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6 July 1535Reputable source · 2 sourcesWell documented

Thomas More Is Executed for Refusing the Oath

Henry's own former chancellor will not swear away papal authority

On the timeline · around 6 July 1535 · Reformations MultiplyReformations MultiplyCounter-Reformation and Religious WarThomas More Is Executed for Refusing the Oath1535154015451550

Quick facts

Former role
Lord Chancellor of England, 1529 to 1532
Charge
Treason, for denying royal supremacy
Execution
Tower Hill, 6 July 1535

What happened

Thomas More, who had served Henry VIII as Lord Chancellor from 1529 to 1532, refused in April 1534 to swear the Oath of Succession because its preamble renounced papal authority and affirmed the king's royal supremacy over the Church. Imprisoned in the Tower of London, More was interrogated repeatedly but remained silent on the substance of his objection, hoping his silence could not legally be construed as treason. He was tried anyway, convicted largely on the testimony of Richard Rich, who claimed More had denied the king's supremacy in a private conversation. Sentenced to be hanged, drawn, and quartered, More had the sentence commuted by Henry to beheading, carried out at Tower Hill on 6 July 1535.

Why it matters

More's execution demonstrated that the Act of Supremacy was not a symbolic formality; the Crown was willing to kill even a former chief minister and internationally respected humanist scholar to enforce it. His death became one of the most visible instances of the English Reformation's cost among Catholics who refused to comply, and the Catholic Church later canonized him as a martyr.

How we know

Trial records, More's own letters from the Tower, and contemporary accounts of his execution survive; the World History Encyclopedia's timeline entry documents the sequence from the Oath of Succession to his execution at Tower Hill.

Sources

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Thomas More Is Executed for Refusing the Oath · The Protestant Reformation · SourcedStory