In 1588, the year of the Spanish Armada, Thomas Stapleton sat down to write the book Tres Thomae; his subject was the life and works of St. Thomas the Apostle, St. Thomas of Canterbury, and Sir Thomas More. He wrote it in Latin (as More had done with his Utopia) since a knowledge of English was a rare accomplishment among European scholars and readers. Apart from its entertainment value as an account of More's life, the book is also a document of...