Claimed by Thomas More
Serves 6 · 2 of 7 items checked · 4 aisles
Produce
Dairy & Eggs
- Checked by Desiderius Erasmus
Pantry / Durable
- Checked by Thomas More
Gathering
A commonwealth imagined
1516 · London, England
More shares the manuscript of Utopia with Erasmus, Machiavelli, and Copernicus and tests its argument against their objections.
More has just finished the little book he calls Utopia, and Erasmus, who encouraged him to write it, has come to London to read it in manuscript. Machiavelli is in England on business and has been drawn into the circle by his reputation; Copernicus is on a rare visit north and is more interested in the book's astronomy than its politics.
More reads aloud the passage in which the traveller Hythloday describes an island without private property, and the argument that follows is friendly but sharp. Machiavelli asks who would defend such a place; Erasmus asks whether it is a model or a joke; Copernicus asks what sun it orbits. Over rice in broth, roast pheasant, and biscuits with sweet wine, none of them can agree, which is exactly what More intended.
The table
Host: Thomas More
Desiderius Erasmus — More's closest friend and the book's first enthusiastic reader.
Niccolò Machiavelli — In England on business, skeptical of commonwealths without arms.
Nicolaus Copernicus — A visitor whose own book is still years from publication.
The menu
Everything you need to host this menu, sorted aisle by aisle:
The menu
9 of 26 items checked
Claimed by Desiderius Erasmus
Serves 4 · 3 of 7 items checked · 6 aisles
Claimed by Niccolò Machiavelli
Serves 4 · 1 of 5 items checked · 3 aisles
Claimed by Nicolaus Copernicus
Serves 12 · 2 of 6 items checked · 2 aisles
Claimed by Thomas More
Serves 12 · 1 of 1 item checked · 1 aisle
The conversation
Thomas More
In Utopia no one owns the land and no one is idle. I do not say it exists; I say it is worth imagining.
Niccolò Machiavelli
Imagining is not governing. Men are not good enough for such a commonwealth.
Desiderius Erasmus
Yet we print the dream, and a printed dream travels further than a decree.
Nicolaus Copernicus
As the earth travels, so does the book. The press and the sphere are both instruments of a larger world.
A reconstruction — imagined from the figures' own writings.
This gathering is an editorial recreation grounded in the biographies of those present; it did not necessarily take place as described.