Thomas More
Thomas MoreG.D. Ramsay. “A Saint in the City: Thomas More at Mercers’ Hall”, English Historical Review. April, 1982. 267-288.
Lawyer. Negotiator. Legislator. Humanist. Scholar. Sir Thomas More served the English people in each one of these capacities. More’s intellectual skill, when combined with his sharp personality, made him England’s most versatile public servant in the early sixteenth century. More was one of the most successful men in English history, as his efforts for various causes propelled him to the forefront of English society. The article, “A Saint in the City: Thomas More at Mercers’ Hall,” tells the story of More’s rise to power and his role in England’s trade policy.
Born the son of a lawyer in 1478, More was schooled at St. Anthony’s and then worked as a servant for Cardinal Morton, archbishop of Canterbury. Morton subsequently sent More to study at Canterbury College. After a short stay at the school, More returned to London, becoming a member of Lincoln’s Inn. This was the beginning of More’s great legal career. In 1504, More began his service in Parliament, which sat at Westminster. From the beginning, More’s talents were recognized by the leaders of the country: King Henry VII and his minister, Edmund Dudley. In 1509, More was admitted membership into the privileged Mercers’ Company. More was returned to a new parliament in 1510 and was elevated to the position of burgess of the city. In September of the same year, More took the position of under-sheriff, continuing to follow in the legal footsteps of his famed father. This position entailed appearing in the royal lawcourts for the city when it was engaged in litigation and sitting as judge in the Sheriffs’ Court.
While these various positions add to More’s genius, it was his work for the Mercers that brought him his greatest fame. The Mercers were comprised mainly from two groups of the cloth industry: the Merchant Adventurers, shippers of cloth to the Netherlands, and the Staplers. Conflict between those two groups first developed in 1493, when a fallout between Henry VII and the house of Burgundy caused the Englishmen who sold cloths in the Netherlands to relocate to the safety of Calais. Friction between the two companies endured until it came to a peak in 1512. That year, each company was summoned to speak its case before the king’s council in the Star Chamber. The council allowed eight representatives from both the Merchant Adventurers and the Staplers to speak. The list of speakers for the Merchant Adventurers included the governor of their fellowship, two other Mercers, a haberdasher, a skinner, a draper, a grocer, and a taylor. The list of speakers for the Staplers included seven wool merchants and Thomas More. It was clear throughout the meetings that More was...
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