Sir Thomas More or Saint Thomas More (7 February 1478 – 6 July
1535), was an English writer, lawyer, and statesman. He held
many important jobs including Speaker of the House of Commons,
Lord Chancellor and advisor to the King Henry VIII. He also
invented the word "utopia", which means: "an ideal place to
live". This is described in a book called Utopia. When King
Henry left the Roman Catholic Church because the Pope would not
give him a divorce from his first wife, he started The Church of
England. More was a devout Catholic, so he did not accept the
King as head of the Church. Because of this, he was arrested and
executed for treason. He was thought of as a martyr and made a
saint by the Roman Catholic Church in 1935. His feast day is on
22 June and he is the patron of lawyers and politicians. A play
and movie called A Man For All Seasons is based on his life.