The Life of Thomas More (28 page)

In a letter to his children’s tutor, some years later, More remarked that erudition in women was a new development,
³¹
but that there was no reason why women should not acquire learning as well as men. We will find proof of this in the life of his eldest daughter: Margaret translated Erasmus and Eusebius, was complimented for her emendation of a corrupt passage in St Cyprian, composed in both Latin and Greek, wrote a treatise on ‘The Four Last Things’ and an oration after Quintilian. She was undoubtedly the most learned woman of her day, at least in England, and once engaged in a philosophical disputation before the king. When More’s household is being portrayed, therefore, it must be seen as the setting for what he called
‘mea schola’.
³²
This was almost a school in a literal sense and, in subsequent years, there were between eleven and thirteen wards or grandchildren attending it.

It had been established around the time of his second marriage, when Margaret was six years old. More was responsible for the curriculum and there is one indication of his early method; he made use of the fact that children enjoyed archery, and had the letters of the Latin and Greek alphabets put up in place of the standard target. His young family would learn them by shooting at them. He might have taken advice from Erasmus when instituting this game, since the Dutchman wrote frequently of the need to educate children from the earliest possible age by combining instruction with pleasure. In that sense it might be said
that More was the first Englishman to employ humanist methods of learning. The studies were equally innovative, at least for young girls, and over subsequent years they included logic, geometry, astronomy and philosophy as well as Latin and Greek. One daughter would be asked to translate a Latin epistle written by her father into English, while another would then turn it once again into Latin. The young family were also taught to memorise and interpret the sermons that they heard, whether they were delivered in Latin or in English. Indeed More was as concerned with the vernacular as with the classical tongues; two of his children eventually translated Latin works into English, while Margaret completed an original composition in her native language. She was, as one contemporary put it, ‘erudite and elegant in eyther tong’.
³³
Music was not neglected, of course, in a household where husband and wife were accustomed to practise the lute together; it can be assumed that Alice More played some part in that training, and her role in the school should not be underestimated. Erasmus describes her as the director or overseer of the
‘collegium’
,
³⁴
who kept everyone at their studies; she may not have been learned, but she was pragmatic and sensible. She also maintained the children in good health, at a time when mortality rates were high, and in a letter to a subsequent tutor More praised her maternal tenderness
³⁵
in the training of her adopted children.

He had other assistance, too. Erasmus wrote brief commentaries on the
Nux
of Ovid for the school and played a formative enough role to be described by Margaret as her
‘praeceptor’
or tutor. This may have been an honorific title, although his work with John Colet on the curriculum of St Paul’s school has already suggested the extent of his interest in early education. Cuthbert Tunstall’s
On the Art of Calculation
had a dedication for More with the instruction that the treatise should ‘be passed on to your children’.
³⁶
More’s contemporaries were aware of the significance of his experiment, and his educational example was followed by one or two more advanced households—the Elyots and the Parrs among them. Erasmus believed, with some exaggeration, that as a result of More’s practice there were now very few noblemen who did not wish their children to be skilled
‘bonis literis’.
³⁷
He also gave an indication of one of his friend’s other educational methods: More pretended to be unhappy with his children’s orthographic skills but, when they had copied out once more their own Latin essays, he sent them to Erasmus for comment. The Dutch scholar confessed himself amazed both by their style and their subject. He had once taken no interest in the education of women, but the example of Margaret More and the other girls changed his opinion.

Sir Thomas More: while authority remained intact More was ‘merry’, to use one of his own favourite words, but if it was challenged he turned savage and unforgiving
. (
Illu. 14.1
)

Holbein’s drawing of the More household at Chelsea; this study of intimate relations is also a portrait of the last age of Catholic England. (
Illu. 14.2
)

Sir John More, the father of Thomas More, who dominated his son’s life and career. (
Illu. 14.3
)

William Roper, More’s son-in-law and first biographer, who helped to fashion the saintly legend. (
Illu. 14.4
)

Margaret Roper, More’s eldest daughter, who was reputed to be the cleverest woman in England. (
Illu. 14.5
)

Elizabeth Dauncey, More’s second daughter; her fashionable and expensive dress emphasises the fact that the entire family was rich, privileged and influential. (
Illu. 14.6
)

Cicely Heron, youngest daughter of Thomas More; like all of his daughters, she materially assisted the family fortunes by marrying a man of wealth and power. (
Illu. 14.7
)

Anne Cresacre, the wealthy young woman who became one of More’s wards; she completed her association with the household by marrying More’s son. (
Illu. 14.8
)