London anchors several decisive stages in Thomas More’s life: he was born there, educated there before university, and returned to study law and build a public career. These biographical references make the city a point of connection between his early formation and the legal and political world of the book.

Birth and Early Education

More was born in 1478 in Milk Street, in the city of London, the son of Sir John More, a justice of King’s Bench. He attended St. Anthony’s School in Threadneedle Street before entering the household of his patron, John Morton. London is thus presented first as the place of More’s birth and schooling, before his education took him elsewhere.

Legal Training

At about nineteen, More went to Canterbury College (Oxford), where he studied Greek. In 1499 he left Oxford for London to study law at Lincoln’s Inn. The move brought him back to the city for professional training, linking his humanist education with the legal career that would shape his public standing.

Public Career

At twenty-one More entered Parliament, and soon after being called to the bar he became Under-Sheriff of London. In 1503 he opposed Henry VII’s proposed subsidy for the marriage portion of his daughter Margaret; his speech persuaded the House of Commons to refuse the grant and brought him into the king’s displeasure. After Henry VII’s death in 1509, More’s legal practice prospered in the courts. The account also describes him as refusing to plead cases he considered unjust and taking no fees from widows, orphans, or poor people.

London and Historical Writing

In 1513, while still Under-Sheriff of London, More is said to have written his history of Edward V’s life and death and Richard III’s usurpation. The work drew, in part, on the knowledge and opinions of John Morton, whose household had earlier been part of More’s London upbringing. It was not printed until 1557, twenty-two years after More’s death, from a manuscript in his own handwriting. London therefore frames both the beginning of More’s life and a later phase of his civic service and historical work.