Thomas More (1478-1535)

The man who best sums up the humanistic frame of mind and interests and reflects them in
his works is certainly Sir Thomas More. He was born in London, studied law and in 1501
became a barrister. He was one of the leading English humanists, a friend of Erasmus and the
author of several works in both Latin and English. Typically for his age, he was a public figure
as well as a writer: a Member of Parliament, the under-Sheriff of the City of London, he was
knighted in 1521 and was raised by Henry VIII to the Lord Chancellorship (the highest office in
England, equivalent to today’s Prime Minister) from 1523 to 1532. More opposed Henry’s
intention of divorcing Catherine of Aragon and, even more, the king’s claim to be the Supreme
Head, or supreme authority, of the English Church. More never accepted the Reformation and
always remained faithful to the Catholic Church and the supremacy of the Pope. For this he
was arrested in 1534 and finally tried for treason and executed on July 6, 1535. In 1935 he
was canonised and for the Catholic Church he is now St Thomas More.

More’s most famous work was Utopia. It was published in 1516, immediately becoming very
popular throughout Europe. It was written in Latin and was translated into English in 1551.
‘Utopia’ means, from the Greek, ‘no-where’. The story takes place on an imagined island called
Utopia, where the inhabitants lead a life of harmony and justice that contrasts with the
injustice and follies of European society. This is not to say that the Utopians are models that
can and must be followed in every respect; they should rather be seen as mirrors, in which our
mistakes and ugliness are reflected. Nor is Utopia in any way socialist, even though some of its
ideas do remind us of socialist models. More’s Utopia is a society organised according to the
same principles of degree, law and order that were unquestioned in Tudor England, but
without excesses and limitations.

Utopia is divided into two books. The first was written second, on More’s return to England
after a trip to Flanders in 1516, during which he had written the second. In Book I More
contrasts the rationally ordered state of the far-away island of Utopia with the Europe and
England of his day, where greed and corruption run through all the ranks of society, from king
to peasant. In Book I, More deals with contemporary English social problems such as the
depopulation of the country because of enclosures. The enclosure system meant that land was
being taken away from the small farmers by wealthy landowners: agricultural land was
‘enclosed’ and turned into pasture for sheep. As a result many peasants were forced to leave
their homes to look for new jobs. The unemployed were reduced to starvation and sometimes
had to steal to survive. When this happened they were unmercifully punished by a law that
never considered the cause of this social evil but only its effects. In Book II, More mostly
describes the perfect commonwealth of Utopia.

More must be also remembered for his History of King Richard III (1513), which is now
recognised as the founding work in the tradition of English biography and history writing.