The term "Tudor" is a later historical label. During their reign, the family avoided the name because it highlighted their Welsh roots, which rivals used to undermine their claim to the throne. Their Welshness was a source of precarity, not pride.
Shakespeare's brilliance wasn't born in a vacuum. It was the product of a widespread increase in free grammar schools, driven by Humanism and the Reformation. This education system provided him with the essential tools of classical rhetoric and storytelling structures.
We view the surveillance and lack of individuality in *Utopia* as dystopian due to post-Enlightenment values. However, More intended this as a feature. He saw individuality as the sin of pride and designed Utopia to prioritize the public and shared over the private.
In the 16th century, as governance transitioned from late-medieval informal systems to more formalized "early modern" institutions, women were systematically excluded. Their presence and power were stronger in the less structured political world that preceded this institutionalization.
The film lionizes More as a champion of individual conscience against the state. This is a historical inversion. More's actual principle was the supremacy of the unified Catholic Church *over* individual authority—the very thing he saw as the danger in Lutheranism.
Rather than labeling More as simply "evil" for persecuting heretics, it's more accurate to see his actions as stemming from fear. He believed the Lutheran heresy would lead to the complete breakdown of his society, and this conviction fueled his violent opposition.
The Scientific Revolution was not a triumph of reason over mysticism. Key methodologies for experimentation were developed through occult pursuits like alchemy and the search for the philosopher's stone. Early scientific pioneers like Francis Bacon were deeply involved in both worlds.
The rise of figures like Cromwell wasn't accidental. It was a strategy, started by Henry VII, to elevate capable men from lower classes into government. This created a powerful administrative class loyal to the crown and, crucially, disposable, which allowed the monarch to sideline the powerful nobility.
Their famous friendship wasn't a simple meeting of minds. More found Erasmus to be "high maintenance," and their relationship ultimately broke down over More's decision to become Lord Chancellor and abandon his scholarly life, not over theological differences.
More's work is not just satire. It posits that 16th-century European society is built on artificial constructs like money and property. In contrast, the island of Utopia, by prioritizing essentials like virtue and utility, represents a truer, more "real" form of existence.