Image of Sir Thomas More

Timeline

Lifetime: 1478 - 1535 Passed: ≈ 489 years ago

Title

English Lawyer, Judge, Social Philosopher, Author, Statesman, Renaissance Humanist

Country/Nationality

England
Wikipedia

Sir Thomas More

Sir Thomas More , venerated in the Catholic Church as Saint Thomas More, was an English lawyer, judge, social philosopher, author, statesman, and noted Renaissance humanist. He also served Henry VIII as Lord High Chancellor of England from October 1529 to May 1532. He wrote Utopia, published in 1516, which describes the political system of an imaginary island state.

More opposed the Protestant Reformation, directing polemics against the theology of Martin Luther, Huldrych Zwingli, John Calvin and William Tyndale. More also opposed Henry VIII's separation from the Catholic Church, refusing to acknowledge Henry as supreme head of the Church of England and the annulment of his marriage to Catherine of Aragon. After refusing to take the Oath of Supremacy, he was convicted of treason and executed. On his execution, he was reported to have said: "I die the King's good servant, and God's first".

Pope Pius XI canonised More in 1935 as a martyr. Pope John Paul II in 2000 declared him the patron saint of statesmen and politicians.

Books by Sir Thomas More

Utopia Cover image

Utopia

Philosophy Political Science
Social Satire Customs

Utopia (Libellus vere aureus, nec minus salutaris quam festivus, de optimo rei publicae statu deque nova insula Utopia, "A little, true book, not less beneficial than enjoyable, about how things should be in a state and about the new island Utopia")...

Utopia (Burnet translation) Cover image

Utopia (Burnet translation)

Satire Fiction Philosophy Political Science
Satire Utopia Socialism Communism social commentary Renaissance Political philosophy Ideal Society Humanism More Burnet Morley

This book is all about the fictional country called Utopia. It is a country with an ‘ideal’ form of communism, in which everything really does belong to everybody, everyone does the work they want to, and everyone is alright with that. This country u...

Utopia (Robinson translation) Cover image

Utopia (Robinson translation)

Philosophy Political Science
Equality Happiness Social Justice Political philosophy Community Ideal State Utopian Society Wealth Inequality

Utopia is a philosophical work by Thomas More, first published in Latin in 1516. It is a work of fiction that describes a fictional island society with a system of government and social organization that is radically different from that of More's own...