1535 Thomas More

Sir Thomas More (1478 – 1535), known to Roman Catholics as Saint Thomas More, was an important councillor to Henry VIII and Lord Chancellor from 1529 to 1532. More opposed the Protestant Reformation, in particular the theology of Martin Luther and William Tyndale. More also wrote Utopia (1516), about the political system of an ideal and imaginary island nation. More later opposed the King's separation from the Catholic Churchand refused to accept him as Supreme Head of the Church of England. Tried for treason, More was convicted on perjured testimony and beheaded. Pope John Paul II in 2000 declared More the "heavenly Patron of Statesmen and Politicians". Since 1980, the Church of England has remembered More liturgically as a Reformation martyr. In 2002, he was placed at number 37 in the BBC's poll of the 100 Greatest Britons.