The Children's Book of LondonMitton, G. E. (Geraldine Edith)
History
The Children's Book of London
Mitton, G. E. (Geraldine Edith)
London (England) -- Description and travel -- Juvenile literature
More built a chapel on to Chelsea old church--a chapel which is there
now, and you may see it--and in it there is a large monument to his
memory. Of his great house and garden all is gone except a bit of
red-brick wall, which is said to have been the wall of the garden.
Now, just about this time Henry had grown tired of his wife, Catherine
of Arragon, and wanted to marry Anne Boleyn, so he thought he would
divorce Catherine. But even a king can't get rid of his wives whenever
he likes; so he asked all his lords and nobles to say that he was quite
right, and that Catherine ought to be divorced, and that he ought never
to have married her, because long years before she had been married to
his brother, who had died. A great many of the nobles would have said
anything Henry wanted, but More was braver than that; he said plainly
that it would not be right for Henry to do this thing. So the King was
very angry, and More found it impossible to continue to be Lord
Chancellor; so he gave up his office, even though it meant that he would
have to change all his way of living and be a poor man again. Lady More
used to go to service in Chelsea church, and More sat in another part of
the same church, and on Sundays she used to wait to hear that her
husband was outside before she got up to go, and in order to let her
know this a footman used to come and open the pew-door for her, and say:
'Madam, the Chancellor has gone.'
There is a story told that on the Sunday after More had given up being
Chancellor he had not spoken to his wife about it, for he knew she would
be very angry, and he always loved a joke; so he himself walked up the
aisle and held open the pew-door, and said: 'Madam, the Chancellor has
gone.' At first Lady More could not understand him, but when she did,
and knew that he was no longer Chancellor, she was very angry indeed.
Now, More said they must send away some of their servants and live very
plainly, and Margaret and her husband went into a little house near; and
so badly off were the Mores that they could not afford fires, and when
the weather grew colder, More and his wife and children used to gather
together in one room and burn a great bundle of fern just to make a big
blaze and send them warm to bed. But through it all More was quite
happy. He had never wanted to be a great man: he preferred to live
simply with those he loved; but he was not long to be allowed to do even
that.
Henry devised a plan by which he could put More in prison. He drew up a
long paper saying that the King was the head of the Church, and that
whatever he did was right, and that if he chose to divorce his wife he
could do it, because the power was in his own hands; and then he
summoned all the bishops and More to sign this.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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