Henry VIII and his mistress Anne Boleyn were disappointed once again in their hopes of catching Thomas More with his fingers in the till.
After the breakdown of Henry VIII’s marriage to Catherine of Aragon, the King and his new love Anne Boleyn explored every avenue to the removal of Henry’s Chancellor Thomas More, who was the country’s chief judge and Catherine’s most outspoken champion. William Roper tells us that they hoped to catch him out in accepting some bribe, however small, but were never able to do so.
On July 5th, 1535, the night before he was to be executed by order of King Henry VIII, it seemed that Sir Thomas More was the only man in the Tower of London who was happy.
So highly did Henry VIII regard Sir Thomas More (1477-1535) that he made him Chancellor in 1529, even though More took Catherine of Aragon’s part in the divorce saga. Three years later the opening moves in the Protestant Reformation drove More to resign, and in 1534 he was confined to the Tower, awaiting execution. There on July 5th, 1535, Sir Thomas Pope paid him a farewell visit.