Thomas Starkey

Thomas Starkey (* 1490, † 1538 in Oxford ) was an English humanist and political thinker.

Life

Starkey was a graduate of Oxford University and taught at Magdalen College natural sciences. To 1531, he joined Italy in the services of Reginald Pole and was 1534 House preacher of Poles mother, Margaret Pole, 8th Countess of Salisbury. Shortly thereafter, he received the appointment as royal chaplain. 1535 commissioned him to King Henry VIII, poles letter to persuade them to return to England and to make his mind about the divorce of King identified. His efforts were fruitless. Nevertheless, the king rewarded him and appointed him master of Corpus Christi College, Oxford ( 1536). His most famous works are " Exhortation to Christian Unity " ( 1534) and " Dialogue between Cardinal Pole and Thomas Lupset " ( 1536-38 ). The "Dialogue " describes the ills of life in England at that time, and discussed the question of the public good. The author tried to discover the nature of the true community and the ways to set this up in England. The work is imbued with humanistic utilitarianism. In addition to Thomas More "Utopia" it represents the most outstanding literary work about British policy in that age