Margaret Roper

Margaret Roper
Portrait of Margaret Roper, from a 1593 reproduction of a now-lost Hans Holbein portrait of all of the women of Thomas More's family.

Margaret Roper (née More) (1505–1544) was an English writer and translator. She was the daughter of Thomas More and wife of William Roper. During More's imprisonment in the Tower of London, she was a frequent visitor to his cell, along with her husband.

Roper married William Roper in 1521 in Eltham, Kent. They had five children together: Thomas (1533-98), Margaret (1526-88), Mary (d. 1572), Elizabeth (1523-60) and Anthony (1544-1597).

After Thomas More was beheaded in 1535 for refusing to bless the Reformation of Henry VIII of England and swear to Henry as head of the English Church, his head, after being parboiled, was displayed on a pike at London Bridge for a month. At the end of that period, Roper bribed the man whose business it was to throw the head into the river, to give it to her instead. She preserved it by pickling it in spices until her own death at the age of 39 in 1544. After her death, her husband William Roper took charge of the head, and it is buried with him.

William Roper ("son Roper," as he is referred to by Thomas More) produced the first biography of the statesman/martyr, but his homage to his father-in-law is not remembered as well as his wife's efforts at comforting and honoring More. In Alfred, Lord Tennyson's Dream of Fair Women, he invokes Margaret Roper ("who clasped in her last trance/ Her murdered father's head") as a paragon of loyalty and familial love.

Roper was the first non-royal woman to publish a book she had translated into English.[1] This was a translation of a Latin work Precatio Dominica by Erasmus, as A Devout Treatise upon the Paternoster. In a letter her father mentions her poems, but none is extant.

In Robert Bolt's famous play A Man for All Seasons, both Ropers were major characters. In the 1966 film, she was portrayed by Susannah York.

Ancestry

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
William More
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Sir John More
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Johanna Joye
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Saint Thomas More
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Thomas Granger (or Grainger)
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Agnes Granger (or Grainger)
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Margaret More
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
John Colt
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Jane Colt
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Elizabeth Elrington
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

References

  1. ^ "WWR Magazine". Margaret Roper and Erasmus: The Relationship of Translator and Source. CRC Humanities Computing Studio, located at the University of Alberta. http://www.crcstudio.org/wwr_magazine/mags/spring_05.pdf. Retrieved 15 August 2011. 

External links


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Нужно сделать НИР?

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Margaret Roper — Margaret Roper, Kopie eines Originals von Hans Holbein Margaret Roper (* 1505 in Cheapside, London; † 1544 in Chelsea, London), geborene More, war eine englische Übersetzerin und die älteste Tochter des englischen Humanisten Sir Thomas More. Von… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Margaret Giggs — Margaret Giggs, Kopie nach Holbein Margaret Giggs (* 1505[1] oder 1508[2] in London, Cheapside; † 6. Juli 1570[3] in M …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Roper (surname) — Roper is a surname, and may refer to:People*Anthony Dean Roper (Tony), pickup race driver. His father Carrol Dean Roper was also a race driver. *Brent D. Roper, a conspiracy theorist. Husband of Shirley Phelps Roper, daughter of Reverend Fred… …   Wikipedia

  • Roper — ist der Familienname mehrerer Personen: Bill Roper, US amerikanischer Computerspieleentwickler Daniel Calhoun Roper (1867–1943), US amerikanischer Politiker Doris Roper, deutsche Quäkerin Hugh Trevor Roper (1914–2003), britischer Historiker,… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Margaret (Vorname) — Margaret oder Margareth ist ein weiblicher Vorname. Inhaltsverzeichnis 1 Herkunft und Bedeutung 2 Bekannte Namensträger 2.1 Margaret 2.1.1 Zwischenname …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Margaret More — may refer to: Margaret Roper, née More, (1505 1544), English writer and translator, daughter of Sir Thomas More Margaret Clement, née Giggs, (1508 1570), English noblewoman, adopted daughter of Sir Thomas More Margaret Catharine Kate Barry, née… …   Wikipedia

  • ROPER, Margaret More — (1505 1544) Margaret More Roper, the ornament of Britain, enjoyed contemporary re­nown as a classical scholar and a woman of letters. The eldest daughter of Sir Thomas More* and Jane Colt, Margaret, along with her sisters Elizabeth and Cecily,… …   Renaissance and Reformation 1500-1620: A Biographical Dictionary

  • Roper — Recorded as Reef, Reff, Rope, Roope, Roper, Rooper, Raper, Rapier (English), Riep, Repp, Reef (German), Reep, Reeper, Reepmaeker (Flemish and Dutch), and probably others, this is a surname of ancient origins. It is derived from the pre 7th… …   Surnames reference

  • Roper, William — (1496 1578)    Biographer, s. of a Kentish gentleman, m. Margaret, dau. of Sir Thomas More. He has a place in literature for his excellent and appreciative biography of his father in law. He was a member of various Parliaments between 1529 and… …   Short biographical dictionary of English literature

  • William Roper — von Hans Holbein, ca. 1536 Sir William Roper (* zwischen 1495 und 1498 in Kent; † 4. Januar 1578 in London), war ein englischer Rechtsgelehrter und Angehöriger des englischen Parlaments. Als Ehemann der gebildeten Mar …   Deutsch Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”