Thomas More

Utopia Thomas More

"For if you suffer your people to be ill-educated, and their manners to be corrupted from their infancy, and then punish them for those crimes to which their first education disposed them, what else is to be concluded from this, but that you first make thieves and then punish them." Utopia (Libellus vere aureus, nec minus salutaris quam festivus, de optimo rei publicae statu deque nova insula Utopia) is a work of fiction and socio-political satire by Thomas More (1478-1535) published in 1516 in Latin. He was an English lawyer, writer, and statesman. He was at one time one of Henry VIII's most trusted civil servants, becoming Chancellor of England in 1529. However, More was also a passionate defender of Catholic orthodoxy. More wrote in the 16th century, at the time of the Reformation, which set out to reform the Catholic Church in Europe and resulted in the development of Protestantism. When Henry established the Anglican Church, which allowed him to divorce Catherine of Aragon, More resigned his chancellorship. He continued to argue against the king's divorce, the Reformation and the split with the Catholic church. He was tried for treason and executed by beheading on July 6th 1535.