Like More himself, Peter Giles is both a historical personage and a character in Utopia. Historically, he was a pupil and friend of the great Dutch humanist Erasmus, and he was appointed Chief Secretary of Antwerp in 1510; in 1515, it was Erasmus himself who introduced Giles to More. In the work, More describes Giles as a citizen of Antwerp, honest, learned, virtuous, kind-hearted, and loving. More finds Giles’s conversation both merry and pleasant, and it makes him feel less homesick to have such an entertaining new friend. Moreover, Giles introduces More to . Although Giles doesn’t often speak in Utopia, he is important as a representative of the culture of Renaissance humanism—so highly esteemed by More— which valued the humanities, especially the revival of classical literature and rhetoric, as a means of encouraging virtue and civic ethics in society.