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           Source Book Study Questions

Trial and Execution: The "Paris Newsletter's" Account (SB, pp. 352-55)

(For another account of More's trial, click here.)

1.  In your opinion, what was the most important part of More's trial?  Why?

2. How does More respond to the charge that his silence on the King's Supremacy was malicious?

3. How does More respond to the charge that he conspired against the Statute in his letters with Bishop John Fisher?

4. Why did More conditionally compare the Statute to a two-edged sword?

5. On p. 354, More finally breaks his silence on the Act of Supremacy. What exactly is the judgment of More's conscience?

6. How does More respond to the Chancellor's claim that More is presuming that he is wiser than  all the bishops and nobles of the realm?

7. After he discharges his conscience, what is More's final act before his accusers?

8. How does More approach his execution?

9. Essay or project question: Compare Thomas More's trial and death with Socrates' trial and sentencing in Plato's Apology. Why exactly are More and Socrates put to death? What similarities and differences do you see in the lives and deaths of the Greek philosopher and the English statesman?