Page "Thomas More" Paragraph 26

Most major humanists were prolific letter writers, and Thomas More was no exception.

However, as in the case of his friend Erasmus of Rotterdam, only a small portion of his correspondence ( about 280 letters ), survived.

These letters include everything from personal letters to official government correspondence ( mostly in English ), letters to fellow humanist scholars ( in Latin ), including several epistolary tracts, verse epistles, prefatory letters ( some fictional ) to several of More's own works, letters to his children and their tutors ( in Latin ), and the so-called " prison-letters " ( in English ) which he exchanged with his oldest daughter, Margaret Roper while he was imprisoned in the Tower of London awaiting execution.

More also engaged in controversies, most notably with the French poet Germain de Brie, which culminated in the publication of de Brie's attack Antimorus ( 1519 ).

Erasmus interevened to end the dispute.