Thomas More

== Historic sites ==
=== Westminster Hall ===
A plaque in the middle of the floor of London's [[Westminster Hall]] commemorates More's trial for treason and condemnation to execution in that original part of the [[Palace of Westminster]].<ref>{{cite book |title=Thomas More : the saint and the society; addresses and articles on St Thomas More further published to commemorate the Golden Jubilee of the foundation of the St Thomas More Society on 14th August 1945 |date=1995 |publisher=St Thomas More Society |location=Sydney |isbn=978-0-646-26104-1 |page=110}}</ref> The building, which houses Parliament, would have been well known to More, who served several terms as a member and became Speaker of the House of Commons before his appointment as England's Lord Chancellor.

===Beaufort House===
{{main article|Beaufort House (Chelsea)}}
[[File:Beaufort House, Chelsea from the series Britannia Illustrata 2020.163.jpg|thumb|Beaufort House {{Circa|1707}}]]

As More's royal duties frequently required his attendance at the king's [[River Thames|Thames-side]] palaces in both [[Richmond Palace|Richmond]] and [[Palace of Placentia|Greenwich]], it was convenient to select a riverside property situated between them (the common method of transport being by boat) for his home. In about 1520 he purchased a parcel of land comprising "undisturbed wood and pasture", stretching from the Thames in [[Chelsea, London|Chelsea]] to the present-day [[King's Road]]. There he caused to be built a dignified red-brick mansion (known simply as More's house or Chelsea House) in which he lived until his arrest in 1534.  In the bawdy poem ''The Twelve Mery Jestes of Wyddow Edyth'', written in 1525 by a member of More's household (or even by More himself) using the pseudonym of "Walter Smith", the widow arrives by boat at "Chelsay…where she had best cheare of all/in the house of Syr Thomas More."<ref>Ackroyd (1999) p. 244. Bibliographer [[William Carew Hazlitt]] in his ''Shakespeare Jest Book'' Volume III ({{OCLC| 690506548}}) assigns publication of the work to More's brother-in-law [[John Rastell]], with a date of 23 March 1525.</ref>

Upon More's arrest the estate was confiscated, coming into the possession of the [[Comptroller of the Household|Comptroller of the Royal Household]], [[William Paulet, 1st Marquess of Winchester|William Paulet]].

In 1682, the property was renamed ''Beaufort House'' after [[Henry Somerset, 1st Duke of Beaufort|1st Duke of Beaufort]], a new owner.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Beaver |first1=Alfred |title=Memorials of Old Chelsea |date=1892 |publisher=[[Elliot Stock]]|location=London |oclc=499072940 |pages=118–138|quote=In…1682…Chelsey…was sold to…the first Duke of Beaufort…and henceforth bore [the] name.}}</ref>

===Crosby Hall ===
{{Main|Crosby Hall, London#Tudor period}}
[[File:Crosby Hall.jpg|thumb|right|Crosby Hall on its Bishopsgate site, {{circa|1885}}]]
In June 1523 More bought the "very large and beautiful" [[Crosby Hall, London|Crosby Place]] (Crosby Hall) in [[Bishopsgate]], London, but this was not a simple transaction: eight months later he sold the property (never having lived there) at a considerable profit to his friend and business partner [[Antonio Bonvisi]] who, in turn, leased it back to More's son-in-law William Roper and nephew [[William Rastell]]; possibly this was an agreed means of dealing with a debt between More and Bonvisi. Because of this the Crown did not confiscate the property after More's execution.<ref>Ackroyd (1999) pp. 234–5</ref><ref name= Weinreb>{{cite book |last1=Weinreb |first1=Ben |last2=Hibbert |first2=Christopher |author1-link=Ben Weinreb |author2-link=Christopher Hibbert |title=[[The London Encyclopædia]] |date=1983 |publisher=Macmillan |location=London |isbn=0-333-57688-8 |pages=219–220 |edition=1993 |chapter=Crosby Hall}}</ref><ref group=note>{{cite book |last1=Norman |first1=Philip |last2=Caroe |first2=W. D. |author1-link=Philip Norman (artist) |author2-link=W. D. Caröe |title=Survey of London Monograph 9, Crosby Place |date=1908 |publisher= Committee for the Survey of the Memorials of Greater London|oclc= 644450239 |location=London |pages=15–32 |url=https://www.british-history.ac.uk/survey-london/bk9/pp15-32|quote=From the[…] indentures between More and the executors of Sir John Rest[…]More paid to the said executors…£150, and the date was June 1st, 1523.}}</ref>

=== Chelsea Old Church ===
{{Main|Chelsea Old Church#16th century and Sir Thomas More}}
[[File:Chelsea Old Church 14.JPG|thumb|Statue of Thomas More outside [[Chelsea Old Church]] in west London]]
Across a small park and Old Church Street from Crosby Hall is [[Chelsea Old Church]], an Anglican church whose southern chapel More commissioned and in which he sang with the parish choir. Except for his chapel, the church was largely destroyed in the Second World War and rebuilt in 1958.<ref name =RBKC>{{cite web |title=Thomas More Comes to Chelsea |url=https://www.rbkc.gov.uk/vmhistory/general/vm_hs_p02.asp |website=www.rbkc.gov.uk |publisher=[[Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea]] |access-date=19 January 2021 |archive-date=21 June 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210621225239/https://www.rbkc.gov.uk/vmhistory/general/vm_hs_p02.asp |url-status=dead }}</ref> The capitals on the medieval arch connecting the chapel to the main sanctuary display symbols associated with More and his office. On the southern wall of the sanctuary is the tomb and epitaph he erected for himself and his wives, detailing his ancestry and accomplishments in Latin, including his role as peacemaker between the various Christian European states as well as a curiously altered portion about his curbing heresy. When More served Mass, he would leave by the door just to the left of it. He is not, however, buried here, nor is it entirely certain which of his family may be. It is open to the public at specific times. Outside the church, facing the [[River Thames]], is a statue by British Sculptor, [[Leslie Cubitt Bevis]] erected in 1969, commemorating More as "saint", "scholar", and "statesman"; the back displays his coat-of-arms. Nearby, on Upper Cheyne Row, the Roman Catholic Church of Our Most Holy Redeemer & St. Thomas More honours the martyr.

=== Tower Hill ===
A plaque and small garden commemorate the famed execution site on [[Tower Hill]], London, just outside the [[Tower of London]], as well as all those executed there, many as religious martyrs or as prisoners of conscience.<ref>{{cite book |editor1-last=Eagle |editor1-first=Dorothy|display-editors=et al|title=The Oxford guide to literary Britain & Ireland. |date=2008 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford [England] |isbn=978-0-19-861460-9 |page=115 |edition=3rd}}</ref> More's corpse, minus his head, was unceremoniously buried in an unmarked mass grave beneath the [[Church of St Peter ad Vincula|Royal Chapel of St. Peter Ad Vincula]], within the walls of the [[Tower of London]], as was the custom for traitors executed at Tower Hill. The chapel is accessible to Tower visitors.

=== St Katharine Docks ===
Thomas More is commemorated by a stone [[Commemorative plaque|plaque]] near [[St Katharine Docks]], just east of the Tower where he was executed. The street in which it is situated was formerly called Nightingale Lane, a corruption of "Knighten Guild", derived from the original owners of the land. It is now renamed Thomas More Street in his honour.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.exploringeastlondon.co.uk/eel/Stkatharines/Stkatharines.htm#More|title=St Katharine's Dock|publisher=Exploring East London|access-date=4 November 2015}}</ref>

=== St Dunstan's Church and Roper House, Canterbury ===
[[St. Dunstan's, Canterbury|St Dunstan's Church]], an Anglican parish church in Canterbury, possesses More's head, rescued by his daughter [[Margaret Roper]], whose family lived in Canterbury down and across the street from their parish church. A stone immediately to the left of the altar marks the sealed Roper family vault beneath the Nicholas Chapel, itself to the right of the church's sanctuary or main altar. [[St. Dunstan's, Canterbury|St Dunstan's Church]] has carefully investigated, preserved and sealed this burial vault. The last archaeological investigation revealed that the suspected head of More rests in a niche separate from the other bodies, possibly from later interference.<ref>{{cite book|last=Schulte Herbrüggen|first=Hubertus|title=Das Haupt des Thomas Morus in der St. Dunstan-Kirche zu Canterbury|series=Forschungsberichte des Landes Nordrhein-Westfalen|year=1982|publisher=VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften}}</ref> Displays in the chapel record the archaeological findings in pictures and narratives. Roman Catholics donated stained glass to commemorate the events in More's life. A small plaque marks the former home of William and Margaret Roper; another house nearby and entitled Roper House is now a home for deaf people.