A Man for All Seasons: The Story of Thomas More and Henry VIII

18. Robert Bolt, A Man for All Seasons (1960) --

This is a fragment of the play "A Man for All Seasons", written by Robert Bolt in 1960. It deals with events from the 16th century, specifically it talks about Thomas More. Bolt was a socialist and agnostic playwright who considered More a hero because he was a man of conscience, who defended his principles under every circumstance; that is what the title of the book means. When the scene happens, Henry VIII, of the House of Tudor, is the king of England. He ruled England from 1509 to 1547. He made a very controversial move by marrying Princess Catherine of Aragon, the widow of his brother Arthur, despite the disapproval of the Church, since the Bible prohibits a marriage in those conditions. Initially, Catherine and Henry had a happy marriage, they were both devout Christians. Henry VIII earned the title of "Defender of the Faith" by writing the book "The Defence of the Seven Sacraments", because a new religious stream, Lutheranism, had appeared in Europe and was threatening the Catholic doctrine. Catherine only bore Henry a daughter, so he, craving for a male heir, sought an annulment from the Pope based on the fact that Catherine had once been married to his brother. The Pope did not grant the annulment because he did not want to displease the Catholic Kings of Spain; so, through the Act of Supremacy in 1534, Henry separated from Catholicism and declared the creation of the Church of England, the head of which was the King. This only responded to political interests, since Henry did not want to subject to the Pope's authority (on line 30 of the text, we see the doubts of Cranmer, was named Archbishop of Canterbury by Henry VIII, when he mentions the Pope, because his figure is not recognised by the Anglicans: "the-er-"Pope""). However, this would result in the organisation of a new doctrine, due to the influence of Protestantism. With his new authority, Henry VIII divorced Catherine of Aragon and married Anne Boleyn, a woman he had been courting for years.

Henry VIII's attitude found opposition among the English. An example is the Pilgrimage of Grace, made by a group of rebels who were against the socio-economic consequences of the Reformation, such as the dissolution of monasteries; they were executed. Another example is Thomas More, who this text is about. He was a close friend of the king, a knight and a member of the private Council.