  
Sir Thomas More ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Lord Chancellor

This essay examines Sir Thomas More's Utopia in the context of Henry VIII's divorce crisis. During this period tracts from the royal press publicized an image of Henry VIII as a disinterested philosopher-king who welcomed open debate and advice at his court. Reading Morus and Hythlodaeus's dialogue on the subject of court counsel in light of this campaign helps us to perceive the manner in which More's appointment as lord chancellor served the purposes of the king's propaganda.

The Vizualization of the Dynamics of the Relationship Between the Bridegrooms in the “Song of Songs”

2018 ◽  
pp. 68-85
Author(s):  
Monika Szetela ◽  
Malgorzata Piotrkowska Dankowska
Keyword(s):  
Old Testament ◽  
Song Of Songs ◽  
Mutual Learning ◽  
Literal Sense ◽  
Dominant Theme ◽  
The People ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Relationship Of ◽  
The Relationship

The dominant theme in the “Song of Songs” is the relationship of love between Bridegrooms. The subject of interest is the dynamism of the relationship. The attitude and feelings expressed by love, depicted in this book of the Old Testament, don't express only a description of their beauty, but a description of expressing mutual delight of all your loved ones. Mutual learning is shaping a unique spousal bond, which as a result of the involvement of the beloved and the beloved of each event, not always easy, brings them together; and thus they can build their own language of communication. Narrative character of text is treated in its literal sense. Presented course of events highlights everything that deepens and develops relationships between characters and clearly shows what returns as the leitmotif of the story. Focusing attention on events, using visualization as a way to telling about the people and events, puts less emphasis on the lyrical parties – descriptions of the beauty of the Bride appear in the text of the “Song of Songs.”

Sir Thomas More and the Opposition to Henry VIII

Moreana ◽  
1967 ◽  
Vol 4 (Number 15-16 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 285-303
Author(s):  
G.R. Elton
Keyword(s):  
Henry Viii ◽  
Thomas More ◽  
Sir Thomas More

Thomas More as author of Margaret Roper's letter to Alice Alington

Moreana ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 56 (Number 211) (1) ◽  
pp. 1-27
Author(s):  
Travis Curtright
Keyword(s):  
Political Engagement ◽  
Careful Analysis ◽  
The Political ◽  
Henry Viii ◽  
Thomas More ◽  
Rhetorical Strategy ◽  
Sir Thomas More ◽  
Indirect Argument

Why would Sir Thomas More write a letter to Alice Alington under the name of Margaret More Roper? To answer that question, this essay examines the political and familial circumstances of the letter's composition, its artfully concealed design of forensic oratory, and use of indirect argument. A careful analysis of the letter's rhetorical strategy will reveal further that More crafted his defense of conscience with allusion to the question of counsel from Utopia, whether or not a philosopher should enter into a king's service. In the Alington letter, from More's position as an imprisoned, former Chancellor of England, he revised civic humanism's call for political engagement into a powerful statement of defiance against King Henry VIII.

Two Tudor Witnesses to “the Corps of Christendom” – More and Shakespeare

Moreana ◽  
2010 ◽  
Vol 47 (Number 181- (3-4) ◽  
pp. 94-107
Author(s):  
Peter Milward
Keyword(s):  
Literary History ◽  
Henry Viii ◽  
Thomas More ◽  
Richard Iii ◽  
Tudor England ◽  
Overwhelming Evidence ◽  
Sir Thomas More ◽  
History Play ◽  
The One ◽  
The Ideal

In the literary history of Tudor England, I venture to propose two names as standing out and claiming comparison with each other as witnesses to the ideal and reality of Christendom – those of Thomas More in the reign of Henry VIII and William Shakespeare in the reign of Elizabeth I. In the case of More, little needs to be said, it is so obvious that he bore witness to the ideal and the reality, even to the shedding of his blood as a canonized martyr. But in that of Shakespeare, much more has to be said in view of the seemingly overwhelming evidence to the contrary. For this purpose it is necessary to take account not just of the dramatist’s indebtedness to More’s Life of Richard III in his history play of that title, nor just of his contribution to the MS Book of Sir Thomas More, nor of the one explicit mention of More in the play of Henry VIII, which is commonly attributed to John Fletcher, but of the whole corpus of Shakespeare’s plays in their chronological order as bearing witness in their totality to what More called in his last speech at his trial in Westminster Hall “the whole corps of Christendom”.

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