Thomas More

Thomas More (1478–1535) was an English lawyer, humanist and statesman, the friend of Erasmus and the author of Utopia, published in Latin in 1516, which describes an imaginary island commonwealth and gave the word to every European language. He rose in the service of Henry VIII to become Lord Chancellor in 1529, resigned three years later over the king's break with Rome, and refused to swear the oath acknowledging Henry as head of the English church. He was tried for treason and beheaded in 1535, reportedly moving his beard aside on the block because it at least had committed no offense. The Catholic Church canonized him in 1935.