St. Thomas More~Trial & Execution

Sir Thomas More, (7 February 1478 – 6 July 1535)Renaissance English writer,Lawyer, Lord chancellor of England and Catholic martyr, in the Tudor court of King Henry VIII.

It is certain that he went to live near the London Charterhouse and often joined in the spiritual exercises of the monks there. He wore "a sharp shirt of hair next his skin, which he never left off wholly" (Cresacre More), and gave himself up to a life of prayer and penance. His mind wavered for some time between joining the Carthusians or the Observant Franciscans, both of which orders observed the religious life with extreme strictness and fervour(at that time). In the end, apparently with the approval of Colet, he abandoned the hope of becoming a priest or religious, his decision being due to a mistrust of his powers of perseverance.
Meanwhile More had made friends with one "Maister John Colte, a gentleman" of Newhall, Essex, whose oldest daughter, Jane, he married in 1505.

More married again very soon after his first wife's death, his choice being a widow, Alice Middleton. She was older than he by seven years.

In October, 1529, More succeeded Wolsey as Chancellor of England, a post never before held by a layman. In matters political, however, he is nowise succeeded to Wolsey's position, and his tenure of the chancellorship is chiefly memorable for his unparalleled success and fair charitable justice as a judge.