More, Jane Colt (c. 1488–1511)

English gentlewoman who was the first wife of Thomas More. Name variations: Jane Colte. Born Jane Colt around 1488; died in 1511; eldest of three daughters of John Colt of Essex, a family friend of Thomas More; became first wife of Thomas More (1478–1535, English scholar and statesman who was slain for his opposition to detaching England from the spiritual authority of the Roman Catholic Church), in 1505; children:Margaret More Roper (1505–1544); Elizabeth More Daunce or Dancy (b. around 1506, who married William Daunce on September 29, 1525, the same day her sister Margaret married); Cecily More Heron (b. around 1507, who married Giles Heron in 1522); John More (who marriedAnne Cresacre in 1529).

Erasmus claims that Thomas More selected the young, uneducated country girl Jane Colt to be his bride in order to make of her what he wished. He instructed her in art and music and trained her to match his own tastes. When they attended church, he had her repeat the words of the sermon to be sure she understood them. At first, Jane Colt was often reduced to tears, then she rebelled. When her father advised More that a good beating would put her in line, More found the suggestion abhorrent. But Thomas More had a tendency to mock women, regarding them as stupid, foolish creatures. Though he felt girls should be educated as well as boys, he once told his daughters that even though they might not have anything to write about, they should write about nothing at length. Girls, being "loquacious by nature," should always have "a world to say about nothing at all." Erasmus, in his The Praise of Folly, was clearly referring to Thomas and Jane when he wrote: "I know a certain man named after me who gave his bride some imitation gems, assuring her (and he is a clever jokester) that they were not only real and genuine but also that they were of unparalleled and inestimable value. I ask you, what difference did it make to the girl since she feasted her eyes and mind no less pleasantly on glass and kept them hidden among her things as if they were an extraordinary treasure? Meanwhile, the husband avoided expense and profited by his wife's delusion, nor was she any less grateful to him than if he had given her some very costly gifts." Eventually, the couple made peace and had four children. Jane Colt, known by Thomas' friends as an "affable wife," died at age 23. Thomas More married Alice Middleton (Alice More ), six years his senior and the widow of a London merchant, one month later.