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More is tried for treason at Westminster on 1 July 1535

On 1 July 1535 More was tried for treason at Westminster Hall and condemned. Anne Boleyn’s 1536 process is a later neighbouring Person article, not this trial. In the causal graph this event strengthens Judicial independence erosion (court capture), a driver that strengthens Rule of Law Gap from the Highest Governance Score — a worsening welfare path.

Sources: [1][2]

Read the full account

On 1 July 1535 More was tried for treason at Westminster Hall and condemned.

Context

British History Online calendars and the Yale/Essential More trial reconstruction independently date 1 July 1535. Anne Boleyn’s 1536 process is a later neighbouring Person article, not this trial.

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

High confidence on the trial date; medium on unique reconstruction of every spoken line.

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

    A special commission tried him. Richard Rich’s testimony is the received turning evidence. Complex royal process.

What changed

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

Evidence

The sources behind this fact and its verification state.

Verified2 sources on file
  1. 1.Essential Works of Thomas More — Yale-linked public siteYale University Press / Essential More · High credibility · verified
  2. 2.British History Online — calendars of Henry VIII papersInstitute of Historical Research / BHO · High credibility · verified
What the sources establish

Richard Rich’s report of a Tower conversation is testimony in the received file, not independently verified here as a tape.

British History Online and Essential More independently describe the 1 July 1535 Westminster trial.

Established: the 1 July 1535 trial condemned More. Not established: that every later English treason trial copies this file.

Thomas More did not file a later UNESCO form, a later Loeb colophon, or a later museum label as a personal act. A trial is not a scaffold. Keep 6 July as the death.

Causal path

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

  1. ActorThomas More
  2. contributed toFactMore is tried for treason at Westminster on 1 July 1535
  3. strengthensDriverJudicial independence erosion (court capture)
  4. strengthensIndicatorRule of Law Gap from the Highest Governance Score

Cite this page

Factrail. (2026). More is tried for treason at Westminster on 1 July 1535. Factrail. https://factrail.ai/facts/tm-trial-1535

https://factrail.ai/facts/tm-trial-1535

Accessed 16 October 2026.

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

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