Tomás Moro ante la “king’s great matter”

Abstract

espanolResumen Una disputa juridico-canonica conmovio la Europa del siglo XVI y tuvo repercusiones duraderas tanto politicas como eclesiasticas, sobre todo porque concurrio con la llamada reforma protestante y la separacion de la iglesia anglicana de Roma. Aunque se habla de divorcio, en realidad se trato de una causa de nulidad matrimonial, sostenida por Enrique VIII en contra de la que habia sido su mujer por casi 20 anos, Catalina de Aragon, y que se basaba en que habia un impedimento indispensable contenido en la Biblia que prohibia casarse con la mujer del hermano. El rey trato que el mejor abogado de su tiempo y celebre humanista, Tomas Moro, apoyara su demanda. Moro se nego, pero mantuvo silencio sobre sus razones. En este trabajo se intenta, por los indicios de sus cartas y primeras biografias, determinar cual fue su pensamiento al respecto y la seriedad que le asigno al asunto, al punto de preferir la muerte antes de declarar una opinion distinta a la que se habia formado en conciencia. EnglishAbstract A canonical-legal dispute shook 16th-century’s Europe and had lasting political and ecclesiastical repercussions, not least because it concurred with the so-called Protestant Reformation and the separation of the Anglican Church from the Roman Church. Although at the time, it was reffered as a divorce case, in reality it was a marriage annulment case, sustained by Henry VIII, King of England, against his wife of almost 20 years, Katherine of Aragon. Henry VIII claimed that his marriage was void because of the presence of a Bible impediment that forbade marrying the brother’s wife, and which could not be dispensed. He tried to convince the best lawyer of his time and famous humanist, Thomas More, to support his plea. More refused to do so, but kept silent about his reasons. This work attempts to analyse his letters and early biographies, to determine what his moral thoughts were in regard to this case and the seriousness he assigned to it; to the point of preferring death rather than declaring an opinion different from the onehe had formed in his conscience in respect of it.