More is chosen Speaker of the House of Commons in the 1523 parliament
In 1523 Thomas More was chosen Speaker of the House of Commons. In the causal graph this event strengthens Democratic Resilience, a driver that strengthens Having a say in government — an improving welfare path.
Read the full account
In 1523 Thomas More was chosen Speaker of the House of Commons. Later parliamentary heritage pages remember a request that members might speak freely. It is not the 1529 chancellorship.
Context
History of Parliament Online and UK Parliament’s heritage pages independently date the 1523 Speakership. A Speaker under Wolsey is not a later Commons supremacy.
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, TNA calendars, HRP Tower pages, the Yale More tradition, and encyclopedias. More did not typeset those later pages. 1935 canonisation is posthumous and is not a Fact.
Why it matters
Democratic-resilience path of medium weight inside a Tudor parliament. High confidence on the office.
Who was responsible
Contribution type and responsibility level for each recorded actor — not sole-author shorthand.
Thomas More
PersonDirect responsibility
responsibility level 0.4 · verified
Commons chose him Speaker; Wolsey’s ministry set the session. Complex; the later request for free speech is received in parliamentary memory.
What changed
Fact → Driver → Indicator. Relationship strength orders the paths; it is not the observed indicator movement.
- FactMore is chosen Speaker of the House of Commons in the 1523 parliament
- strengthensDriverDemocratic Resilience
- strengthensIndicators (3)Having a say in government
impact weight 0.4 · Effect from 15 April 1523 · verified
Strengthens · Relationship strength 0.28 (weight 0.4 × strength 0.7)
Observed
29.8% of population aged 16-65 years · 8.13 below the normal line (2023)
Worse than normalTwo readings: 30.2% of population aged 16-65 years (2021) and 29.8% of population aged 16-65 years (2023).
20212023 Above normal = better
Strengthens · Relationship strength 0.18 (weight 0.4 × strength 0.45)
Observed
0.53 score from 0 to 1 · 0.34 below the normal line (2024)
Worse than normal125 readings, 1900–2024: rose from 0.17 score from 0 to 1 to 0.53 score from 0 to 1.
Above normal = better
Strengthens · Relationship strength 0.18 (weight 0.4 × strength 0.45)
Observed
0.55 index score (0-1) · 0.26 below the normal line (2024)
Worse than normalAbove normal = better
Evidence
The sources behind this fact and its verification state.
- 1.History of Parliament — MORE, Thomas I (1477/78–1535)History of Parliament Trust · High credibility · verified
- 2.UK Parliament — later pages on the Reformation ParliamentUK Parliament · High credibility · verified
What the sources establish
History of Parliament Online and UK Parliament independently describe More as Speaker in 1523.
Established: More was Speaker in 1523. Not established: that 1523 already was a modern free-speech statute.
Thomas More did not file a later UNESCO form, a later Loeb colophon, or a later museum label as a personal act. A Speakership is not Utopia. Keep 1516 as the book. A Speakership is not Utopia. Keep 1516 as the book.
Causal path
How this event connects to drivers and indicators in the graph.
- ActorThomas More
- contributed toFactMore is chosen Speaker of the House of Commons in the 1523 parliament
- strengthensDriverDemocratic Resilience
- strengthensIndicatorHaving a say in government
Cite this page
Factrail. (2026). More is chosen Speaker of the House of Commons in the 1523 parliament. Factrail. https://factrail.ai/facts/tm-speaker-1523
https://factrail.ai/facts/tm-speaker-1523
Accessed 16 October 2026.
By the Factrail desk · Method: how we source and score · Last reviewed
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