What is a utopia ?

1. What is a utopia? A utopia is an imagined place or a state of things in which everything is perfect.

2. Sir Thomas More • More was a devout Catholic who served in Parliament during the reign of King Henry VIII. • Also during Henry’s reign, More was the Speaker of the House of Commons (similar to the Speaker of the House of Representatives for our Congress). • During this time Henry VIII made More one of his favorites and often sought his company for philosophical conversations.

3. Sir Thomas More • More was the first layman (meaning non-clergy person) to hold the post of lord chancellor for Parliament. • When Henry VIII decided to divorce Catherine of Aragon, More did not support the decision. More refused to defy papal authority. • More stepped down from the position of lord chancellor because of his and Henry’s disagreement.

4. Sir Thomas More • The king resented the attitude of his former friend and had him imprisoned in 1534. • More was tried the following year; he refused to take an oath of supremacy, asserting that Parliament did not have the right to usurp papal authority in favor of the king. • Condemned for his stand against the monarchy, More was sentenced to death and was decapitated on July 7, 1535. In 1935 he was canonized by the Roman Catholic Church.

5. More’s Most Famous Work • More is best known for Utopia (1516), a satirical account of life on the fictitious island of Utopia. • On this island the interests of the individual are subordinate to those of society at large, all people must do some work, universal education and religious toleration are practiced, and all land is owned in common. • These conditions are contrasted with those of English society, to the substantial disadvantage of the latter. • Utopia was the forerunner of a series of similar books. Among the best-known of these are Candide by the French author and philosopher Voltaire, Erewhon by the English novelist Samuel Butler, and A Dream of John Ball by the English poet and artist William Morris.