Allowing for a range of uncertainties, it is most likely true that the original text of "Sir Thomas More" was written c. 1591–93, with a special focus on 1592–93 when the subject of hostility against "aliens" was topical in London. Edmund Tylney censored the play when it was submitted to him for approval at that time, for this topicality as well as for more general considerations of controlling political expression on the stage. The effort at revision is difficult to date; many scholars have favoured c. 1596, though a date as late as c. 1604 is also possible.