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The Controversial Thomas More offers an original and critical intervention on the writings of Thomas More and his opposition to King Henry VIII.
Thomas More is known for refusing the oath of succession and remaining silent about his reasons for doing so. His prison literature, however, tells a different story. Under the threat of execution, More waged an astonishingly prolific and often coded writing campaign in rebuke of King Henry VIII’s claim to be supreme head of the Church in England. Travis Curtright’s groundbreaking book shows how William Rastell, More’s nephew and printer, fashioned a historically inaccurate depiction of More, one that persists to this day. Rastell’s edition of More’s works gave the false impression that More stopped writing polemical literature in 1533 and, instead, turned his mind exclusively toward heaven and away from politics. In contrast, Curtright proves that More’s prison writings are not just devotional literature but also a powerful defense of a united Church under the pope, reestablishing More as a key political and religious thinker, defiant of King Henry VIII.
Most scholars restrict More’s political thought to his Utopia, but The Controversial Thomas More shows how his prison writings best reveal his ideas of political unity and authority, and is a reconsideration of More’s legacy and place in the history of the Henrician Reformation.
“Anyone who wants to know what the ‘man for all seasons’ was really thinking and writing about over the fifteen months of his imprisonment in the Tower of London should read this book.” —Stephen W. Smith, co-editor of The Essential Works of Thomas More
“Curtright shows that More’s prison writings are not, as widely thought, meditations of a saint resigned to death, but the continuation of a complex literary project aiming to restore the unity of Christendom. Must reading for More scholars and a civic challenge to all More’s admirers.” —James R. Stoner, author of Common-Law and Liberal Theory
"In each of the works that Curtright considers, he makes a compelling case that, far from leading a retired contemplative existence in the Tower of London, Thomas More continued to exercise his rhetorical abilities in defense of his religious and political convictions. . . . Thomas More’s sainthood rests on not his detachment from the world but rather his achievement of excellence through robust engagement as a layman in the world, both in family and political life." —Modern Age
"Curtright rejects the common view that More’s life as a writer proceeded through distinct phases of the humanistic, polemical, and devotional. Curtright’s More was a lifelong Catholic polemicist who simply varied his rhetorical strategies according to the requirements of the moment." —Review of Politics
"Curtright is at pains to demonstrate that 'humanist More' and 'controversial More' and 'devotional More' were one and the same man. . . . The Controversial Thomas More demonstrates beyond a shadow of a doubt" that devotional More was still controversial More. In risking his life to point his fellow citizens in a nobler direction, 'More remained at one with himself throughout the changing seasons.'" —L. Joseph Hebert, Pietas
"Curtright's attention to the original contexts opens new horizons of interpretation for four of More's major texts. . . . The implications of this study offer us a more interesting Thomas More than that of the popular view. . . . Curtright has shown that, confronted with tyranny, More was not silent. More spoke—in as many words as he could." —Veronica Brooks, Pietas
"Travis Curtright has written an extraordinary book about Saint Thomas More. . . . Highly recommended." —Supremacy and Survival
"This is a deep and engaging dive into Thomas More's writings and thoughts. I came out of it with more admiration and understanding for More than I started with." —History Matters
Travis Curtright is professor of humanities and literature at Ave Maria University. He is the author or editor of four previous books, including The One Thomas More, and is the editor-in-chief of Moreana: Thomas More and Renaissance Studies.
Acknowledgements
Abbreviations
Author’s Note
Introduction. Speaking Out or Keeping Quiet?
1. The Creation of More’s Tower Works
2. A Treatise upon the Passion Reconsidered, 1534
3. The (auto)biographical More and A Dialogue of Comfort against Tribulation, 1534-1535
4. A Letter from Prison to Alice Alington, 1534
5. The True Martyr in De tristitia Christi, c. 1535
Conclusion. The Case of Malicious or Merry More
Appendix: Key Dates
Bibliography