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his interest in Greek studies and he read all the Greek books that he could. When he was about twenty, he toyed with the idea of becoming a monk, fasting every Friday, sleeping on the ground with only a log as pillow. But he soon bored of that and then befriended Erasmus, then an "prince of learning" and More renewed his learning of Greek. He began to translate Greek publications in English. He also continued his career as a barrister and was elected to Parliament in 1504. In 1515, Thomas More published Utopia, in which he theorized about the perfect world. In Utopia, More foresaw cities of 100,000 inhabitants as being ideal. In his Utopia, there was no money, just a monthly market where citizens bartered for what they needed. Persons engaged to each other were allowed to see each other naked before marriage so that they would know if the other was "deformed". Six years before Utopia was published, Henry the 7th died and he was replaced by son, Henry the 8th. King Henry took a liking to Thomas More although More did not reciprocate. The King was known to put his arm around More. "This growing favour, by which many men would have been carried away," writes the Encyclopedia Britannica "did not impose upon More. He discouraged the king's advances, showed reluctance to go to the palace and seemed constrained when he was there. Then the King began to come to More's house and would dine with him without previous notice." Privately, More did not like Henry the 8th and told his oldest son-in-law that "if my head would win him a castle in France, it should not fail to go." More was right. Henry the 8th failed miserably as King. He divorced his first wife (and his brother's widow), Catherine of Aragon, the daughter of the King of Spain and married Anne Boleyn, without the blessing of the Pope. More was a devout Catholic and believed deeply in the supremacy of the Pope and the impropriety of this marriage. It would be his downfall. Henry promoted More until More became Lord Chancellor. As such he was master of equity law and of the Court of Chancery, the most powerful judicial office in the land. But, in 1532, when he saw that King Henry was determined to marry Anne Boleyn and that divorce was in the air, rather than stay in the King's cabinet, he claimed ill health and was allowed to retire from the bench.

That's when things started to deteriorate for him. The King invited him to the marriage with Boleyn and More declined to attend. His refusal was a kiss of death. Once it became public knowledge, all the king's brown-nosers kicked into high gear. He was summoned to the court to answer an obscure charge of accepting a bribe while Lord Chancellor. When his daughter brought him news that the charge was dismissed, he said "quod differtur, non aufertur" or "that which is postponed is not dropped." Sir Thomas More was a marked man. In 1534, Henry enacted a law which declared him supreme ruler of the world, bar none, including the Pope. All citizens were to accept this by oath. More said thanks, but no thanks. Henry threw him into the Tower of London where for a whole year he was locked up, denied pen, paper or books. His wife and children visited and begged him to submit to the oath but More refused on principle. More was questioned several times by friends of the king but he was always careful never to say anything against the King personally; just that he could not stomach the oath required by the Act of Supremacy. It was on
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