More's Travels in Europe

• Amiens: In 1527 More accompanied Wolsey to complete peace negotiations with France.
  
• Antwerp: More visited this important commercial center in 1515, during his embassy to Bruges. His Utopia opens outside its beautiful cathedral.
  
• Barnborough Hall, Yorkshire: As a baby, Anne Cresacre became heir to this estate after her parents died in 1512. More became her guardian and assumed responsibility for her lands until she came of age.
  
• Bruges: More made embassies to this city in 1515 and 1521, primarily to negotiate the trade of wool and cloth between England and Flanders. He was appointed by the King, but was probably nominated by the London merchants. In 1520 he was in the King's retinue for the peace-keeping mission at the Field of Cloth of Gold.
  
• Calais: More went to Calais in 1517 to negotiate with French merchants, and again in 1521 to help Wolsey in peace negotiations between Emperor Charles V and King Francis I.
  
• Cambrai: More considered the 1529 Peace of Cambrai treaty to be the most important achievement of his diplomatic career. It is the only public event he mentions in his epitaph. He rejoiced that peace had finally been restored to Christendom.
  
• Cambridge: More served as High Steward of Cambridge. His friend Bishop John Fisher was its chancellor.
  
• Canterbury: The shrine of St. Thomas Becket was the most popular place of pilgrimage in England. More considered it significant that the date set for his own execution was the eve of Becket's feast. Henry VIII eventually outlawed pilgrimages to this spot. More's head is buried in St. Dunstan's Church in Canterbury.
  
• Coventry: More's sister Elizabeth Rastell lived in this city. On a visit in or about 1506, he met the ignorant friar whom he describes in his "Letter to Dorp." Elizabeth's most famous grandson would be John Donne.
  
• Lancaster, Duchy of: From 1525 to 1529, More served as chancellor of this territory, which encompassed some forty thousand people.
  
• Louvain: More visited Louvain's university around 1508.
  
• Oxford: More attended Oxford for two years and later served as High Steward. In 1518 he wrote an official letter in defense of Greek studies there.
  
• Paris: More visited the University of Paris around 1508.
  
• Rochester: Here More visited his longtime friend Bishop John Fisher.
  
• Southampton: In 1517 More served as counsel and interpreter for the pope's ambassador in a case involving forfeiture of a papal ship that was docked at Southampton.
  
• Woodstock: More often accompanied Henry's royal retinue to Woodstock, where the King loved to hunt. More was here when news of the great fire at Chelsea reached him, on September 3,1529.

The maps on this webpage are copyrighted and are taken from Thomas More: A Portrait of Courage, Scepter Press, P.O. Box 1270, Princeton, N.J., 08542-1270