Description:
This is the 1966 film 'A Man for All Seasons', based on the 1961 play by Robert Bolt. It depicts the martyrdom of St Thomas More (1478-1535).Background: There was a series of violent dynastic wars in England in the 15th century known as the 'Wars of the Roses' which ended in 1485 with Henry Tudor (Henry VII) capturing the English throne. Henry's son and heir, also called Henry (Henry VIII), succeeded him to the throne. Henry VIII's first wife, Catherine of Aragon, produced no male offspring and Henry wanted to divorce her in order to remarry Anne Boleyn. If no heir was produced, it was feared that the country could collapse again into civil war. However, the Pope refused to grant Henry a special annulment for his marriage and so Henry made his fateful decision to divorce his country from the Pope in Rome and have himself placed as the head of the church in England (thus forging what would become the Anglican Communion), thus giving himself the power to annul his marriage.
Sir Thomas …


