Controversial More and Puzzling Utopia: Five Hundred Years of History

Abstract

ABSTRACT This article intends to briefly review five hundred years of historiography of the reception of the figure of Thomas More and of his Utopia. It will highlight the perception of More, from a humanist and statesman to a controversial religious emblem. At times understood as the father of socialism, and at others, a persecutor of religious liberties, More has fared diversely through the five centuries that separate us from him. His Utopia, while being usually linked to the persona More, has also led its own life and been used and misused according to the needs of every century. The article will propose a chronological review of Thomas More and Utopia to better show the evolution of the receptions, all the while asserting that this sketchy presentation would need to be developed and qualified in a book-length study.