Humanist scholar and writer The eldest of Sir Thomas More’s children by his first wife, Jane Colt, Margaret More Roper enjoyed the fruits of her father’s belief in making classical education available to both men and women. Educated with her brother, two sisters, and other dependent youth, Margaret received an early instruction at the hands of More and other tutors who shared his belief in humanist learning. In his household school, More had the children taught Latin, Greek, rhetoric, logic, mathematics, philosophy, astronomy, theology, and medicine. Margaret excelled as a student, particularly in Latin and Greek, and later as a scholar in her own right.
Margaret’s abilities as a scholar gained the attention of other humanist scholars. Both Desiderius Erasmus and Juan Luis Vives, two of the most talented humanists of their day, praised Margaret and her sisters for their accomplishments in the sphere of learning. Vives’s impressions of Margaret and her sisters were so favorable that when he published his Instruction of a Christian Woman (1523) he included them among a list of educated women from throughout history who he believed made a significant and positive difference to society. Even Henry VIII welcomed Margaret and her sisters to discuss scholarly arguments in his presence.
The formal education of sixteenth-century Englishwomen was, however, not the norm. The typical education for upper-class daughters was to learn what it took to run a household, so that they could run their future husbands’ estates and leave them to duties that many believed were more within the realm of a man’s world, like politics. Sir Thomas More believed a formal education, regardless of gender, would benefit a future husband and wife and sought through his daughter’s education to demonstrate how successful a wife and mother she could ultimately be. Certainly, as he often reminded his daughter Margaret, More believed husbands would benefit fTom an educated spouse since she would be pious, humble, and a good advisor. Furthermore, their children would benefit from an educated mother’s effective guidance and instruction.
Margaret More married William Roper, a member of another educated family, in 1521. Following the advice of her father, Margaret continued her studies and arranged for the humanist education of her own three daughters and two sons. During these years, Margaret also published some of her translations. In 1524, Margaret translated from Latin into English Erasmus’s commentary on the Lord’s Prayer, A devout treatise upon the Pater Noster. Margaret also wrote poetry, translated Eusebius from the Greek, and wrote many Latin letters. One of her works, which has not survived, was a treatise on the Four Last Things. This treatise discussed heaven, hell, death, and judgment and was, in the opinion of Sir Thomas More, better than his own rendition.
After 1532, with her father’s resignation as lord chancellor due to his opposition to Henry VIII’s religious and dynastic policies, Margaret, like the rest of the More family, faded from public view. During this time (1532-1535), Margaret devoted her time to her immediate family and to the situation surrounding her father, whom Henry arrested in 1534 and charged with treason for his refusal to swear to the Oath of Supremacy and thus make the pope powerless in England in spiritual matters. Thomas More remained in prison until July 1535.While there he wrote many letters, several addressed to Margaret, in which he defended his rights for obeying his conscience and not the king.
On 6 July 1535, the day of the Feast of St. Thomas, Henry VIII ordered the execution of Sir Thomas More. Margaret, always the loving and supportive daughter, along with her foster sister, Margaret Giggs Clement, oversaw the interment of More’s corpse in the Chapel of St. Peter ad Vincula within the Tower grounds. Afterward, Margaret More Roper bribed a guard to receive her father’s head, which she then preserved and protected until other family members later interred it in the Roper family vault in St. Dunstan’s, Canterbury.
As for Margaret and the remaining More family, they found themselves watched and at times persecuted by members of Henry Vlll’s government. Her death in 1544 came only after she had taken to heart all that her father had trained her to be. She had become the perfect female humanist: loyal and devoted daughter, virtuous wife, educator of her children, and well-rounded scholar.
Timothy G. Elston
See also the subheadings Latin Learning and Women and Greek Learning and Women (under Education, Humanism, and Women); Religious Reform and Women.
Bibliography
King, Margaret L. Women of the Renaissance. Women in Culture and Society. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1991.
More, Sir Thomas. The Last Letters of Thomas More. Edited by and with an introduction by Alvaro de Silva. Grand Rapids, MI:William B. Eerd-mans, 2001.
Reynolds, E. E. Margaret Roper: Eldest Daughter of St. Thomas More. New York: Kennedy, 1960.
Warnicke, Retha M. Women of the English Renaissance and Reformation. Contributions in Women’s Studies, No. 38.Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1983.
World History
