Sir Thomas More was born in London on February 7, 1477. His father, Sir John More, was a barrister (lawyer) and later became a judge. As a young child, Thomas went to St. Anthony's School, and at the age of 13 became a page for John Morton, the Archbishop of Canterbury and Lord Chancellor of England. This was a fortuitous event in the young man's career: Morton was impressed with More's intelligence and arranged for the young man to study at Oxford University, which More attended from 1492-1494, studying Latin, Greek, French, history, and mathematics.
More returned to London in 1494 and studied law at New Inn, continuing his legal studies two years later at Lincoln's Inn. He quickly...