Discuss the Factors Which Led to the Execution of Thomas More. Critically Evaluate His Role as a Lawyer and Royal Adviser and His Contribution to Public Life in 16th Century England.

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LW 102 LEGAL HISTORY ESSAY 2. Discuss the factors which led to the execution of Thomas More. Critically evaluate his role as a lawyer and royal adviser and his contribution to public life in 16th Century England. Introduction: An investigation into the life and death of Thomas More for a first year law student is certainly a very interesting but also an extremely challenging one. On one hand, we find a revolutionary, an ambitious man of great power and skill, labelled “the greatest historical character in English history”. On the other, we find a regular human being, a man of the faith, a friend of many, and someone with an immense passion for study and knowledge. So we find ourselves in somewhat of a predicament. Who was Thomas More? If he really was a great lawyer does that not contradict the values of his faith? Surely his historical context placed a far greater emphasis on the adherence of religion than that of our society. And it would seem the author of Utopia is a far different man to the later religious controversialist. It seems there is a lack of consistency leading up to the ‘martyrdom’ of Thomas More, a man so successful yet at the same time a man of inner crisis and a life unfinished. There is certainly a large cloud of controversy surrounding much of More’s life, work and death and such is the subject of this essay. Role as a lawyer and royal adviser: Thomas More was not always destined for a career in the legal profession as recorded by Erasmus in one of the first biographical accounts; “More pondered a religious vocation but burned to marry and so decided to become a good husband rather than a bad priest”. It is thought perhaps More saw a greater opportunity to serve others and God through the legal profession then through a life of solitude and devotion. It was also a better life, with good pay and the ability to have a family. His

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