A Rare Manuscript Witness to Thomas More’s Dialogue Concerning Heresies

MORE, Thomas. A Dialogue Concerning Heresies (Book I, Chapters 19–20) In English, manuscript copy on paper
[England, c. 1550–1580]

270 x 200 mm
Description
One leaf written in a fluent secretary hand, on paper; the text is arranged in a single column of long lines, with minimal ornamentation. Retaining a contemporary or near contemporary heading introducing a section of confutation, corresponding to More’s transition into formal rebuttal.

Condition
Recovered leaf, with expected signs of handling and use; otherwise well preserved, with the text clear and eligible throughout.

Leaf from a manuscript copy of Thomas More’s Dialogue concerning Heresies, preserving a continuous passage from Book I, chapters 19–20, in which More confronts and refutes the evangelical doctrine of the “secret” or “unknown Church.”

Text
The passage engages directly with the theological controversies of the early Reformation, including discussion of Lutheran ecclesiology and explicit reference to the English reformer Robert Barnes, whose condemnation is used as a test case in debates over the authority and fallibility of the Church. More’s characteristic dialectical method is evident throughout: the arguments of his opponents are carefully articulated before being dismantled through appeals to Scripture, reason, and ecclesiastical continuity.

Textual Context
This leaf corresponds closely to the text of Dialogue concerning Heresies as printed in the early editions of 1529–1530 (STC 18084 and related issues), though the present manuscript cannot be tied to a specific printed edition on textual grounds alone. The section preserved here forms part of More’s sustained rebuttal of the Protestant claim that the “true Church” consists of an invisible community of the faithful,
unknown to the world and often persecuted by the visible Church. Against this, More argues for a visible, continuous, and authoritative Church, identifiable in history and incapable of collective doctrinal error.