In Antwerp, Thomas More meets Raphael Hythloday, a traveller who has seen an island called Utopia, whose name means no place. The first book is an argument…
In Antwerp, Thomas More meets Raphael Hythloday, a traveller who has seen an island called Utopia, whose name means no place. The first book is an argument about the injustice of England, where enclosure drives the poor from the land and the law then hangs them for stealing. The second describes the Utopians: they hold all property in common, work six hours a day, despise gold so much that they make chamber pots and slaves' chains from it, choose their rulers, and allow many religions to live side by side.
Context and significance
More, a lawyer who later became Lord Chancellor and was executed for refusing to accept Henry VIII as head of the English church, published the book in Latin in 1516 and gave the word utopia to every language. This is Gilbert Burnet's English translation of 1684, read by Jenilee in under four hours.
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