Thomas More

== Family life ==
[[File:More famB 1280x-g0.jpg|thumb|upright=1.5|[[Rowland Lockey]] after [[Hans Holbein the Younger]], ''[[Sir Thomas More and Family|The Family of Sir Thomas More]]'', {{Circa|1594}}, Nostell Priory]]

More married Joanna "Jane" Colt, the eldest daughter of John Colt of Essex in 1505.<ref name=EB1911>{{cite EB1911 |wstitle=More, Sir Thomas |volume=18 |page=824 |first=Mark |last=Pattison |authorlink=Mark Pattison (academic)}}</ref> In that year he leased a portion of a house known as the Old Barge (originally there had been a wharf nearby serving the [[River Walbrook|Walbrook river]]) on Bucklersbury, [[St Stephen Walbrook]] parish, London. Eight years later he took over the rest of the house and in total he lived there for almost 20 years, until his move to Chelsea in 1525.<ref name="Ackroyd" />{{rp |118;271}}<ref>{{cite book |last1=Wood |first1=Alexander |title=Ecclesiastical Antiquities of London and Its Suburbs |date=1874 |publisher=[[Burns & Oates]] |location=London|pages=105–6|oclc=18479600}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Reynolds |first1=Ernest E. |title=The field is won; the life and death of Saint Thomas More |date=1968 |publisher=Bruce Pub. Co |location=Milwaukee |isbn=978-0-223-97628-3 |page=54}}</ref> [[Desiderius Erasmus|Erasmus]] reported that More wanted to give his young wife a better education than she had previously received at home, and tutored her in music and literature.<ref name="Ackroyd" />{{rp |119}} The couple had four children: [[Margaret Roper|Margaret]], [[Elizabeth Dauncey|Elizabeth]], [[Cecily Heron|Cecily]], and John. Jane died in 1511.<ref name="Ackroyd" />{{rp |132}}

Going "against friends' advice and common custom," within 30 days, More had married one of the many eligible women among his wide circle of friends.<ref name= Wegemer>{{cite book|title=Thomas More: A Portrait of Courage| first= Gerard B. |last= Wegemer| year=1995|publisher=Scepter Publishing}}</ref><ref name= Wagner>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=R_c_md3gMpwC |title=Encyclopedia of Tudor England |first1= John A.|last1= Wagner |first2= Susan |last2= Walters Schmid |publisher=ABC-CLIO |year=2011 |isbn=978-1-59884-299-9 |pages=769–770}}</ref> He chose [[Alice More|Alice Middleton]], a widow, to head his household and care for his small children.<ref>{{cite book | editor-last= Maddison| editor-first= The Rev. Canon| title= Lincolnshire Pedigrees| publisher= Harleian Society| place= London| year= 1903| page= 5}}</ref> The speed of the marriage was so unusual that More had to get a dispensation from the [[banns of marriage]], which, due to his good public reputation, he easily obtained.<ref name= Wegemer />

More had no children from his second marriage, although he raised Alice's daughter from her previous marriage as his own. More also became the guardian of two young girls: Anne Cresacre who would eventually marry his son, John More;<ref name="Ackroyd" />{{rp|146}} and [[Margaret Clement|Margaret Giggs]] (later Clement) who was the only member of his family to witness his execution (she died on the 35th anniversary of that execution, and her daughter married More's nephew [[William Rastell]]). An affectionate father, More wrote letters to his children whenever he was away on legal or government business, and encouraged them to write to him often.<ref name="Ackroyd" />{{rp|150}}<ref name="Rogers">{{cite book|editor-last=Rogers|editor-first= Elizabeth Frances|first= Thomas|last=More|title=Selected Letters|url=https://archive.org/details/utopia00lumbgoog|place=New Haven and London| publisher= Yale University Press|year=1961}}.</ref>{{rp|xiv}}

More insisted upon giving his daughters the same classical education as his son, an unusual attitude at the time.<ref name="Ackroyd" />{{rp |146–47}} His eldest daughter, Margaret, attracted much admiration for her erudition, especially her fluency in Greek and Latin.<ref name="Ackroyd" />{{rp|147}} More told his daughter of his pride in her academic accomplishments in September 1522, after he showed the bishop a letter she had written:

{{blockquote|When he saw from the signature that it was the letter of a lady, his surprise led him to read it more eagerly … he said he would never have believed it to be your work unless I had assured him of the fact, and he began to praise it in the highest terms … for its pure Latinity, its correctness, its erudition, and its expressions of tender affection. He took out at once from his pocket a portague [A Portuguese gold coin] … to send to you as a pledge and token of his good will towards you.<ref name="Rogers" />{{rp|152}}}}

More's decision to educate his daughters set an example for other noble families. Even Erasmus became much more favourable once he witnessed their accomplishments.<ref name="Ackroyd" />{{rp|149}}

A large portrait of More and his extended family, [[Sir Thomas More and Family]], was painted by [[Hans Holbein the Younger|Holbein]]; however, it was lost in a fire in the 18th century. More's grandson commissioned a copy, of which two versions survive. The Nostell copy of the portrait shown above also includes the family's two pet dogs and monkey.<ref group=note>Erasmus wrote about this monkey in his Colloquy [[Colloquies#Amicitia (Friendship)|Amicitia]].</ref>

Musical instruments such as a lute and viol feature in the background of the extant copies of Holbein's family portrait. More played the recorder and [[viol]],<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Bryan |first1=John |title=Extended Play: Reflections of Heinrich Isaac's Music in Early Tudor England |journal=The Journal of Musicology |date=January 2011 |volume=28 |issue=1 |pages=118–141 |doi=10.1525/jm.2011.28.1.118 |s2cid=18594216 |url=http://eprints.hud.ac.uk/10511/ |language=en |issn=0277-9269}}</ref>{{rp|136}} and made sure his wives could join in the family consort.<ref group="note">"Sir Thomas More's first wife was instructed 'in learning and every kind of music'; his second wife, in middle age, was induced 'to learn to play apon the gittern, the lute, the clavichord and the recorders.'" {{cite book |last1=Stevens |first1=John |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Mos4AAAAIAAJ |title=Music & Poetry in the Early Tudor Court |date=1961 |publisher=CUP Archive |language=en}}, p 276</ref>