Thomas More: Leading Citizen
Lecture 1
Thomas More: Portrait of a Leading Citizen
(45:22 min.)
Dr. Stephen Smith introduces the life and career of Thomas More, beginning with a close look at the testimony of his good friend, the legendary humanist Desiderius Erasmus. After a brief look at More’s Life of Pico and its striking portrait of a talented but problematic intellectual and leader, Dr. Smith carefully examines More’s letters to his mentor, John Colet, and to a tutor of his children, William Gonell. In opening up these works, we will begin to glimpse More’s answer to the question: what do leading citizens of a country need to live well and in freedom?
Texts Referenced in this Course Video:
- Essential Works of Thomas More
- Erasmus’s Letter to Ulrich von Hutten (July 23, 1519), Essential Works pgs. 1369-1374; also available here on the CTMS website
- More’s Letter to John Colet (October 23, ~1504), Essential Works pgs. 269-70; a different translation of the Latin is available here on the CTMS website
- More’s Life of John Pico, Earl of Mirandola, Essential Works pgs. 61-94; see also CTMS’ 500th anniversary edition here on our website
- More’s Letter to William Gonell (May 22, ~1518), Essential Works pgs. 288-90; a different translation of the Latin is available here on the CTMS website
Additional study materials are available here.
See the map of More’s London here.
