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1500Leonardo da Vinci
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1505Tower of London
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1509Henry VIII's Coronation
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1511Jousting Rules
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1511Catherine of Aragon's pregnancy
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1516Utopia by Thomas More
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1518Songs written by Henry VIII
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1520The Field of Cloth of Gold
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1526First printed Bible in English
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1528Henry VIII's 'Great Matter'
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1534Last letter from Thomas More to Henry VIII
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1539Dissolution of the Monasteries
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1540Henry VIII's Great Bible
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1540Henry VIII's Psalter
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1543Minstrels at a feast
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1543Chopping Wood
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1543Vesalius's anatomy lessons
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1543Copernicus
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1547Edward VI's diary
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1549Henry VIII's assets
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1553Letter from Elizabeth I
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1556Circular zodiac chart
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1558Elizabeth I's Map
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1567The First National Lottery
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1570Elizabeth I in a golden chariot
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1575Handwritten recipe
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1577Elizabethan dress codes
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1582First English Dictionary
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1585Recipe for pancakes
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1587Mary Queen of Scots
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1588Elizabeth's Tilbury speech
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1592Elizabethan thieves
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1592Doctor Faustus by Marlowe
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1595A cure for drunkenness
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Intro
Sir Thomas More (1477 - 1535) was the first person to write of a 'utopia', a word used to describe a perfect imaginary world. More's book imagines a complex, self-contained community set on an island, in which people share a common culture and way of life. He coined the word 'utopia' from the Greek ou-topos meaning 'no place' or 'nowhere'. It was a pun - the almost identical Greek word eu-topos means 'a good place'. So at the very heart of the word is a vital question: can a perfect world ever be realised? It is unclear as to whether the book is a serious projection of a better way of life, or a satire that gave More a platform from which to discuss the chaos of European politics.
More was an English lawyer, writer, and statesman. He was at one time, one of Henry VIII's most trusted civil servants, becoming Chancellor of England in 1529.
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