Introduction

This early work by Sir Thomas More was originally published in 1516 and we are now republishing it with a brand new introductory biography. Utopia has become his most famous work; Utopia - a description of an idealised political system on the island of Utopia (a Greek pun on ‘ou-topos’ [no place] and ‘eu-topos’ [good place]).

In Utopia, social life was orderly and reasonable, and there were no lawyers because of the laws simplicity and because social gatherings took place in public view; encouraging good behaviour. Whilst many have taken the novel’s principal message to be the need for discipline above liberty, it has given rise to a whole literary genre; Utopian and dystopian fiction, and has influenced the likes of Francis Bacon and Voltaire.

About Sir Thomas More

Sir Thomas More, known to Roman Catholics as Saint Thomas More, was born on 7th February 1478, in Milk Street, London, United Kingdom. He was a lawyer, philosopher, writer, statesman and humanist – the son of Sir John More, a successful lawyer and judge, and his wife, Agnes.

In 1510, More was serving as one of the two undersheriffs of the City of London, becoming Privy Councillor in 1514.