The world of Thomas More’s Utopia Freedom and empire A strained relationship or a necessary one? Machiavelli’s theory of empire Important elements contained in early chapters of Bk 1 of Discourses (particularly Chapter 6); but laid out in detail in Bk 2 The cause of Rome’s greatness: fortuna or virtù? “Two very important wars never came upon Rome at the same time” (Disc. 2.1) Was this because of fortuna, as some ancient writers (Plutarch, Livy) allege? “I am not willing to grant this in any way at all...If no republic ever produced such results as Rome, there has never been another republic so organised that she could gain as Rome did. The efficiency of her armies caused her to conquer her empire, and the order of her proceedings and her method, which was her very own…” Disc. 2.1 Fortuna and virtù… “He who will consider well the order of these wars and the way in which the Romans proceeded, will see mixed with their fortuna the utmost virtù and prudence.” Machiavelli, Disc. 2.1 Libertà and imperio (Liberty and empire) • In Machiavelli, an intrinsic connection between these two concepts 1) States which are free have great, durable empires 2) States which have empires have the best chance of remaining free. Two models of free state: “If anyone sets out, therefore, to organise a state from the beginning, he needs to examine whether he wishes it to expand like Rome, in dominion and power, or whether it is to remain narrow limits. In the first case, it is necessary to organize it like Rome and to give scope to disturbances and discords among the inhabitants, as well as one can, because without a large number of men, and well armed, a republic can never grow larger, or, if it does grow larger, can never maintain itself. In the second case, you can organise it like Sparta or Venice. But because expansion is the poison of such republics, he who organizes them ought in all possible ways to prohibit them making conquests, because such conquests, based on a weak state, are its total ruin”. (Disc.1.6) The causes of war “War is made on a commonwealth for two reasons: one, to subjugate it (become her master); the second, for fear of being subjugated by it.” Disc. I.6 In waging war on you, states either want to dominate you, or don’t want to be dominated by you. They act according to one of the two dominant social humours within them… On non-expansionist free states “If it (i.e. the free state) be difficult to take by assault owing to its being well organized for defence…rarely or never will it occur to anyone to seize it. And, if it be content with its own territory, and it becomes clear by experience that it has no ambitions, it will never occur that someone may make war through fear for himself, especially if by its constitution or by its laws expansion is prohibited….If this balance could be maintained, there would be genuine political life and real tranquillity in such a city in this way, they would produce the true good government and the true calm of the city.” Disc. 1.6 But changes in fortune bring variations and flux… “Since, however, all human affairs are ever in a state of flux and cannot stand still, either there will be an improvement or decline, and necessity will lead you to do many things which reason does not recommend. Hence if a commonwealth be constituted with a view to its maintaining the status quo, but not with a view to expansion, and by necessity it be led to expand, its basic principles will be subverted, and it will soon be faced with ruin”. Disc. 1.6 Attack is the best means of defense But what if no one attacks (i.e. launches an attack on its liberty from outside the state)? Corruption within... “Should heaven, on the other hand, be so kind to it (i.e the free state) that it has no need to go to war, it will come about that idleness will either render it effeminate or give rise to factions; and these two things, either in conjunction or separately, will bring about its downfall”. (Disc. 1.6) Women, Plato, and More’s Utopia ‘Did women have a Renaissance?’ - Joan Kelly-Gadol, 1977 ‘Gender is the social organization of sexual difference’ - Joan Scott Classical writers on biology influential on the Renaissance • Aristotle (348-322 BCE) • Hippocrates (ca. 460 BCE – ca. 370 BCE) • Galen (129-200 CE) Aristotle on women Politics, Bk I “Again, the male is by nature superior, and the female inferior; and the one rules, and the other is ruled” “A husband and father... rules over wife and children, both free [i.e. neither is a slave], but the rule differs, the rule over his children being a royal, over his wife a constitutional rule. For although there may be exceptions to the order of nature [i.e. occasionally a wife may be wiser than her husband], the male is by nature fitter for command than the female... But in most constitutional states the citizens rule and are ruled by turns, for the idea of a constitutional state implies that the natures of the citizens are equal, and do not differ at all. Nevertheless, when one rules and the other is ruled we endeavour to create a difference of outward forms and names and titles of respect... The relation of the male to the female is of this kind, but there the inequality is permanent.” Two texts of Renaissance social theory • Francesco Barbaro, On wifely duties, 1416 • Leon Battista Alberti, On the family, 1432-4 Alberti on women and the family “The spirit of a man is much more robust than that of a woman, and it better withstands the onslaught of enemies; men are stronger and better suited to labour, they are more steadfast, and they can more honestly be permitted to travel to other lands buying and collecting fortune’s goods. On the contrary women are almost all seen to be of a timid nature, soft, slow, and for this reason they can more usefully sit upon and watch over things. It almost seems that nature wished thus to provide for our livelihood, wanting men to bring home things and women to preserve them. Let the woman, enclosed within the home, defend the family’s possessions…Let man defend his wife, his home, his family and his country, not idly but actively.” Leon Battista Alberti, On the family, Bk 3 Hercules at the Crossroads (1498) - Albrecht Dürer (prob. drawing on Xenophon’s Memorabilia) Famous women humanists in the fifteenth century Often from northern princely courts: Cecilia Gonzaga in Mantua (educated by Vittorino da Feltre Battista Montefeltro of Urbino, dedicatee of Leonardo Bruni’s work called ‘Literary Studies’ (1422-1429) Bruni on women and rhetorical performance ‘The art of delivery… pronuntiatio… is so far from being the concern of a woman that if she should gesture energetically with her arms as she spoke and shout with violent emphasis, she would probably be thought mad and put under restraint.’ Bruni, Literary Studies Two female humanists from the Veneto • Laura Cereta - daughter of one of the elite who governed Brescia • Isotta Nogarola – from Verona. Her first tutor was Martino Rizzoni, who had been taught by the famous Guarino da Verona A key patronage relationship Eleonora d’Aragona (1450-93), the wife of Ercole d’Este (ruler of Ferrara), and the painter Ercole de’ Roberti Portia and Brutus Ercole de’ Roberti The speech of Portia ‘Brutus, I am Cato’s daughter and I was given to you in marriage not just to share your bed and board like a concubine but to be a true partner in your joys and sorrows. I have no reproach to make to you, but what proof can I give you of my love if you forbid me to share the kind of trouble that demands a loyal friend to confide in, and keep your suffering to yourself ?’ - from Plutarch, Life of Brutus Plato’s Republic • Translated into Latin in 1402 • Text is an ideal account of an imaginary city called Kallipolis – the ‘beautiful city’ • Plato’s politics shocked Renaissance contemporaries – his advocacy of communist social arrangements among the rulers, etc. The world of Thomas More’s Utopia The meaning of Utopia The word is a pun, a verbal joke coined from classical Greek: eu+topos means a beautiful, or fine place ou+topos means no-place, a non-existent place. The Latinised (and now English) word U-topia combines both these ideas: a “beautiful noplace” Europe, c.1500 More’s education • 1478 - Born in London on 7 February 1478 • Leant basic Latin grammar and composition at primary school • 1490-2 - In the household service of the Lord Chancellor of England under Henry VII: John Morton, Archbishop of Canterbury • 1492-4 - At University of Oxford • 1494 - More returns to London to begin his professional legal training at the Inns of Court • As a law student, associated with an emerging tradition of Renaissance humanism in England, studying both Latin and Greek and coming into contact with influential neo-Platonic humanist John Colet, the founder of the first humanist grammar school in England, St Paul’s, in London. • More meets friend and collaborator Erasmus during the Dutchman’s visit to England in 1499. More’s political career • • • • Becomes member of Parliament in London by 1504 Acting as a judge in London by 1510 Conceives Utopia in 1515 – published in 1516 A member of Henry VIII’s royal council by 1517, and secretary to the king in this period • Becomes Lord Chancellor of England in 1529 • Resigns from chancellorship in 1532 in protest at Henry VIII’s attempts to enforce his authority over the Church in England. • Beheaded in 1535 for treason, having opposed the Henrician Act of Supremacy Desiderius Erasmus c.1469-1536 Utopia: the full title • Utopia’s subtitle – “On the best state of a commonwealth” - reminds us that More’s topic is far from an entirely new one for Renaissance political theory • Ancient precedents, esp. Plato’s Republic and (much more empirically and less speculatively) Aristotle’s Politics. In Roman political theory, Cicero and Seneca had enquired into what the best state of a commonwealth looked like. • Renaissance humanists from Petrarch onwards enquire into the best constitutional form of the res publica Lucian and the art of “playing seriously” – (“ludere serio”) • The treatment of serious themes in amusing and sometimes ridiculous tones, presenting arguments in a striking and entertaining manner • E.g. Lucian, Timon the Misanthrope – a seriously satirical look at wealth The Low Countries Raphael Hythloday What’s in a name? • Hythloday is very learned in Greek, and very interested in philosophy: but his last name in Greek means “expert in nonsense” • He is “a man of quite advanced years. The stranger had a sunburned face, a long beard and a cloak hanging loosely from his shoulders”. • He had sold up his worldly goods and signed up for a voyage of the Florentine explorer, Amerigo Vespucci, to the New World. • Vespucci’s account published in Latin in two versions in 1504 these help form a new genre of travel writing. Book I : the critique of society More’s suggestion: “If you would devote your time and energy to public affairs, you would be doing something worthy of a generous and truly philosophical nature…you could best perform such a service by joining the council of some great prince…” Hythloday’s refusal: he sees no reason why.. “I should enslave myself to any king whatsoever”. But, but, but… More from More (by way of explanation): “I do not meant that you should be in servitude to any king, only in his service”. Hythloday resists again: “The difference is only a matter of one syllable’. The critique (cont’d) • Pacifist in tone: contemporary kings are only interested in war instead of to ‘the good arts of peace’ • Scathing about flattery at court: ‘the counsellors of kings are so wise already that they don’t need advice from anyone else – or at least, they have that opinion of themselves…they endorse and flatter the most absurd statements of the prince’s special favourites, through whose influence they hope to stand with with the prince.’ Hythloday on England • Judicial system unjust and ineffective (hanging thieves) • Theft caused by rising poverty • Poverty caused by unequal distribution of goods in society • English society characterised by idle feudal nobility dependent on inherited wealth and the labour of others: “For there are a great many noblemen who lively idly like drones off the labour of others, their tenants whom they bleed white by constantly raising their rents… these gentry drag around with them a great train of idle servants who have never learned any trade by which they could make a living” Enclosures • Rising poverty caused by enclosures: “Your sheep… that commonly are so meek and eat so little…have become so greedy and fierce that they devour men themselves. They devastate and depopulate fields, houses and towns….” Hythloday’s conclusion “Unless private property is entirely abolished, there can be no fair or just distribution of goods, nor can mankind be happily governed. As long as private property remains, by far the largest and best part of mankind will be oppressed by a heavy and inescapable burden of poverty and anxieties…the social evils I mentioned may be alleviated and their effects mitigated for a while, but so long as private property remains, there is no hope at all of effecting a cure and restoring society to good health. While you try to cure one part, you aggravate the disease in other parts”. Two main problems, then… In the current state of affairs, there is: • No justice • No happiness “As long as you have private property, and as long as money is the measure of all things, it is scarcely ever possible for a commonwealth to be just or happy.” (Bk 1, p.35) Hythloday’s claim “When I consider all these things, I become more sympathetic to Plato, and do not wonder that he declined to make laws for any people who refused to share their goods equally. Wisest of men, he saw easily that the one and only road to the welfare of all lies through the absolute equality of goods.” Bk 1, p. 36 BUT NOTE: this is not exactly what Plato himself had argued… Platonic theory and Utopian practice: another key passage “Though my advice may be repugnant and irksome to the King’s councillors, I don’t see why they should consider it eccentric to the point of folly. What if I told them the kind of thing that Plato advocates in his republic, or that the Utopians actually practice in theirs? However superior those institutions might be (and as a matter of fact they are), yet here they would seem inappropriate, because private property is the rule here, and there all things are held in common.” (Hythloday, in Bk 1, pp. 35-6) Communism ‘[Communism is] the belief that society should be organised without private property, all productive property being held communally, publicly or in common. A communistic system is one based on a community of goods. It is generally provided as a positive alternative to competition, a system which is thought to divide people; communism is expected to draw people together and to create a community. In most cases the arguments for communism advocate replacing competition with co-operation either for its own sake or to provide a goal such as equality, or to free specific groups of people to serve a higher ideal such as the state or God.’ (Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy, 1998) Property • Come from the Latin word: proprietas • Denotes the quality, or characteristic, which distinguishes something from another (e.g the property of oxygen is…) • Denotes that which belongs to something/ someone and not another What Plato had argued in The Republic • Society divided into three classes – economic (producers), military (auxiliaries) and ruling class (guardians) • Communist principle applied only to the military and ruling elite – NOT the whole of the society • No ownership among this group – they share a community of things provided for them by the economic class, but they do not own those things • Communist social arrangements: abolition of marriage, nuclear family • Plato breaking down divisions between ‘mine’ and ‘thine’ in order to focus ruling group upon the need to govern for the good of the city as a whole And Christian teaching… “If we dismiss as out of the question and absurd everything which the perverse customs of men have made to seem alien to us, we shall have to set aside most of the commandments of Christ, even in a community of Christians.” (Hythloday, Bk 1, p. 34) ‘After they had heard from us the name of Christ and learned of his teachings… you would not believe how eagerly they assented to it…I think they were also much influenced by the fact that Christ approved a communal way of life for his disciples and that among the truest communities of Christians, the practice still prevails’. (Hythloday, Bk 2, p.85) The Bible on wealth and poverty Two types of authoritative citations: a) the words of Christ in the Gospels of the New Testament b) the practices of the early church in Acts of the Apostles Acts 4:32-37 “All who believed were together and had all things in common; and they sold their possessions and goods and distributed them to all, as had any need… the company of those who believed was of one heart and soul, and no one said that any of the things which he possessed was his own, but they had everything in common.. there was not a needy person among them, for as many as were possessors of lands or houses sold them, and brought the proceeds of what was sold and laid at the apostles’ feet; and distribution was made to each, as had need.” Gospel of St Matthew, ch.19, vs. 16-30: “Jesus said to him: if you would be perfect, go, sell what you possess and give to the poor and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me…Truly, I say unto you, it will be hard for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of heaven. Again, I tell you: it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.” Three sources for the solution (according to Hythloday) a) Platonic doctrine + b) Christian doctrine = c) Utopian practice The socio-political organisation of Utopia • Founded by a king, King Utopus, but now a firmly republican constitution: • Constitution is mixed, and constructed around principles of election and representation • Basic social unit: household headed by a master or mistress, consisting of approx. 13 adults, plus children. Organised principally around kinship. 6,000 households per city (total population of each city well over 100,000 - i.e. size of major European city) • 54 cities on Utopia. A city has surrounding countryside for economic needs. Selfsustaining • Households organized into groups of 30, with an elected representative called a phylarch (meaning in Greek a head of a tribe), who holds office for a year • Over the top of every ten of these officials is a higher person, called a tranibor, or head phylarch, also only a year- long office • In every city, 200 phylarchs and 20 tranibors. They elect a prince of the city: a lifetime appointment (the tranibors acting as an advisory senate to the prince). But candidates for prince are selected by popular vote, we are told. The ruling government of each city is formed by this mixed constitution • Cities linked together in a federation: they all send three representatives once a year to the capital of Utopia, called Amaurot, ‘to consider affairs of common interest’. a large council made up of popular representatives. The communism of Utopia • No private property. Everyone lives in the same type of house, and only for as long as ten years, when they are exchanged. Each house does have a garden, which seems to offer some room for creativity and even gentle competition among house occupiers. But houses are designed to allow for general access to the public • Public meals in public halls • Utopians seem to prefer public to private worship • Before marriage, the private parts of the body must be made public to the the partner involved. • A uniform dress code: no marks of social distinction • Stigma - social shame - attached to retreating to the private realm The division of labour • Organisation of labour along communal lines. “Farming is the one job at which everybody works, men and women alike, with no exception” • Shared manual labour “No one has to exhaust himself with endless toil from early morning to late at night, as if he were a beast of burden. Such wretchedness, really worse than slavery, is the common lot of workmen almost everywhere except in Utopia” • Everyone also learns and practices a trade: linen-making, masonry, metal-work and so on. Some division of labour here among the sexes: • No-one works for more than six hours hours a day: three hours in the morning, three after lunch, then free time till 8 o’clock, when you sleep for eight hours: “the other hours of the day…are left to each man’s individual discretion”. The organising principle of Utopian society “The chief aim of their constitution is that, as far as public needs permit, all citizens should be free to withdraw from the service of the body and devote themselves to the freedom and culture of the mind. For that, they think, is the real happiness of life” (Utopia, Bk II) Happiness – an Epicurean view? • “They seem rather too inclined to the view that all or the most part of human happiness consists of pleasure…they seek support for this comfortable opinion from their religion, which is serious and strict” • “The Utopians think happiness is found, not in every kind of pleasure, but only in good and honest pleasure” • “By pleasure they understand every state or movement of the body or mind in which man finds delight according to nature” • “They distinguish several classes of true pleasure, some being pleasures of the mind and others pleasures of the body. Those of the mind are knowledge and the delight that arises from contemplating the truth, also the gratification of looking back on a well-spent life and the unquestioning hope of happiness to come.” A money-free economy • No money in Utopia • Gold and silver have absolutely no value. On the contrary, a useful metal like iron is much more prized • Jewels considered precious elsewhere are used to make toys for babies, who seem to take delight in shiny bright little things • The Utopians laugh about the foreign ambassadors who once visited the city, decked out in gold and silver, to the astonishment and ridicule of the children on the island: “Look at that big lout, mother, who’s still wearing pearls and jewels as if he were a little kid” – a story which encapsulates perfectly the inversion of contemporary values that Utopia embodies The point of Utopia? Ambivalence, ambiguity, irony: some serious playing around The account is given by a person called Hythloday - an ‘expert in nonsense’ – who praises a place called ‘No place’ and his views – many of which are clearly not nonsense - are reported by a character called More, who often criticizes them. Amaurot (capital) – pun on the Greek (meaning ‘made dark or dim’ Anyder (river) - pun on the Greek – means ‘waterless’. Utopian men, not hens, hatch the eggs of their chickens by keeping them incubated at an even temperature. Morally unsettling features? • Social conformity and uniformity: almost monastic arrangements, the restrictions on freedom of movement • A slave-owning society – how ideal can it be? • Utopian society not Christian; it endorses euthanasia and divorce as rational social practices, etc. Is ‘More’ convinced by the end? In his final words… “While I can hardly agree with everything he said…yet I freely confess that in the Utopian commonwealth there are many features that in our own societies I would like, rather than, expect, to see.” Bk 2 Two lines of interpretation a) It really is Utopian: a humanist critique of humanist beliefs. He is saying that if we really believe in this classical philosophy that underpins our stated beliefs - if we were really following through with complete coherence on our philosophical principles which we are espousing - we would produce an image like Utopia Utopia thus a benchmark against which to measure our present arrangements Conclusion: our practices lag behind our principles, so the former should therefore be changed. Or, alternatively… b) Utopia a disturbingly non-ideal vision which you get if you draw out all the logical consequences of various humanist positions, a way of showing the dangers of what happens when you leave behind the Christian principles of social and political organisation in order to embrace an entirely classical vision along, say, Platonic lines Conclusion: our practices should NOT follow our profession of principles, so let’s change what we are saying… More on business The character of More in Book I of Utopia tells us: ‘Most of my day is given to the law – pleading some cases, hearing others, compromising others, and deciding still others…almost the whole day is devoted to other people’s business… for myself – that is, my studies – there’s nothing left… when I get home, I have to talk with my wife, chatter with my children, consult with the servants. All these matters I consider my business… amid these concerns, the day, the month and the year slip away.’ The island and alphabet of Utopia Thomas More, Utopia, 1516 How to do well in history essays There are some ​basic​ criteria which you must demonstrably meet in your written work in order to receive a passing grade: 1) 2) 3) 4) Hand it in on time Write no less, and no more, than the specified amount Format it correctly Ensure that it is based both on the relevant primary AND on the secondary sources of the course 5) Use the arguments, insights and information provided during class If you do not do these things, you will lose grade points. But there are ​additional qualities which you need to cultivate as an historian in order to do well on your essay assignments. Here are eight guidelines for writing good papers: 1) Before you start any writing, spend a good amount of time considering the language of the question you have chosen to answer. Do NOT think of the questions you are given simply as “prompts”. Each question asks you to consider a particular historical problem; each question requires you to respond to the specific terms in which that problem is framed. 2) Before writing, plan an outline of the essay. Your answer should have a coherent and logical structure from beginning to end. Its opening should contain an outline of your general argument (some kind of statement of your thesis); it should unfold in progressive stages divided into paragraphs of appropriate length, and it should conclude properly. Good conclusions ​briefly recapitulate the central points of an argument in order to show that the question has been sufficiently answered; but they often also broaden out – again, 1 briefly - to discuss related historical issues, or point to wider perspectives. 3) Each paragraph should be organized around an idea or theme or argument. It should not simply be a chronological narrative of events. 4) Every claim you make in your essay should be supported by proof derived principally from primary source material. The primary material is the textual basis of your historical evidence, and it must be cited accordingly. 5) In answering the question you have chosen, you will also always be expected to demonstrate knowledge of the secondary historiography you have been set. A capacity to describe the interpretations of the relevant modern historians, and identify the strengths and weakness of their positions and arguments, must be on display. The best answers to historical questions thread a path through existing interpretations in the light of the primary sources. 6) Your essays must be informed by the relevant material which is presented to you only in class. Failure to demonstrate learning from class will cost you grade points. 7) Clarity of expression is crucial. Complex arguments are often best expressed in lucid, clear statements. If you don’t understand what you are saying on the page, your reader almost certainly won’t; so try to reformulate your thoughts in more straightforward language, if necessary. You will be judged upon your ability not only to communicate your ideas and arguments accurately and grammatically but also fluently. Before turning in your work, read your argument to yourself to see if it flows. 2 8) Never, ever turn in work that you have not properly proof-read. You must try to eliminate all errors of grammar, spelling, and fact before submitting work. 3 
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