A Man for All Seasons

I do think Wolf Hall portrays Sir Thomas More unjustly, as some kind of priggish hypocrite who got a sadistic pleasure out of torturing Protestants. More held office in an age when no country practiced religious toleration. He was a devout Catholic who did not want to draw persecution on himself when Henry VIII took England out of the Roman Catholic Church but who would not deny his faith when he was put on the spot. He did not seek martyrdom, but he was willing to die for his faith, and I respect that.

He also started the Tudor fashion for educating one's daughters, which was carried out to such stellar effect in the case of Henry VIII's daughter, Elizabeth. It is perhaps ironic that Anne Boleyn, whose rise caused More's downfall, had the daughter who benefitted from More's trailblazing in women's education.