He says that that the sixteenth century is the century of the Common Man, like all other centuries. This refers to the fact that the “common man,” the people living out their daily unrecorded lives amid the great events of history and the machinations of politics are always there. The claim about the sixteenth century could also refer to the beginnings of independent thinking among humanist scholars which signaled the end of the old world order. Bolt’s final paragraph in his preface gets at what he was attempting to portray by including this character – “that which is common to us all” – but goes on to say that he was taken instead to be the commoner, The Man on the Street. Both make sense for the play and the different roles this character assumes. He is also a so-called “alienation device,” further explained in Bolt’s preface to refer to a dramatic strategy employed by Berthold Brecht. Here a character addresses the audience, drawing all of us into the moral dilemmas of the story.

 

The Common Man assumes a number of roles during the play, including More’s steward Matthew, the boatman, the innkeeper, the jailer, the jury foreman and the executioner. In most cases, he represents someone who is just “doing his job,” without necessarily considering the consequences or importance of his actions.

 

Thomas More (1478-1535)

 More was born in London , the son of Sir John More, a successful lawyer and judge in the king’s court bench. He distinguished himself as a scholar of Latin and logic at Oxford and then attended Lincoln’s Inn , one of the Inns of Court, where lawyers were educated. He became a barrister in 1501 and, to his father’s dismay, spent about four years in the London Charterhouse, and seriously considered abandoning his legal career to become a Franciscan monk. It is suggested that he did not think he could keep a vow of celibacy so he did not follow this plan, but he spent the rest of his life observing many ascetical practices, including wearing a hair shirt and engaging in self-flagellation.

 

In 1505, More married Jane Colt, 17 years old at the time. He supposedly had been in love with her younger sister, but married Jane to spare her the possible disgrace of having her younger sister marry first. He was interested in women being educated, but she was unresponsive at his attempts to teach her. She bore him four children – Margaret, John, Elizabeth and Cecily – and died in 1511 at the age of 22. Very soon after that he married Alice Middleton, a wealthy widow. Some write that he married her only to have someone to raise his children, and some say he came to love her. In the household were Alice ’s daughter by her previous marriage and two other adopted children. They lived in London until they moved to Chelsea in 1525

 

More’s views on women were complex. On the one hand, he felt strongly that they should be educated in the New Learning, but he also likely held the prevailing Christian notion that they were perpetrators of original sin and also that the purpose of any learning they acquired should be to bring credit to their fathers and husbands. It is well known that he had an especially close relationship with his oldest daughter Margaret, the only one of his children who appears in the play.

 

More was a central figure in the humanist movement and his London home was a meeting place for scholars, including Erasmus, Thomas Linacre, John Colet and others. He gained an international reputation as an articulate, clever and practical thinker – a key factor in his friendship with King Henry VIII.

 

More’s political career began when he was elected to Parliament in 1504, when Henry VII was still king. He held a number of important offices once Henry VIII became king, including Under Treasurer of the Exchequer, Speaker of the House of Commons, and Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster. In 1529, he was appointed Lord Chancellor, after the disgrace and demise of Cardinal Wolsey.

 

The law suited More’s temperament. He was a fine actor and orator and was able to see many sides of an argument. His belief and faith in the law was based on his sense of it as a model of divine authority. As one biographer puts it: “He knew that human justice was only the faintest reflection of divine law, but it became for him the principle and model of conduct upon the earth.”

 

More was also regarded as the perfect diplomat as well as a keenly inventive negotiator. He made a number of diplomatic missions to and other countries.

 

Some scholars raise the question of why More was chosen to be Lord Chancellor when he was already known to be in opposition to the King regarding his marriage annulment. To some extent, this was a credit to Henry, who valued More’s reputation as a diplomat and statesman and probably felt he could rely on his loyalty and good judgment. The other question is why More accepted the appointment, and this may be harder to answer. He did feel a great loyalty to his King and country and in many ways, being offered the post must have fulfilled a life’s ambition. But it did not sit well in that political climate, and he resigned in 1532, the day after the King demanded “submission of the clergy,” which called for royal consent to ecclesiastical law, severely compromising the autonomy of the church. This was the beginning of his downfall. In 1534 he was arrested and placed in the Tower of London for refusing to take the Oath of Supremacy and was condemned to be executed in 1535 based on the perfidious evidence of Sir Richard Rich.

 

More was a prolific writer. His first works were Latin epigrams and poems written according to the popular conventions of the time. He also translated into Latin three stories by 1^st century Greek writer Lucian, among other things. He wrote a number of other works, his most famous being Utopia (1516). This is his description of the ideal state, in which there is religious toleration, humane laws, no poverty and crime, no distinction between town and country; no money; no blood sports or gambling. This state had achieved the end of war, where the wealthy helped poor, and everyone had a broad view of the universe. In this work More depicted the ideal Tudor gentleman and courtier, but in many ways was deeply critical of the political system of monarchy and the nobles of the court.

 

More’s views on religion were enormously complex. He was indeed a devout Catholic and was violently opposed to Lutheranism, which to him represented anarchy. While he was Lord Chancellor, he was a vigorous persecutor of heretics – the least honorable part of his legacy. In 1528, he wrote Dialogue Concerning Heresies, the purpose and theme of which was to celebrate the common culture which was felt to be under threat. He appealed to his audience to consider the way of life to be lost if Christendom fell into schism. But his most scathing piece of writing was his response to Luther’s attack on the King’s book about the seven sacraments. It is full of rage and scatological symbols of fear and disorder.

 

For More, the Catholic Church was the visible embodiment of God’s law, with its own immutable hierarchy and imposing places of worship. This was a proven tradition of faith reaching back for 1500 years, with the authority of the apostles and church fathers who had been guided by the Holy Spirit. The teachings of this faith were made manifest by papal decree.

 

More’s issue is essentially that of authority, even more than faith. He embodied the old order of hierarchy and authority at the very moment when it began to collapse all around him, and it is for this that he died.

 

In the play he is portrayed as highly principled man whose actions and words are dictated by his own strong moral compass. In reality, More’s legacy is mixed, especially in regard to his treatment of heretics (Lutherans) and maybe also his wife. Bolt does present some of that ambiguity in the drama, which gives the character more dimension and subtlety than a mere saint would project.

 Rich was born in London ; his great-grandfather was a wealthy textile merchant and sheriff of the city. He met Thomas More while at the Middle Temple , one of the Inns of Court, where he became quite a skillful lawyer himself. He and More were in the same parish and their families were closely associated. Soon after his studies, Rich received a number of political appointments, and was knighted in 1533, when he came under the supervision of Cromwell. Because Rich and More were both lawyers, that professional connection played a significant part in their conversation in the cell of the Tower.

 

Rich proceeded to have a long career in which he would do all that was required of him by the authorities at every turn in royal policy. He provided Cromwell what he needed against More in 1535; he and an associate gave evidence against Cromwell when Cromwell was executed in 1540; and he provided evidence against this same associate when his associate fell. He actually became Lord Chancellor in 1547, the year of Henry’s death. He persecuted Catholics under Edward VI, Protestants under Mary; and Catholics again under Elizabeth I. He died a respected Justice of the Peace and landowner in Essex .

 

More than anyone else in the play, Rich represents the willingness to sacrifice personal integrity for wealth and status. His progress through the drama is to corruption and the suppression of his conscience.

 Norfolk ’s father had been the Lord Treasurer under both Henrys. The family was quite prominent, including the fact that Anne Boleyn was his niece. (Another niece, Catherine Howard, was Henry VIII’s fifth wife.) He was a skillful general who distinguished himself in battle – not one of the scholars in More’s circle. When More was chosen as Lord Chancellor, Norfolk was Lord High Treasurer and Earl Marshall. He was one of those who presided at More’s trial, and in the accounts seems to have been a serious adversary.

 

It is unclear from biographies of More whether Norfolk was really a good friend, and, indeed, it is unclear why he would appear to have such a jovial relationship with Alice More. It may be that he sympathized with her not being interested in book learning, as he himself was likely not.

 

It is the case that he did know some Latin, as all Tudor gentlemen must have done, as there is a famous quote attributed to him. He is said to have warned More: Indignation principis mors est (the anger of a prince is death).

Alice was eight years More’s senior, already 40 to his 32 when they married. She is said to have been a plain-spoken and somewhat imperious woman who played musical instruments and enjoyed a theological argument. She was actually able to read. She was forceful, witty, practical and efficient. Although there are many stories about how More made fun of her looks and talkative nature (speaking in Latin, which she did not understand), in the company of his friends, there are as many stories that they made each other laugh and that, in some ways, he was in awe of her. And it is important to note that she remained faithful to More until the bitter end, suffering the consequences of that alliance.

 Margaret More Roper (1504/5-1544)

 

Margaret was More’s oldest and best-loved child. She became a renowned Latin scholar in her own right, her father being responsible for her strong humanist education. When More was confined to the Tower, they exchanged many letters – indeed most of his correspondence went to her rather than to his wife, Alice. She was even imprisoned herself for a short time because she planned to have her father’s works published. She married William Roper in 1521.

 

There is also the grim story of how she retrieved her father’s head from the pike upon which it was impaled after his execution and kept it hidden until her own death in 1544. Unfortunately she did not live to see the day when her father was once more respected.

 Wolsey was the son of an Ipswich grazier (one who cares for cattle) and wool merchant – not a butcher, as some sources (and the play) state. He was an outstanding scholar who was ordained a priest in 1498. He became personal chaplain to the Archbishop of Canterbury at the time and then to Henry VII. Henry VII distrusted the nobility and tended to give positions to those of humble birth. Henry VIII recognized Wolsey’s worth and gave him various secular appointments. He also had a number of church posts, including Bishop of Lincoln and Archbishop of York. In 1515, Pope Leo X made him a Cardinal, and in that same year, Henry made him Lord Chancellor. 

Wolsey is not well regarded historically because of his corrupt ambition. It is said he wanted to be pope, but this claim is unsubstantiated. He represents the epitome of clerical misconduct at the time of the Protestant Reformation. He did not try to reform the church from within, but rather participated in all that was fraudulent – absenteeism, simony, lust, and displays of wealth. It seems clear that he used his position for his own ends.

Cromwell made an easy friendship with the Boleyns, who recognized his power and with whom they shared religious views. He hung on after Anne herself was executed, through another wife and then lost favor over the matter of the fourth wife, Anne of Cleves. He was executed under trumped up charges of religious heresy. Henry despaired of his loss.

After he left in 1545, he lived in Holland where he founded a grammar school.

 Both of Roper’s parents belonged to distinguished legal families. He was educated at one of the universities and obtained a legal post in his father’s office. At the age of twenty-three he was taken into the More household and married Margaret More in 1521. At one point he became enamored of Lutheranism, a very sore point for More. He professed his heresy so openly that he was even summoned before Wolsey. He returned to Catholicism more ardently than before.

 

Roper is actually best known for the affectionate and reverent biography of his father-in-law, which was not published until 1626. It is the chief source for subsequent works about More.

 There are countless biographies and histories about Henry. The following points are significant to the time and themes of the play.

Henry appears in only one scene in the play, but his presence is keenly felt throughout. It is his obsession that drives the drama and creates the moral polarization.

Cranmer had spent some time in (where he picked up another wife) and became interested in Lutheranism. After the demise of Anne Boleyn, he was able to retain the King’s good favor and to push through some ecclesiastical reforms which led to the formal creation of the Church of England. He was said to be a simple, charitable man with a high regard for the truth, a reformist who was loyal to the king.