Sir Thomas More was an English lawyer, social philosopher, author, statesman and Renaissance humanist. He was born on 7 February 1478 in Milk Street in London; Thomas More was the son of Sir John More, who was a successful lawyer and then a judge and his wife Agnes. He was the counselor to Henry VII and Lord High Chancellor of England from October 1529 to 16 May 1532.
Thomas More was against the Protestant Reformation, specifically the theology of Martin Luther and William Tyndale. He wrote Utopia, which was published in 1516, discussing the political system of an ideal island nation. More was against the King’s separation from the Catholic Church, refusing to accept him as Supreme Head of the Church of England, and Henry’s annulment from Catherine of Aragon. After refusing to take the Oath of Supremacy, he was charged with treason and was beheaded on 6 July 1535.
Sir Thomas More
According to More’s friend, theologian Desiderius Erasmus of Rotterdam, More once seriously wanted to abandon his legal career to become a monk.
Between 1503 and 1504, More lived near the Carthusian monastery outside the walls of London and took part in the monk’s spiritual exercises. More finally decided to remain a layman rather than a monk. In 1504, he stood for election to Parliament and married in the following year.
Thomas More married Jane Colt in 1505; she was five years and one month younger than him. Erasmus Thomas More’s friend reported that More wanted to give her wife the best education she had previously received at home and taught her music and literature.
Thomas and Jane had four children before she died in 1511: Margaret, Elizabeth, Cicely, and John. Within 30 days of his wife Jane’s death, he married a rich widow named Alice Harpur Middleton. Alice lacked Jane’s obedience, but Erasmus said their marriage was happy.
More’s best-known and most controversial work was his novel Utopia, written in Latin. Utopia contrasts the controversial social life of European states with the reasonable social arrangements of Utopia and its environs: Tallstoria, Nolandia, and Aircastle.
In Utopia, there are no lawyers because the laws are simplistic, social communications are done in public view, men and women are given equal education, and religious toleration. Some people consider the novel’s idea of the social need for order and discipline rather than liberty.
His novel Utopia created a new genre known as Utopian and dystopian fiction, representing ideal societies or perfect cities or their complete opposite.
