4/The Renaissance in England: First Period. Sir Thomas More. His Life and Work.“Utopia”.

The Renaissance or "re-birth" was a cultural movement that spanned the period roughly from the 14th to the 17th century, beginning in Italy in the Late Middle Ages and later spreading to the rest of Europe. Though availability of paper and the invention of metal movable type sped the dissemination of ideas from the later 15th century, the changes of the Renaissance were not uniformly experienced across Europe. As a cultural movement, it encompassed innovative flowering of Latin and vernacular literatures, the development of linear perspective and other techniques of rendering a more natural reality in painting, and gradual but widespread educational reform. In politics, the Renaissance contributed the development of the conventions of diplomacy, and in science an increased reliance on observation. Historians often argue this intellectual transformation was a bridge between the Middle Ages and Modern history. Although the Renaissance saw revolutions in many intellectual pursuits, as well as social and political upheaval, it is perhaps best known for its artistic developments and the contributions of such polymaths as Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo, who inspired the term "Renaissance man".

Humanism is the resurgent study of classical antiquity, at first in Italy, and then spreading across Western Europe in the 14th, 15th and 16th centuries.. They sought to create a citizenry able to speak and write with eloquence and clarity and thus capable of engaging the civic life of their communities and persuading others to virtuous and prudent actions. This was to be accomplished through the study of the studia humanitatis, today known as the humanities: grammar, rhetoric, history, poetry and moral philosophy

Thomas More was born on February 7, 1478 in London and died there on July 6, 1535. He was an English social philosopher, writer, and statesman.

The eldest son of an influential judge, Thomas More was sent to the prestigious St. Anthony´s school in London. Between the years 1490 and 1492 he served as a page to the Archbishop John Morton, who then secured him a place at Oxford. At Oxford Thomas More studied Greek, Latin and French literature, as well as logic and mathematics. After two years of study, his father recalled Thomas More to pursue legal studies and he eventually became a barrister by 1501.

In his early years, Thomas More was a prolific writer of poetry and a Latin translation of four Greek dialogues by Lucian was published in 1506. He also composed an English translation of the works of the Italian philosopher Pico della Mirandola, which were eventually published in 1510. In 1499, Thomas More began a close, lifelong friendship and correspondence with Desiderius Erasmus.

Despite the fact that Thomas More had seriously contemplated becoming a Carthusian monk, against his father’s will, he was elected Member of Parliament in 1504. In 1510, he was appointed as one of two under sheriffs of London. Seven years later, Thomas More entered into Henry VIII’s service and became his counsellor as well as his advisor and chief diplomat. He was knighted in 1521, and a few years later appointed high steward at the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge. He was arrested and tried for treason. On July 6, 1535 Thomas More was executed. He was later, in 1935, canonized by Pope Pius XI.

'Utopia'

In 1516, More published Utopia, a work of fiction primarily depicting a pagan and communist island on which social and political customs are entirely governed by reason. The description of the island of Utopia comes from a mysterious traveler to support his position that communism is the only cure for the egoism found in both private and public life—a direct jab at Christian Europe, which was seen by More as divided by self-interest and greed.Utopia covered such far-reaching topics as theories of punishment, state-controlled education, multi-religion societies, divorce, euthanasia and women's rights, and the resulting display of learning and skill established More as a foremost humanist. Utopia also became the forerunner of a new literary genre: the utopian romance. Utopia is a work of fiction and political philosophy by Thomas More (1478–1535) published in 1516 in Latin. The book is a frame narrative primarily depicting a fictional island society and its religious, social and political customs.