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Tower letters and interrogatories create a dated state file of More’s private conscience

In 1534–35 Tower interrogatories and More’s prison letters created a dated state file of his private conscience and family messages. In the causal graph this event weakens the driver Personal-Data Protection.

Sources: [1][2]

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In 1534–35 Tower interrogatories and More’s prison letters created a dated state file of his private conscience and family messages.

Context

Prison paper is surveillance. TNA catalogues and HRP independently frame the Tower letter-and-interrogatory archive. Later saintly editions are carriers.

Thomas More’s documented role is bounded by other offices and collaborators named in the sources below.

Conventional years are 1478–1535. Surviving public files are later parliamentary biographies, HRP pages, Yale Essential More, and encyclopedias. More did not typeset those later pages. Posthumous canonisation is reception, not a lifetime act.

Why it matters

High confidence on the paper file.

Who was responsible

Contribution type and responsibility level for each recorded actor — not sole-author shorthand.

  • Thomas More

    Person

    Direct responsibility

    responsibility level 0.4 · verified

    Crown officers recorded interrogatories; he wrote Tower letters. Jailers share custody of paper.

What changed

Fact → Driver → Indicator. Relationship strength orders the paths; it is not the observed indicator movement.

    1. FactTower letters and interrogatories create a dated state file of More’s private conscience
    2. weakensDriverPersonal-Data Protection

    impact weight 0.5 · Effect from 1 August 1534 · verified

Evidence

The sources behind this fact and its verification state.

Verified2 sources on file
  1. 1.Historic Royal Palaces — Sir Thomas More at the TowerHistoric Royal Palaces · High credibility · verified
  2. 2.The National Archives — Tudor plague and public order contextThe National Archives · High credibility · verified
What the sources establish

The National Archives catalogues and Historic Royal Palaces independently describe More’s Tower letters and interrogatory context.

Established: Tower interrogatories and letters survive as a state-and-family paper file. Not established: that every private thought was captured.

Thomas More did not file a later UNESCO form, a later Loeb colophon, or a later museum label as a personal act. Tower data is not the trial verdict twin alone. Keep August paper off 1 July as a pure duplicate.

Causal path

How this event connects to drivers and indicators in the graph.

  1. ActorThomas More
  2. contributed toFactTower letters and interrogatories create a dated state file of More’s private conscience
  3. weakensDriverPersonal-Data Protection

Cite this page

Factrail. (2026). Tower letters and interrogatories create a dated state file of More’s private conscience. Factrail. https://factrail.ai/facts/tm-data-tower-letters

https://factrail.ai/facts/tm-data-tower-letters

Accessed 15 October 2026.

By the Factrail desk · Method: how we source and score · Last reviewed

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