Array ( [0] => {{Short description|Dutch humanist (c.1469–1536)}} [1] => {{other uses}} [2] => {{Use dmy dates|date=September 2020}} [3] => {{Infobox scholar [4] => | name = Erasmus [5] => | school_tradition = {{ublist|[[Renaissance humanism]]}} [6] => | era = [[Northern Renaissance]] [7] => | image = Holbein-erasmus.jpg [8] => | caption = ''[[Portrait of Erasmus of Rotterdam]]'' (1523)
by [[Hans Holbein the Younger]]
resting his hands on a Greek ''The Labours of Hercules'',{{cite journal |last1=Bacchi |first1=Elisa |title=Hercules, silenus and the fly : Lucian's rhetorical paradoxes in Erasmus' ethics |journal=Philosophical Readings |date=2019 |volume=11 |issue=2 |pages=120–130 |doi=10.5281/zenodo.2554134 |url=https://biblio.ugent.be/publication/8607612 |issn=2036-4989}} [[Portrait of Erasmus of Rotterdam#London|"arguably…the most important portrait in England"]] [9] => | other_names = {{Plainlist}} [10] => * Desiderius Erasmus Roterodamus [11] => * Erasmus of Rotterdam [12] => {{Endplainlist}} [13] => | birth_date = {{Circa|28 October 1466}} [14] => | birth_place = [[Rotterdam]] or [[Gouda, South Holland|Gouda]], [[Burgundian Netherlands]], [[Holy Roman Empire]] [15] => | module = {{Infobox clergy [16] => |child = yes [17] => |religion = [[Christianity]] [18] => |church = [[Catholic Church]] [19] => |ordained = 25 April 1492 [20] => }} [21] => | known_for = [22] => New Testament translations and exegesis, satire, [[pacificism]], letters, best-selling author and editor, and influencer [23] => | death_date = {{Death date and age|1536|07|12|1466|10|28|df=yes}} [24] => | death_place = [[Basel]], [[Old Swiss Confederacy]] [25] => | education = {{ublist|[[Collège de Montaigu|University of Paris]]| [26] => [[Queens' College, Cambridge]]| [27] => [[University of Turin]] ([[D.D.|STD]], 1506)}} [28] => | workplaces = {{ublist| [29] => [[University of Cambridge]]| [30] => [[University of Oxford]]| [31] => [[Old University of Leuven|University of Leuven]]}} [32] => | main_interests = {{Flatlist}} [33] => * ''Bonae litterae'' [34] => * [[Philology]] [35] => * [[Pastoral theology]] [36] => * [[Patristics]] [37] => * [[Catholic theology]] [38] => * [[Political philosophy]] [39] => * [[Philosophy of education]] [40] => * [[Criticism of Protestantism]] [41] => {{Endflatlist}} [42] => | notable_works = {{Flatlist}} [43] => *''[[The Praise of Folly]]'' [44] => *''[[Handbook of a Christian Knight]]'' [45] => *''[[On Civility in Children]]'' [46] => *''[[Julius Excluded from Heaven|Julius Excluded]]'' [47] => *''[[The Education of a Christian Prince]]'' [48] => *''[[Novum Instrumentum omne]]'' [49] => *''[[De libero arbitrio diatribe sive collatio|On Free Will]]'' [50] => {{Endflatlist}} [51] => | notable_ideas = {{Flatlist}} [52] => * ''Philosophia Christi'' [53] => * Biblical [[ad fontes]] [54] => *[[Erasmian pronunciation]] [55] => * Critique of [[just war theory]] [56] => * [[Accommodation (religion)|accommodation]] [57] => * [[Lectio difficilior potior]] [58] => {{Endflatlist}} [59] => | influences = {{Flatlist}} [60] => *[[Jerome]] [61] => *[[Origen]] [62] => *[[Lorenzo Valla]] [63] => *[[John Colet]] [64] => *[[Thomas More]] [65] => * Jean Vitrier [66] => *[[John Fisher]] [67] => *[[Thomas Linacre]] [68] => *[[William Grocyn]] [69] => *[[Aldus Manutius]] [70] => *[[Cicero]] [71] => *[[Socrates]] [72] => *[[Augustine of Hippo]] [73] => *[[Thomas Aquinas]] [74] => *[[Giovanni Pico della Mirandola]] [75] => {{Endflatlist}} [76] => | influenced = {{Flatlist}} [77] => *[[Thomas More]] [78] => *[[John Fisher]] [79] => *[[John Colet]] [80] => *[[Jacques Lefèvre d'Étaples]] [81] => *[[Martin Luther]] [82] => *[[Philip Melanchthon]] [83] => *[[Huldrych Zwingli]] [84] => *[[Johannes Oecolampadius]] [85] => *[[William Tyndale]] [86] => *[[John Calvin]] [87] => *[[Jacob Milich]] [88] => *[[Wolfgang Capito]] [89] => *[[Damião de Góis]] [90] => *[[Rabelais]] [91] => *[[Miguel de Cervantes]] [92] => *[[William Shakespeare]] [93] => *[[John Milton]] [94] => *[[Pius V]] [95] => *[[Peter Canisius]] [96] => *[[Robert Bellarmine]] [97] => *[[Ignatius of Loyola]] [98] => *[[Francis Xavier]] [99] => *[[Charles Borromeo]] [100] => *[[John of Ávila]] [101] => *[[Teresa of Ávila]] [102] => *[[Francis De Sales]] [103] => *[[John Henry Newman]] [104] => *[[Henri de Lubac]] [105] => {{Endflatlist}} [106] => | awards= Counsellor to [[Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor|Charles V.]] (hon.) [107] => }} [108] => '''Desiderius Erasmus Roterodamus''' ({{IPAc-en|ˌ|d|ɛ|z|ɪ|ˈ|d|ɪər|i|ə|s|_|ɪ|ˈ|r|æ|z|m|ə|s}}; {{IPA-nl|ˌdeːziˈdeːriʏs eˈrɑsmʏs|lang}}; English: '''Erasmus of Rotterdam''' or '''Erasmus'''; 28 October c.1466 – 12 July 1536) was a [[County of Holland|Dutch]] [[Christian humanism|Christian humanist]], [[Catholic Church|Catholic]] [[Catholic theology|theologian]], [[Education sciences|educationalist]], [[Menippean satire|satirist]], and [[philosopher]]. Through his vast number of translations, books, essays, prayers and letters, he is considered one of the most influential thinkers of the [[Northern Renaissance]] and one of the major figures of Dutch and Western culture.{{cite web|author1-link=James Tracy (historian)|last1=Tracy|first1=James D.|title=Desiderius Erasmus Biography & Facts|url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Desiderius-Erasmus|website=Encyclopædia Britannica|access-date=29 May 2018}}Sauer, J. (1909). [http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/05510b.htm Desiderius Erasmus] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100613002254/http://newadvent.org/cathen/05510b.htm |date=13 June 2010 }}. In The [[Catholic Encyclopedia]]. New York: Robert Appleton Company. Retrieved 10 August 2019 from New Advent: http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/05510b.htm [109] => [110] => He was an important figure in classical scholarship who wrote in a spontaneous, copious and natural [[Latin]] style. As a [[Catholic priest]] developing [[Philology|humanist techniques]] for working on texts, he [[Novum Instrumentum omne|prepared]] important new [[Vulgate|Latin]] and [[Biblical Greek|Greek]] editions of the [[New Testament]], which raised questions that would be influential in the [[Reformation]] and [[Counter-Reformation]]. He also wrote ''[[De libero arbitrio diatribe sive collatio|On Free Will]],'' ''[[The Praise of Folly]]'', ''[[Handbook of a Christian Knight]]'', ''[[On Civility in Children]]'', ''[[Copia: Foundations of the Abundant Style]]'' and many other works. [111] => [112] => Erasmus lived against the backdrop of the growing European religious [[Reformation]]. He developed a biblical humanistic theology in which he advocated tolerance, concord and free thinking on ''[[Adiaphora|matters of indifference]]''. He remained a member of the [[Catholic Church]] all his life, remaining committed to reforming the Church from within. He promoted the traditional doctrine of [[synergism]], which some prominent Reformers such as [[Martin Luther]] and [[John Calvin]] rejected in favor of the doctrine of [[monergism]]. His [[via media|middle-road]] approach disappointed, and even angered, partisans in both camps. [113] => [114] => ==Biography== [115] => Erasmus's almost 70 years can be divided into quarters. [116] => [117] => * First was his medieval Dutch childhood, ending with his being orphaned and impoverished; [118] => * second, his struggling years as a canon (a kind of semi-monk), a clerk, a priest, a failing and sickly university student, a would-be poet, and a tutor; [119] => * third, his flourishing but peripatetic years of increasing focus and literary productivity following his 1499 contact with a reformist English circle, then with radical French Franciscan Jean Vitrier (or Voirier) and later with the Greek-speaking Aldine New Academy in Venice; and [120] => * fourth, his final more secure and settled [[Black Forest]] years, in [[Basel]] and as a religious refugee in [[Freiburg]], as a prime influencer of European thought through his New Testament and increasing public opposition to aspects of Lutheranism. [121] => [122] => ===Early life=== [123] => [[File:Rotterdam standbeeld Erasmus.jpg|thumb|left|upright|200px|[[Statue of Erasmus]] in Rotterdam. Gilded bronze statue by [[Hendrick de Keyser]] (1622), replacing a stone (1557), and a wooden (1549).]] [124] => Desiderius Erasmus is reported to have been born in [[Rotterdam]] on 27 or 28 October ("the vigil of Simon and Jude"){{cite journal |last1=Olin |first1=John |title=Introduction: Erasmus, a Biographical Sketch |journal=Christian Humanism and the Reformation |date=23 October 2020 |pages=1–38 |doi=10.1515/9780823295289-004|isbn=978-0-8232-9528-9 }} in the late-1460s. [125] => He was named''Erasmus'' was his [[Christian name|baptismal name]], given after [[Erasmus of Formia]]e. ''Desiderius'' was an adopted additional name, which he used from 1496. The ''Roterodamus'' was a scholarly name meaning "from Rotterdam", though the Latin genitive would be {{lang|la|Roterdamensis}}. after [[Erasmus of Formia]]e, whom Erasmus' father Gerard (Gerardus Helye) personally favored.{{Cite journal|title = Due codici scritti da 'Gerardus Helye' padre di Erasmo|journal= Italia Medioevale e Umanistica|volume= 26 |pages= 215–55, esp. 238–39|last = Avarucci|first = Giuseppe|year = 1983|language=it}}Huizinga, ''Erasmus'', pp. 4 and 6 (Dutch-language version) Although associated closely with Rotterdam, he lived there for only four years, never to return afterwards. [126] => [127] => The year of Erasmus' birth is unclear: in later life he calculated his age as if born in 1466, but frequently his remembered age at major events actually implies 1469.{{ cite periodical| first=Harry | last=Vredeveld | title=The Ages of Erasmus and the Year of his Birth | magazine=Renaissance Quarterly | volume= 46| number= 4 | date=Winter 1993|pages= 754–809 |jstor= 3039022}}{{rp|8}} (This article currently gives 1466 as the birth year.{{cite encyclopedia| url= http://plato.stanford.edu/archives/win2009/entries/erasmus/#LifWor | title= Desiderius Erasmus | publisher= [[Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy]]| encyclopedia= Winter 2009 Edition| last= Nauert | first= Charles | access-date=2012-02-10}}{{ cite periodical| last= Gleason | first=John B. |title=The Birth Dates of John Colet and Erasmus of Rotterdam: Fresh Documentary Evidence|magazine= Renaissance Quarterly|publisher= The University of Chicago Press on behalf of the Renaissance Society of America|volume= 32|number= 1 |date=Spring 1979| pages= 73–76 |jstor= 2859872}} To handle this disagreement, ages are given first based on 1469, then in parentheses based on 1466: e.g., "20 (or 23)".) Furthermore, many details of his early life must be gleaned from a fictionalized third-person account he wrote in 1516 (published in 1529) in a letter to a fictitious Papal secretary, Lambertus Grunnius ("Mr. Grunt"). [128] => [129] => His parents could not be legally married: his father, Gerard, was a Catholic priestCornelius Augustijn, ''Erasmus: His life, work and influence'', University of Toronto, 1991 who may have spent up to six years in the 1450s or 60s in Italy as a scribe and scholar.{{rp|196}} His mother was Margaretha Rogerius (Latinized form of Dutch surname Rutgers),{{Cite web |url=https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/05510b.htm |title=Catholic Encyclopedia |access-date=1 May 2023}} the daughter of a doctor from [[Zevenbergen]]. She may have been Gerard's housekeeper.The 19th century novel ''[[The Cloister and the Hearth]]'', by [[Charles Reade]], is an account of the lives of Erasmus's parents. [130] => Although he was born out of wedlock, Erasmus was cared for by his parents, with a loving household and the best education, until their early deaths from [[Black Death|the bubonic plague]] in 1483. His only sibling Peter might have been born in 1463, and some writers suggest Margaret was a widow and Peter was the half-brother of Erasmus; Erasmus on the other side called him his brother. There were legal and social restrictions on the careers and opportunities open to the children of unwed parents. [131] => [132] => Erasmus' own story, in the possibly forged 1524 ''{{lang|la|Compendium vitae Erasmi}}'' was along the lines that his parents were engaged, with the formal marriage blocked by his relatives (presumably a young widow or unmarried mother with a child was not an advantageous match); his father went to Italy to study Latin and Greek, and the relatives mislead Gerard that Margaretha had died, on which news grieving Gerard romantically took Holy Orders, only to find on his return that Margaretha was alive; many scholars dispute this account.{{cite journal |last1=Grendler |first1=Paul F. |title=In Praise of Erasmus |journal=The Wilson Quarterly |date=1983 |volume=7 |issue=2 |pages=88–101 |jstor=40256471 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/40256471 |issn=0363-3276}}{{rp|89}} [133] => [134] => In 1471 his father became the vice-curate of the small town of [[Woerden]] (where young Erasmus may have attended the local vernacular school to learn to read and write) and in 1476 was promoted to the vice-curate of [[Gouda, South Holland|Gouda]].{{cite journal |last1=Goudriaan |first1=Koen |title=New Evidence on Erasmus' Youth |journal=Erasmus Studies |date=6 September 2019 |volume=39 |issue=2 |pages=184–216 |doi=10.1163/18749275-03902002|hdl=1871.1/2eb41bd4-6929-41be-a984-94747300015a |s2cid=203519815 |url=https://research.vu.nl/en/publications/2eb41bd4-6929-41be-a984-94747300015a |hdl-access=free }} [135] => [136] => Erasmus was given the highest education available to a young man of his day, in a series of monastic or semi-monastic schools. In 1476, at the age of 6 (or 9), his family moved to Gouda and he started at the school of Mr Pieter Winckel, who later became his guardian (and, perhaps, diverted Erasmus and Peter's inheritance.) (Historians who date his birth in 1466 have Erasmus in Utrecht at the choir school at this period.{{cite journal |last1=Miller |first1=Clement A. |title=Erasmus on Music |journal=The Musical Quarterly |date=1966 |volume=52 |issue=3 |pages=332–349 |doi=10.1093/mq/LII.3.332 |jstor=3085961 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/3085961 |issn=0027-4631}}) [137] => [138] => In 1478, at the age of 9 (or 12), he and his older brother Peter were sent to one of the best Latin schools in the Netherlands, located at [[Deventer]] and owned by the chapter clergy of the [[Lebuïnuskerk, Deventer|Lebuïnuskerk]] (St. Lebuin's Church). Towards the end of his stay there the curriculum was renewed by the new principal of the school, [[Alexander Hegius von Heek|Alexander Hegius]], a correspondent of pioneering rhetorician [[Rudolphus Agricola]]. For the first time in Europe north of the Alps, Greek was taught at a lower level than a university{{cite web |title=Alexander Hegius |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Alexander-Hegius |website=Encyclopedia Britannica |access-date=1 May 2023}} and this is where he began learning it.Peter Nissen: ''Geloven in de Lage landen; scharniermomenten in de geschiedenis van het christendom''. Davidsfonds/Leuven, 2004. His education there ended when plague struck the city about 1483,{{cite book |last1=Roosen |first1=Joris |title=The Black Death and recurring plague during the late Middle Ages in the County of Hainaut: Differential impact and diverging recovery |date=2020 |isbn=978-94-6416-146-5 |page=174 |url=https://dspace.library.uu.nl/bitstream/handle/1874/399979/dissertatie-joris%20roosen-full%20-%205f744c300d822.pdf?sequence=1 |access-date=20 July 2023}} and his mother, who had moved to provide a home for her sons, died from the infection. Following the death of his parents and 20 students at his school he moved back to his ''{{lang|la|patria}}'' (Rotterdam?) where he was supported by Berthe de Heyden,DeMolen, Richard L. (1976),p.13 a compassionate widow.{{cite journal |last1=DeMolen |first1=Richard L. |title=Erasmus as Adolescent: "Shipwrecked am I, and lost, 'mid waters chill'": Erasmus to Sister Elisabeth |journal=Bibliothèque d'Humanisme et Renaissance |date=1976 |volume=38 |issue=1 |pages=7–25 |jstor=20675524 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/20675524 |issn=0006-1999}} [139] => [[File:Hieronymus Bosch - Triptych of Temptation of St Anthony - WGA2585.jpg|thumb|centre|300px|[[Hieronymous Bosch]], [[Triptych of the Temptation of St. Anthony|Temptation of St Anthony]], triptych (c. 1501), painted in 's-Hertogenbosch, later owned by friend [[Damião de Gois]] ]] [140] => In 1484, around the age 14 (or 17), he and his brother went to a cheaper{{cite web |last1=Cartwright |first1=Mark |title=Desiderius Erasmus |url=https://www.worldhistory.org/Desiderius_Erasmus/ |website=World History Encyclopedia |language=en}} grammar school or seminary at [['s-Hertogenbosch]] run by the [[Brethren of the Common Life]]:DeMolen, Richard L. (1976).pp.10–11Painter [[Hieronymous Bosch]] lived nearby, on the marketplace, at this time. Erasmus' ''Epistle to Grunnius'' satirizes them as the "Collationary Brethren" who select and sort boys for monkhood. He was exposed there to the [[Devotio moderna]] movement and the Brethren's famous book [[The Imitation of Christ]] but resented the harsh rules and strict methods of the religious brothers and educators. The two brothers made an agreement that they would resist the clergy but attend the university; Erasmus longed to study in Italy, the birthplace of Latin, and have a degree from an Italian university.{{rp|804}} Instead, Peter left for the [[Canon regular#Canons Regular of Saint Augustine|Augustinian]] canonry in [[Stein, South Holland|Stein]], which left Erasmus feeling betrayed. Around this time he wrote forlornly to his friend Elizabeth de Heyden "Shipwrecked am I, and lost, 'mid waters chill'." He suffered [[Quartan fever]] for over a year. Eventually Erasmus moved to the same abbey as a postulant in or before 1487, around the age of 16 (or 19.)"Poverty stricken, suffering from quartan fever, and pressurized by his guardians"{{cite web |last1=Juhász |first1=Gergely |title=The Making of Erasmus's New Testament and Its English Connections |url=https://www.academia.edu/48868408 |website=Sparks and Lustrous Words: Literary Walks, Cultural Pilgrimages |date=1 January 2019}} [141] => [142] => ===Vows, ordination and canonry experience=== [143] => [[File:Erasmus(buste).jpg|thumb|upright|200px|left|Bust by [[Hildo Krop]] (1950) in [[Gouda, South Holland|Gouda]], where Erasmus spent his youth]] [144] => Poverty had forced Erasmus into the consecrated life, entering the novitiate in 1487{{citation |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PoCY-z-mhTcC |title=Collected Works of Erasmus: Poems |editor=Harry Vredeveld |others=Translated by Clarence H. Miller |publisher=University of Toronto Press |year=1993 |isbn=9780802028679 |pages=xiv–xv}} at the canonry at rural [[Stein, South Holland|Stein]], very near [[Gouda, South Holland]]: the ''Chapter of Sion'' community largely borrowed its rule from the larger monkish [[Congregation of Windesheim]].Canons regular of St Augustine, Chapter of Sion (or Syon), ''Emmaus'' house, Stein (or Steyn). In 1488–1490, the surrounding region was plundered badly by armies fighting the [[:nl::Jonker Fransenoorlog|Jonker Fransen war]] of succession and then suffered a famine.{{rp|759}} Erasmus professed his vows as a [[Canons regular|Canon Regular]] of St. Augustine{{refn|group=note|This is a non-mendicant order of clerics which followed the looser Rule of St Augustine, who do not withdraw from the world, and who take a vow of Stability binding them to a House in addition to the usual Poverty (common life, simplicity), Chastity and Obedience. Erasmus described the Canons Regular as "an order midway between monks and (secular priests):...amphibians, like the beaver...and the crocodile." Also "for the so-called Canons formerly were not monks, and now they are an intermediate class: monks where it is an advantage to be so; not monks [145] => where it is not." [146] => [147] => The kind of world-involved, devout, scholarly, loyal, humanistic, non-monkish, non-mendicant, non-ceremonial, voluntaristic religious order without notions of spiritual perfection that may have suited Erasmus better arose soon after his death, perhaps in response to the ethos Erasmus shared: notably the [[Jesuits]], [[Oratory of Saint Philip Neri|Oratorians]]{{cite thesis |last1=Danyluk |first1=Katharine |title=Imitations of Christ: Ignatius of Loyola, Philip Neri and the influence of the ''Devotio Moderna'' |date=10 September 2018 |publisher=University of Wales Trinity Saint David |url=https://repository.uwtsd.ac.uk/id/eprint/1710/ |access-date=5 January 2024 |type=masters |language=en}}{{rp|52}} and subsequent congregations such as the [[Redemptorists]]. For the Ursalines, Barnabites, etc. "these associations were not conceived by their founders as ‘religious orders’, but as spiritual companies mostly [148] => composed of both lay and religious folk...Similarly to the teachings of humanists like Erasmus and of the ''devotio moderna'', these...associations did not emphasise the institutional aspect of religious life."}} there in late 1488 at age 19 (or 22). Historian Fr. Aiden Gasquet later wrote: "One thing, however, would seem to be quite clear; he could never have had any vocation for the religious life. His whole subsequent history shows this unmistakeably." According to one Catholic biographer, Erasmus had a spiritual awakening at the monastery. [149] => [150] => Certain abuses in [[religious order]]s were among the chief objects of his later calls to reform the Western Church from within, particularly coerced or tricked recruitment of immature boys (the fictionalized account in the ''Letter to Grunnius'' calls them "victims of Dominic and Francis and Benedict"): Erasmus felt he had belonged to this class, joining "voluntarily but not freely" and so considered himself, if not morally bound by his vows, certainly legally, socially and honour- bound to keep them, yet to look for his true vocation.{{cite journal |last1=Demolen |first1=Richard L. |title=Erasmus' Commitment to the Canons Regular of St. Augustine |journal=Renaissance Quarterly |date=1973 |volume=26 |issue=4 |pages=437–443 |doi=10.2307/2859495|jstor=2859495 |s2cid=163219853 }}{{rp|439}} [151] => [152] => While at Stein, 18-(or 21-)year-old Erasmus fell in unrequited love, forming what he called a "passionate attachment" ({{lang-la|fervidos amores}}), with a fellow canon, Servatius Rogerus,[[Diarmaid MacCulloch]] (2003). ''[[Reformation: A History]]''. p. 95. MacCulloch has a footnote "There has been much modern embarrassment and obfuscation on Erasmus and Rogerus, but see the sensible comment in J. Huizinga, ''Erasmus of Rotterdam'' (London, 1952), pp. 11–12, and from Geoffrey Nutuall, ''Journal of Ecclesiastical History'' 26 (1975), 403" [153] =>
[154] => In Huizinga's view: "Out of the letters to Servatius there rises the picture of an Erasmus whom we shall never find again—a young man of more than feminine sensitiveness; of a languishing need for sentimental friendship. ...This exuberant friendship accords quite well with the times and the person. ... Sentimental friendships were as much in vogue in secular circles during the fifteenth century as towards the end of the eighteenth century. Each court had its pairs of friends, who dressed alike, and shared room, bed, and heart. Nor was this cult of fervent friendship restricted to the sphere of aristocratic life. It was among the specific characteristics of the ''devotio moderna''." and wrote a series of love letters{{refn|group=note| [155] => However, note that such crushes or bromances may not have been scandalous at the time: the [[Cistercian]] [[Aelred of Rievaulx]]'s influential book [[Aelred of Rievaulx#De spirituali amicitia|On Spiritual Friendship]] put intense adolescent and early-adult friendships between monks as natural and useful steps towards "spiritual friendships", following [[Augustine]].
The correct direction of passionate love was also a feature of the spirituality of the [[School of Saint Victor|Victorine]] canons regular, notably in Richard of St Victor's ''On the Four Degrees of Violent Love''{{cite journal |last1=Kraebel |first1=Andrew |title=Richard of St. Victor, On the Four Degrees of Violent Love |journal=Victorine Texts in Translation |date=2011 |volume=2 |url=https://www.academia.edu/1563989}}
Huizinga (p.12) notes "To observe one another with sympathy, to watch and note each other's inner life, was a customary and approved occupation among the Brethren of the Common Life and the Windesheim monks."}}Forrest Tyler Stevens, "Erasmus's 'Tigress': The Language of Friendship, Pleasure, and the Renaissance Letter". ''Queering the Renaissance'', Duke University Press, 1994 in which he called Rogerus "half my soul",{{refn|group=note|Erasmus used similar expressions in letters to other friends at the time.{{rp|17}}
D.F.S. Thomson found two other similar contemporary examples of humanist monks using similar florid idiom in their letters. {{cite journal |last1=Thomson |first1=D.F.S. |title=Erasmus as a poet in the context of northern humanism |journal=De Gulden Passer |date=1969 |volume=47 |pages=187–210 |url=https://www.dbnl.org/tekst/_gul005196901_01/_gul005196901_01_0011.php |language=nl}}
Historian Julian Haseldine has noted that medieval monks used charged expressions of friendship with the same emotional content regardless of how well-known the person was to them: so this language was sometimes "instrumental" rather than "affective." However, in this case we have Erasmus' own attestation of the genuine rather than formal fondness. {{cite journal |last1=Haseldine |first1=Julian |title=Medieval Male Friendship Networks |url=https://www.york.ac.uk/borthwick/publications/monastic-research-bulletin/ |journal=The Monastic Review Bulletin |date=2006 |issue=12}} p.19. }} writing that "it was not for the sake of reward or out of a desire for any favour that I have wooed you both unhappily and relentlessly. What is it [156] => then? Why, that you love him who loves you."''Collected Works of Erasmus'', vol. 1, p. 12 ([[Toronto]]: University of Toronto Press, 1974)Erasmus editor Harry Vredeveld argues that the letters are "surely expressions of true friendship", citing what Erasmus wrote in his ''Letter to Grunnius'' about an earlier teenage infatuation with a "Cantellius": "It is not uncommon at [that] age to conceive passionate attachments [''fervidos amores''] for some of your companions". However, he allows "That these same letters, which run the gamut of love's emotions, are undoubtedly also literary exercises—rhetorical {{lang|el|progymnasmata}}—is by no means a contradiction of this."{{citation |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PoCY-z-mhTcC |title=Collected Works of Erasmus: Poems |editor=Harry Vredeveld |others=Translated by Clarence H. Miller |publisher=University of Toronto Press |year=1993 |isbn=9780802028679 |page=xv}} This correspondence contrasts with the generally detached and much more restrained attitude he usually showed in his later life, though he had a capacity to form and maintain deep male friendships,But also a capacity to feel betrayal sharply, as with his brother Peter, "Cantellius", Aleander, and Dorp. such as with [[Thomas More#Personality according to Erasmus|More]], Colet, and Ammonio.The biographer J.J. Mangan commented of his time living with [[Andrea Ammonio]] in England "to some extent Erasmus thereby realized the dream of his youth, which was to live together with some choice literary spirit with whom he might share his thoughts and aspiration". Quoted in J.K. Sowards,''The Two Lost Years of Erasmus: Summary, Review, and Speculation'', Studies in the Renaissance, Vol. 9 (1962), p174 No mentions or sexual accusations were ever made of Erasmus during his lifetime. His works notably [[#On the Institution of Christian Marriage (1526)|praise]] moderate sexual desire in marriage between men and women.{{Cite book |last=Erasmus |first=Desiderius |date=May 23, 2009 |title=Collected Works of Erasmus: Paraphrases on the Epistles to the Corinthians, Ephesians, Philippans, Colossians, and Thessalonians, Volume 43 |publisher=University of Toronto Press |isbn=9781442691773 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=m8mB_FILtngC&q=Condemns }} [157] => [158] => {{Side box |metadata=No | above = '''Circle of Latin Secretaries'''| text = [159] => [[Juan de Vergara]]{{•}}Pietro Carmeliano{{cite book |last1=Sutton |first1=Anne F. |last2=Visser-Fuchs |first2=Livia |title=Richard III's books: ideals and reality in the life and library of a medieval prince |date=1997 |publisher=Sutton publ |location=Stroud |isbn=0750914068}}{{rp|376}}{{•}}[[Guillaume Budé]]{{•}}[[Pietro Bembo]]{{•}}[[Jacopo Sadoleto]]{{•}}[[Richard Pace]]{{•}}[[Andrea Ammonio]]{{•}}[[Hieronymus Emser]]{{•}}[[Cornelius Grapheus]]{{•}}[[Johannes Secundus]]{{•}}[[Juan de Valdés]], [[Alfonso de Valdés]]{{•}}[[Peter Vannes]]{{•}}[[Pieter Gillis]]{{•}}[[Gentian Hervetus]]{{•}}[[Jan Łaski]]{{•}}Pierre Barbier{{•}}Lambert Grunnius (fictitious){{cite book |last1=Erasmus |first1=Desiderius |last2=Nichols |first2=Francis Norgan |title=The Epistles of Erasmus : from his earliest letters to his fifty-first year arranged in order of time |date=1901–1918 |publisher=London : Longmans, Green |url=https://archive.org/details/epistlesoferasmu02erasuoft/page/336/mode/2up?view=theater}}{{rp|337}} [160] =>
Latin Secretaries became a significant part of Erasmus' later network of correspondents and friends.{{refn|group=note|The position of Latin Secretary to some great churchman or prince had a long and distinguished history: [[Jerome]] had been the Latin Secretary for [[Pope Damasus I]].{{cite journal |last1=Kuhner |first1=John Byron |title=The Vatican's Latinist |journal=The New Criterion |date=2017 |volume=25 |issue=7 |url=https://newcriterion.com/issues/2017/3/the-vaticans-latinist |language=en}} The position was important but not lucrative, unless a stepping-stone to other offices. [161] => }} }} [162] => [163] => In 1493, his Prior arranged for him to leave the Stein house{{cite web |title=Desiderius Erasmus, Dutch Renaissance humanist, Catholic priest and theologian (1466-1536) |url=https://www.1902encyclopedia.com/E/ERA/desiderius-erasmus.html |website=www.1902encyclopedia.com}} and take up the post of Latin Secretary to the ambitious [[Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Cambrai|Bishop of Cambrai]], Henry of Bergen, on account of his great skill in Latin and his reputation as a man of letters.{{cite book |title=The University in Medieval Life, 1179–1499 |author1=Hunt Janin |edition=illustrated |publisher=McFarland |year=2014 |isbn=978-0-7864-5201-9 |page=159 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uhzV368KRDMC}} [https://books.google.com/books?id=uhzV368KRDMC&pg=PA159 Extract of page 159]{{refn|group=note| This was his entry to the European network of Latin secretaries, who were usually humanists, and so to their career path: a promising secretary could be appointed tutor to some aristocratic boy, when that boy reached power they were frequent kept on as a trusted counselor, and finally moved over to some dignified administrative role.{{cite journal |last1=Allen |first1=Grace |title=Mirrors for secretaries: the tradition of advice literature and the presence of classical political theory in Italian secretarial treatises |journal=Laboratoire Italien |date=24 October 2019 |issue=23 |doi=10.4000/laboratoireitalien.3742|doi-access=free }}}} [164] => [165] => He was [[Holy orders in the Catholic Church|ordained]] to the [[Priesthood in the Catholic Church|Catholic priesthood]] either on 25 April 1492,[[Mark Galli|Galli, Mark]], and Olsen, Ted. ''131 Christians Everyone Should Know''. Nashville: Holman Reference, 2000, p. 343. or 25 April 1495, at age 25 (or 28.){{refn|group=note|25 was the minimum age under canon law to be ordained a priest. However, Gouda church records do not support the 1492 year given by his first biographer, and 1495 has been suggested as more plausible. }} Either way, he did not actively work as a choir priest for very long,{{Cite book|last=Erasmus|first=Desiderius|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0eHvizkUHZEC&q=wiki&pg=PR9|title=Collected Works of Erasmus: Spiritualia|date=1989|publisher=University of Toronto Press|isbn=978-0-8020-2656-9}} though his many works on confession and penance suggests experience of dispensing them. [166] => [167] => From 1500, he avoided returning to the canonry at Stein even insisting the diet and hours would kill him,Erasmus suffered severe food intolerances, including to fish, beer and many wines, which formed much of the diet of Northern European monks, and caused his antipathy to fasts. though he did stay with other Augustinian communities and at monasteries of other orders in his travels. Rogerus, who became prior at Stein in 1504, and Erasmus corresponded over the years, with Rogerus demanding Erasmus return after his studies were complete. Nevertheless, the library of the canonryThe canonry burnt down in 1549 and the canons moved to Gouda. {{cite journal |last1=Klein |first1=Jan Willem |last2=Simoni |first2=Anna E.C. |title=Once more the manuscripts of Stein monastery and the copyists of the Erasmiana manuscripts |journal=Quaerendo |date=1994 |volume=24 |issue=1 |pages=39–46 |doi=10.1163/157006994X00117}} ended up with by far the largest collection of Erasmus' publications in the Gouda region.{{cite journal |last1=Klein |first1=Jan Willem |title=Copyist B of the Erasmiana Manuscripts in Gouda Identified |journal=Quaerendo |date=21 June 2018 |volume=48 |issue=2 |pages=95–105 |doi=10.1163/15700690-12341402|s2cid=165911603 }} [168] => [169] => In 1505 [[Pope Julius II]] granted a [[Dispensation (canon law)|dispensation]] from the vow of poverty to the extent of allowing Erasmus to hold certain benefices, and from the control and [[#Clothing|habit]] of his [[Canon regular#Reforms|order]], though he remained a priest and, formally, an Augustinian canon regularDispensed of his vows of [https://www.belmontabbey.org.uk/monastic-vows stability and obedience] from his obligations "by the constitutions and ordinances, also by statutes and customs of the monastery of Stein in Holland", quoted in J.K. Sowards,''The Two Lost Years of Erasmus: Summary, Review, and Speculation'', Studies in the Renaissance, Vol. 9 (1962), p174. Erasmus continued to report occasionally to the prior, who disputed the validity of the 1505 dispensation. the rest his life. In 1517 [[Pope Leo X]] granted legal dispensations for Erasmus' ''defects of natality''Undispensed illegitimacy had various effects under canon law: it was not possible to be ordained a secular priest or to hold benefices, for example. {{cite journal |last1=Clarke |first1=Peter |title=New sources for the history of the religious life: the registers of the Apostolic Penitentiary |journal=Monastic Research Bulletin |date=2005 |volume=11}} and confirmed the previous dispensation, allowing the 48-(or 51-)year-old his independence{{cite journal |title=A Dispensation of Julius II for Erasmus |journal=The English Historical Review |date=1910 |volume=97 |issue=25 |jstor=549799 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/549799 |access-date=11 July 2023 |last1=Allen |first1=P. S. |last2=Colotius |first2=A. |pages=123–125 |doi=10.1093/ehr/XXV.XCVII.123 }} but still, as a canon, capable of holding office as a prior or abbot. [170] => {{clear}} [171] => [172] => {{clear}} [173] => {{Horizontal timeline [174] => [175] => |from=1465 [176] => |to=1540 [177] => |inc=10 [178] => [179] => |row1=note [180] => |row1-2-at=1466 [181] => |row1-2-lift=-0.8em [182] => |row1-2-shift=-1em [183] => |row1-2-text=Birth? [184] => |row1-21-at=1469 [185] => |row1-3-at=1484 [186] => |row1-3-text=Orphaned [187] => |row1-3-lift=-0.8em [188] => |row1-3-shift=-5em [189] => |row1-4-at=1488 [190] => |row1-4-text=Vows [191] => |row1-4-lift=-0.8em [192] => |row1-4-shift=-2em [193] => |row1-5-at=1492 [194] => |row1-5-text=Ordained? 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!KBHFa\\KBHFa\\\\ ~~ [338] => ~~ ! !KRWl\KRW+lr\KRWr\\\\ ~~ [339] => London~~ ! !\BHF\\\\\ ~~ [340] => Reading~~! !KBHFaq\ABZgr\\\\\~~ [341] => Canterbury~~ ~~ ! !\eBHF\\\\\fKBHFa~~Deventer [342] => ~~ ~~ ! !\uSTR\\\\\fBHF~~Woerden [343] => Calais~~ ~~ ! !\eBHF\\\\fKBHFaq\fBHF!~fKBHFeq~~Stein, Gouda [344] => ~~ ! !\ABZgl\STRq\STRq\STR+r\\fBHF ~~Rotterdam [345] => St Omer ! !\BHF\\\STR\\fBHF ~~'s-Hertogenbosch [346] => Paris, Cambrai ~~ ! !KBHFaq!~KBHFa\ABZqlr+lr\BHFq\BHFq\ABZqlr+lr\BHFq\fSTRr~~Brussels, Antwerp [347] => Orléans ~~ ! !KBHFe\STR\\\BHF\\~~Louvain [348] => ~~ ~~ ! !\STR\\\STRl\STRq\STR+r [349] => Turin~~ ~~! !\eBHF\\\\\ueBHF~~ ~~Cologne ~~ [350] => Bologna~~ ! !\BHF\\\\\ueBHF~~ ~~Mainz ~~ [351] => ~~ ! !KRW+l\KRWlr\KRW+r\nSTRq\nSTRq\nCONTfq\ueBHF ~~ Strasbourg [352] => Florence~~ ~~ ! !eBHF\\STR\\\\uBHF~~Freiburg im Breisgau [353] => Sienna,~~ Padua ~~! !eBHF\\BHF\\\\uBHF~~ ~~Basel [354] => Rome,~~ Venice ~~! !eBHF\\KBHFe\\\\ueKBHFe~~Konstanz [355] => Cumae~~ ~~! !eKBHFe\\\\\\ ~~ [356] => | footnote = Green: early life
/>Dark circles: residence
/>Thin line: Alpine crossing
/>Blue lines: Rhine and English Channel [360] => }} [361] => [362] => Erasmus traveled widely and regularly, for reasons of poverty, "escape" from his [[Stein, South Holland|Stein]] canonry (to [[Cambrai]]), education (to [[Paris]], [[Turin]]), escape from the [[sweating sickness]] plague (to [[Orléans]]), employment (to [[England]]), searching libraries for manuscripts, writing ([[Duchy of Brabant|Brabant]]), royal counsel ([[Cologne]]), patronage, tutoring and chaperoning (North [[Italy]]), networking ([[Rome]]), seeing books through printing in person ([[Paris]], [[Venice]], [[Louvain]], [[Basel]]), and avoiding the persecution of religious fanatics (to [[Freiburg]].) He enjoyed horseback riding{{Cite web|url=https://ccel.org/ccel/schaff/hcc7/hcc7.ii.iv.xii.html|title=Philip Schaff: History of the Christian Church, Volume VII. Modern Christianity. The German Reformation - Christian Classics Ethereal Library|website=ccel.org|access-date=2 December 2023}} [363] => [364] => ====Paris==== [365] => In 1495 with Bishop Henry's consent and a stipend, Erasmus went on to study at the [[University of Paris]] in the [[Collège de Montaigu]], a centre of reforming zeal,Subsequent students included Ignatius of Loyola, Noël Béda, Jean Calvin, and John Knox. under the direction of the [[Asceticism|ascetic]] [[Jan Standonck]], of whose rigors he complained.{{cite book |last1=Andrews |first1=Edward D. |last2=Lightfoot |first2=J.B. |last3=Kenyon |first3=Frederic G. |title=THE REVISIONS OF THE ENGLISH HOLY BIBLE: Misunderstandings and Misconceptions about the English Bible Translations |date=2022 |publisher=Christian Publishing House |isbn=9798352124185}} The university was then the chief seat of [[Scholasticism|Scholastic]] learning but already coming under the influence of [[Renaissance]] humanism.{{cite thesis |last1=Lundberg |first1=Christa |title=Apostolic theology and humanism at the University of Paris, 1490–1540 |date=16 February 2022 |publisher=Apollo - University of Cambridge Repository |doi=10.17863/CAM.81488 |url=https://doi.org/10.17863/CAM.81488 |access-date=23 July 2023 |language=en}} For instance, Erasmus became an intimate friend of an Italian humanist [[Publio Fausto Andrelini]], poet and "professor of humanity" in Paris.{{cite book |last1=Coroleu |first1=Alejandro |title=Printing and Reading Italian Latin Humanism in Renaissance Europe (ca. 1470-ca. 1540) |date=2014 |publisher=Cambridge Scholars Publishing |isbn=978-1-4438-5894-6 |page=15 |url=https://www.cambridgescholars.com/resources/pdfs/978-1-4438-5894-6-sample.pdf|access-date=11 July 2023}} [366] => [367] => During this time, Erasmus developed a deep aversion to exclusive or excessive [[Aristotelianism]] and [[Scholasticism]]{{cite journal |last1=Ptaszyński |first1=Maciej |title=Theologians and Their Bellies: The Erasmian Epithet Theologaster during the Reformation |journal=Erasmus Studies |date=8 October 2021 |volume=41 |issue=2 |pages=200–229 |doi=10.1163/18749275-04102001 |s2cid=240246657 |url=https://brill.com/view/journals/eras/41/2/article-p200_5.xml |issn=1874-9275|doi-access=free }} and started finding work as a tutor/chaperone to visiting English and Scottish aristocrats. [368] => [369] => ====England==== [370] => {{Side box |metadata=No [371] => | above = '''English circle.{{cite ODNB |last1=Baker House |first1=Simon |title=Erasmus circle in England |url=https://www.oxforddnb.com/display/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-96813 |doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/96813 |access-date=20 July 2023}} ''' [372] => | text = [[Thomas More]]{{•}}[[John Colet]]{{•}}[[Thomas Linacre]]{{•}}[[William Grocyn]]{{•}}[[William Lily (grammarian)|William Lily]]{{•}}[[Andrea Ammonio]]{{•}}[[Juan Luis Vives]]{{•}}[[Cuthbert Tunstall]] {{•}}[[Henry Bullock]]{{•}}[[Thomas Lupset]]{{•}}[[Richard Foxe]]{{•}}[[Christopher Urswick]]{{•}}[[Robert Aldrich (bishop)|Robert Aldrich]]{{•}}[[Richard Whitford]]{{•}}[[Lorenzo Campeggio]]{{•}}[[Richard Reynolds (martyr)|Richard Reynolds]]{{•}}[[Polydore Vergil]]
[373] => ''Patrons'': [[William Blount, 4th Baron Mountjoy|William Blount]]{{•}}[[William Warham]]{{•}}[[John Fisher]]{{•}} [[John Longland]]{{•}}[[Lady Margaret Beaufort|Margaret Beaufort]]{{•}}[[Catherine of Aragon]]
[374] => "I can truly say that no place in the world has given me so many friends—true, learned, helpful, and illustrious friends—as the single city of London." Letter to Colet, 1509 [375] => }} [376] => Erasmus stayed in England at least three times.Some of these visits were interrupted by trips back to Europe.{{citation needed|date=July 2023}} In between he had periods studying in Paris, Orléans, Leuven and other cities. [377] => [378] => [[File:Hans Holbein d. J. - Erasmus - Louvre.jpg|thumb|upright|200px|Erasmus by [[Hans Holbein the Younger]]. [[Louvre]], Paris.]] [379] => [380] => =====First visit - 1499-1500===== [381] => In 1499 he was invited to England by [[William Blount, 4th Baron Mountjoy]], who offered to accompany him on his trip to England.{{Cite book |last=Treu |first=Erwin |title=Die Bildnisse des Erasmus von Rotterdam |publisher=Gute Schriften Basel |year=1959 |pages=6–7 |language=de}} His time in England was fruitful in the making of lifelong friendships with the leaders of English thought in the days of King [[Henry VIII of England|Henry VIII]]. [382] => [383] => During his first visit to England in 1499, he studied or taught at the [[University of Oxford]]. Erasmus was particularly impressed by the Bible teaching of [[John Colet]], who pursued a style more akin to the [[church fathers]] than the [[Scholastics]]. Through the influence of the humanist John Colet, his interests turned towards theology. Other distinctive features of Colet's thought that may have influenced Erasmus are his pacifism,{{cite book |last1=Adams |first1=Robert Pardee |title=Pacifism in the English Renaissance, 1497-1530: John Colet, Erasmus, Thomas More and J.L. Vives |date=1937 |publisher=University of Chicago |language=en}} reform-mindedness,{{cite journal |last1=Harper-Bill |first1=Christopher |title=Dean Colet's Convocation Sermon and the Pre-Reformation Church in England |journal=History |date=1988 |volume=73 |issue=238 |pages=191–210 |doi=10.1111/j.1468-229X.1988.tb02151.x |jstor=24413851 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/24413851 |issn=0018-2648}} anti-Scholasticism and pastoral esteem for the sacrament of Confession.{{rp|94}} [384] => [385] => This prompted him, upon his return from England to Paris, to intensively study the Greek language, which would enable him to study theology on a more profound level.{{cite journal |last1=Giese |first1=Rachel |title=Erasmus' Greek Studies |journal=The Classical Journal |date=1934 |volume=29 |issue=7 |pages=517–526 |jstor=3290377 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/3290377 |issn=0009-8353}}{{rp|518}} [386] => [387] => Erasmus also became [[Thomas More#Personality according to Erasmus|fast friends]] with [[Thomas More]], a young law student considering becoming a monk, whose thought (e.g., on conscience and equity) had been influenced by 14th century French theologian [[Jean Gerson]],{{cite journal |last1=Suzanne |first1=Hélène |title=Conscience in the Early Renaissance: the case of Erasmus, Luther and Thomas More |journal=Moreana |date=December 2014 |volume=51 |issue=3–4 (197–198) |pages=231–244 |doi=10.3366/more.2014.51.3-4.13 |language=en |issn=0047-8105}}{{cite book |last1=Masur-Matusevich |first1=Yelena |title=Le père du siècle: the early modern reception of Jean Gerson (1363-1429) theological authority between Middle Ages and early modern era |date=2023 |publisher=Brepols |location=Turnhout |isbn=978-2-503-60225-7}} and whose intellect had been developed by his powerful patron Cardinal [[John Morton (cardinal)|John Morton]] (d. 1500) who had famously attempted reforms of English monasteries.{{cite journal |last1=Gairdner |first1=James |title=Archbishop Morton and St. Albans |journal=The English Historical Review |date=1909 |volume=24 |issue=93 |pages=91–96 |doi=10.1093/ehr/XXIV.XCIII.91 |jstor=550277 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/550277 |issn=0013-8266}} [388] => [389] => Erasmus left London with a full purse from his generous friends, to allow him to complete his studies. However, he had been provided with bad legal advice by his friends: the English Customs officials confiscated all the gold and silver, leaving him with nothing except a night fever that lasted several months. [390] => [391] => =====Second visit - 1505-1506===== [392] => [[File:Sir Thomas More, by Hans Holbein the Younger.jpg|thumbnail|200px|Sir Thomas More, by Hans Holbein the Younger]] [393] => For Erasmus' second visit, he spent over a year staying at recently married [[Thomas More]]'s house, now a lawyer and Member of Parliament, honing his translation skills. [394] => [395] => Erasmus preferred to live the life of an independent scholar and made a conscious effort to avoid any actions or formal ties that might inhibit his individual freedom.Treu, Erwin (1959),p.8 In England Erasmus was approached with prominent offices but he declined them all, until the [[King Henry VII|King]] himself offered his support. He was inclined, but eventually did not accept and longed for a stay in Italy. [396] => [397] => =====Third visit - 1510-1515===== [398] => In 1510, Erasmus arrived at More's bustling house, was parked in bed to recover from his recurrent illness, and wrote ''The Praise of Folly'', which was to be a best-seller. More was at that time the [[undersheriff]] of the [[City of London]]. [399] => [400] => After his glorious reception in Italy, Erasmus had returned broke and jobless,{{refn|group=note|Even in good times, Erasmus had a "frequent inability to understand the details of his own finances" which caused him disappointment and suspicion.{{cite web |title=(Publisher's summary) The Correspondence of Erasmus |url=https://utorontopress.com/9781487501990/the-correspondence-of-erasmus/ |website=University of Toronto Press |language=en-CA}} His finances as late as 1530 have been described as "bewilderingly complicated" with multiple small income sources being managed with varying degrees of promptness by different associates in different countries.{{cite book |last1=Erasmus |first1=Desiderius |title=The correspondence of Erasmus. Letters 2357 to 2471 August 1530-March 1531 / translated by Charles Fantazzi ; annotated by James M. Estes |date=2016 |publisher=University of Toronto Press |location=Toronto Buffalo London |isbn=1442648783}}{{rp|2404}} }} with strained relations with former friends and benefactors on the continent, and he regretted leaving Italy, despite being horrified by papal warfare. There is a gap in his usually voluminous correspondence: his so-called "two lost years", perhaps due to self-censorship of dangerous or disgruntled opinions; he shared lodgings with his friend [[Andrea Ammonio]] (Latin secretary to Mountjoy, and the next year, to Henry VIII) provided at the London [[Austin Friars]]' compound, skipping out after a disagreement with the friars over rent that caused bad blood.{{refn| group=note| Erasmus claimed the blind poet laureate friar [[Bernard André]], the former tutor of Prince Arthur, had promised to cover the rent. {{cite journal |last1=Roth |first1=F. |title=A History of the English Austin Friars (continuation) |journal=Augustiniana |date=1965 |volume=15 |pages=567–628 |jstor=44992025 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/44992025 |issn=0004-8003}} p.624. It may also show the practical difficulty of being dispensed from wearing the habit of his order without being entirely dispensed from his vow of poverty: indeed, Erasmus had said his order of Augustinian Canons regular were priests when that suited and monks when that suited. }} [401] => [402] => He assisted his friend John Colet by authoring Greek textbooks and securing members of staff for the newly established [[St Paul's School (London)|St Paul's School]]{{Cite web |title=History and Archives |url=https://www.stpaulsschool.org.uk/about/history |website=St.Pauls}} and was in contact when Colet gave his notorious 1512 [[John Colet#Colet's convocation sermon (1512)|Convocation sermon]] which called for a reformation of ecclesiastical affairs.{{cite book |last1=Seebohm |first1=Frederic |title=The Oxford Reformers. John Colet, Erasmus and Thomas More |date=1869 |publisher=Longmans, Green and Co |edition=3rd |url=https://reformationchurch.org.uk/book_oxford-reformers_seebohm.php}}{{rp|230–250}} At Colet's instigation, Erasmus started work on ''De copia''. [403] => [404] => In 1511, the [[University of Cambridge]]'s Chancellor [[John Fisher]] arranged for Erasmus to be the [[Lady Margaret's Professor of Divinity]], though Erasmus turned down the option of spending the rest of his life as a professor there. He studied and taught Greek and researched and lectured on [[Jerome]].{{refn|group=note|He wrote to Servatius Rogerus, the Prior at Stein, to justify his jobs: "I do not aim at becoming rich, so long as I possess just enough means to provide for my health and free time for my studies and to ensure that I am a burden to none."{{cite journal |last1=Cheng-Davies |first1=Tania |title=Erasmian Perspectives on Copyright: Justifying a Right to Research |journal=Joint PIJIP/TLS Research Paper Series |date=1 May 2023 |url=https://digitalcommons.wcl.american.edu/research/94}}}} [405] => [406] => Erasmus mainly stayed at [[Queens' College, Cambridge|Queens' College]] while lecturing at the university,{{cite web|last=Askin|first=Lindsey|title=Erasmus and Queens' College, Cambridge|date=12 July 2013|url=http://queenslib.wordpress.com/2013/07/12/erasmus-and-queens-college/|website=Queens' Old Library Books Blog|publisher=Queenslib.wordpress.com|access-date=8 March 2014}} between 1511 and 1515.It is reported that the commission of theologians Henry VIII assembled to identify the errors of Luther was made up of three of Erasmus' former students: [[Henry Bullock]], Humphrey Walkden and John Watson. {{cite thesis |last1=Schofield |first1=John |title=The lost Reformation :why Lutheranism failed in England during the reigns of Henry VIII and Edward VI |date=2003 |publisher=Newcastle University |hdl=10443/596 |url=http://hdl.handle.net/10443/596 |type=Thesis |language=en}} p28 Erasmus' rooms were located in the "{{serif|I}}" staircase of Old Court.{{acad|id=ERSS465D|name=Erasmus, Desiderius}} Despite a chronic shortage of money, he succeeded in mastering Greek by an intensive, day-and-night study of three years, taught by [[Thomas Linacre]], continuously begging in letters that his friends send him books and money for teachers.Huizinga, Dutch edition, pp. 52–53. [407] => [408] => Erasmus suffered from poor health and was especially concerned with heating, clean air, ventilation, draughts, fresh food and unspoiled wine: he complained about the draughtiness of English buildings.{{cite web |title=Erasmus, Life in 16th Century England |website=World Civilizations|url=https://wwnorton.com/college/history/ralph/workbook/ralprs22.htm }} He complained that Queens' College could not supply him with enough decent wine"Beer does not suit me either, and the wine is horrible." {{cite book |last1=Froud |first1=J.A. |title=Life and Letters of Erasmus |date=1896 |publisher=Scribner and Sons |page=112}} (wine was the Renaissance medicine for gallstones, from which Erasmus suffered).{{multiref2|1={{cite book |last1=Seltman |first1=Charles |title=Wine In The Ancient World |date=1957 |url=https://archive.org/details/dli.venugopal.697 |language=English}}|2={{cite journal |last1=Taylor |first1=Fred M. |title=Thomas Linacre: Humanist, Physician, Priest |journal=The Linacre Quarterly |date=February 2021 |volume=88 |issue=1 |pages=9–13 |doi=10.1177/0024363920968427|doi-access=free |pmid=33487740 |pmc=7804502 }}|3={{cite journal |last1=Herbert |first1=Amanda |title=Bibulous Erasmus |url=https://recipes.hypotheses.org/10239 |website=The Recipes Project |date=23 January 2018|doi=10.58079/td2u }}}} As Queens' was an unusually humanist-leaning institution in the 16th century, [[Queens' College, Cambridge#Old Court|Queens' College Old Library]] still houses many first editions of Erasmus's publications, many of which were acquired during that period by bequest or purchase, including Erasmus's New Testament translation, which is signed by friend and Polish religious reformer [[Jan Łaski]].{{cite web|title=Old Library Collections|website=Queens' College Cambridge. Queens' Rare Book and Special Collections|url=http://www.queens.cam.ac.uk/student-information/library-archives/collections|publisher=Queens.cam.ac.uk|access-date=8 March 2014|archive-date=13 December 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131213000139/http://www.queens.cam.ac.uk/student-information/library-archives/collections|url-status=dead}} [409] => [410] => By this time More was a judge on the poorman's equity court ([[Master of Requests (England)|Master of Requests]]) and a [[Privy Counsellor (United Kingdom)|Privy Counsellor]]. [411] => [412] => ====France and Brabant==== [413] => {{Side box |metadata=No [414] => | above = '''French circle''' [415] => | text = Jean Vitrier (or Vourier){{•}}Jacob/James Batt{{•}}[[Publio Fausto Andrelini]]{{•}}[[Jodocus Badius|Josse Bade]]{{•}}[[Louis de Berquin]] {{•}}[[Robert Fisher (priest)|Robert Fisher]]{{•}}[[Richard Whitford]]{{•}}[[Guillaume Budé]]{{•}}[[Thomas Grey, 2nd Marquess of Dorset|Thomas Grey]]{{•}}[[Hector Boece]]{{•}}[[Robert Gaguin]]
[416] => ''Opponents'': Noël Béda
[417] => ''Patrons'': Bishop Henry of Bergen,[[Thomas Grey, 1st Marquess of Dorset|Thomas Grey]], [[Anna van Borselen|Lady of Veere]] [418] => }} [419] => [420] => Following his first trip to England, Erasmus returned first to poverty in Paris, where he started to compile the ''Adagio'' for his students, then to Orleans to escape the plague, and then to semi-monastic life, scholarly studies and writing in France, notably at the Benedictine [[Abbey of Saint Bertin]] at St Omer (1501,1502) where he wrote the initial version of the ''Enchiridion'' ([[Handbook of the Christian Knight]].) A particular influence was his encounter in 1501 with Jean (Jehan) Vitrier, a radical Franciscan who consolidated Erasmus' thoughts against excessive valorization of monasticism,{{cite book |last1=Tracy |first1=James D. |title=Erasmus, the Growth of a Mind |date=1972 |publisher=Librairie Droz |isbn=978-2-600-03041-0 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RqvtT9d522IC&q=%22Jean+Voirier%22+++erasmus |language=en}}{{rp|94,95}} ceremonialism{{efn|group=note|According to theologian Thomas Scheck "In the fuller context of the ''Ratio'' the “ceremonies” Erasmus criticizes are not the liturgical rites of the Church, but the special devotions and prescriptions added to them, particularly those related to food and clothing, which became binding in particular religious orders and more generally, under threat of excommunication and even eternal punishment."{{cite journal |last1=Scheck |first1=Thomas P. |title=Mark Vessey (ed.), Erasmus on Literature: His Ratio or 'System' of 1518/1519 (Review) |journal=Moreana |date=June 2022 |volume=59 |issue=1 |pages=141–148 |doi=10.3366/more.2022.0119|s2cid=248601520 }}}} and fasting{{efn|group=note|"We find in the New Testament that fasting was observed by [421] => Christians and praised by the apostles, but I do not remember reading that it was prescribed with certain rites. These things are not mentioned so that any ceremonies that the church has instituted concerning clothing, fasting or similar matters should be despised, but to show that Christ and his apostles were more concerned with things pertaining to salvation."}} in a kind of conversion experience,{{rp|213,219}} and introduced him to [[Origen]].{{cite web |title=Erasmus |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Erasmus-Dutch-humanist |website=www.britannica.com |language=en |date=23 October 2023}} [422] => [423] => In 1502, Erasmus went to Brabant, ultimately to the university at Louvain, then back to Paris in 1504. [424] => [425] => ====Italy==== [426] => {{Side box |metadata=No [427] => | above = '''Italian circle''' [428] => | text = [[Aldus Manutius]]{{•}}[[Giulio Camillo]]{{•}}[[Alexander Stewart (archbishop of St Andrews)|Alexander Stewart]]{{•}}[[Pietro Bembo]]{{•}}[[Paulus Bombasius|Bombasius]]{{•}}[[Marcus Musurus]]{{•}}[[Janus Lascaris]]{{•}}[[Giles of Viterbo]]{{•}}[[Egnazio]]{{•}}[[Germain de Brie]]{{•}}[[Ferry Carondelet]]{{•}}Urbano Valeriani{{•}}Tommaso Inghiram{{•}}Carteromachus
[429] => ''Opponents'': [[Aleander]], [[Alberto III Pio, Prince of Carpi|Alberto Pío]], [[Juan Ginés de Sepúlveda|Sepúlveda]]
[430] => ''Patrons'': Popes [[Pope Leo X|Leo X]], [[Pope Adrian VI|Adrian VI]], [[Pope Clement VII|Clement VII]], [[Pope Paul III|Paul III]], King [[James IV of Scotland|James IV]] [431] => }} [432] => [433] => In 1506 he was able to accompany and tutor the sons of the personal physician of the English King through Italy to Bologna. [434] => [435] => His discovery ''[[Park Abbey|en route]]'' of [[Lorenzo Valla]]'s ''New Testament Notes'' was a major event in his career and prompted Erasmus to study the New Testament using [[philology]].{{Citation [436] => | last=Anderson [437] => | first=Marvin [438] => | title=Erasmus the Exegete [439] => | journal=Concordia Theeological Monthly [440] => | volume=40 [441] => | issue=11 [442] => | year=1969 [443] => | pages=722–46 [444] => }} [445] => [446] => [447] => In 1506 they passed through Turin and he arranged to be awarded the degree of [[Doctor of Divinity|Doctor of Sacred Theology]] (''Sacra Theologia''){{cite book |last1=van Herwaarden |first1=Jan |title=Between Saint James and Erasmus: Studies in Late-Medieval Religious Life – Devotion and Pilgrimage in the Netherlands |date=1 January 2003 |doi=10.1163/9789004473676_024|s2cid=239956783 }}{{rp|638}} from the [[University of Turin]] {{lang|la|[[per saltum]]}} at age 37 (or 40.) Erasmus stayed tutoring in Bologna for a year; in the Winter, Erasmus was present when [[Pope Julius II]] entered victorious into the conquered Bologna which he had besieged before. [448] => [[File: Book printed by Aldus Manutius-Horace.jpg|thumbnail|200px| Book printed and illuminated at Aldine press, Venice (1501), Horace, ''Works'']] [449] => Erasmus traveled on to Venice, working on an expanded version of his Adagia at the [[Aldine Press]] of the famous printer [[Aldus Manutius]], advised him which manuscripts to publish,Murray, Stuart. 2009. The library: an illustrated history. Chicago, ALA Editions and was an honorary member of the graecophone Aldine "New Academy" ({{lang-gr|Neakadêmia (Νεακαδημία)}}).Treu, Erwin (1959),pp.8–9 From Aldus he learned the in-person workflow that made him productive at Froben: making last-minute changes, and immediately checking and correcting printed page proofs as soon as the ink had dried. Aldus wrote that Erasmus could do twice as much work in a given time as any other man he had ever met. [450] => [451] => In 1507, according to his letters, he studied advanced Greek in Padua with the Venetian natural philosopher, [[Giulio Camillo]].''Opus Epistolarum Des. Erasmi Roterdami'', Ed. H.M. Allen, (Oxford University Press, 1937), Ep. 3032: 219–22; 2682: 8–13. He found employment tutoring and escorting Scottish nobleman [[Alexander Stewart (archbishop of St Andrews)|Alexander Stewart]], the 24-year old Archbishop of St Andrews, through Padua, Florence, and Siena{{refn|group=note|Movingly remembering later, how Alexander would play the monochord, recorder or lute in the afternoon after studies.Shire, Helena M., Stewart Style ''1513-1542'', Tuckwell, (1996), 126-7, quoting Phillips, M. M., ''The Adages of Erasmus'' Cambridge (1964), 305-307.}} Erasmus made it to Rome in 1509, visiting some notable libraries and cardinals, but having a less active association with Italian scholars than might have been expected. [452] => [453] => In 1510, William Warham, Archbishop of Canterbury, and Lord Mountjoy lured him back to England, now under its new humanist king, paying £10 journey money.{{Cite EB1911 |wstitle= Erasmus, Desiderius |volume = 9 |last1= Pattison |first1= Mark |author-link1= Mark Pattison (academic) |last2= Allen |first2= Percy Stafford |author-link2= Percy Stafford Allen |pages=727-732 |short=1}} On his trip back over the Alps, down the Rhein, to England, Erasmus mentally composed ''The Praise of Folly''. [454] => [455] => ====Brabant (Flanders)==== [456] => {{Side box |metadata=No [457] => | above = '''Burgundy/Louvain circle''' [458] => | text = [[Adrian of Utrecht]]{{•}}[[Pieter Gillis]]{{•}}[[Martinus Dorpius|Martin Dorp]]{{•}}[[Hieronymus van Busleyden]]{{•}}[[Albrecht Dürer]]{{•}}[[Dirk Martens]]{{•}}[[Nicolas Cleynaerts]]{{•}}[[Cornelius Grapheus]]
[459] => ''Opponents'': [[Jacobus Latomus|Latomus]]{{•}}[[Edward Lee (bishop)|Edward Lee]]{{•}}[[Ulrich von Hutten]]{{•}}[[:nl:Nicolaas Baechem|Nicolaas Baechem]] (Egmondanus)
[460] => ''Patrons'': [[Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor|Charles V]] [461] => }} [462] => [463] => His residence at Leuven, where he lectured at the [[Old University of Leuven|University]], exposed Erasmus to much criticism from those ascetics, academics and clerics hostile to the principles of [[Ad fontes#Counter views|literary]] and religious reform to which he was devoting his life.{{cite journal |last1=Rummel |first1=Erika |title=Erasmus and the Louvain Theologians — a Strategy of Defense |journal=Nederlands Archief voor Kerkgeschiedenis / Dutch Review of Church History |date=1990 |volume=70 |issue=1 |pages=2–12 |doi=10.1163/002820390X00024 |jstor=24009249 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/24009249 |issn=0028-2030}} In 1514, ''en route'' to Basel, he made the acquaintance of [[Hermann von dem Busche|Hermannus Buschius]], [[Ulrich von Hutten]] and [[Johann Reuchlin]] who introduced him to the Hebrew language in Mainz.{{Cite web |editor-last=Seidel Menchi |editor-first=S. |title=Opera Omnia Desiderii Erasmi – Erasmus, Opera Omnia |url=https://brill.com/display/serial/ASD |access-date=2022-12-21 |website=Brill |pages=50–51 |language=en}} In 1514, he suffered a fall from his horse and injured his back. [464] => [[File:Quinten Massijs - Portret van Peter Gilles.JPG|thumb|Quinten Massijs - Portrait of Peter Gillis or Gilles (1517), half of a diptych with portrait of Erasmus below, painted as a gift from them for Thomas More.]] [465] => Erasmus may have made several other short visits to England or English territory while living in Brabant. Happily for Erasmus, More and Tunstall were posted in Brussels or Antwerp on government missions around 1516, More for six months, Tunstall for longer. Their circle include [[Pieter Gillis]] of Antwerp, in whose house [[Thomas More]]'s wrote [[Utopia (More book)|Utopia]] (pub. 1516) with Erasmus' encouragement,{{refn|group=note|Historians have speculated that Erasmus passed on to More an early version of [[Bartholome de las Casas]]' ''Memoria'' which More used for Utopia, due to 33 specific similarities of ideas, and that the fictional character Raphael Hythloday is de las Casas.{{cite journal |last1=Varacalli |first1=Thomas |title=The Thomism of Bartolomé de Las Casas and the Indians of the New World |journal=LSU Doctoral Dissertations |date=1 January 2016 |doi=10.31390/gradschool_dissertations.1664 |url=https://repository.lsu.edu/gradschool_dissertations/1664}}{{rp|45}} Coincidentally, de las Casas' nemesis [[Juan Ginés de Sepúlveda|Sepúlveda]], arguing for the natural slavery of American Indians, had previously been Erasmus' opponent as well, initially supporting the anti-decadence of Erasmus' ''Ciceronians'' but then finding heresy in his translations and works.}} Erasmus editing and perhaps even contributing fragments.{{cite journal |last1=Dungen |first1=Peter van den |title=Erasmus: The 16th Century's Pioneer of Peace Education and a Culture of Peace |journal=Journal of East Asia and International Law |date=30 November 2009 |volume=2 |issue=2 |pages=5 |doi=10.14330/jeail.2009.2.2.05 |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/291216079 |access-date=28 July 2023|hdl=10454/5003 |hdl-access=free }} However, in 1517, his great friend Ammonio died in England of the Sweating Sickness. [466] => [467] => Erasmus had accepted an honorary position as a Councillor to [[Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor|Charles V]] with an annuity of 200 guilders,{{cite journal |last1=De Landtsheer |first1=Jeanine |title=On Good Government: Erasmus's Institutio Principis Christiani versus Lipsius's Politica |journal=The Reception of Erasmus in the Early Modern Period |date=1 January 2013 |pages=179–208 |doi=10.1163/9789004255630_009|isbn=978-90-04-25563-0 |url=https://lirias.kuleuven.be/handle/123456789/418743 }} and tutored his brother, the teenage future Holy Roman Emperor [[Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor|Ferdinand of Hapsburg]]. At this time he wrote ''The Education of a Christian Prince'' (''Institutio principis Christiani''). [468] => [469] => In 1517, he supported the foundation at the university of the [[Collegium Trilingue]] for the study of [[Hebrew language|Hebrew]], Latin, and Greek{{rp|s1.14.14}}—after the model of [[Francisco Jiménez de Cisneros|Cisneros]]' College of the Three Languages at the [[Complutense University of Madrid#History|University of Alcalá]]—financed by his late friend [[Hieronymus van Busleyden]]'s will.{{cite web |title=500 years Collegium Trilingue |url=https://expo.bib.kuleuven.be/exhibits/show/500-years-collegium-trilingue/formation-of-the-collegium-tri |website=expo.bib.kuleuven.be |language=en}} [470] => [471] => [[File:British - Field of the Cloth of Gold - Google Art Project.jpg|centre|thumb|300px|Field of the Cloth of Gold, w. Henry VIII (British - prev. attrib. Hans Holbein the Younger)]] [472] => In 1520 he was present at the [[Field of the Cloth of Gold]] with [[Guillaume Budé]], probably his last meetings with [[Thomas More#Personality according to Erasmus|Thomas More]]{{cite journal |last1=Sowards |first1=J. K. |title=Erasmus and the Education of Women |journal=The Sixteenth Century Journal |date=1982 |volume=13 |issue=4 |pages=77–89 |doi=10.2307/2540011 |jstor=2540011 |s2cid=166057335 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/2540011 |issn=0361-0160}} and [[William Warham]]. His friends and former students and old correspondents were the incoming political elite, and he had risen with them.By 1524, his disciples included, in his words, "the (Holy Roman) Emperor, the Kings of England, France, and Denmark, Prince Ferdinand of Germany, the Cardinal of England, the Archbishop of Canterbury, and more princes, more bishops, more learned and honourable men than I can name, not only in England, Flanders, France, and Germany, but even in Poland and Hungary…" quoted in {{cite web |last1=Trevor-Roper |first1=Hugh |title=Erasmus |url=https://www.pro-europa.eu/europe/trevor-roper-hugh-erasmus/ |website=Pro Europa |date=30 July 2020}} [473] => [474] => He stayed in various locations including Anderlecht (near Brussels) in the Summer of 1521.{{cite web |title=Erasmus House, Anderlecht |date=14 February 2016 |url=https://theculturetrip.com/europe/belgium/articles/the-erasmus-house-a-historical-cultural-complex-not-to-be-missed/ |access-date=30 April 2023}} [475] => [476] => ====Basel==== [477] => {{Side box |metadata=No [478] => | above = '''Swiss circle{{rp|56,63}}''' [479] => | text = [[Johannes Froben]]{{•}}[[Hieronymus Froben]]{{•}}[[Beatus Rhenanus]]{{•}}[[Bonifacius Amerbach]]{{•}}Bruno Amerbach{{•}}[[Hans Holbein the Younger]]{{•}}[[Simon Grynaeus]]{{•}}[[Sebastian Brandt]]{{•}}[[Wolfgang Capito]]{{•}}[[Damião de Góis]]{{•}}Gilbert Cousin{{•}}Jakob Näf{{•}}[[:de::Augustin Mair|Augustinus Marius]]
[480] => ''Opponents'': [[Johannes Oecolampadius|Œcolampadius]]
[481] => ''Patrons'': [[Counts of Dammartin#House of Vergy|Antoine I. de Vergy]], [[Christoph von Utenheim]] [482] => }} [483] => [[File:Cognatus-erasmus.tiff|thumbnail|200px|Desiderius Erasmus dictating to his ammenuensis Gilbert Cousin or Cognatus. From a book by Cousin, and itself claimed to be based on fresco in Cousin's house in [[Nozeroy]], Burgundy. Engraving possibly by [[:fr:Claude Luc]]. ]] [484] => From 1514, Erasmus regularly traveled to [[Basel]] to coordinate the printing of his books with [[Froben]]. He developed a lasting association with the great Basel publisher [[Johann Froben]] and later his son [[Hieronymus Froben]] (Eramus' [[Godparent|godson]]) who together published over 200 works with Erasmus,{{Cite book|last=Müller|first=Christian|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vU5tQgAACAAJ|title=Hans Holbein the Younger: The Basel Years, 1515-1532|publisher=[[Prestel]]|year=2006|isbn=978-3-7913-3580-3|pages=296|language=en}} working with expert scholar-correctors who went on to illustrious careers. [485] => [486] => His initial interest in Froben's operation was aroused by his discovery of the printer's folio edition of the ''Adagiorum Chiliades tres'' ([[Adagia]]) (1513).Bloch Eileen M. (1965). "Erasmus and the Froben Press." ''Library Quarterly'' 35 (April): 109–20. Froben's work was notable for using the new [[Roman type]] (rather than [[blackletter]]) and Aldine-like Italic and Greek fonts, as well as elegant layouts using borders and fancy capitals;{{rp|59}} Hans Holbein (the Younger) cut several woodblock capitals for Erasmus' editions. The printing of many his books was supervised by his Alsatian friend, the Greek scholar [[Beatus Rhenanus]].{{refn|group=note| Rhenanus shared many humanist contacts from Paris and Strassburg: a former student of [[Publio Fausto Andrelini|Andrelini]], friend of the Amerbach family, colleague of [[Sebastian Brant]] etc. He had learned printing in Paris with [[Robert Estienne]].}} [487] => [488] => In 1521 he settled in Basel.{{cite web |title=Portrait of Erasmus of Rotterdam (Hans Holbein the Younger) |url=https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_1895-0122-843 |website=print |publisher=British Museum |access-date=17 July 2023}} quoting G. Bartrum, ''German Renaissance Prints 1490-1550'', BM exh. cat. 1995, no. 238. He was weary of the controversies and hostility at Louvain, and feared being dragged further into the Lutheran controversy.{{cite book |last1=Erasmus |first1=Desiderius |title=The Correspondence of Erasmus: Letters 1252-1355 (1522-1523) |date=31 December 1989 |doi=10.3138/9781442680944|isbn=978-1-4426-8094-4 }} He agreed to be the Froben press' literary superintendent writing dedications and prefaces for an annuity and profit share. Apart from Froben's production team, he had his own household{{refn|group=note|In his own house "Zur alten Treu" which Froben had bought in 1521 and fitted with Erasmus' required fireplace.{{cite web |title=Altbasel - Erasmus in Basel |url=https://altbasel.ch/fragen/erasmus_in_basel.html |website=altbasel.ch}}}}with a formidable housekeeper, stable of horses, and up to eight boarders or paid servants: who acted as assistants, correctors, amanuenses, dining companions, international couriers, and carers.{{cite journal |last1=Blair |first1=Ann |title=Erasmus and His Amanuenses |journal=Erasmus Studies |date=13 March 2019 |volume=39 |issue=1 |pages=22–49 |doi=10.1163/18749275-03901011|s2cid=171933331 |url=http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:41473796 }} It was his habit to sit at times by a ground-floor window, to make it easier to see and be seen by strolling humanists for chatting. [489] => [490] => In collaboration with Froben and his team, the scope and ambition of Erasmus' ''Annotations'', Erasmus' long-researched project of philological notes of the New Testament along the lines of Valla's ''Adnotations'', had grown to also include a lightly revised Latin Vulgate, then the Greek text, then several edifying essays on methodology, then a highly revised Vulgate—all bundled as his ''[[Novum Instrumentum omne|Novum testamentum omne]]'' and pirated individually throughout Europe— then finally his amplified ''Paraphrases''. [491] => [[File:Pop adrian VI.JPG|thumb|200px|Pope Adrian VI (1522-1523]] [492] => In 1522, Erasmus' compatriot, former teacher (c. 1502) and friend from University of Louvain unexpectedly became [[Pope Adrian VI]],{{refn|group=note|Engineered by reformer Cardinal Cajetan and, later, a supporter of Erasmus.{{cite book |last1=Pastor |first1=Ludwig |title=The History of the Popes, from the Close of the Middle Ages |date=1923}}}} after having served as Regent (and/or Grand Inquisitor) of Spain for six years. Like Erasmus and Luther, he had been influenced by the Brethren of the Common Life. He tried to entice Erasmus to Rome. His reforms of the [[Roman Curia]] which he hoped would meet the objections of many Lutherans were stymied (party because the Holy See was broke), though re-worked at the Council of Trent, and he died in 1523.{{cite web |last1=Geurts |first1=Twan |title=Pope Adrian VI, the 'Barbarian From the North' Who Wanted to Reform the Vatican |url=https://www.the-low-countries.com/article/pope-adrian-vi-the-barbarian-from-the-north-who-wanted-to-reform-the-vatican |website=The Low Countries |language=en}} [493] => [494] => As the popular and nationalist responses to Luther gathered momentum, the social disorders, which Erasmus dreaded and Luther disassociated himself from, began to appear, including the [[German Peasants' War]] (1524–1525), the [[Anabaptist]] insurrections in Germany and in the Low Countries, iconoclasm, and the radicalisation of peasants across Europe. If these were the outcomes of reform, Erasmus was thankful that he had kept out of it. Yet he was ever more bitterly accused of having started the whole "tragedy" (as Erasmus dubbed the matter)."When the Lutheran tragedy ({{Lang-la|Lutheranae tragoediae }}) opened, and all the world applauded, I advised my friends to stand aloof. I thought it would end in bloodshed…", Letter to Alberto Pío, 1525, in e.g., {{cite web |url=https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/49/Life_and_letters_of_Erasmus_%28IA_cu31924026502793%29.pdf|title=Froude, Life and Letters of Erasmus, p 322}} [495] => [496] => In 1523, he provided financial support to the impoverished and disgraced former Latin Secretary of Antwerp [[Cornelius Grapheus]], on his release from the newly introduced Inquisition.{{rp|558}} In 1525, a former student of Erasmus who had served at Erasmus' father's former church at Woerden, [[Jan de Bakker]] (Pistorius) was the first priest to be executed as a heretic in the Netherlands. In 1529, his French translator and friend [[Louis de Berquin]] was burnt in Paris, following his condemnation as an anti-Rome heretic by the [[College of Sorbonne|Sorbonne]] theologians. [497] => [498] => ====Freiburg==== [499] => [[File:Damiao de gois-albertina.png|thumb|200px|Portrait of [[Damião de Góis]] by [[Albrecht Dürer]] ]] [500] => Following iconoclastic rioting in 1529 led by [[Johannes Oecolampadius|Œcolampadius]] his former assistant,A sentence previously in this article said "Prominent reformators like [[Johannes Oecolampadius|Oecolampad]] urged him to stay." However, Campion, ''Erasmus and Switzerland'', op. cit., p26, says that Œcolampadius wanted to drive Erasmus from the city. the city of Basel definitely adopted the Reformation, and banned the Catholic mass on April 1, 1529.{{multiref2|1={{cite web |title=Erasmus - Dutch Humanist, Protestant Challenge |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Erasmus-Dutch-humanist/The-Protestant-challenge |website=www.britannica.com |language=en}} | 2={{cite book |last1=Schaff |first1=Philip |title=The Reformation in Basel. Oecolampadius. History of the Christian Church, Volume VIII: Modern Christianity. The Swiss Reformation |url=https://ccel.org/ccel/schaff/hcc8/hcc8.iv.iv.iii.html}} }} Erasmus left Basel on the 13 April 1529 and departed by ship to the Catholic university town of [[Freiburg im Breisgau]] to be under the protection of his former student, [[Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor|Archduke Ferdinand of Austria]],{{rp|210}} staying for two years on the top floor of [[the Whale House]],{{Cite book |last=Wilson |first=Derek |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cM2GAQAACAAJ |title=Hans Holbein: Portrait of an Unknown Man |date=1996 |publisher= Phoenix Giant|isbn=978-0297 815617 |pages=161–162 |language=en}} then buying and refurbishing a house of his own,{{refn|group=note|He spent the first two years in Freiburg as a guest of the city in the unfinished mansion [[:de:Haus zum Walfisch|Haus zum Walfisch]] and was indignant when an attempt was made to charge back-rent: he [[:de:Haus zum Walfisch#Geschichte|paid]] this rent, and that of another refugee from Basel in his house, a fellow Augustinian Canon, Bishop [[:de::Augustin Mair|Augustinus Marius]], the humanist preacher who had led the efforts in Basel to resist Œcolampadius. Emerton (1889), p.449.}} where he took in scholar/assistants as table-boardersEmerton (1889), ''op cit'' p442 such as Cornelius Grapheus' friend [[Damião de Góis]], some of them fleeing persecution. [501] => [502] => Despite increasing frailty{{refn|group=note|His arthritic gout{{cite journal |title=Erasmus' Illnesses in His Final Years (1533–6) |journal=The Correspondence of Erasmus |date=31 December 2020 |pages=335–339 |doi=10.3138/9781487532833-007|isbn=978-1-4875-3283-3 |s2cid=240920541 }} kept him housebound and unable to write: "Even on Easter Day I said mass in my bedroom." Letter to Nicolaus Olahus (1534)}} Erasmus continued to work productively, notably on a new ''magnum opus'', his manual on preaching ''Ecclesiastes'', and his small book on preparing for death. His boarder for five months, the Portuguese scholar/diplomat Damião de Góis,{{cite journal |last1=Hirsch |first1=Elisabeth Feist |title=The Friendship of Erasmus and Damiâo De Goes |journal=Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society |date=1951 |volume=95 |issue=5 |pages=556–568 |jstor=3143242 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/3143242 |issn=0003-049X}} worked on his lobbying on the plight of the [[Sámi]] in Sweden and the Ethiopian church, and stimulated{{rp|82}} Erasmus' increasing awareness of foreign missions.{{refn|group=note|De Góis then proceeded to Padua, meeting with the humanist cardinals Bembo and Sadeleto, and with Ignatius of Loyola. He had previously dined with Luther and Melancthon, and met Bucer.{{cite journal |last1=Bell |first1=Aubrey F. G. |title=Damião de Goes, a Portuguese Humanist |journal=Hispanic Review |date=1941 |volume=9 |issue=2 |pages=243–251 |doi=10.2307/470220 |jstor=470220 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/470220 |issn=0018-2176}}}} [503] => [504] => There are no extant letters between More and Erasmus from the start of More's period as Chancellor until his resignation (1529–1533), almost to the day. Erasmus wrote several important non-political works under the surprising patronage of [[Thomas Boleyn, 1st Earl of Wiltshire|Thomas Bolyn]]: his ''Ennaratio triplex in Psalmum XXII'' or ''Triple Commentary on Psalm 23'' (1529); his catechism to counter Luther ''Explanatio Symboli'' or ''[[A Playne and Godly Exposition or Declaration of the Commune Crede]]'' (1533) which sold out in three hours at the Frankfurt Book Fair, and ''Praeparatio ad mortem'' or ''Preparation for Death'' (1534) which would be one of Erasmus' most popular and most hijacked works.{{cite thesis |last1=Mackay |first1=Lauren |title=The life and career of Thomas Boleyn (1477–1539): courtier, ambassador, and statesman |date=2019 |publisher=University of Newcastle |hdl=1959.13/1397919 |url=http://hdl.handle.net/1959.13/1397919 |language=en}}The last was released at the time of Henry VIII and Anne Bolyn's wedding; Erasmus appended a statement that indicated he opposed the marriage. Erasmus outlived Anne and her brother by two months. [505] => [506] => =====Fates of Friends===== [507] => [[File:William Warham.jpg|thumb|200px|William Warham (c.1450–1532), Archbishop of Canterbury, after Hans Holbein]] [508] => [[File:Cuthbert Tunstall (1474–1559), Bishop of Durham (Auckland Castle).jpg|thumb|200px|Cuthbert Tunstall (1474–1559), Bishop of Durham]] [509] => In the 1530s, life became more dangerous for Spanish Erasmians when Erasmus' protector, the Inquisitor General [[Alonso Manrique de Lara]] fell out of favour with the royal court and lost power within his own organization to friar-theologians. In 1532 Erasmus' friend, ''conversos'' [[Juan de Vergara]] (Cisneros' Latin secretary who had worked on the Complutensian Polyglot and published Stunica's criticism of Erasmus,) was arrested by the Spanish Inquisition and had to be ransomed from them by the humanist Archbishop of Toledo [[Alonso III Fonseca]], also a correspondent of Erasmus', who had previously rescued Ignatius of Loyola from them.{{rp|80}} [510] => [511] => There was a generational change in the Catholic hierarchy. In 1530, the reforming French bishop [[Guillaume Briçonnet (bishop of Meaux)|Guillaume Briçonnet]] died. In 1532 his beloved long-time mentor English Primate [[William Warham|Warham]] died of old age,{{refn|group=note|Erasmus writing a moving letter to William Blount's teenaged son [[Charles Blount, 5th Baron Mountjoy|Charles]] about Warham: "I wrote this in sorrow and grief, my mind totally devastated… We had made a vow to die together; he had promised a common grave…I am held back here half-alive, still owing the debt from the vow I had made, which …I will soon pay. …Instead, even time, which is supposed to cure even the most grievous sorrows, merely makes this wound more and more painful. What more can I say? I feel that I am being called. I will be glad to die here together with that incomparable and irrevocable patron of mine, provided I am allowed, by the mercy of Christ, to live there together with him."{{rp|86}} }} as did reforming cardinal [[Giles of Viterbo]] and Swiss bishop [[Hugo von Hohenlandenberg]]. In 1534 his distrusted protector [[Clement VII]] (the "inclement Clement"{{cite book |last1=Bietenholz |first1=Peter G. |title=History and Biography in the Work of Erasmus of Rotterdam |date=1966 |publisher=Librairie Droz |location=Geneva}}{{rp|72}}) died, his recent Italian ally Cardinal [[Thomas Cajetan|Cajetan]] died, and his old ally Cardinal [[Lorenzo Campeggio|Campeggio]] retired. [512] => [513] => As more friends died (in 1533, his friend [[Pieter Gillis]]; in 1534, [[William Blount, 4th Baron Mountjoy|William Blount]]; in early 1536, [[Catherine of Aragon]];) and as Luther and some Lutherans and some powerful Catholic theologians renewed their personal attacks on Erasmus, his letters are increasingly focused on concerns on the status of friendships and safety as he considered moving from bland Freiburg despite his health."I am so weary of this region...I feel that there is a conspiracy to kill me...Many hope for war." Letter to Erasmus Schets (1534) [514] => [515] => In 1535, Erasmus' friends [[Thomas More]], Bishop [[John Fisher]] and Brigittine [[Richard Reynolds (martyr)|Richard Reynolds]]{{refn|group=note|In the ''Expositio Fidelis'', Erasmus recounts "Included with the Carthusians was the Brigittine monk Reynolds, a man of angelic features and angelic character and possessed of sound judgment, as I discovered through the conversations I had with him when I was in England in the company of Cardinal Campeggi."{{rp|611}} }} were executed as pro-Rome traitors by [[Henry VIII]], who Erasmus and More had first met as a boy. Despite illness Erasmus wrote the [[Thomas More#Personality according to Erasmus|first biography]] of More (and Fisher), the short, anonymous ''Expositio Fidelis'', which Froben published, at the instigation of de Góis. [516] => [517] => After Erasmus' time, numerous of Erasmus' translators later met similar fates at the hands of Anglican, Catholic and Reformed sectarians and autocrats: including [[Margaret Pole]], [[William Tyndale]], [[Michael Servetus]]. Others, such as Charles V's Latin secretary [[Juan de Valdés]], fled and died in self-exile. [518] => [519] => Erasmus' friend and collaborator Bishop [[Cuthbert Tunstall]] eventually died in prison under Elizabeth I for refusing the [[Oath of Supremacy]]. Erasmus' correspondent Bishop [[Stephen Gardiner]], who he had known as a teenaged student in Paris and Cambridge,{{cite book |last1=Allen |first1=Amanda |title=Flesh, Blood, and Puffed-Up Livers: The Theological, Political, and Social Contexts behind the 1550-1551 Written Eucharistic Debate between Thomas Cranmer and Stephen Gardiner |date=1 January 2014 |doi=10.31390/gradschool_dissertations.401 |url=https://repository.lsu.edu/gradschool_dissertations/401}} was later imprisoned in the [[Tower of London]] for five years under [[Edward VI]] for impeding Protestantism.{{refn|group=note|During which he occupied himself copying out quotations from Erasmus' ''Adages'' ''etc'' and formally complaining about the protestantized English translation of Erasmus' ''Paraphrases of the New Testament''.{{cite web |title=(Prison) Note(book)s Toward a History of Boredom |url=https://www.jhiblog.org/2016/10/03/prison-notebooks-toward-a-history-of-boredom/ |website=JHI Blog}}}} Damião de Góis was tried before the Portuguese Inquisition at age 72, detained almost ''incommunicado'', finally exiled to a monastery, and on release perhaps murdered.{{cite web |last1=Ruth |first1=Jeffrey S. |title=Lisbon in the Renaissance: Author Damiao de Gois |url=http://www.italicapress.com/index108.html |website=www.italicapress.com}} His amanuensis Gilbert Cousin died in prison at age 66, shortly after being arrested on the personal order of Pope [[Pius V]]. [520] => [521] => ===Death in Basel=== [522] => [[File:Erasmus grafsteen Münster van Bazel.JPG|thumb|200px|Epitaph for Erasmus in the [[Basel Minster]]]] [523] => When his strength began to fail, he finally decided to accept an invitation by [[Mary of Hungary (governor of the Netherlands)|Queen Mary of Hungary, Regent of the Netherlands]] (sister of his former student Archduke Ferdinand I and Emperor Charles V), to move from Freiburg to [[Duchy of Brabant|Brabant]]. In 1535, he moved back to the Froben compound in [[Basel]] in preparation ([[Oecolampadius|Œcolampadius]] having died, and private practice of his religion now possible) and saw his last major works such as [[Ecclesiastes of Erasmus|Ecclesiastes]] through publication, though he grew more frail. [524] => [525] => On July 12, 1536, he died at an attack of [[dysentery]].{{CathEncy|wstitle= Desiderius Erasmus}} "The most famous scholar of his day died in peaceful prosperity and in the company of celebrated and responsible friends."{{cite web |title=Erasmus and His Books (Publisher's material) |url=https://utorontopress.com/9780802038760/erasmus-and-his-books/ |website=University of Toronto Press |access-date=30 April 2024 |language=en-CA}} His last words, as recorded by his friend and biographer [[Beatus Rhenanus]], were apparently "Lord, put an end to it" ({{lang-la|domine fac finem}}, the same last words as Melancthon){{cite journal |last1=Kusukawa |first1=Sachiko |title=Nineteenth-Annual Bainton Lecture |journal=Erasmus of Rotterdam Society Yearbook |date=2003 |volume=23 |issue=1 |pages=1–24 |doi=10.1163/187492703X00036}} then "Dear God" ({{lang-nl|Lieve God}}).Huizinga, Dutch edition, p. 202. [526] => [527] => He had remained loyal to Roman Catholicism,{{cite journal |last=Hoffmann |first=Manfred |date=Summer 1989 |title=Faith and Piety in Erasmus's Thought |journal=[[Sixteenth Century Journal]] |publisher=[[Truman State University Press]] |volume=20 |issue=2 |pages=241–258 |doi=10.2307/2540661 |jstor=2540661|s2cid=166213471 }} but biographers have disagreed whether to treat him as an insider or an outsider.{{refn |group=note |name="Church 1924"|Contrast the "outsider" interpretation of Huizinga "He tried to remain in the fold of the old [Roman] Church, after having damaged it seriously, and renounced the [Protestant] Reformation, and to a certain extent even Humanism, after having furthered both with all his strength." [[Johan Huizinga]], ''Erasmus and the Age of Reformation'' (tr. F. Hopman and Barbara Flower; New York: Harper and Row, 1924), p. 190. with the "insider" interpretation of [[Francis Aidan Gasquet]] "He was a reformer in the best sense, as so many far-seeing and spiritual-minded churchmen of those days were. He desired to better and beautify and perfect the system he found in vogue, and he had the courage of his convictions to point out what he thought stood in need of change and improvement, but he was no iconoclast; he had no desire to pull down or root up or destroy under the plea of improvement. That he remained to the last the friend of Popes and bishops and other orthodox churchmen, is the best evidence, over and above his own words, that his real sentiments were not misunderstood by men who had the interests of the Church at heart, and who looked upon him as true and loyal, if perhaps a somewhat eccentric and caustic son of Holy Church. Even in his last sickness he received from the Pope proof of his esteem, for he was given a benefice of considerable value."{{rp|200}} }} He may not have received or had the opportunity to receive the [[last rites]] of the Catholic Church;This assertion is contradicted by Gonzalo Ponce de Leon speaking in 1595 at the Roman [[Index Librorum Prohibitorum|Congregation of the Index]] on the (mostly successful) de-prohibition of Erasmus' works said that he died "as a Catholic having received the sacraments." {{cite journal |last1=Menchi |first1=Silvana Seidel |title=Sixteenth-Annual Bainton Lecture |journal=Erasmus of Rotterdam Society Yearbook |date=2000 |volume=20 |issue=1 |page=30 |doi=10.1163/187492700X00048}} the contemporary reports of his death do not mention whether he asked for a Catholic priest or not,{{refn|group=note|According to historian Jan van Herwaarden, it is consistent with Erasmus' view that outward signs were not important; what mattered is the believer's direct relationship with God. However, van Herwaarden states that "he did not dismiss the rites and sacraments out of hand but asserted a dying person could achieve a state of salvation without the priestly rites, provided their faith and spirit were attuned to God" (i.e., maintaining being in a [[:wikt:state of grace|State of Grace]]) noting Erasmus' stipulation that this was "as the (Catholic) Church believes." [528] => {{citation [529] => |author= Jan Van Herwaarden [530] => |title= Between Saint James and Erasmus: Studies in Late Medieval Religious Life [531] => |location= Leiden |publisher= Brill|year= 2003 [532] => |pages= 529–530 |isbn= 9789004129849 [533] => }} [534] => }} if any were secretly or privately in Basel. [535] => [536] => He was buried with great ceremony in the [[Basel Minster]] (the former cathedral). The Protestant city authorities remarkably allowed his funeral to be an ecumenical Catholic [[requiem Mass]].{{cite journal |last1=Campion |first1=Edmund |title=Erasmus and Switzerland |journal=Swiss American Historical Society |date=2003 |volume=39 |issue=3 |url=https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1412&context=sahs_review |access-date=21 June 2023}} [537] => [538] => As his heir he instated [[Bonifacius Amerbach]] to give seed money"He left a small fortune, in trusts for the benefit of the aged and infirm, the education of young men of promise, and as marriage portions for deserving young women - nothing, however, for Masses for the repose of his soul." {{cite journal |last1=Kerr |first1=Fergus |title=Comment: Erasmus |journal=New Blackfriars |date=2005 |volume=86 |issue=1003 |pages=257–258 |doi=10.1111/j.0028-4289.2005.00081.x |jstor=43250928 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/43250928 |issn=0028-4289}} to students and the needy;{{refn|group=note|'. After the payment of all outstanding claims, the sum in the hands of Bonifacius and the two Basel executors amounted to 5,000 florins. This sum was invested in a loan to the duchy of Württemberg that yielded an annual income of 250 florins. The greater part of this sum became a fund to provide scholarships for students at the University of Basel (in theology, law, and medicine); the rest [539] => went into a fund devoted to the assistance of the poor."{{cite book |last1=Erasmus |first1=Desiderius |editor-first1=James M. |editor-first2=Alexander |editor-last1=Estes |editor-last2=Dalzell |title=The Correspondence of Erasmus: Letters 2940 to 3141, Volume 21 |date=31 December 2021 |doi=10.3138/9781487536695|isbn=978-1-4875-3669-5 }} In [[Florin|modern terms]], 5000 florins could be between US$500,000 and US$5,000,000; 250 florins could be between $25,000 and $250,000}} he had received a dispensation to make a will rather than have his wealth revert to his order, the Chapter of Sion, and had long pre-sold most of his personal library of almost 500 books to Jan Łaski.{{cite journal |last1=Żantuan |first1=Konstanty |title=Erasmus and the Cracow Humanists: The Purchase of His Library by Łaski |journal=The Polish Review |date=1965 |volume=10 |issue=2 |pages=3–36 |jstor=25776600 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/25776600 |issn=0032-2970}}{{cite journal |last1=Vale |first1=Malcolm |title=Erasmus and his Books, by Egbertus van Gulik, tr. J.C. Grayson, ed. James K. McConica and Johannes Trapman |journal=The English Historical Review |date=6 November 2020 |volume=135 |issue=575 |pages=1016–1018 |doi=10.1093/ehr/ceaa149}} One of the eventual recipients was the impoverished Protestant humanist [[Sebastian Castellio]], who had fled from Geneva to Basel, who subsequently translated the Bible into Latin and French, and who worked for the repair of the breach and divide of Christianity in its Catholic, Anabaptist, and Protestant branches.{{cite book|title=Sebastian Castellio, 1515-1563; Humanist and Defender of Religious Toleration in a Confessional Age; Translated and Edited by Bruce Gordon |last=Guggisbert |first=Hans |year=2003 |publisher=Ashgate Publishing Limited|location=Hants England; Burlington, Vermont, USA |isbn=0754630196}} [540] => {{clear}} [541] => [542] => ==Thought and views== [543] => Erasmus had a distinctive manner of thinking, a Catholic historian suggests: one that is capacious in its perception, agile in its judgments, and unsettling in its irony with "a deep and abiding commitment to human flourishing"Terrence J. Martin, ''Truth and Irony''[https://www.cuapress.org/9780813228099/truth-and-irony/] quoted in {{cite journal |last1=Moore |first1=Michael |date=2019 |title=Truth and Irony: Philosophical Meditations on Erasmus (Review) |url=https://brill.com/view/journals/eras/39/1/article-p107_9.xml?rskey=MziQyb&result=1 |journal=Erasmus Studies |volume=39 |issue=1 |doi=10.1163/18749275-03901009 |s2cid=171963677}} "In all spheres, his outlook was essentially pastoral."{{cite book |last1=Mansfield |first1=Bruce |title=Erasmus in the Twentieth Century |date=6 May 2003 |publisher=University of Toronto Press |isbn=978-1-4426-7455-4 |url=https://doi.org/10.3138/9781442674554 |language=en |chapter=Erasmus in the Twentieth Century: Interpretations 1920-2000|doi=10.3138/9781442674554 }}{{rp|225}} [544] => [545] => Erasmus has been called a seminal rather than a consistent or systematic thinker,{{cite journal |last1=Tracy |first1=James |title=Two Erasmuses and Two Luthers: Erasmus' strategy in defense of De libero arbitrio |journal=Archiv für Reformationsgeschichte |date=1987 |volume=78 |issue=jg |page=57 |doi=10.14315/arg-1987-jg03 |s2cid=171005154 |url=https://doi.org/10.14315/arg-1987-jg03 |access-date=22 June 2023}} notably averse to over-extending from the specific to the general; who nevertheless should be taken very seriously as a [[Pastoral theology|pastoral]]{{refn|group=note|Historian Kirk Essary comments "Reading the work (''Exomologesis''), one is reminded that Erasmus remains underrated for his psychological insights in general and that he is perhaps overlooked as a pastoral theologian."{{cite journal |last1=Essary |first1=Kirk |title=Collected Works of Erasmus, written by Frederick J. McGinness (ed.), Michael J. Heath and James L.P. Butrica (transl.), Frederick J. McGinness and Michael J. Heath (annotat.), and Alexander Dalzell (contrib. ed.) |journal=Erasmus Studies |date=2016 |volume=36 |issue=1 |pages=64–66 |doi=10.1163/18749275-03601005}}}} and rhetorical theologian, with a philological and historical approach—rather than a metaphysical approach—to interpreting Scripture{{cite journal |last1=Trinkaus |first1=Charles |title=Erasmus, Augustine and the Nominalists |journal=Archiv für Reformationsgeschichte - Archive for Reformation History |date=1976 |volume=67 |issue=jg |pages=5–32 |doi=10.14315/arg-1976-jg01 |s2cid=163790714 |url=https://doi.org/10.14315/arg-1976-jg01 |access-date=22 June 2023}}{{refn|group=note|For Erasmus, "dogmatics do not exist for themselves; they take on meaning only when they issue, on the one hand, in the exegesis of scripture and, on the other, in moral action" according to Manfred Hoffmann's ''Erkenntnis und Verwirklichung der wahren Theologie nach Erasmus von Rotterdam'' (1972) {{rp|137}} }} and interested in the [[Four senses of Scripture#Four types of interpretation|literal and tropological senses]].{{rp|145}} French theologian Louis Bouyer commented "Erasmus was to be one of those who can get no edification from exegesis where they suspect some misinterpretation."{{cite journal |last1=Bouyer |first1=Louis |title=Erasmus in Relation to the Medieval Biblical Tradition |journal=The Cambridge History of the Bible: Volume 2: The West from the Fathers to the Reformation |date=1969 |volume=2 |pages=492–506 |doi=10.1017/CHOL9780521042550.011 |isbn=978-1-139-05550-5 |url= |language=en}} [546] => [547] => A theologian has written of "Erasmus’ preparedness completely to satisfy no-one but himself."{{cite journal |last1=Chester |first1=Stephen |title=When the Old Was New: Reformation Perspectives on Galatians 2:16 |journal=The Expository Times |date=April 2008 |volume=119 |issue=7 |pages=320–329 |doi=10.1177/0014524608091090|s2cid=144925414 }} He has been called moderate, judicious and constructive even when being critical or when mocking extremes.{{cite book |last1=Ocker |first1=Christopher |title=The Hybrid Reformation: A Social, Cultural, and Intellectual History of Contending Forces |date=22 September 2022 |doi=10.1017/9781108775434.011}}{{refn|group=note|However, "his wit can be gentle; it can break out into bitterness. In controversy, resentments and anxieties can get loose, countermanding the Christian imperative of love to which he was devoted and which runs as a ''leitmotiv'' through all his writings." Mansfield {{rp|230}} }} [548] => [549] => ===Pacifism=== [550] => Peace, peaceableness and peacemaking, in all spheres from the domestic to the religious to the political, were central distinctives of Erasmus' writing on Christian living and his mystical theology:{{cite web |last1=Dart |first1=Ron |title=Erasmus: Then and Now |url=https://www.clarion-journal.com/clarion_journal_of_spirit/2006/09/erasmus_then_an.html |website=Clarion: Journal for Religion, Peace and Justice |access-date=28 November 2023}} ''"the sum and summary of our religion is peace and unanimity"'' ''{{lang|la|Summa nostrae religionis pax est et unanimated}}''. Erasmus continued: "This can hardly remain the case unless we define as few matters as possible and leave each individual’s judgement free on many questions." {{cite book |last1=Erasmus |title=Letter to Carondelet: The Preface to His Edition of St. Hilary |date=1523}}
Note that the use of ''summa'' is perhaps also a backhanded reference to the [[scholasticism|scholastic]] ''[[summa]]'', which he upbraided for their moral and spiritual uselessness.{{cite journal |last1=Surtz |first1=Edward L. |title="Oxford Reformers" and Scholasticism |journal=Studies in Philology |date=1950 |volume=47 |issue=4 |pages=547–556 |jstor=4172947 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/4172947 |access-date=19 June 2023}} At the [[Nativity of Jesus]] ''"the angels sang not the glories of war, nor a song of triumph, but a hymn of peace.":''{{cite web |last1=Erasmus |title=The Complaint of Peace, p57 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=v-IvAAAAYAAJ&q=the+angels+sung+not+the+glories+of+war,+nor+a+song+of+triumph,+but+a+hymn+of+peace |website=Google Books |year=1813 |access-date=19 June 2023}} [551] => [552] => {{Blockquote|He (Christ) conquered by gentleness; He conquered by kindness; he conquered by truth itself [553] => |source=Method of True Theology, 4 "{{lang-la|Vicit mansuetudine, vicit beneficentia}}" R. Sider translates ''vicit'' as "he prevailed" {{cite journal |last1=Sider |first1=Robert D. |title=A System or Method of Arriving by a Short Cut at True Theology by Desiderius Erasmus of Rotterdam |journal=The New Testament Scholarship of Erasmus |date=31 December 2019 |pages=479–713 |doi=10.3138/9781487510206-020|isbn=9781487510206 |s2cid=198585078 }}{{rp|570}} }} [554] => [555] => Erasmus was not an absolute [[Pacifist]] but promoted political [[Pacificism]] and religious [[Irenicism]].{{cite journal |last1=Ron |first1=Nathan |title=The Christian Peace of Erasmus |journal=The European Legacy |date=2014 |volume=19 |issue=1 |pages=27–42 |doi=10.1080/10848770.2013.859793 |s2cid=143485311 |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10848770.2013.859793}} Notable writings on irenicism include ''de Concordia'', ''On the War with the Turks'', ''The Education of a Christian Prince'', ''On Restoring the Concord of the Church'', and ''The Complaint of Peace''. Erasmus' ecclesiology of peacemaking held that the church authorities had a divine mandate to settle religious disputes,{{refn|group=note|Bruce Mansfield summarizes historian Georg Gebhart's view: "While recognizing the teaching authority, but not the primacy, of Councils, Erasmus adopted a moderate papalism, papal authority itself being essentially pastoral."{{rp|132}} }} in an as non-excluding way as possible, including by the preferably-minimal [[development of doctrine]]. [556] => [557] => In the latter, Lady Peace insists on peace as the crux of Christian life and for understanding Christ: [558] => [559] => {{Blockquote|I give you my peace, I leave you my peace" (John 14:27). You hear what he leaves his people? Not horses, bodyguards, empire or riches – none of these. What then? He gives peace, leaves peace – peace with friends, peace with enemies.|source= The Complaint of Peace{{cite web |last1=Erasmus |title=The Complaint of Peace |url=https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Complaint_of_Peace |website=Wikisources |access-date=19 June 2023}}}} [560] => [561] => A historian has called him "The 16th Century's Pioneer of Peace Education and a Culture of Peace".{{refn|group=note|If any single individual in the modern world can be credited with "the invention of peace", the honour belongs to Erasmus rather than Kant whose essay on perpetual peace was published nearly three centuries later.}} [562] => [563] => ====War==== [564] => {{See also|Erasmus#The Complaint of Peace (1517)}} [565] => Erasmus had experienced war as a child and was particularly concerned about wars between Christian kings, who should be brothers and not start wars; a theme in his book ''[[The Education of a Christian Prince]].'' His ''Adages'' included ''"War is sweet to those who have never tasted it"'' (''{{lang|la|Dulce bellum inexpertis}}'' from [[:wikiquote:Pindar|Pindar]]'s Greek.){{refn|group=note|"The argument of ''Bellum'' is governed by three favorite themes that recur in other works of Erasmus. First, war is naturally wrong...Second, Christianity forbids war...Third, “just cause” in war will be claimed by both sides and will be next to impossible to determine fairly: hence, the traditional criteria of the just war are nonfunctional."{{cite book |last1=Cahill |first1=Lisa Sowle |title=Blessed Are the Peacemakers: Pacifism, Just War, and Peacebuilding |date=2019 |publisher=1517 Media |jstor=j.ctv9b2ww5.11 |isbn=978-1-5064-3165-9 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctv9b2ww5.11}} }} [566] => [567] => He promoted and was present at the [[Field of Cloth of Gold]],{{Cite web|url=https://www.hrp.org.uk/hampton-court-palace/history-and-stories/the-field-of-cloth-of-gold/|title=The Field of Cloth of Gold | Hampton Court Palace | Historic Royal Palaces|access-date=2 December 2023}} and his wide-ranging [[List of Erasmus's correspondents|correspondence]] frequently related to issues of peacemaking.{{refn|group=note|"Desiderius Erasmus, Thomas More and John Colet...between them in the first three decades of the sixteenth century, ushered in not only humanism – an ethically sanctioned guide for practical, humanitarian ways of living in society – but also the formation of a group that might be called a ‘peace movement’."{{cite book |last1=White |first1=R. S. |title=Pacifism and English Literature |date=2008 |doi=10.1057/9780230583641|isbn=978-1-349-36295-0 }}}} He saw a key role of the Church in peacemaking by arbitration,{{cite web |last1=Xheraj |first1=Blerina |title=Erasmus, Jus Canonicum and Arbitration |url=https://commercialarbitrationineurope.wordpress.com/2020/12/04/erasmus-jus-canonicum-and-arbitration/ |website=The Social and Psychological Underpinnings of Commercial Arbitration in Europe |date=4 December 2020 |publisher=University of Leicester}} and the office of the Pope was necessary to reign in tyrannical princes and bishops.{{rp|195}} [568] => [569] => He questioned the practical usefulness and abuses{{refn|group=note|"I do not deny that I wrote some harsh things in order to deter the Christians from the madness of war, because I saw that these wars,which we witnessed for too many years, are the source of the biggest part of evils which damage Christendom. Therefore, it was necessary to come forward not only against these deeds, which are clearly criminal, but also against other actions, which are almost impossible to do without committing many crimes." Apology against Albert Pío {{rp|11}}}} of [[Just War theory]], further limiting it to feasible defensive actions with popular support and that "war should never be undertaken unless, as a last resort, it cannot be avoided."{{cite journal |last1=Dallmayr |first1=Fred R. |title=A War Against the Turks? Erasmus on War and Peace |journal=Asian Journal of Social Science |date=2006 |volume=34 |issue=1 |pages=67–85 |doi=10.1163/156853106776150225 |jstor=23654400 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/23654400 |access-date=19 June 2023}} In his ''Adages'' he discusses (common translation) "[[:wikiquote:Desiderius Erasmus|''A disadvantageous peace is better than a just war'']]", which owes to [[Just war theory#Renaissance and Christian Humanists|Cicero and John Colet]]'s "''Better an unjust peace than the justest war.''" [570] => [571] => Erasmus was extremely critical of the warlike way of important European princes of his era, including some princes of the church.Erasmus was not out-of-step with opinion within the church: Archbishop Bernard II Zinni of [[Split, Croatia|Split]] speaking at the [[Fifth Council of the Lateran]] (1512) denounced princes as the most guilty of ambition, luxury and a desire for domination. Bernard proposed that reformation must primarily involve ending war and schism. {{cite journal |last1=Minnich |first1=Nelson H. |title=Concepts of Reform Proposed at the Fifth Lateran Council |journal=Archivum Historiae Pontificiae |date=1969 |volume=7 |pages=163–251 |jstor=23563707 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/23563707 |issn=0066-6785}} p. 173,174 He described these princes as corrupt and greedy. Erasmus believed that these princes "collude in a game, of which the outcome is to exhaust and oppress the commonwealth".{{rp|s1.7.4}} He spoke more freely about this matter in letters sent to his friends like [[Thomas More]], [[Beatus Rhenanus]] and [[Adrianus Barlandus]]: a particular target of his criticisms was the Emperor [[Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor|Maximilian I]], whom Erasmus blamed for allegedly preventing the Netherlands from signing a peace treaty with [[Duchy of Guelders|Guelders]]{{cite book |last1=Tracy |first1=James D. |title=Holland Under Habsburg Rule, 1506-1566: The Formation of a Body Politic |date=23 October 2018 |publisher=Univ of California Press |isbn=978-0-520-30403-1 |pages=68–70 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=x7nADwAAQBAJ&pg=PA68 |access-date=4 August 2023 |language=en}} and other schemes to cause wars in order to extract money from his subjects.{{refn|group=note|James D.Tracy notes that mistrust of the Habsburg government in the general population (partially due to the fact Maximilian and his grandson [[Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor|Charles V]] were absentee rulers, the secret nature of diplomacy and other circumstances) was widespread, but it is notable that intellectuals like Erasmus and Barlandus also accepted the allegations.{{cite book |last1=Tracy |first1=James D. |title=Erasmus of the Low Countries |date=1 January 1996 |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=978-0-520-08745-3 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HvbNbNMP_vcC&pg=PA94 |access-date=4 August 2023 |language=en}}{{rp|94,95}} }} [572] => [573] => One of his approaches was to send, and publish, congratulatory and lionizing letters to princes who, though in a position of strength, negotiated peace with neighbours: such as to King [[Sigismund I the Old]] of Poland in 1527.{{rp|75}} [574] => [575] => {{anchor|Religious toleration}} [576] => [577] => ====Christian religious toleration==== [578] => [579] => [[File:Quentin_Massys-_Erasmus_of_Rotterdam.JPG|thumbnail|200px|Portrait of Erasmus, after Quinten Massijs (1517)]] [580] => He referred to his irenical disposition in the Preface to [[De libero arbitrio diatribe sive collatio|On Free Will]] as a ''secret inclination of nature'' that would make him even prefer the views of the [[Sceptics]] over intolerant assertions, though he sharply distinguished ''[[Adiaphora#Christianity|adiaphora]]'' from what was uncontentiously explicit in the [[Bible|New Testament]] or absolutely mandated by [[Magisterium|Church teaching]].{{cite book |last1=Yoder |first1=Klaus C. |title=Adiaphora and the Apocalypse: Protestant Moral Rhetoric of Ritual at the End of History (1990 –2003) |date=17 May 2016 |page=2 |url=http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:27194246 |language=en}} Concord demanded unity and assent: Erasmus was anti-sectarian"I have made my support of the church sufficiently clear...The only thing in which I take pride is that I have never committed myself to any sect." Erasmus, Letter to Georgius Agricola (1534) as well as non-sectarian.{{cite journal |last1=Kieffer |first1=Amanda |title=Ad Fontes: Desiderius Erasmus' Call for a Return to the Sources of a Unified and Simple Christian Faith |journal=The Kabod |date=2006 |volume=3 |issue=1 |url=https://digitalcommons.liberty.edu/kabod/vol3/iss1/10/https://digitalcommons.liberty.edu/kabod/vol3/iss1/10/ |access-date=16 December 2023}} To follow the law of love, our intellects must be humble and friendly when making any assertions: he called contention "earthly, beastly, demonic"{{rp|739}} and a good-enough reason to reject a teacher or their followers. In Melancthon's view, Erasmus taught charity not faith.{{cite journal |last1=Kusukawa |first1=Sachiko |title=Nineteenth-Annual Bainton Lecture |journal=Erasmus of Rotterdam Society Yearbook |date=2003 |volume=23 |issue=1 |pages=1–24 |doi=10.1163/187492703X00036}}{{rp|10}} [581] => [582] => Certain works of Erasmus laid a foundation for religious toleration of private opinions and [[ecumenism]]. For example, in ''De libero arbitrio'', opposing certain views of Martin Luther, Erasmus noted that religious disputants should be temperate in their language, "because in this way the truth, which is often lost amidst too much wrangling may be more surely perceived." Gary Remer writes, "Like [[Cicero]], Erasmus concludes that truth is furthered by a more harmonious relationship between interlocutors."Remer, Gary, ''Humanism and the Rhetoric of Toleration'' (University Park: University of Pennsylvania Press 1996), p. 95 {{ISBN|0-271-02811-4}} [583] => [584] => Erasmus' [[pacificism]] included a particular dislike for sedition, which caused warfare: [585] => [586] => {{Blockquote|text=It was the duty of the leaders of this (reforming) movement, if Christ was their goal, to refrain not only from vice, but even from every appearance of evil; and to offer not the slightest stumbling block to the Gospel, studiously avoiding even practices which, although allowed, are yet not expedient. Above all they should have guarded against all sedition.|source=Letter to Martin Bucer{{cite book |last1=Huizinga |first1=Johan |last2=Flower |first2=Barbara |title=Erasmus and the Age of Reformation |date=1952 |publisher=Harper Collins |url=https://www.gutenberg.org/files/22900/22900-h/22900-h.htm |access-date=15 July 2023}}}} [587] => [588] => Erasmus had been involved in early attempts to protect Luther and his sympathisers from charges of [[heresy]]. Erasmus wrote ''[[Colloquies#Inquisitio de fide (Inquisition of faith)|Inquisitio de fide]]'' to limit what should be considered heresy to fractiously agitating against essential doctrines (e.g., those of the Creed), with malice and persistence. As with St [[Theodore the Studite]],{{cite web |title=Αποστολική Διακονία της Εκκλησίας της Ελλάδος |url=https://apostoliki-diakonia.gr/en_main/catehism/theologia_zoi/themata.asp?cat=patr&main=EH_texts&file=11.htm |website=apostoliki-diakonia.gr}} Erasmus was against the death penalty merely for private or peaceable heresy, or for dissent on non-essentials: "It is better to cure a sick man than to kill him."Froude, James Anthony [589] => [https://archive.org/details/lifeandletterse02frougoog/page/n372 ''Life and letters of Erasmus: lectures delivered at Oxford 1893–4''] (London: Longmans, Green & Co. 1894), p. 359 The Church has the duty to protect believers and convert or heal heretics; he invoked Jesus' [[Parable of the Tares|parable of the wheat and tares]].{{rp|200}} [590] => [591] => Nevertheless, he allowed the death penalty against violent seditionists, to prevent bloodshed and war: he allowed that the state has the right to execute those who are a necessary danger to public order—whether heretic or orthodox—but noted (e.g., to [[:fr:Noël Béda]]) that [[Augustine]] had been against the execution of even violent [[Donatist]]s: Johannes Trapman states that Erasmus' endorsement of suppression of the Anabaptists springs from their refusal to heed magistrates and the criminal violence of the [[Münster rebellion]] not because of their heretical views on baptism.{{cite journal |last1=Trapman |first1=Johannes |title=Erasmus and Heresy |journal=Bibliothèque d'Humanisme et Renaissance |date=2013 |volume=75 |issue=1 |page=12 |jstor=24329313 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/24329313 |access-date=15 July 2023}} Despite these concessions to state power, he suggested that religious persecution could still be challenged as inexpedient (ineffective).{{cite journal |last1=Remer |first1=Gary |title=Rhetoric and the Erasmian Defense of Religious Toleration |journal=History of Political Thought |date=1989 |volume=10 |issue=3 |page=385}} [592] => [593] => In a letter to Cardial [[Lorenzo Campeggio]], Erasmus lobbied diplomatically for toleration: "If the sects could be tolerated under certain conditions (as the Bohemians pretend), it would, I admit, be a grievous misfortune, but one more endurable than war."{{citation needed|date=December 2023}} [594] => [595] => ====Jews and Turks==== [596] => While the focus of most of his writing was about peace within [[Christendom]] with a sole focus on Europe until his last decade, he was involved in the [[On War Against the Turk|public policy debate]] on war with the [[Ottoman Empire]], which was then invading [[Ottoman wars in Europe#1526-1566: Conquest of the Kingdom of Hungary|Western Europe]], notably in his book ''On the war against the Turks'' (1530), with "reckless and extravagant"{{cite web |last1=Withnell |first1=Stephen |title=A terrible pope but a patron of genius |url=https://catholicherald.co.uk/a-terrible-pope-but-a-patron-of-genius/ |website=Catholic Herald |date=25 April 2019}} Pope Leo X promoting going on the offensive with a new crusade."…the goal of ''De bello Turcico'' was to warn Christians and the Church of moral deterioration and to exhort them to change their ways.… Erasmus’ objection to crusades was by no means an overall opposition to fighting the Turks. Rather, Erasmus harshly condemned embezzlement and corrupt fundraising, and the Church’s involvement in such nefarious activities, and regarded them as inseparable from waging a crusade." {{cite journal |last1=Ron |first1=Nathan |title=The Non-Cosmopolitan Erasmus: An Examination of his Turkophobic/Islamophobic Rhetoric |journal=Akademik Tarih ve Düşünce Dergisi (Academic Journal of History and Idea) |date=1 January 2020 |url=https://www.academia.edu/67458204}} pp. 97,98 [597] => [598] => Erasmus re-worked Luther's rhetoric that the invading Turks represent God's judgment of decadent Christendom, but without Luther's fatalism: Erasmus not only accused Western leaders of kingdom-threatening hypocrisy, he proposed a remedy: anti-expansionist moral reforms by Europe's disunited leaders as a necessary unitive political step before any aggressive warfare against the Ottoman threat, reforms which might themselves, if sincere, prevent both the internecine and foreign warfare.{{cite journal |last1=van Herwaarden |first1=Jan |title=Erasmus and the Non-Christian World |journal=Erasmus of Rotterdam Society Yearbook |date=2012 |volume=32 |issue=1 |pages=69–83 |doi=10.1163/18749275-00000006}} [599] => [600] => [[File:LuisVives.jpg|thumb|200px|Juan Luis Vives]] [601] => In common with his times,{{cite journal |last1=Howell |first1=Rob |title=Islam as a Heresy: Christendom's Ideological View of Islam |journal=Fairmount Folio: Journal of History |date=2003 |volume=5 |url=https://journals.wichita.edu/index.php/ff/article/view/73 |language=en}} Erasmus regarded the Jewish and Islamic religions as Christian heresies rather than separate religions, using the inclusive term ''half-Christian'' for the latter.{{refn|group=note|"...in large part half-Christian and perhaps nearer to true Christianity than most of our own folk." ''Letter to Paul Volz''{{rp|32}}}} However, there is a wide range of scholarly opinion on the extent and nature of [[antisemitism|antisemitic]] and anti-Moslem prejudice in his writings: Erasmus scholar [[Shimon Markish]] wrote that the charge of [[Christian antisemitism|antisemitism]] could not be sustained in Erasmus' public writings,{{cite book |title=Erasmus and the Jews |url=https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/E/bo3641385.html |publisher=University of Chicago Press |access-date=15 July 2023}} however historian Nathan Ron has found his writing to be harsh and racial in its implications, with contempt and hostility to Islam.{{cite journal |last1=Ron |first1=Nathan |title=Erasmus' attitude to towards Islam in the light of Nicholas of Cusa's De pace fidei and Cribiatio alkorani |journal=Revista Española de Filosofía Medieval |date=2019 |volume=26 |issue=1 |pages=113–136|doi=10.21071/refime.v26i1.11846 |s2cid=200062225 |url=https://dialnet.unirioja.es/descarga/articulo/7366141.pdf}} Reviewed: [https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/renaissance-quarterly/article/abs/erasmus-and-the-other-on-turks-jews-and-indigenous-peoples-nathan-ron-london-palgrave-macmillan-2019-xiv-196-pp-4164/A9692438D8CABC869D3344F1DFBA6C88 Renaissance Quarterly] Biographer James Tracy points to the antisemitic edge in Erasmus' uncharacteristically vituperative comments against [[Johannes Pfefferkorn]] during the [[Johann Reuchlin#Hebrew studies and advocacy|Ruechlin affair]]: Erasmus felt Pfefferkorn had personally attacked him.{{refn|group=note|In the case of the [[Johann Reuchlin#Hebrew studies and advocacy|Reuchlin affair]], Erasmus sided with Reuchlin, a gentile who advocated Hebrew studies (which Erasmus never undertook seriously himself but promoted) and interaction with Jewish scholars (which Erasmus never felt the professional occasion for) to learn of things such as the [[kaballa]] (which Erasmus scorned), against the attacks of [[Johannes Pfefferkorn]], a converted Jew (which Erasmus approved of when sincere) who saw dangers in any re-Judaizing or re-mosaing Christianity (like Erasmus) but who went into fanaticism (which Erasmus abhored), e.g., advocating that Jews be compelled to hear Christian sermons, and that all copies of the ''[[Talmud]]'' be destroyed; both Reuchlin and Pfefferkorn called out the [[blood libel]].{{rp|223}} }} [602] => [603] => Erasmus was not vehemently antisemitic in the way of the later post-Catholic [[Martin Luther and antisemitism|Martin Luther]]; it was not a topic or theme of his public writing. Erasmus claimed not to be personally xenophobic: "For I am of such a nature that I could love even a Jew, were he a pleasant companion and did not spew out blasphemy against Christ""I have never broken off a friendship with anyone because he was either more inclined towards Luther or more against Luther than I was. My disposition is naturally such that I could love even a Jew, provided he were in other respects an agreeable person to live with and friendly, and provided he did not vomit blasphemies against Christ in my hearing. And this courteous approach can, I believe, do more towards ending strife... the [604] => ties of friendship I do not readily abandon to please anyone." Letter to John Botzheim, quoted in {{cite journal |last1=Remer |first1=Gary |title=Rhetoric and the Erasmian Defense of Religious Toleration |journal=History of Political Thought |date=1989 |volume=10 |issue=3 |page=377}} however Markish suggests that it is probable Erasmus never actually encountered a (practicing) Jew.{{cite web |title=Erasmus of Rotterdam |url=https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/erasmus-of-rotterdam |website=Jewish Virtual Library |publisher=AICE |access-date=15 July 2023}}Erasmus knew several converted Jews: his doctor Matthais Adrianus, who Erasmus recommended for the Trilingual College, and his doctor [[Paolo Riccio]], a professor of philosophy and imperial physician.{{cite journal |last1=Krivatsy |first1=Peter |title=Erasmus' Medical Milieu |journal=Bulletin of the History of Medicine |date=1973 |volume=47 |issue=2 |pages=113–154 |jstor=44447526 |pmid=4584234 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/44447526 |issn=0007-5140}} Erasmus's Spanish friend [[Juan Luis Vives#Early life|Juan Luis Vives]] came from a ''conversos'' family: indeed, his father had been executed as a ''Judaizer'' heretic. Erasmus' friendly correspondents [[Juan de Vergara]] and [[Francisco de Vergara]] similarly came from a ''conversos'' family, on their mother's side. [605] => [606] => Unusually for a Christian theologian of any time, he perceived and championed strong [[#Classical|Hellenistic]] rather than exclusively Hebraic influences on the [[Hellenistic Judaism#Cultural legacy|intellectual milieux]] of Jesus, Paul and the early church. [607] => [608] => ===== Interpretation caveats: analogy, irony, foils ===== [609] => * The picture is complicated because when Erasmus wrote of 'Judaism,' he most frequently (though not always) was not referring to Jews:For Markish, Erasmus' "theological opposition to a form of religious thought which he identified with Judaism was not translated into crude prejudice against actual Jews", to the extent that Erasmus could be described as 'a-semitic' rather 'anti-semitic'.{{cite web |title=Erasmus of Rotterdam |url=https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/erasmus-of-rotterdam |website=Jewish Virtual Library |publisher=AICE |access-date=15 July 2023}} instead he referred to those Catholic Christians of his time, especially in the monastic lifestyle, who mistakenly promoted excessive external ritualism over interior piety, by analogy with [[Second Temple Judaism]]. "Judaism I call not Jewish impiety, but prescriptions about external things, such as food, fasting, clothes, which to a certain degree resemble the rituals of the Jews."{{refn|group=note|Erasmus, ''Declarationes ad censuras Lutetiae'', 1532.Erasmus' counter-accusation of Judaizing may have been particularly sharp and bold, given the prominent role that some friars were playing in the lethal persecution of some ''[[conversos]]'' at the time in Spain. Historian Kevin Ingram suggests "The ''conversos'' also clearly reveled in Erasmus’s comparison, in the ''Enchiridion'', of Old-Christians mired in ceremonial practice to Pharisees who had forgotten the true message of Judaism, a statement they used as a counter-punch against Old-Christian accusations of ''converso'' Judaizing. The ''conversos'' conveniently ignored the anti-semitic aspect of Erasmus’ statement."{{cite thesis |last1=Ingram |first1=Kevin |title=Secret lives, public lies : the conversos and socio-religious non-conformism in the Spanish Golden Age |date=2006 |publisher=UC San Diego |url=https://escholarship.org/uc/item/6270j25z |language=en}}{{rp|71}} }}
Erasmus' pervasive anti-ceremonialism treated the early Church debates on circumcision, food and special days as manifestations of cultural chauvinism, a general human characteristic, by the initial Jewish Christians in Antioch.{{refn|group=note|"The Jews" (i.e. the earliest Jewish Christians in Antioch) "because of a certain human tendency, desire(d) to force their own rites upon everyone, clearly in order under this pretext to enhance their own importance. For each one wishes that the things which he himself has taught should appear as outstanding." Erasmus, ''Paraphrase of Romans and Galations''{{rp|321}} }} [610] => * Erasmus often wrote in a highly ironical idiom, especially in his letters,His mode of expression made him "slippery like a snake" according to Luther - {{cite journal |last1=Visser |first1=Arnoud |title=Irreverent Reading: Martin Luther as Annotator of Erasmus |journal=The Sixteenth Century Journal |date=2017 |volume=48 |issue=1|pages=87–109 |doi=10.1086/SCJ4801005 |hdl=1874/348917 |s2cid=31540853 |hdl-access=free }}) which makes them prone to different interpretations when taken literally rather than ironically.{{refn|group=note|For example, his aphoristic quote on the persecution of Reuchlin "if it is Christian to hate Jews, we are all abundantly Christians here" is taken literally by Theodor Dunkelgrün{{cite journal |last1=Dunkelgrün |first1=Theodor |title=The Christian Study of Judaism in Early Modern Europe |journal=The Cambridge History of Judaism |date=16 November 2017 |pages=316–348 |doi=10.1017/9781139017169.014|isbn=9781139017169 }}{{rp|320}} as being approving; the alternative view would be that it was sardonic and challenging. [611] =>
[612] => A similar issue can be seen in antagonistic scholar J.W. Williams' denial that Erasmus' letter to Ammonius "let your own interests be your standard in all things" was in jest, as claimed by those more sympathetic to Erasmus.{{cite journal |last1=Williams |first1=W. J. |title=Erasmus the Man |journal=Studies: An Irish Quarterly Review |date=1927 |volume=16 |issue=64 |pages=595–604 |jstor=30094064 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/30094064 |issn=0039-3495}}}} Erasmus chided Ulrich von Hutten's claims that Erasmus was a Lutheran, saying that von Hutten had not detected the irony in Erasmus' public letters enough.{{rp|27}} [613] => * Terence J. Martin identifies an "Erasmian pattern" that the supposed (by the reader) otherness (of Jews, Turks, Lapplanders, Indians, and even women and heretics) "provides a [[Foil (narrative)|foil]] against which the failures of Christian culture can be exposed and criticized."{{cite journal |last1=Martin |first1=Terence J. |title=Erasmus and the Other |journal=A Companion to Erasmus |date=25 January 2023 |pages=181–200 |doi=10.1163/9789004539686_012|isbn=9789004539686 }} In ''de bello Turcico'', Erasmus metonymizes that we should "kill the Turk, not the man.""If we really want to heave the Turks from our necks, we must first expel from our hearts a more loathsome race of Turks: avarice, ambition, the craving for power, self-satisfaction, impiety, extravagance, the love of pleasure, deceitfulness, anger, hatred, envy." Erasmus, ''de bello Turcico'', ''apud'' Ron, Nathan ''The Non-Cosmopolitan Erasmus: An Examination of his Turkophobic/Islamophobic Rhetoric'', ''op. cit.'' p 99: Ron takes this as an affirmation by Erasmus of the low nature of Turks; the alternative view would take it as a negative foil (applying the model of [[the Mote and the Beam]]) where the prejudice is [[Communication accommodation theory|appropriated]] in order to subvert it. [614] => [615] => On the subject of slavery, Erasmus characteristically treated it in passing when dealing with tyranny: Christians were not allowed to be tyrants, which slave-owning required, but especially not to be the masters of other Christians.{{cite web |last1=Kute |first1=David |title=Erasmus and the Ideal Ruler |url=https://davidkute.com/2019/12/26/396/ |date=26 December 2019}} Erasmus had various other piecemeal arguments against slavery: for example, that it was not legitimate to have slaves taken in an unjust war, but it was not a subject that occupied him. [616] => [617] => ====Domestic and community peace==== [618] => {{Further |Pre-Tridentine Mass#Vernacular and laity in the medieval and Reformation eras}} [619] => Erasmus' emphasis on peacemaking reflects a typical pre-occupation of medieval lay spirituality as historian John Bossy (as summarized by Eamon Duffy) puts it: "medieval Christianity had been fundamentally concerned with the creation and maintenance of peace in a violent world. “Christianity” in medieval Europe denoted neither an ideology nor an institution, but a community of believers whose religious ideal—constantly aspired to if seldom attained—was peace and mutual love."{{cite web |last1=Duffy |first1=Eamon |title=The End of Christendom |url=https://www.firstthings.com/article/2016/11/the-end-of-christendom |website=First Things |access-date=27 November 2023 |language=en |date=1 November 2016}} [620] => [621] => ===Religious reform=== [622] => {{Catholic philosophy}} [623] => Erasmus expressed much of his reform program in terms of the proper attitude towards the [[sacraments]], and their ramifications:{{cite book |last1=Payne |first1=John B. |title=Erasmus: His Theology of the Sacraments |date=1970 |publisher=Knox |language=en}} notably for the underappreciated sacraments of Baptism and Marriage (see ''[[#On the Institution of Christian Marriage (1526)|On the Institution of Christian Marriage]]'') considered as vocations more than events;{{refn|group=note| [624] => In marriage, Erasmus' two significant innovations, according to historian Nathan Ron, were that "matrimony can and should be a joyous bond, and that this goal can be achieved by a relationship between spouses based on mutuality, conversation, and persuasion."{{cite book |last1=Ron |first1=Nathan | chapter=Erasmus on the Education and Nature of Women |title=Erasmus: intellectual of the 16th century |date=2021 |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |location=Cham |doi=10.1007/978-3-030-79860-4_4 |doi-broken-date=31 January 2024 |isbn=978-3-030-79859-8 |url=https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-030-79860-4 |chapter-url=https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-030-79860-4_4 |pages=37–47 }}{{rp|4:43}} }} and for the mysterious Eucharist, pragmatic Confession, the dangerous [[Last Rites]] (writing ''On the Preparation for Death''),According to historian Thomas Tentler, few Christians from his century gave as much emphasis as Erasmus to a pious attitude to death: the terrors of death are "closely connected to guilt from sin and fear of punishment" the antidote to which is first "trust in Christ and His ability to forgive sins", avoiding (Lutheran) boastful pride, then a loving, undespairing life lived with appropriate penitence. The focus of the Last Rites by priests should be comfort and hope. {{cite journal |last1=Tentler |first1=Thomas N. |title=Forgiveness and Consolation in the Religious Thought of Erasmus |journal=Studies in the Renaissance |date=1965 |volume=12 |pages=110–133 |doi=10.2307/2857071 |jstor=2857071 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/2857071 |issn=0081-8658}} and the pastoral Holy Orders (see ''[[#The Preacher (1536)|Ecclesiastes]]''.){{cite journal |last1=Tylenda |first1=Joseph N. |title=Book Review: Erasmus: His Theology of the Sacraments |journal=Theological Studies |date=December 1971 |volume=32 |issue=4 |pages=694–696 |doi=10.1177/004056397103200415|s2cid=170334683 }} Historians have noted that Erasmus commended the benefits of immersive, docile scripture-reading in sacramental terms.{{refn|group=note| name=sider2020|"It is because Christ is in the pages of the bible that we meet him as a living person. As we read these pages we absorb his presence, we become one with him." Robert Sider{{cite journal |last1=Sider |first1=Robert |editor-first1=Robert D. |editor-last1=Sider |title=Erasmus on the New Testament |journal=Erasmus Studies |date=31 December 2020 |doi=10.3138/9781487533250|isbn=978-1-4875-3325-0 |s2cid=241298542 }}}} [625] => [626] => ====Anti-fraternalism==== [627] => Reacting from his own experiences, Erasmus came to believe that monastic life and institutions no longer served the positive spiritual or social purpose they once may have:{{cite book |last1=Post |first1=Regnerus Richardus |title=The Modern Devotion: Confrontation with Reformation and Humanism |date=1968 |publisher=Brill Archive |language=en}}{{rp|669}} in the ''Enchiridion'' he controversially put it "Monkishness is not piety."{{refn|group=note|''monachatus non est pietas'': Being a monk is not piety but he adds ‘but a way of life that may be useful or not useful according to each man’s physical make-up and disposition’.{{rp|36}} }} At this time, it was better to live as "a monk in the world" than in the monastery.{{refn|group=note|DeMolen claims: "It is important to recall that Erasmus remained a member of the Austin Canons all his life. His lifestyle harmonized with the spirit of the Austin Canons even though he lived outside their monastic walls." Erasmus represents the anti-[[Observantist]] wing of the canons regular who believed that the charism of their orders required them to be more externally focussed (on pastoral, missionary, scholarly, charitable and sacramental works) and correspondingly de-focussed on monastic severity and ceremonialism. }} [628] => [629] => Many of his works contain diatribes against supposed monastic corruption, and particularly against the mendicant friars (Franciscans and Dominicans): these orders also typically ran the university Scholastic theology programs and from whose ranks came his most dangerous enemies. He was scandalized by superstitions, such as that if you were buried in a Franciscan habit you would go direct to heaven.{{refn|group=note|See the collequy ''Exequiae Seriphicae''}} crime{{cite journal |last1=Lusset |first1=Elizabeth |title='Non monachus, sed demoniacus': Crime in Medieval Religious Communities in Western Europe, 12th – 15th Centuries |journal=The Monasric Research Bulletin |date=2012 |issue=18 |url=https://www.york.ac.uk/media/borthwick/documents/publications/The%20Monastic%20Research%20Bulletin,%20Issue%2018%20(2012).pdf}} and child novices. He advocated various reforms, including a ban on taking orders until the 30th year, the closure of corrupt and smaller monasteries, respect for bishops, requiring work not begging (reflecting the practice of his own order of [[Augustinian Canons]],) the downplaying of monastic hours, fasts and ceremonies, and a less mendacious approach to gullible pilgrims and tenants. [630] => [631] => However, he was not in favour of speedy closures: in his account of his pilgrimage to Walsingham, he noted that the funds extracted from pilgrims typically supported houses for the poor and elderly. [632] => [633] => These ideas widely influenced his generation of humanists, both Catholic and Protestant,{{rp|152}} and the lurid hyperbolic attacks in his half-satire ''The Praise of Folly'' were later treated by Protestants as objective reports of near-universal corruption. Furthermore, "what is said over a glass of wine, ought not to be remembered and written down as a serious statement of belief," such as his proposal to marry all monks to all nuns or to send them all away to fight the Turks and colonize new islands. [634] => [635] => He believed the only vow necessary for Christians should be the vow of Baptism, and others such as the vows of the [[evangelical counsels]], while admirable in intent and content, were now mainly counter-productive. [636] => [637] => ====Catholic reform==== [638] => [[File:Albrecht Dürer - Portrait of Erasmus - WGA07088.jpg|thumb|200px|Albrecht Dürer, ''Portrait of Erasmus'', sketch: black chalk on paper, 1520.]] [639] => The [[Protestant Reformation]] began in the year following the publication of his [[Textus receptus|pathbreaking]] edition of the [[Novum Instrumentum omne|New Testament]] in Latin and Greek (1516). The issues between the reforming and reactionary tendencies of the [[Catholic Church|church]], from which [[Protestantism]] later emerged, had become so clear that many intellectuals and churchmen could not escape the summons to join the debate. [640] => [641] => According to historian C. Scott Dixon, Erasmus' not only criticized church failings but questioned many of his Church's basic teachings;"Erasmus had been [[criticism of the Catholic Church|criticizing the Catholic church]] for years before the [[Protestant Reformers|reformers]] emerged, and not just pointing up its failings but questioning many of its basic teachings. He was the author of a series of publications, including a [[Novum Instrumentum omne|Greek edition of the New Testament]] (1516), which laid the foundations for a model of Christianity that called for a pared-down, internalized style of religiosity focused on Scripture rather than the elaborate, and incessant, outward rituals of the [[Christianity in the Middle Ages|medieval church]]. Erasmus was not a forerunner in the sense that he conceived or defended ideas that later made up the substance of the Reformation thought. [...] It is enough that some of his ideas merged with the later Reformation message." {{cite book |last=Dixon |first=C. Scott |year=2012 |title=Contesting the Reformation |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=i6kf0Tv_i1AC&pg=PA60 |publisher=[[Wiley-Blackwell]] |page=60 |isbn=978-1-4051-1323-6 }} however, according to biographer Erika Rummel, "Erasmus was aiming at the correction of abuses rather than at doctrinal innovation or institutional change."{{refn |group=note|"Unlike Luther, he accepted papal primacy and the teaching authority of the church and did not discount human tradition. The reforms proposed by Erasmus were in the social rather than the doctrinal realm. His principal aim was to foster piety and to deepen spirituality." [642] => {{cite journal |last1=Rummel |first1=Erika |title=The theology of Erasmus |journal=The Cambridge Companion to Reformation Theology |series=Cambridge Companions to Religion |date=2004 |pages=28–38 |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/abs/cambridge-companion-to-reformation-theology/theology-of-erasmus/A1916A5FFA073EEC8D42C60E03F028E3 |publisher=Cambridge University Press|doi=10.1017/CCOL0521772249.005 |isbn=9780521772242 }}{{rp|37}} }} [643] => [644] => In theologian Louis Bouyer's interpretation Erasmus' agenda was "to reform the Church from within by a renewal of biblical theology, based on philological study of the New Testament text, and supported by a knowledge of patristics, itself renewed by the same methods. The final object of it all was to nourish...chiefly moral and spiritual reform...""Rigorously scientific biblical study must sustain an effort to renew the interior life, and the interior life must itself be at once the agent and the beneficiary of a renewal of the whole of Christian society." This went beyond the ''devotio moderna'', which "was a spirituality of teachers." [645] => [646] => Erasmus, at the height of his literary fame, was called upon to take one side, but public partisanship was foreign to his beliefs, his nature and his habits. Despite all his [[Criticism of the Catholic Church|criticism of clerical corruption and abuses within the Western Church]],{{refn|group=note|Writer Gregory Wolfe notes however "For Erasmus, the narrative of decline is a form of despair, a failure to believe that the tradition can and will generate new life."{{cite journal |last1=Wolfe |first1=Gregory |title=The Erasmus Option |journal=Image Journal |issue=94 |url=https://imagejournal.org/article/erasmusoption/}}}} especially at first he sided unambiguously with neither Luther nor the anti-Lutherans publicly (though in private he lobbied assiduously against extremism from both parties), but eventually shunned the breakaway Protestant Reformation movements along with their most [[Radical Reformation|radical offshoots]]. [647] => [648] => {{Blockquote|"I have constantly declared, in countless letters, booklets, and personal [649] => statements, that I do not want to be involved with either party." |source=Erasmus, ''Spongia'' (1523)}} [650] => [651] => The world had laughed at his satire, ''[[The Praise of Folly]]'', but few had interfered with his activities. He believed that his work so far had commended itself to the best minds and also to the dominant powers in the religious world. Erasmus chose to write in Latin (and Greek), the languages of scholars. He did not build a large body of supporters in the unlettered; his critiques reached a small but elite audience.{{cite book|last=Wallace|first=Peter G.|title=European History in Perspective: The Long European Reformation|year=2004|publisher=Palgrave Macmillan|location=New York|isbn=978-0-333-64451-5|page=70}} [652] => [653] => ====Disagreement with Luther==== [654] => [[File:Cranach, Portraits of Martin Luther and Philipp Melanchthon.jpg|thumb|200px|Cranach (1520), Portraits of Martin Luther and Philip Melanchthon]] [655] => Erasmus and Luther impacted each other greatly. Each had misgivings about each other from the beginning (Erasmus on Luther's rash and antagonistic character, Luther on Erasmus' focus on morality rather than grace) but strategically agreed not to be negative about the other in public. [656] => [657] => The early reformers built their theology by generalizing Erasmus' philological analyses of specific verses in the New Testament: repentance over penance (the basis of the first thesis of the Luther's [[95 Theses]]), justification by imputation, grace as favour or clemency, faith as hoping trust, human transformation over reformation, congregation over church, mystery over sacrament, etc. In Erasmus' view, they went too far and irresponsibly fomented bloodshed. [658] => [659] => Noting Luther's criticisms of corruption in the Church, Erasmus (before Luther's ''[[On the Babylonian Captivity of the Church]]'' (1520)){{cite web |title=Erasmus - Dutch Humanist, Protestant Challenge {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Erasmus-Dutch-humanist/The-Protestant-challenge |website=www.britannica.com |language=en}} described Luther to Pope Leo X as "a mighty trumpet of gospel truth" while agreeing, "It is clear that many of the reforms for which Luther calls" (e.g., the sale of indulgences) "are urgently needed."Galli, Mark, and Olsen, Ted. ''131 Christians Everyone Should Know''. Nashville: Holman Reference, 2000, p. 344. Behind the scenes Erasmus forbade his publisher Froben from handling the works of Luther{{cite journal |last1=Serikoff |first1=Nicolaj|title=The Concept of Scholar-Publisher in Renaissance: Johannes Froben |journal=Journal of the Washington Academy of Sciences |date=2004 |volume=90 |issue=1 |pages=53–69 |jstor=24530877 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/24530877 |issn=0043-0439}}{{rp|64}} and tried to keep the reform movement focused on institutional rather than theological issues, yet he also privately wrote to authorities to prevent Luther's persecution. In the words of one historian, "at this earlier period he was more concerned with the fate of Luther than his theology."{{cite journal |last1=Kleinhans |first1=Robert G. |title=Luther and Erasmus, Another Perspective |journal=Church History |date=1970 |volume=39 |issue=4 |pages=459–469 |doi=10.2307/3162926 |jstor=3162926 |s2cid=162208956 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/3162926 |issn=0009-6407}} [660] => [661] => Luther hoped for his cooperation in a work which seemed only the natural outcome of Erasmus' own,"In the first years of the Reformation many thought that Luther was only carrying out the program of Erasmus, and this was the opinion of those strict Catholics who from the outset of the great conflict included Erasmus in their attacks on Luther." [[wikisource:Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)/Desiderius Erasmus|Catholic Encyclopedia]] and spoke with admiration of Erasmus's superior learning. In their early correspondence, Luther expressed boundless admiration for all Erasmus had done in the cause of a sound and reasonable Christianity and urged him to join the Lutheran party. Erasmus declined to commit himself, arguing his usual "small target" excuse, that to do so would endanger the cause of {{lang|la|[[Humanitas#Classical origins of term|bonae litterae]]}}{{refn|group=note|An expression Erasmus coined. ''Bonae'' connotes more than just good, but also moral, honest and brave [https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/bonus#Latin] literature. Such ''sound learning'' encompassed both sacred literature ({{lang-la|sacrae litterae}}), namely patristic writings and sacred scriptures ({{lang-la|sacrae scripturae}}), and profane literature ({{lang-la|prophanae litterae}}) by classical pagan authors.}}{{cite journal |last1=Cummings |first1=Brian |title=Erasmus and the Invention of Literature |journal=Erasmus of Rotterdam Society Yearbook |date=1 January 2013 |volume=33 |issue=1 |pages=22–54 |doi=10.1163/18749275-13330103}} which he regarded as one of his purposes in life. Only as an independent scholar could he hope to influence the reform of religion. When Erasmus declined to support him, the straightforward Luther became angered that Erasmus was avoiding the responsibility due either to cowardice or a lack of purpose. [662] => [663] => However, any hesitancy on the part of Erasmus may have stemmed, not from lack of courage or conviction, but rather from a concern over the mounting disorder and violence of the reform movement. To [[Philip Melanchthon]] in 1524 he wrote: [664] => [665] =>
I know nothing of your church; at the very least it contains people who will, I fear, overturn the whole system and drive the princes into using force to restrain good men and bad alike. The gospel, the word of God, faith, Christ, and Holy Spirit – these words are always on their lips; look at their lives and they speak quite another language.{{cite book| chapter=Letter of 6 September 1524| title= Collected Works of Erasmus| year= 1992 | publisher=University of Toronto Press| volume=10| isbn= 0-8020-5976-7 |page= 380 | chapter-url= https://books.google.com/books?id=bYVEgXbiunkC&pg=PA380}}
[666] => [667] => Catholic theologian George Chantraine notes that where Luther quotes Luke 11:21 "He that is not with me is against me" Erasmus takes Mark 9:40 "For he that is not against us, is on our part."{{rp|86}} [668] => [669] => Though he sought to remain accommodative in doctrinal disputes, each side accused him of siding with the other, perhaps because of his perceived influence and what they regarded as his dissembling neutrality,Future cardinal [[Aleander]], his former friend and roommate at the [[Aldine Press]], wrote "The poison of Erasmus has a much more dangerous effect than that of Luther" [[wikisource:Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)/Desiderius Erasmus|Catholic Encyclopedia]] which he regarded as peacemaking [[Accommodation (religion)#Christian accommodation|accommodation]]: [670] => [671] => {{Blockquote|text=I detest dissension because it goes both against the teachings of Christ and against a secret inclination of nature. I doubt that either side in the dispute can be suppressed without grave loss. [672] => |source="On Free Will"}} [673] => [674] => =====Dispute on free will===== [675] => {{Main|De libero arbitrio diatribe sive collatio}} [676] => {{Further | #On Free Will (1524)}} [677] => By 1523, and first suggested in a letter from Henry VIII, Erasmus had been convinced that Luther's ideas on necessity/free will were a subject of core disagreement deserving a public airing, and strategized with friends and correspondents{{cite web |last1=Emerton |first1=Ephraim |title=Desiderius Erasmus of Rotterdam |url=https://www.gutenberg.org/files/47517/47517-h/47517-h.htm#FNanchor_152 |website=Project Guttenberg |access-date=30 April 2023}} on how to respond with proper moderation{{cite book |last1=Alfsvåg |first1=Knut |title=The Identity of Theology (Dissertation) |date=October 1995 |pages=6, 7 |url=https://www.alfsvag.com/onewebmedia/IdentityofTheology.pdf}} without making the situation worse for all, especially for the humanist reform agenda. He eventually chose a [[De libero arbitrio diatribe sive collatio#Background|campaign]] that involved an irenical 'dialogue' "''The Inquisition of Faith''", a positive, evangelical model sermon "''On the Measureless Mercy of God''", and a gently critical 'diatribe' "''On Free Will''." [678] => [679] => The publication of his brief book ''On Free Will'' initiated what has been called "The greatest debate of that era" {{cite journal |last1=Costello |first1=Gabriel J. |title=Erasmus, Luther and the Free Will Debate: Influencing the Philosophy of Management 500 Years on-whether we realise it or not! |journal=Conference: Philosophy of Management Conference University of Greenwich |date=2018 |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/325127081 |access-date=24 October 2023}} which still has ramifications today. They bypassed discussion on reforms which they both agreed on in general, and instead dealt with authority and biblical justifications of [[synergism]] versus [[monergism]] in relation to salvation. [680] => [681] => Luther responded with ''[[w:On the Bondage of the Will|On the Bondage of the Will (De servo arbitrio)]]'' (1525). [682] => [683] => Erasmus replied to this in his lengthy two volume ''Hyperaspistes'' and other works, which Luther ignored. Apart from the perceived moral failings among followers of the Reformers—an important sign for Erasmus—he also dreaded any change in doctrine, citing the long history of the Church as a bulwark against innovation. He put the matter bluntly to Luther: [684] => {{Blockquote|text=We are dealing with this: Would a stable mind depart from the opinion handed down by so many men famous for holiness and miracles, depart from the decisions of the Church, and commit our souls to the faith of someone like you who has sprung up just now with a few followers, although the leading men of your flock do not agree either with you or among themselves – indeed though you do not even agree with yourself, since in this same ''Assertion''A reference to Luther's ''Assertio omnium articulorum per bullam Leonis X. novissimam damnatorum'' (Assertion of all the Articles condemned by the Bull of Leo X, 1520), [[Weimar edition of Martin Luther's works|WA]] VII. you say one thing in the beginning and something else later on, recanting what you said before.|source=''Hyperaspistes'' I''Collected Works of Erasmus, Controversies: De Libero Arbitrio / Hyperaspistes I'', Peter Macardle, Clarence H. Miller, trans., Charles Trinkhaus, ed., University of Toronto Press, 1999, {{ISBN|978-0-8020-4317-7}} Vol. 76, p. 203}} [685] => [686] => Continuing his chastisement of Luther – and undoubtedly put off by the notion of there being "no pure interpretation of Scripture anywhere but in Wittenberg"{{cite book|author=István Pieter Bejczy|title=Erasmus and the Middle Ages: The Historical Consciousness of a Christian Humanist|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MxLV1yVyT7sC&pg=PA172|year=2001|publisher=Brill|isbn=90-04-12218-4|page=172}} – Erasmus touches upon another important point of the controversy: [687] => [688] => {{Blockquote|text=You stipulate that we should not ask for or accept anything but Holy Scripture, but you do it in such a way as to require that we permit you to be its sole interpreter, renouncing all others. Thus the victory will be yours if we allow you to be not the steward but the lord of Holy Scripture.|source=''Hyperaspistes'', Book I''Hyperaspistes'', Book I, ''Collected Works of Erasmus'', Vol. 76, pp. 204–05.}} [689] => [690] => ==== "False evangelicals" ==== [691] => In 1529, Erasmus wrote "''An epistle against those who falsely boast they are Evangelicals''" to Vulturius Neocomus ([[w:Gerard Geldenhouwer|Gerardus Geldenhouwer]]). [692] => [693] => {{Blockquote| text=You declaim bitterly against the luxury of priests, the ambition of bishops, the tyranny of the Roman Pontiff, and the babbling of the sophists; against our prayers, fasts, and Masses; and you are not content to retrench the abuses that may be in these things, but must needs abolish them entirely. ...''The Reformers on the Reformation (foreign),'' London, Burns & Oates, 1881, pp. 13–14. [https://archive.org/stream/a636947900londuoft#page/12/mode/2up/search/vulturius+neocomus] See also ''Erasmus'', Preserved Smith, 1923, Harper & Brothers, pp. 391–92. [https://books.google.com/books?id=l0obJ9XfPMUC&pg=PA391]}} [694] => Here Erasmus complains of the doctrines and morals of the Reformers, applying the same critique he had made about public Scholastic disputations: [695] => {{Blockquote| text=Look around on this 'Evangelical' generation,"Circumspice populum istum Euangelicum…" Latin text in Erasmus, ''Opera Omnia'', (1706), vol. 10, 1578BC. [https://books.google.com/books?id=WIhDAAAAcAAJ&pg=PT174] and observe whether amongst them less indulgence is given to luxury, lust, or avarice, than amongst those whom you so detest. Show me any one person who by that Gospel has been reclaimed from drunkenness to sobriety, from fury and passion to meekness, from avarice to liberality, from reviling to well-speaking, from wantonness to modesty. I will show you a great many who have become worse through following it. ...The solemn prayers of the Church are abolished, but now there are very many who never pray at all. ...
I have never entered their conventicles, but I have sometimes seen them returning from their sermons, the countenances of all of them displaying rage, and wonderful ferocity, as though they were animated by the evil spirit. ...
Who ever beheld in their meetings any one of them shedding tears, smiting his breast, or grieving for his sins? ...Confession to the priest is abolished, but very few now confess to God. ...They have fled from Judaism that they may become Epicureans. [696] => |source=''Epistola contra quosdam qui se falso iactant evangelicos.''{{cite book |editor=Manfred Hoffmann| title=Controversies | publisher=University of Toronto Press |year= 2010 | isbn=978-1-4426-6007-6 | doi=10.3138/9781442660076 | page=}}}} [697] => [698] => ====Sacraments==== [699] => [[File:Johannes Oecolampadius by Asper.jpg|thumb|Johannes Œcolampadius by Asper (1550)]] [700] => A test of the Reformation was the doctrine of the sacraments, and the crux of this question was the observance of the [[Eucharist]]. Erasmus was concerned that the [[sacramentarian]]s, headed by [[Johannes Oecolampadius|Œcolampadius]] of Basel, were claiming Erasmus held views similar to their own in order to try to claim him for their schismatic and "erroneous" movement. When the Mass was finally banned in Basel in 1529, Erasmus immediately abandoned the city, as did the other expelled Catholic clergy. [701] => In 1530, Erasmus published a [[list of editiones principes in Latin|new edition]] of the orthodox treatise of [[Algerus]] against the heretic [[Berengar of Tours]] in the eleventh century. He added a dedication, affirming his belief in the reality of the Body of Christ after consecration in the Eucharist, commonly referred to as [[transubstantiation]]. [702] => {{Cite web|url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Praise-of-Folly-by-Erasmus|title = Praise of Folly | work by Erasmus | Britannica}} [703] => [704] => Erasmus wrote several notable pastoral books or pamphlets on sacraments, always looking through rather than at the rituals or forms: on marriage and wise matches, preparation for confession and the need for pastoral encouragement, preparation for death and the need to assuage fear, training and helping the preaching duties of priests under bishops, baptism and the need for that faithful to own the baptismal vows made for them. [705] => [706] => ==== Other==== [707] => Erasmus wrote books against aspects of the teaching, impacts or threats of several other Reformers:{{cite journal |last1=Regier |first1=Willis |title=Review of Erasmus, Controversies: Collected Works of Erasmus, vol. 78, trans. Peter Matheson, Peter McCardle, Garth Tissol, and James Tracy. |journal=Bryn Mawr Review of Comparative Literature |date=1 January 2011 |volume=9 |issue=2 |url=https://repository.brynmawr.edu/bmrcl/vol9/iss2/5 |access-date=6 August 2023 |issn=1523-5734}} [708] => [709] => * [[Ulrich von Hutten]] ''Spongia adversus aspergines Hutteni'' (1523) see [[#A Sponge to wipe away the Spray of Hutten (1523)|below]] [710] => * [[Martin Bucer]] ''Responsio ad fratres Inferioris Germaniae ad epistolam apologeticam incerto autoreproditam'' (1530) [711] => * [[:de:Heinrich Eppendorf|Heinrich Eppendorf]] ''Admonitio adversus mendacium et obstrectationem'' (1530) [712] => [713] => However, Erasmus maintained friendly relations with other Protestants, notably the irenic [[Melancthon]] and [[Albrecht Duerer]]. [714] => [715] => A common accusation, supposedly started by antagonistic monk-theologians,{{refn|group=note|Namely Egmondanus, the Louvain Carmelite Nicolaas Baechem.}} made Erasmus responsible for Martin Luther and the Reformation: "Erasmus laid the egg, and Luther hatched it." Erasmus wittily dismissed the charge, claiming that Luther had "hatched a different bird entirely."[http://www.ctsfw.net/media/pdfs/reynoldserasmusresponsibleluther.pdf ''Concordia Theological Journal''] Was Erasmus Responsible for Luther? A Study of the Relationship of the Two Reformers and Their Clash Over the Question of the Will, Reynolds, Terrence M. p. 2, 1977. Reynolds references Arthur Robert Pennington [https://archive.org/details/lifeandcharacte00penngoog/page/n242 ''The Life and Character of Erasmus'', p. 219, 1875.] Erasmus-reader [[Peter Canisius]] commented: "Certainly there was no lack of eggs for Luther to hatch."{{cite book |first=Himer M.|last= Pabel|chapter= Praise and Blame: Peter Canisius's ambivalent assessment of Erasmus |editor-last1=Enenkel |editor-first1=Karl Alfred Engelbert |title=The reception of Erasmus in the early modern period |date=2013 |page=139 |doi=10.1163/9789004255630_007 | isbn=9789004255630}}Another commentator: "Erasmus laid the egg that Luther broke" {{cite web |last1=Midmore |first1=Brian |title=The differences between Erasmus and Luther in their approach to reform |url=http://www.passionforgrace.org.uk/Erasluther.html |access-date=3 December 2023 |date=7 February 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070207041537/http://www.passionforgrace.org.uk/Erasluther.html |archive-date=7 February 2007 }} [716] => [717] => === Philosophy and Erasmus === [718] => [[File:Hans Holbein d.J. und Werkstatt - Erasmus von Rotterdam.jpg|thumbnail|200px|Portrait by Hans Holbein the Younger and workshop]] [719] => Erasmus has a problematic standing in the history of philosophy: whether he should be called a philosopher at all,For Craig R. Thompson, Erasmus cannot be called philosopher in the technical sense, since he disdained formal logic and metaphysics and cared only for moral philosophy.
Similarly, John Monfasani reminds us that Erasmus never claimed to be a philosopher, was not trained as a philosopher, and wrote no explicit works of philosophy, although he repeatedly engaged in controversies that crossed the boundary from philosophy to theology. His relation to philosophy bears further scrutiny.
[720] => {{Cite web |last=MacPhail |first=Eric |title=Desiderius Erasmus (1468?—1536) |url=https://iep.utm.edu/erasmus/#H2 |website=Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy}} (as, indeed, some question whether he should be considered a theologian either.{{rp|205}}) Erasmus deemed himself to be a rhetorician or grammarian rather than a philosopher.{{cite journal |last1=Traninger |first1=Anita |title=Erasmus and the Philosophers |journal=A Companion to Erasmus |date=25 January 2023 |pages=45–67 |doi=10.1163/9789004539686_005|isbn=9789004539686 }}{{rp|66}} He was particularly influenced by satirist and rhetorician [[Lucian]]."According to Erasmus, Lucian’s laughter is the most appropriate instrument to guide pupils towards moral seriousness because it is the denial of every peremptory and dogmatic point of view and, therefore, the image of a joyful ''pietas'' (“true religion ought to be the most cheerful thing in the world”; ''De recta pronuntiatione'', CWE 26, 385). By teaching the relativity of communicative situations and the variability of temperaments, the laughter resulting from the art of rhetoric comes to resemble the most sincere content of Christian morality, based on tolerance and loving persuasion." {{cite journal |last1=Bacchi |first1=Elisa |title=Hercules, Silenus and the Fly: Lucian's Rhetorical Paradoxes in Erasmus' Ethics |journal=Philosophical Readings Online Journal of Philosophy|date=2019 |volume=CI |issue=2 |url=https://www.academia.edu/38549692}} Erasmus' writings shifted "an intellectual culture from logical disputation about things to quarrels about texts, contexts, and words."{{cite journal |last1=Ocker |first1=Christopher |title=Review: Collected Works of Erasmus, vol. 73: Controversies: Apologia de 'In Principio Erat Sermo', Apologia de Loco 'Omnes quidem', De Esu Carnium, De Delectu Ciborum Scholia, Responsio ad Collationes, edited by Drysdall, Denis L. |journal=Erasmus Studies |date=2017 |volume=37 |issue=2 |pages=229–231 |doi=10.1163/18749275-03702007}} [721] => [722] => ====Classical==== [723] => Erasmus syncretistically took phrases, ideas and motifs from many classical philosophers to furnish discussions of Christian themes:{{refn|group=note|According to historian Jamie Gianoutsos, Erasmus was not cherry-picking, in the way of St Augustine's 'spoiling the Egyptians,' i.e., acquiring what is valuable from the pagan heritage for the benefit of Christianity. "Erasmus, in contrast, had expressed reserve and even cautious criticism for Augustine's views while betraying great enthusiasm for St Jerome and his metaphor of the freeman who marries the captive slave to obtain her freedom. Christianity ...had wed itself to the classical heritage to enhance and liberate it (i.e., that heritage) from its pagan ethos..."{{cite journal |last1=Gianoutsos |first1=Jamie A. |title=Sapientia and Stultitia in John Colet's Commentary on First Corinthians |journal=Reformation & Renaissance Review |date=4 May 2019 |volume=21 |issue=2 |pages=109–125 |doi=10.1080/14622459.2019.1612979|s2cid=182939353 }}}} academics have identified aspects of his thought as variously [[Platonist]] (duality),{{ citation|mode=cs1|quote=Erasmus does not engage with Plato as a philosopher, at least not in any rigorous sense, but rather as a rhetorician of spiritual experience, the instigator of a metaphorical system which coheres effectively with Pauline Christianity.|first= Dominic |last=Baker-Smith|title=Platonism and the English Imagination |chapter= Uses of Plato by Erasmus and More |date=1994 |pages=86–99 |doi=10.1017/CBO9780511553806.010 |isbn=9780521403085 |quote-page=92}} [[Cynicism (philosophy)|Cynical]] ([[asceticism]]),{{cite journal |last1=Laursen |first1=J. C. |title=Erasmus and Christian Cynicism as Cultural Context for Toleration |journal=Theological Foundations of Modern Constitutional Theory|publisher= Nantes Institute for Advanced Study |date=2016 |url=https://www.iea-nantes.fr/rtefiles/File/Ateliers/2016%20Hong/erasmus-and-christian-cynicism-j-c-laursen.pdf |access-date=8 August 2023}} [724] => [[Stoicism|Stoic]] ([[adiaphora]]),{{cite book |last1=Dealy |first1=Ross |title=The Stoic Origins of Erasmus' Philosophy of Christ |date=2017 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.3138/j.ctt1kgqwzz |access-date=11 August 2023 |publisher=University of Toronto Press|jstor=10.3138/j.ctt1kgqwzz |isbn=9781487500610 }} [[Epicurean]] ([[ataraxia]],"Despite a lack of formal philosophical training and an antipathy to medieval [[scholasticism]], Erasmus possessed not only a certain familiarity with [[Thomas Aquinas]], but also close knowledge of [[Plato]] and [[Aristotle]]. Erasmus’ interest in some Platonic motifs is well known. But the most consistent philosophical theme in Erasmus’ writings from his earliest to his latest was that of the [[Epicurean]] goal of peace of mind, ''[[ataraxia]]''. Erasmus, in fact, combined Christianity with a nuanced Epicurean morality. This Epicureanism, when combined in turn with a commitment to the ''[[Sensus fidelium#Use by the magisterium|consensus Ecclesiae]]'' as well as with an allergy to dogmatic formulations and an appreciation of the [[Greek Fathers]], ultimately rendered Erasmus alien to [[Martin Luther|Luther]] and [[Protestantism]] though they agreed on much." Abstract of {{cite journal |last1=Monfasani |first1=John |title=Twenty-fifth Annual Margaret Mann Phillips Lecture: Erasmus and the Philosophers |journal=Erasmus of Rotterdam Society Yearbook |date=2012 |volume=32 |issue=1 |pages=47–68 |doi=10.1163/18749275-00000005}} pleasure as virtue),{{cite journal |last1=Leushuis |first1=Reinier |title=The Paradox of Christian Epicureanism in Dialogue: Erasmus' Colloquy The Epicurean |journal=Erasmus Studies |date=2015 |volume=35 |issue=2 |pages=113–136 |doi=10.1163/18749275-03502003}} realist/non-voluntarist,{{Cite web|url=https://www.patheos.com/blogs/rogereolson/2010/12/a-much-neglected-basic-choice-in-theology/|title=A Much Neglected Basic Choice in Theology|first=Roger E.|last=Olson|date=26 December 2010|access-date=2 December 2023}} [725] => and [[Isocrates|Isocratic]] (rhetoric, political education, syncretism.){{cite thesis |last1=Innerd |first1=W. L. |title=The contribution of isocrates to western educational thought. |date=1969 |publisher=Durham University |url=http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/9599/|type=Masters }}{{rp|19}} However, his Christianized version of [[Epicureanism]] is regarded as his own.{{cite journal |last1=Linkels |first1=Nicole |title=Philosophy and Religion in service of the Philosophia Christi |journal=Erasmus Student Journal of Philosophy |date=2013 |issue=5 |page=48 |url=https://www.eur.nl/sites/corporate/files/ESJP.5.2013.04.Linkels.pdf |access-date=19 July 2023}} [726] => [727] => Erasmus was sympathetic to a kind of epistemological ([[Ciceronian]]{{cite web |last1=Thorsrud |first1=Harald |title=Cicero: Academic Skepticism |url=https://iep.utm.edu/cicero-academic-skepticism/ |website=Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy}} not [[Cartesian_doubt|Cartesian]]){{rp|50}} [[Pyrrhonism|Scepticism]]:{{refn|group=note|Historian Fritz Caspari quipped that [[Machiavelli]] "appears as a sceptic whose premise is the badness of man", while Erasmus is a sceptic whose general premise is "man is or can be made good."{{cite journal |last1=Caspari |first1=Fritz |title=Erasmus on the Social Functions of Christian Humanism |journal=Journal of the History of Ideas |date=1947 |volume=8 |issue=1 |pages=78–106 |doi=10.2307/2707442 |jstor=2707442 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/2707442 |issn=0022-5037}} }} [728] => [729] => {{Blockquote| A Sceptic is not someone who doesn't care to know what is true or false…but rather someone who does not make a final decision easily or fight to the death for his own opinion, but rather accepts as probable what someone else accepts as certain…I explicitly exclude from Scepticism whatever is set forth in Sacred Scripture or whatever has been handed down to us by the authority of the Church. |source= Erasmus{{cite web |last1=Rummel |first1=Erika |last2=MacPhail |first2=Eric |title=Desiderius Erasmus |url=https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/erasmus/#Meth |website=The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy |publisher=Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University |date=2021}}}} [730] => [731] => Historian Kirk Essary has noted that from his earliest to last works Erasmus "regularly denounced the Stoics as specifically unchristian in their hardline position and advocacy of ''apatheia''": warm affection and an appropriately fiery heart being inalienable parts of human sincerity;{{cite journal |last1=Essary |first1=Kirk |title=Fiery Heart and Fiery Tongue: Emotion in Erasmus' Ecclesiastes |journal=Erasmus Studies |date=2016 |volume=36 |issue=1 |pages=5–34 |doi=10.1163/18749275-03601014}}{{rp|17}} however historian Ross Dealy sees Erasmus' decrial of other non-gentle "perverse affections" as having Stoical roots. [732] => [733] => He eschewed metaphysical, epistemological and logical philosophy as found in [[Peripatetic school|Aristotle]],In the ''Adagia'', Erasmus quotes Aristotle 304 times, "making extensive use of the moral, philosophical, political, and rhetorical writings as well as those on natural philosophy, while completely shunning the logical works that formed the basis for scholastic philosophy" {{cite book |last1=Mann Phillips |first1=Margaret |title=The 'Adages' of Erasmus. A Study with Translations |date=1964 |publisher=Cambridge University Press}} apud {{cite book |last1=Traninger |first1=Anita |chapter=Erasmus and the Philosophers |title=A Companion to Erasmus |date=25 January 2023 |pages=45–67 |doi=10.1163/9789004539686_005|isbn=9789004539686 }} in particular the curriculum and systematic methods of the post-Aquinas Schoolmen ([[Scholastics]]){{refn|group=note|"However learned the works of those men may be, however ‘subtle’ and, if it please them, however ‘seraphic,’ it must still be admitted that the Gospels and Epistles are the supreme authority." Erasmus, ''Paraclesis'', ''apud' }} and their frigid, counter-productive [[Aristoteleanism]]: "What has Aristotle to do with Christ?"Letter to Dorp {{cite book |title=The Erasmus Reader |chapter=Letter to Dorp |date=1990 |pages=169–194 |chapter-url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.3138/j.ctt1287x95.12 |publisher=University of Toronto Press|jstor=10.3138/j.ctt1287x95.12 |isbn=9780802068064 }} [734] => [735] => {{quote|text=Erasmus did not have a metaphysical bone in his frail body, and had no real feeling for the philosophical concerns of scholastic theology. |source=Lewis W Spitz{{rp|70}} }} [736] => [737] => Erasmus held that academics must avoid philosophical factionalism, in order to "make the whole world Christian."{{cite book |title=Collected works of Erasmus: an introduction with Erasmus' prefaces and ancillary writings |date=2019 |publisher=University of Toronto press |location=Toronto Buffalo (N.J.) London |isbn=9780802092229}}{{rp|851}} Indeed, Erasmus thought that Scholastic philosophy actually distracted participants from their proper focus on immediate morality,Rice puts it "Philosophy is felt to be a veil of pretense over an unethical reality…pious disquisitions cannot excuse immorality." {{cite journal |last1=Rice |first1=Eugene F. |title=Erasmus and the Religious Tradition, 1495-1499 |journal=Journal of the History of Ideas |date=1950 |volume=11 |issue=4 |pages=387–411 |doi=10.2307/2707589 |jstor=2707589 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/2707589 |issn=0022-5037}} pp. 402-404"For I am ready to swear that Epimenides came to life again in Scotus." ''Erasmus to Thomas Grey'' Nichols, ep. 59; Allen, ep 64 unless used moderately.{{refn|group=note|"Like [[Jean Gerson]] before him, he recommended that (scholastic method) be practiced with greater moderation and that it be complemented by the new philological and patristic knowledge that was becoming available." {{rp|26}} }} And, by "excluding the Platonists from their commentaries, they strangle the beauty of revelation.""I find that in comparison with the Fathers of the Church our present-day theologians are a pathetic group. Most of them lack the elegance, the charm of language, and the style of the Fathers. Content with Aristotle, they treat the mysteries of revelation in the tangled fashion of the logician. Excluding the Platonists from their commentaries, they strangle the beauty of revelation." ''Enchiridion'', Erasmus, ''apud'' {{cite journal |last1=Markos |first1=Louis A. |title=The Enchiridion of Erasmus |journal=Theology Today |date=April 2007 |volume=64 |issue=1 |pages=80–88 |doi=10.1177/004057360706400109|s2cid=171469828 }} p. 86 [738] => [739] => Erasmus wrote in terms of a tri-partite nature of man, with the soul the seat of free will: [740] => [741] => {{Blockquote|The body is purely material; the spirit is purely divine; the soul…is tossed back and forwards between the two according to whether it resists or gives way to the temptations of the flesh. The spirit makes us gods; the body makes us beasts; the soul makes us men.|Erasmus [742] => }} [743] => [744] => According to theologian [[George van Kooten]], Erasmus was the first modern scholar "to note the similarities between Plato's ''Symposium'' and John's Gospel", first in the ''Enchiridion'' then in the ''Adagia'', pre-dating other scholarly interest by 400 years.{{cite web |last1=van Kooten |first1=George |title=Three Symposia |url=https://www.divinity.cam.ac.uk/system/files/documents/inaugural-lecture-george-van-kooten-three-symposia.pdf |website=Faculty of Divinity |publisher=University of Cambridge |access-date=5 August 2023}}{{citation needed|date=October 2023}} [745] => [746] => ====''Philosophia Christi''==== [747] => (Not to be confused with his Italian contemporary Chrysostom Javelli's ''Philosophia Christiana''.) [748] => [749] => Erasmus approached [[Ancient philosophy#Ancient Greek and Roman philosophy|classical philosophers]] theologically and rhetorically: their value was in how they pre-saged, explained or amplified the unique teachings of Christ (particularly the Sermon on the Mount{{rp|117}}): the ''philosophia Christi''."Why don't we all reflect: this must be a marvelous and new philosophy since, in order to reveal it to mortals, he who was god became man..."{{cite book |last1=Erasmus |title=Paraclesis |date=1516 |url=https://www.cite-osucc.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/Erasmus.Paraclesis.1516.pdf |access-date=11 August 2023}}{{refn|group=note|A Lutheran view: "''Philosophia christiana'' as [750] => taught by Erasmus has never been factual reality; wherever it was ''philosophia'', it was not ''christiana''; wherever it was ''christiana'', it was not ''philosophia''." [[Karl Barth]]{{rp|1559}} }} "A great part of the teaching of Christ is to be found in some of the philosophers, particularly Socrates, Diogenes and Epictetus. But Christ taught it much more fully, and exemplified it better..." (''Paraclesis'') In fact, Christ was "the very father of philosophy" (''Anti-Barbieri''.)Similar to [[John Wycliffe]]'s statement "the greatest philosopher is none other than Christ."{{cite book |last1=Lahey |first1=Stephen Edmund |title=John Wyclif |date=1 May 2009 |doi=10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195183313.003.0005}} [751] => [752] => In works such as his ''Enchiridion'', The Education of a Christian Prince and the Colloquies, Erasmus developed his idea of the ''philosophia Christi'', a life lived according to the teachings of Jesus taken as a spiritual-ethical-social-political-legal philosophy:{{refn|group=note|Philosopher Étienne Gilson has noted "Confronted with the same failure of philosophy to rise above the order of formal logic, [[John of Salisbury]] between 1150 and 1180, [[Nicolas of Autrecourt]] and [[Petrach]] in 1360, Erasmus of Rotterdam around 1490, spontaneously conceived a similar method to save Christian faith," i.e. a sceptical-about-scholasticism ''ad-fontes'' religious moralism promoting peace and charity.{{cite book |last1=Gilson |first1=Etienne |title=The Unity of Philosophical Experience |date=1937 |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |isbn=978-0-89870-748-9 |language=English}}{{rp|102–107}} }} [753] => [754] => {{Blockquote|text=Christ the heavenly teacher has founded a new people on earth,…Having eyes without guile, these folk know no spite or envy; having freely castrated themselves, and aiming at a life of angels while in the flesh, they know no unchaste lust; they know not divorce, since there is no evil they will not endure or turn to the good; they have not the use of oaths, since they neither distrust nor deceive anyone; they know not the hunger for money, since their treasure is in heaven, nor do they itch for empty glory, since they refer all things to the glory of Christ.…these are the new teachings of our founder, such as no school of philosophy has ever brought forth.|source=Erasmus, ''Method of True Theology''}} [755] => [756] => In philosopher Étienne Gilson's summary: "the quite precise goal he pursues is to reject Greek philosophy outside of Christianity, into which the Middle Ages introduced Greek philosophy with the risk of corrupting this Christian Wisdom."{{cite book |last1=Gilson |first1=Étienne |title=Medieval Essays |date=1990 |url=https://archive.org/details/medieval-essays-by-etienne-gilson/page/n17/}} [757] => [758] => Useful "philosophy" needed to be limited to (or re-defined as) the practical and moral: [759] => {{blockquote|You must realize that 'philosopher' does not mean someone who is clever at dialectics or science but someone who rejects illusory appearance and undauntedly seeks out and follows what is true and good. Being a philosopher is in practice the same as being a Christian; only the terminology is different."|source= Erasmus, ''Anti-Barbieri''}} [760] => [761] => ===Theology of Erasmus=== [762] => Three key distinctive features of Erasmus' theology are [[Accommodation (religion)|accommodation]], inverbation, and ''scopus christi''. {{refn|group=note|Accommodation and ''scopus christi'' were ideas significant later, in Calvin's theology.{{cite book |last1=Coetsee |first1=Albert J. |last2=Walt |first2=Sarel van der |last3=Muller |first3=D. Francois |last4=Huijgen |first4=Arnold |last5=Brink |first5=Gijsbert van den |last6=Alten |first6=HH van |last7=Broeke |first7=Leon van den |last8=Kotzé |first8=Manitza |last9=Kruger |first9=P. Paul |last10=Potgieter |first10=Raymond M. |last11=Fick |first11=Rikus |last12=Dreyer |first12=Wim |title=The Belgic Confession |date=17 November 2023 |doi=10.4102/aosis.2023.BK448 |isbn=978-1-77995-289-9 |url=https://doi.org/10.4102/aosis.2023.BK448 |language=en}}{{rp|231,131}}
''Scopus'' comes from Origen and was also picked up by Melancthon. Saarinen, Risto. ''Luther and the Reading of Scripture'' in {{cite book |title=Remembering the Reformation: Martin Luther and Catholic Theology |date=2017 |publisher=1517 Media |jstor=j.ctt1ggjhg1.15 |isbn=978-1-5064-2337-1 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt1ggjhg1.15}} }} (''Scopus'' is the unifying reference point, the navigation goal, or the organizing principle of topics.) [763] => [764] => In the view of literary historian Chester Chapin, Erasmus' tendency of thought was "towards cautious ''dulcification'' of the traditional view."{{refn|group=note|For example, "It is likely that Erasmus rejected the traditional view of Hell as a place of real, material fire. But although he probably conceived of it as a place of mental rather than physical [765] => torment,...Erasmus does not appear to reject the eternality of Hell."}} [766] => ====Accommodation==== [767] => Historian Manfred Hoffmann has described accommodation as "the single most important concept in Erasmus' [[hermeneutics|hermeneutic]]." {{refn|group=note|Furthermore, "the role [[Hermeneutics#Allegorical|allegory]] plays in Erasmus' [[exegesis]] is [[Analogy#Catholicism|analogous]] to the crucial place accommodation obtains in his theology."{{cite journal |last1=Hoffmann |first1=Manfred |title=Erasmus on Language and Interpretation |journal=Moreana |date=July 1991 |volume=28 (Number 106- |issue=2–3 |pages=1–20 |doi=10.3366/more.1991.28.2-3.4}}{{rp|7}})}} [768] => [769] => For Erasmus, accommodation is a universal concept: humans must accommodate each other; we must accommodate the church and ''vice versa''; and we must take as our model how Christ accommodated the disciples in his interactions with them, and accommodated humans in his [[Incarnation (Christianity)|incarnation]]; which in turn merely reflects the eternal mutual accommodation within the [[Trinity]]. And the primary mechanism of accommodation is language,"We see Erasmus' hermeneutic as governed by the idea of language as mediation...The dynamics of mediation, central as it is in Erasmus' hermeneutic, informed all aspects of his world view."{{cite book |last1=Hoffmann |first1=Manfred |title=Rhetoric and Theology |date=1994 |publisher=University of Toronto |isbn=978-0-8020-0579-3 |url=https://api.pageplace.de/preview/DT0400.9781487585884_A35159560/preview-9781487585884_A35159560.pdf}}{{rp|6}} which mediates between reality and abstraction, which allows disputes of all kinds to be resolved and the gospel to be transmitted: in his New Testament, Erasmus notably translated the Greek ''logos'' in [[John 1:1]] "In the beginning was the Word" more like "In the beginning was Speech".{{cite journal |last1=Jarrott |first1=C. A. L. |title=Erasmus' "In Principio Erat Sermo": A Controversial Translation |journal=Studies in Philology |date=1964 |volume=61 |issue=1 |pages=35–40 |jstor=4173446}}: using Latin ''sermo'' (discourse, conversation, language) not ''verbum'' (word) emphasizing the dynamic and interpersonal communication rather than static principle: "Christ incarnate as the eloquent oration of God":{{cite book |last1=Martin |first1=Terence J. |title=The Christology of Erasmus: Christ, Humanity, and Peace |date=12 January 2024 |publisher=CUA Press |isbn=978-0-8132-3802-9 |url=https://www.cuapress.org/9780813238029/the-christology-of-erasmus/ |language=en}} "He is called Speech [sermo], because through him God, who in his own nature cannot be comprehended by any reasoning, wished to become known to us."{{cite journal |last1=Boyle |first1=Marjorie O'rourke |title=Evangelism and Erasmus |journal=The Cambridge History of Literary Criticism |date=25 November 1999 |pages=44–52 |doi=10.1017/CHOL9780521300087.005}}{{rp|45}} [770] => [771] => The role models of accommodation{{refn|group=note|"The saintly versatility with which Christ and Paul accommodate their message to their imperfect hearers is one of the highest expressions of their charity, which desires the salvation of all men."}} were Paul,{{refn|group=note|Erasmus quoted "I have become all things to all men, that I might by all means save some." ( Cor. 9:22, RSV).{{cite journal |last1=Pabel |first1=Hilmar M. |title=Promoting the Business of the Gospel: Erasmus' Contribution to Pastoral Ministry |journal=Erasmus of Rotterdam Society Yearbook |date=1995 |volume=15 |issue=1 |pages=53–70 |doi=10.1163/187492795X00053}}{{rp|55}} }} that "[[chameleon]]"{{cite journal |last1=Remer |first1=Gary |title=Rhetoric and the Erasmian Defence of Religious Toleration |journal=History of Political Thought |date=1989 |volume=10 |issue=3 |pages=377–403 |jstor=44797141 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/44797141 |issn=0143-781X}}{{rp|385}} (or "slippery squid"{{cite journal |last1=Moore |first1=Michael Edward |title=Truth and Irony: Philosophical Meditations on Erasmus, by Terence J. Martin (Review) |journal=Erasmus Studies |date=13 March 2019 |volume=39 |issue=1 |pages=107–113 |doi=10.1163/18749275-03901009|s2cid=171963677 }}) and Christ, who was "more mutable than [[Proteus]] himself."{{rp|386}} [772] => [773] => Following Paul, Quintillian (''apte diecere'') and Gregory the Great's ''Pastoral Care'', Erasmus wrote that the orator, preacher or teacher must "adapt their discourse to the characteristics of their audience"; this made pastoral care the "art of arts."{{rp|64}} Erasmus wrote that most of his original works, from satires to paraphrases, were essentially the same themes packaged for different audiences. [774] => [775] => In this light, Erasmus' ability to have friendly correspondence with both [[Thomas More]] and [[Thomas Boleyn, 1st Earl of Wiltshire|Thomas Bolyn]], and with both [[Philip Melancthon]] and [[Pope Adrian VI]], can be seen as outworkings of his theology, rather than slippery insincerity or flattery of potential patrons. Similarly, it shows the theological basis of his [[pacificism]], and his view of ecclesiastical authorities—from priests like himself to Church Councils—as necessary mediating peace-brokers. [776] => [777] => ====Inverbation==== [778] => For Erasmus, further to accommodating humans in his Incarnation, Christ accommodated us by a kind of ''inverbation'':{{refn|group=note|"The gospel text for Erasmus, and many others, possessed “the capacity to transform our [779] => inner self by the presence of God as incarnated in the text (or ‘inverbation’) {{cite journal |last1=Leushuis |first1=Reinier |title=Emotion and Imitation: The Jesus Figure in Erasmus's Gospel Paraphrases |journal=Reformation |date=3 July 2017 |volume=22 |issue=2 |pages=82–101 |doi=10.1080/13574175.2017.1387967|s2cid=171463846 }}{{rp|93}} }} being captured in the Gospels in a way that we can know him better by reading him (in the awareness of the resurrection) than those who actually heard him speak;{{refn|group=note|Mansfield{{rp|166}} summarizes Robert Kleinhan that "In contrast to contemporary theologies which centred on grace (Luther) or church and sacraments (the Council of Trent), Erasmus' theology 'stressed the acquisition of peace through the virtue obtainable by union with Christ through meditation apon the documents of the early church's witness to him.'" }} this will or may transform us.{{refn|group=note|For Erica Rummel "In content, Erasmian theology is characterized by a twin emphasis on inner piety and on the word as mediator between God and the believer." }} [780] => [781] => Since the Gospels become, in effect, like sacraments:{{cite book |last1=Williams |first1=David |title=The Communion of the Book |date=20 January 2024 |publisher=McGill-Queens University Press |isbn=9780228014690 |url=https://www.academia.edu/49003670}}{{refn|group=note|Margaret O'Rourke Boyle sees it as "The text was real presence."{{rp|49}}
However, this may go too far: "The Christian Faith does not recognize either inlibration or inverbation"{{cite web |last1=Koch |first1=Kurt |title=Bible Engagement in the Catholic Church Tradition. Conference on the occasion of the annual retreat of the Board of Management of the American Bible Society in Rome |url=http://www.christianunity.va/content/unitacristiani/it/cardinal-koch/2018/conferenze/2018-10-30-bible-engagement-in-the-catholic-church-tradition-.html |website=www.christianunity.va}} "http://www.christianunity.va/content/unitacristiani/it/cardinal-koch/2018/conferenze/2018-10-30-bible-engagement-in-the-catholic-church-tradition-.html"}} for Erasmus reading them becomes a form of prayer which is spoiled by taking single sentences in isolation and using them as syllogisms.{{refn|group=note|"Erasmus insists in the ''Ratio'' that in the process of interpreting a passage from Scripture it is essential to consider not only what was said but also by whom and to whom it was said, with which words, at what time, on what occasion, and what preceded and followed it."{{rp|65}} }} Instead, learning to understand the context, genres and literary expression in the New Testament becomes a spiritual more than academic exercise. Erasmus' has been called rhetorical theology (''theologia rhetorica''.){{rp|32}} [782] => [783] => ====Scopus christi==== [784] => In Hoffmann's words, for Erasmus "Christ is the ''scopus'' of everything": "the focus in which both dimensions of reality, the human and the divine, intersect" and so he himself is the hermeneutical principle of scripture": "the middle is the medium, the medium is the mediator, the mediator is the reconciler."{{rp|9}} In Erasmus' early ''Enchiridion'' he had given this ''scopus'' in typical medieval terms of an ascent of being to God (vertical), but from the mid-1510s life he moved to an analogy of Copernican planetary circling around Christ the centre (horizontal) or Columbian navigation towards a destination.{{rp|135}} [785] => [786] => One effect is that scriptural interpretation must be done starting with the teachings and interactions of Jesus in the [[Gospels]],Martin Luther's Erasmus, and How he got that Way, {{cite journal |last1=Marius |first1=Richard |title=Eleventh-Annual Margaret Mann Phillips Lecture |journal=Erasmus of Rotterdam Society Yearbook |date=1998 |volume=18 |issue=1 |pages=70–88 |doi=10.1163/187492798X00069}}{{rp|78}} with the [[Sermon on the Mount]] serving as the starting point,{{refn|group=note|According to philosopher John Smith "The core of his theological thought he traced back to Christ’s Sermon on the Mount, rather than Paul."{{cite book |last1=Smith |first1=John H. |title=Dialogues between Faith and Reason: The Death and Return of God in Modern German Thought |date=15 October 2011 |doi=10.7591/9780801463273-003}} }}{{cite journal |last1=Meyer |first1=Carl |title=Erasmus on the Study of Scriptures |journal=Concordia Theological Monthly |date=1 December 1969 |volume=40 |issue=1 |url=https://scholar.csl.edu/ctm/vol40/iss1/71}} and arguably with the [[Beatitudes]] and the [[Lord's Prayer]] at the head of the queue.{{citation needed|date=January 2024}} This privileges peacemaking, mercy, meekness,{{refn|group=note|Historical theologian Carl Meyer writes "Because the Scriptures are the genuine oracles of God, welling forth from the deepest recesses of the divine mind, Erasmus said they should be approached with reverence. Humility and veneration are needed to find the secret chambers of eternal wisdom. "Stoop to enter," Erasmus warned, "else you might bump your head and bounce back!" {{rp|738}} }} purity of heart, hungering after righteousness, poverty of spirit, etc. as the unassailable core of Christianity and piety and true theology.{{refn|group=note|According to historian Emily Alianello "Throughout ''Ecclesiastes'', Erasmus seeks to orient his theories of preaching around "the simplicity of Christ's teaching and example." Consequent, preaching is not for engaging in controversy, but for bringing salvation, moving the congregation to a moral life and building community through concord."{{cite book |last1=Alianello |first1=Emily |title=Understanding and Presence: The Literary Achievement of the Early Modern Sermon (Thesis) |date=2019 |publisher=Catholic University of America |hdl=1961/cuislandora:213631 |url=http://hdl.handle.net/1961/cuislandora:213631 |access-date=2 March 2024}}{{rp|71}} }} [787] => [788] => The Sermon on the Mount provides the axioms on which every legitimate theology must be built, as well as the ethics governing theological discourse, and the rules for validating theological products; Erasmus' ''philosophia christi'' treats the primary and initial teaching of Jesus in the first Gospel as a theological methodology.{{refn|group=note|I.e., Erasmus' method is that Jesus' primary teachings are not things you (whether lay person or theologian) interpret in the light of everything else (particularly some novel, post-patristic theological schema, even if ostensibly biblically coherent), but what you base your interpretation of everything else on.}} [789] => [790] => For example, "peacemaking" is a possible topic in any Christian theology; but for Erasmus, from the Beatitude, it must be a starting-, reference- and ending-point when discussing all other theological notions, such as church authority, the Trinity, etc. Moreover, Christian theology must only be ''done'' in a peacemaking fashion for peacemaking purposes; and any theology that promotes division and warmongering is thereby anti-Christian. {{refn|group=note|This is quite contrary to Luther's privileging of his scheme of justification, its associated verses of [[Epistle to the Romans|Romans]] and [[Epistle to the Galatians|Galatians]], and his prizing of vehement assertions and insults. Erica Rummel notes "The similarities between his and Luther’s thought were of course superficial."{{rp|36}} }} [791] => [792] => ====Mystical Theology==== [793] => Another important concept to Erasmus was "the Folly of the Cross"{{rp|119}} (which ''[[The Praise of Folly]]'' explored):As with many of his individual works, reading ''The Praise of Folly'' in isolation from his other works may give an idea of Erasmus' priorities different to that given by broader reading, even though he sometimes claimed to be re-presenting essentially the same thoughts in different genres. the view that Truth belongs to the exuberant, perhaps ecstatic,{{rp|140}} world of what is foolish, strange, unexpected{{cite journal |last1=Chaudhury |first1=Sarbani |title=Radical Carnivalisation of Religion in Erasmus's ''The Praise Of Folly'' |journal=English Literature |date=2014 |doi=10.14277/2420-823X/3p |url=https://edizionicafoscari.unive.it/media/pdf/article/english-literature/2014/1/art-10.14277-2420-823X-3p_jCA5Wl3.pdf}} and even [[#Sileni_Alcibiadis_(1515)|superficially repellent]] to us, rather than to the frigid worlds which intricate scholastic [[Dialectic#Medieval philosophy|dialectical]] and [[syllogistic]] philosophical argument all too often generated;{{refn|group=note|This was a long-recognized tendency: indeed [[Aquinas]] wrote in the Preface to his [[Summa Theologiae]] that "students in this science have not seldom been hampered by what they have found written by other authors, partly on account of the multiplication of useless questions, articles, and arguments"{{cite web |last1=Aquinas |first1=Thomas |title=Summa Theologiae, Prologue & Ia Q. 2. |url=https://aquinas101.thomisticinstitute.org/st-prologue-and-q2 |website=Aquinas 101 |publisher=Thomistic Institute}} }} this produced in Erasmus a profound disinterest in hyper-rationality,{{refn|group=note|"Erasmus saw the scholastic exercise, in its high intellectualism, as fundamentally wrong-headed."{{rp|148}} }} and an emphasis on verbal, rhetorical, mystical, pastoral and personal/political moral concerns instead. [794] => [795] => ====Theological Writings==== [796] => [797] => Several scholars have suggested Erasmus wrote as an evangelist not an academic theologian.{{refn|group=note|Historian William McCuaig wrote " I will however defend the view that for the historian evangelism is the category to which Erasmus should rightly be assigned." [798] =>
Historian Hilmar Pabel wrote "an essential aspect of Erasmus' life's work (was)...his participation in the responsibility of the bishops and all pastors to win souls for Christ."{{cite journal |last1=Pabel |first1=Hilmar M. |title=Promoting the Business of the Gospel: Erasmus' Contribution to Pastoral Ministry |journal=Erasmus of Rotterdam Society Yearbook |date=1995 |volume=15 |issue=1 |pages=53–70 |doi=10.1163/187492795X00053}}{{rp|54}}}} Even "theology was to be metamorphic speech, converting persons to Christ."{{rp|49}} [799] => [800] => {{blockquote|We may distinguish four different lines of work, parallel with each other, and complementary. First, the establishing and critical elucidation of the ''biblical texts''; alongside it, the editions of the great ''patristic commentators''; then, the ''exegetical works'' properly so called, in which these two fundamental researches yield their fruit; and finally, the ''methodological works'', which in their first state constitute a sort of preface to the various other studies, but which—in return—were nourished and enlarged by them as they went along.|source=Louis Bouyer{{rp|498}} }} [801] => [802] => Apart from these programmatic works, Erasmus also produce a number of prayers, sermons, essays, masses and poems for specific benefactors and occasions, often on topics where Erasmus and his benefactor agreed. For example, in his ''Paean in Honour of the Virgin Mary'' (1503) Erasmus elaborated his theme that the Incarnation had been hinted far and wide, which could impact the theology of the fate of the remote unbaptized and grace, and the place of classical philosophy: [803] => [804] => {{Blockquote| [805] => "You are assuredly the Woman of renown: both heaven and earth and the succession of all the ages uniquely join to celebrate your praise in a musical concord. [...] [806] => [807] => During the centuries of the previous age the oracles of the gentiles spoke of you in obscure riddles. Egyptian prophecies, Apollo’s tripod, the Sibylline books, gave hints of you. The mouths of learned poets predicted your coming in oracles they did not understand. [...] [808] => [809] => Both the Old and the New Testament, like two cherubim with wings joined and unanimous voices, repeatedly sing your praise. [...] [810] => [811] => Thus indeed have writers religiously vied to proclaim you, on the one hand inspired prophets, on the other eloquent Doctors of the church, both filled with the same spirit, as the former foretold your coming in joyful oracles before your birth and the latter heaped prayerful praise on you when you appeared." |source=Erasmus, ''Paean in Honour of the Virgin Mary'' (1503) [812] => }} [813] => [814] => ==Notable writings== [815] => Erasmus wrote for both educated audiences on subjects of humanist interest"Three areas preoccupied Erasmus as a writer: language arts, education, and biblical studies. …All of his works served as models of style. …He pioneered the principles of textual criticism." {{cite journal |last1=Rummel |first1=Erika |title=Christian History 145 Erasmus: Christ's humanist by Christian History Institute - Issuu |website=issuu.com |date=2 November 2022 |issue=145 |pages=7, 8 |url=https://issuu.com/christianhistory/docs/ch-145-erasmus |language=en}}Tello, Joan. ''[https://brill.com/edcollchap/book/9789004539686/BP000013.xml Catalogue of the Works of Erasmus of Rotterdam]''. In Eric MacPhail (ed.), ''A Companion to Erasmus''. Leiden and Boston: Brill, 2023, 225-344. and "to Christians in the various stages of lives:...for the young, for married couples, for widows," the dying, clergy, theologians, religious, princes, partakers of sacraments, etc.{{rp|58}} [816] => Historian William McCuaig commented "I have never read a work by him on any subject that was not at bottom a piece of evangelical literature."{{cite journal |last1=Mccuaig |first1=William |title=(Review) The Collected Works of Erasmus, vol 44 |journal=The Medieval Review |date=1994 |volume=44 |issue=9 |url=https://bmcr.brynmawr.edu/1994/1994.09.05/ |access-date=25 April 2024}} [817] => [818] => From his youth, Erasmus had been a voracious writer. By the 1530s, the writings of Erasmus accounted for 10 to 20 percent of all book sales in Europe.Galli, Mark, and Olsen, Ted. ''131 Christians Everyone Should Know. Nashville: Holman Reference,'' 2000, 343. "Undoubtedly he was the most read author of his age."{{cite journal |last1=Nellen |first1=Henk |last2=Bloemendal |first2=Jan |title=Erasmus's Biblical Project: Some Thoughts and Observations on Its Scope, Its Impact in the Sixteenth Century and Reception in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries |journal=Church History and Religious Culture |date=2016 |volume=96 |issue=4 |pages=595–635 |doi=10.1163/18712428-09604006 |jstor=26382868 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/26382868 |issn=1871-241X}}{{rp|608}} [819] => [820] => He usually wrote books in particular classical literary genres with their different rhetorical conventions: complaint, diatribe, dialogue, encomium, epistle, commentary, liturgy, sermon, etc. His letter to [[Ulrich von Hutten]] on [[Thomas More]]'s household has been called "the first real biography in the real modern sense."{{cite journal |last1=Smith |first1=David R |title=Portrait and Counter-Portrait in Holbein's The Family of Sir Thomas More |journal=The Art Bulletin |date=September 2005 |volume=87 |issue=3 |pages=484–506 |doi=10.1080/00043079.2005.10786256|s2cid=191473158 }} [821] => [822] => His writing method (recommended in ''De copia'' and ''De ratione studii''){{cite book |last1=Moss |first1=Ann |title=Printed Commonplace-Books and the Structuring of Renaissance Thought |date=14 March 1996 |doi=10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198159087.003.0006}} was to make notes on whatever he was reading, categorized by theme: he carted these [[commonplaces]] in boxes that accompanied him. When assembling a new book, he would go through the topics and cross out commonplace notes as he used them. This catalog of research notes allowed him to rapidly create books, though woven from the same topics. Towards the end of his life, as he lost dexterity, he employed secretaries or amanuenses who performed the assembly or transcription, re-wrote his writing, and in his last decade, recorded his dictation; letters were usually in his own hand, unless formal. [823] => [824] => === Adages (1500-1520) === [825] => [[File:Erasmus - 1508 - Adagia - honorificabilitudinitatibus.jpg|thumbnail|400px|Entry in ''Adagia'' mentioning ''honorificabilitudinitatibus'']] [826] => {{Main|Adagia}} [827] => {{See also|Paremiography}} [828] => [829] => With the collaboration of [[Publio Fausto Andrelini]], he made a collection of Latin proverbs and adages, commonly known as the ''[[Adagia]]''. It includes the adage "In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king." He coined the adage "[[Pandora's box]]", arising through an error in his translation of [[Hesiod]]'s ''[[Pandora]]'' in which he confused ''pithos'' (storage jar) with ''pyxis'' (box).{{Cite web|title=Pandora's Box in Greek Mythology|url=https://www.greeklegendsandmyths.com/pandoras-box.html|access-date=2021-02-10|website=Greek Legends and Myths|language=en}} [830] => [831] => Examples of Adages are: [[Festina lente|more haste, less speed]]; [[The Eagle and the Beetle|a dung beetle hunting an eagle]]. [832] => [833] => Erasmus later spent nine months in Venice at the [[Aldine Press]] expanding the Adagia to over three thousand entries;{{cite web |last1=Willinsky |first1=John |title=Make Haste Slowly: Aldus and Erasmus, Printers and Scholars |url=https://aldine.lib.sfu.ca/willinsky-make-haste-slowly |website=The Wosk-McDonald Aldine Collection |access-date=29 April 2023}} in the course of 27 editions, it expanded to over four thousand entries in Basel at the [[Johann Froben|Froben press]]. It "introduced a fairly wide audience to the actual words and thoughts of the ancients."{{cite journal |last1=Markos |first1=Louis A. |title=The Enchiridion of Erasmus |journal=Theology Today |date=April 2007 |volume=64 |issue=1 |pages=80–88 |doi=10.1177/004057360706400109|s2cid=171469828 }}{{rp|81}} [834] => [835] => An English version was selected and translated by [[Richard Taverner]]. [836] => {{clear}} [837] => [838] => === Handbook of the Christian Soldier (1501) === [839] => {{Main|Enchiridion militis Christiani}} [840] => His more serious writings begin early with the ''[[Enchiridion militis Christiani]]'', the "Handbook of the Christian Soldier" (1501 and re-issued in 1518 with an expanded preface – translated into English in 1533 by the young [[William Tyndale]]). (A more literal translation of ''enchiridion'' – "dagger" – has been likened to "the spiritual equivalent of the modern [[Swiss Army knife]].")MacCulloch, Diarmaid. Christianity: The First Three Thousand Years. New York: Viking, 2010, 599. In this short work, Erasmus outlines the views of the normal Christian life, which he was to spend the rest of his days elaborating. [841] => He has been described as "evangelical in his beliefs and pietistic in his practise.""Erasmus is so thoroughly, radically Christ-centered in his understanding of both Christian faith and practice that if we overlook or downplay this key aspect of his character and vision, we not only do him a grave disservice but we almost completely misunderstand him." {{cite journal |last1=Markos |first1=Louis A. |title=The Enchiridion of Erasmus |journal=Theology Today |date=April 2007 |volume=64 |issue=1 |pages=80–88 |doi=10.1177/004057360706400109|s2cid=171469828 }}{{rp|82}} [842] => [843] => [[File:A Scholar Treads on a Market Woman's Basket of Eggs, marginal drawing by Hans Holbein the Younger.jpg|thumb|200px|A Scholar Treads on a Market Woman's Basket of Eggs, marginal drawing by Hans Holbein the Younger in The Praise of Folly: Erasmus is foolishly distracted by a woman.]] [844] => [845] => === The Praise of Folly (1511) === [846] => {{Main|The Praise of Folly}} [847] => [848] => Erasmus's best-known work is ''[[The Praise of Folly]]'', written in 1509, published in 1511 under the double title ''Moriae encomium'' (Greek, Latinised) and ''Laus stultitiae'' (Latin). It is inspired by ''De triumpho stultitiae'' written by Italian humanist [[:it:Faustino Perisauli|Faustino Perisauli]].{{Cite web|url=http://www.ub.unibas.ch/kadmos/gg/picpage/gg0015_009_tit.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071112141116/http://www.ub.unibas.ch/kadmos/gg/picpage/gg0015_009_tit.htm|url-status=dead|title=Early title page|archive-date=12 November 2007}} A satirical attack on superstitions and other traditions of European society in general and in the Western Church in particular, it was dedicated to Sir Thomas More, whose name the title puns.{{Cite web |last=Hansen |first=Kelli |date=2011-04-01 |title=April Fools! The Praise of Folly by Desiderius Erasmus. |url=https://library.missouri.edu/news/special-collections/april-fools-the-praise-of-folly-by-desiderius-erasmus |access-date=2023-04-22 |website=Library News |language=en-US}}{{Cite web |title=Erasmus {{!}} Biography, Beliefs, Works, Books, & Facts {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Erasmus-Dutch-humanist |access-date=2023-04-22 |website=www.britannica.com}} [849] => [850] => ===''De copia'' (1512) === [851] => {{Rhetoric}} [852] => {{Main|Copia: Foundations of the Abundant Style}} [853] => ''De Copia'' (or ''Foundations of the Abundant Style'' or ''On Copiousness'') is a textbook designed to teach aspects of classical [[Rhetoric#Sixteenth century|rhetoric]]: having a large supply of words, phrases and grammatical forms is a gateway to formulating and expressing thoughts, especially for "forensic oratory", with mastery and freshness. Perhaps as a joke, its full title is "The twofold [854] => copia of words and arguments in a double commentary" ({{lang-la|De duplici copia verborum ac rerum commentarii duo }}).{{cite journal |last1=Sloane |first1=Thomas O. |title=Schoolbooks and Rhetoric: Erasmus's Copia |journal=Rhetorica: A Journal of the History of Rhetoric |date=1991 |volume=9 |issue=2 |pages=113–129 |doi=10.1525/rh.1991.9.2.113 |jstor=10.1525/rh.1991.9.2.113 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1525/rh.1991.9.2.113 |issn=0734-8584}}{{rp|118,119}} [855] => It was "the most often printed rhetoric textbook written in the renaissance, with 168 editions between 1512 and 1580."{{cite book |last1=Mack |first1=Peter |title=A History of Renaissance Rhetoric 1380-1620 |date=14 July 2011 |doi=10.1093/acprof:osobl/9780199597284.003.0005}} [856] => [857] => The first part of the book is about ''verborum'' (words). It famously includes 147 variations on "Your letter [858] => pleased me very much",{{cite web |last1=Sanders |first1=Fred |title=The Abundant Style of Erasmus |url=https://scriptoriumdaily.com/abundant-style-erasmus/ |website=The Scriptorium Daily |date=23 July 2014}} and 203 variations on "Always, as long as I live, I shall remember you."These eulogize [[Thomas More#Personality according to Erasmus|Thomas More]] (25 by name), such as: "''More is inscribed in my heart in letters that no injurious time can erode.''"{{rp|119}} [859] => [860] => The second part of the book is about ''rerum'' (arguments) to learn [[critical thinking]] and [[advocacy]]. Erasmus advised students to practice the rhetorical techniques of copiousness by writing letters to each other arguing both side of an issue ({{lang-la|in utramque [861] => parte}}). [862] => [863] => === ''Opuscula plutarchi'' (1514), and ''Apophthegmatum opus'' (1531) === [864] => [[File:Handschrift von Erasmus v. Rotterdam.png|thumbnail|200px|Handwriting of Erasmus of Rotterdam: Plutarch's ''How to profit from one's enemies'']] [865] => In a similar vein to the ''Adages'' was his translation of [[Plutarch]]'s ''[[Moralia]]'': parts were published from 1512 onwards and collected as the ''Opuscula plutarchi''{{Cite journal |last=Ledo |first=Jorge |date=2019 |title=Erasmus' Translations of Plutarch's Moralia and the Ascensian editio princeps of ca. 1513 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/27172479 |journal=Humanistica Lovaniensia |volume=68 |issue=2 |pages=257–296 |doi=10.30986/2019.257 |jstor=27172479 |s2cid=204527360 |issn=0774-2908|hdl=2183/24753 |hdl-access=free }} (c1514). [866] => [867] => This was the basis of 1531's ''[[Apophthegmatum opus]]'' (Apophthegms), which ultimately contained over 3,000 aphophthegms: "certainly the fullest and most influential Renaissance collection of [[Cynicism (philosophy)|Cynic]] sayings and anecdotes",{{cite journal |last1=Roberts |first1=Hugh |title=Dogs' Tales: Representations of Ancient Cynicism in French Renaissance Texts |journal=Faux Titre Online| volume= 279 |date=1 January 2006 |doi=10.1163/9789401202985_006|s2cid=243905013 }} particular of [[Diogenes]] (from [[Diogenes Laertius]].) [868] => [869] => One of these was published independently, as ''How to tell a Flatterer from a Friend'', dedicated to England's [[Henry VIII]]. [870] => [871] => === ''Julius exclusus e coelis'' (1514) attrib. === [872] => {{Main| Julius Excluded from Heaven}} [873] => ''Julius excluded from Heaven'' is a biting satire usually attributed to Erasmus{{cite journal |last1=Sowards |first1=J. K. |title=Thomas More, Erasmus and Julius II : A Case of Advocacy |journal=Moreana |date=November 1969 |volume=6 (Number 24) |issue=4 |pages=81–99 |doi=10.3366/more.1969.6.4.15}} perhaps for private circulation, though he publicly denied writing it, calling its author a fool. The recently deceased Pope Julius arrives at the gates of heaven in his armour with his dead army, demanding from St Peter to be let in based on his glory and exploits. St Peter turns him away. [874] => [875] => === ''Sileni Alcibiadis'' (1515) === [876] => [[File:Statue of Silenus in Palazzo Massimo alle Terme.jpg|thumb|left|100px|Statue of Silenus in Palazzo Massimo alle Terme]] [877] => [[File:Bust Alcibiades Musei Capitolini MC1160.jpg|thumb|100px|Hern of Alcibiades, Musei Capitolini]] [878] => Erasmus's ''Sileni Alcibiadis'' is one of his most direct assessments of the need for Church reform.{{cite journal |last1=Baratta |first1=Luca |title='A Scorneful Image of this Present World': Translating and Mistranslating Erasmus's Words in Henrician England |journal=Critical Survey |date=1 September 2022 |volume=34 |issue=3 |pages=100–122 |doi=10.3167/cs.2022.340307|s2cid=250649340 }}{{rp|105}} It started as a small entry in the 1508 ''Adagia'' citing [[Plato]]'s [[Symposium]] and expanded to several hundred sentences. Johann Froben published it first within a revised edition of the ''Adagia'' in 1515, then as a stand-alone work in 1517. [879] => [880] => ''Sileni'' is the plural (Latin) form of ''[[Silenus]]'', a creature often related to the Roman wine god [[Bacchus]] and represented in pictorial art as inebriated, merry revellers, variously mounted on donkeys, singing, dancing, playing flutes, etc. [881] => In particular, the Sileni that Erasmus referred to were small, coarse, ugly or distasteful carved figures which opened up to reveal a beautiful deity or valuables inside.{{cite book |last1=Spadaro |first1=Katrina Lucia |title=Epistemologies of Play: Folly, Allegory, and Embodiment in Early Modern Literature (A thesis) |publisher=Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences |location=University of Sydney |url=https://ses.library.usyd.edu.au/bitstream/handle/2123/25949/spadaro_kl_thesis.pdf |access-date=24 October 2023}} [882] => [883] => [[Alcibiades]] was a Greek politician in the 5th century [[Common Era|BCE]] and a general in the [[Peloponnesian War]]; he figures here more as a character written into some of [[Plato]]'s dialogues – an externally-attractive, young, debauched playboy whom [[Socrates]] tries to convince to seek truth instead of pleasure, wisdom instead of pomp and splendor.Plato, The Symposium. Translation and introduction by Walter Hamilton. Penguin Classics. 1951. {{ISBN|978-0140440249}} [884] => [885] => The term ''Sileni –'' especially when juxtaposed with the character of Alcibiades – can therefore be understood as an evocation of the notion that something on the inside is more expressive of a person's character than what one sees on the outside. For instance, something or someone ugly on the outside can be beautiful on the inside, which is one of the main points of Plato's dialogues featuring ''Alcibiades'' and in the ''[[Symposium (Plato)|Symposium]]'', in which Alcibiades also [[Cultural depictions of Alcibiades|appears]].{{refn| group=note|"Anyone who looks closely at the inward nature and essence will find that nobody is further from true wisdom than those people with their grand titles, learned bonnets, splendid sashes and bejeweled rings, who profess to be wisdom's peak." ''Sileni Alcibiadis'' }} [886] => [887] => On the other hand, Erasmus lists several Sileni and then controversially questions whether Christ is the most noticeable Silenus of them all. The [[Apostles in the New Testament|Apostles]] were Sileni since they were ridiculed by others. The scriptures are a Silenus too.{{rp|105}} [888] => [889] => The work then launches into a biting endorsement of the need for high church officials (especially the Pope) to follow the [[evangelical counsels|evangelical counsel]] of poverty (simplicity): this condemnation of wealth and power was a full two years before the notional start of the [[Reformation]]; the church must be able to act as a moderating influence on the ambition and selfishness of princes.Philologist [https://docenti.unisi.it/en/baratta Lucca Baratta] summarized Erasmus' arguments as follows: "The ignorance and poor judgement of the people, surreptitiously encouraged by the powerful, are the foundations of bad government. The king therefore needs a true counsellor, who will guide his choices rather than flatter him; so it is essential to unmask the deception of those who brand as heretics whomever seeks to bring the Church back to the road (of poverty and virtue) trodden by Christ. Only thus can abuse of the temporal and spiritual power be avoided. //It is therefore essential to recapture the original purity of the Christian message, and to follow the clear division of the roles of power, without undue mingling of the worldly and the celestial: the infidelity to Christ of the men of the Church produces only the bloated and grotesque figures of power oblivious to its own spiritual ends. There can be only one solution: the men of the Church must despise earthly goods." {{cite journal |last1=Baratta |first1=Luca |title='A Scorneful Image of this Present World': Translating and Mistranslating Erasmus's Words in Henrician England |journal=Critical Survey |date=1 September 2022 |volume=34 |issue=3 |pages=100–122 |doi=10.3167/cs.2022.340307|s2cid=250649340 }} p. 105 [890] => [891] => === The Education of a Christian Prince (1516) === [892] => [[File:Taddeo Zuccari - Entrée de François Ier & Charles Quint à Paris (détail).jpg|thumb|200px|Entry of Francis of France, Emperor Charles V, and Cardinal Farnese (later Pope Paul III) into Paris - 1540 (detail)]] [893] => {{Main| Education of a Christian Prince}} [894] => The ''[[Education of a Christian Prince|Institutio principis Christiani]]'' or "Education of a Christian Prince''"'' (Basel, 1516) was written as advice to the young king Charles of Spain (later [[Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor]]), to whom the Preface is addressed.{{cite book|last=Erasmus|first=Desiderius|title=The Education of a Christian Prince|year=1997|publisher=Cambridge UP|location=Cambridge, UK|isbn=978-0-521-58811-9|pages=3–4}} Erasmus applies the general principles of honor and sincerity to the special functions of the Prince, whom he represents throughout as the servant of the people. [895] => [896] => ===Latin and Greek New Testaments=== [897] => [[File:Print, book-illustration (BM 1895,1031.1021).jpg|thumb|200px|First page of Preface, Annotations of the New Testament (1521), with characteristic Froben decoration]] [898] => {{main|Novum Instrumentum omne}} [899] => Erasmus produced this first edition of his corrected Latin and Greek New Testament in 1516, in Basel at the print of [[Johann Froben]], and took it through multiple revisions and editions.Mendoza, J. Carlos Vizuete; Llamazares, Fernando; Sánchez, Julio Martín; Mancha, Universidad de Castilla-La (2002). Los arzobispos de Toledo y la universidad española: 5 de marzo-3 de junio, Iglesia de San Pedro Mártir, Toledo. Univ de Castilla La ManchaBruce Metzger, The Text of the New Testament. Its Transmission, Corruption, and Restoration, Oxford University Press, 1992, p. 102. [900] => [901] => For Erasmus, knowledge of the original language was not enough: theologian Gregory Graybill notes "the faithful exegete had to master not only the original tongues, but also the crucial disciplines of grammar and rhetoric."{{refn|group=note|"Further, because the Scriptures in their original languages were so important, the faithful exegete had to master not only the original tongues, but also the crucial disciplines of grammar and rhetoric... For Erasmus, rhetoric and grammar, were, in fact, more important subjects than the logic of the schoolmen."{{cite book |last1=Graybill |first1=Gregory |title=Evangelical Free Will |date=15 July 2010 |doi=10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199589487.003.0002}}{{rp|50}}}} Consequently, an integral and motivating part of the work was the substantial philological annotations. Erasmus independently brought out ''Paraphrases'' of the books of the New Testament, suited for a less academic readership. [902] => [903] => Erasmus had, for his time, relatively little interest in the Old Testament, apart from the Psalms.{{refn|group=note|name=OT|"If only the Christian church did not attach so much importance to the Old Testament!" ''Ep 798'' p. 305,{{cite journal |last1=Rummel |first1=Erika |title=Review of Opera Omnia. vo. V-2. Opera Omnia vol. V-3. Opera Omnia. II-4. |journal=Renaissance Quarterly |date=1989 |volume=42 |issue=2 |pages=304–308 |doi=10.2307/2861633 |jstor=2861633 |s2cid=164160751 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/2861633 |issn=0034-4338}}
[904] => For Erasmus, "...the relative importance we should ascribe to the different books of the Bible," accorded to how much "they bring us more or less directly to knowledge of (Christ)": which gave priority to the New Testament and the Gospels in particular. [905] =>
"To Erasmus, Judaism was obsolete. To Reuchlin, something of Judaism remained of continuing value to Christianity."}} Similarly, he was relatively uninterested in the Book of Revelation, which he did not produce a paraphrase for, and he provocatively reported the doubts in the early Greek church about its status in the canon:{{cite journal |last1=Backus |first1=Irena |title=The Church Fathers and the Canonicity of the Apocalypse in the Sixteenth Century: Erasmus, Frans Titelmans, and Theodore Beza |journal=The Sixteenth Century Journal |date=1998 |volume=29 |issue=3 |pages=651–666 |doi=10.2307/2543682 |jstor=2543682 |s2cid=163642642 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/2543682 |issn=0361-0160}} Erasmus had none of the apocalypticism of his times which so animated [[Savonarola]]n and Protestant rhetoric:{{cite journal |last1=Buck |first1=Lawrence P. |title=Apocalypticism in the Sixteenth Century |journal=Martin Luther in Context |date=30 August 2018 |pages=170–178 |doi=10.1017/9781316596715.021|isbn=978-1-316-59671-5 }} only one percent of his ''Annotations'' on the New Testament concerned the Book of Revelation.{{cite journal |last1=Boxall |first1=Ian |title=Apocalyptic Sensibility in Renaissance Europe |journal=The Cambridge Companion to Apocalyptic Literature |date=31 March 2020 |pages=212–230 |doi=10.1017/9781108394994.012|isbn=978-1-108-39499-4 |s2cid=216244321 }}{{rp|218}} [906] => [907] => ====New Latin translation==== [908] => [909] => [[File:ErasmusText TitlePage.jpg|thumb|200px|right|Title page of Erasmus' ''Novum instrumentum omne'']] [910] => [911] => Erasmus had been working for years on two related projects to help theologians: [[philology|philological notes]] on the Latin and Greek texts{{refn|group=note|"My mind is so excited at the thought of emending Jerome's text, with notes, that I seem to myself inspired by some god. I have already almost finished emending him by collating a large number of ancient manuscripts, and this I am doing at enormous personal expense. ''Epistle 273''""Epistle 273" in Collected ''Works of Erasmus Vol. 2: Letters 142 to 297, 1501–1514'' (tr. R.A.B. Mynors and D.F.S. Thomson; annotated Wallace K. Ferguson; Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1976), 253.}} and a fresh Latin New Testament. He examined all the Latin versions he could find to create a critical text. Then he polished the language. He declared, "It is only fair that Paul should address the Romans in somewhat better Latin.""Epistle 695" in ''Collected Works of Erasmus Vol. 5: Letters 594 to 841, 1517–1518'' (tr. R.A.B. Mynors and D.F.S. Thomson; annotated by [[James K. McConica]]; Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1976), 172. In the earlier phases of the project, he never mentioned a Greek text. [912] => [913] => While his intentions for publishing a fresh Latin translation are clear,"He welcomed vernacular translations with great enthusiasm, but they could mean nothing for Europe as a whole. … Latin was…the only language in which the Bible could play a role in the culture of Europe."{{cite journal |last1=de Jong |first1=Henk Jan |title=Novum Testamentum a nobis versum: the Essence of Erasmus' Edition of the New Testament |journal=The Journal of Theological Studies |date=1984 |volume=32 |issue=2}} it is less clear why he included the Greek text. Though some speculate that he long intended to produce a critical Greek text or that he wanted to beat the Complutensian Polyglot into print, there is no evidence to support this. He wrote, "There remains the New Testament translated by me, with the Greek facing, and notes on it by me.""Epistle 305" in ''Collected Works of Erasmus. Vol. 3: Letters 298 to 445, 1514–1516'' (tr. R.A.B. Mynors and D.F.S. Thomson; annotated by James K. McConica; Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1976), 32. He further demonstrated the reason for the inclusion of the Greek text when defending his work: [914] => [915] => {{Blockquote|text=But one thing the facts cry out, and it can be clear, as they say, even to a blind man, that often through the translator's clumsiness or inattention the Greek has been wrongly rendered; often the true and genuine reading has been corrupted by ignorant scribes, which we see happen every day, or altered by scribes who are half-taught and half-asleep.|source=Epistle 337"Epistle 337" in ''Collected Works of Erasmus'' Vol. 3, 134.}} [916] => [917] => So he included the Greek text to permit qualified readers to verify the quality of his Latin version.{{cite journal |last1=de Jong |first1=Hank Jan |title=Novum testamentum a nobis versum: The essense of Erasmus' edition of the New Testament |journal=The Journal of Theological Studies |date=1984 |volume=35 |issue=2}} But by first calling the final product ''Novum Instrumentum omne'' ("All of the New Teaching") and later ''Novum Testamentum omne'' ("All of the New Testament") he also indicated clearly that he considered a text in which the Greek and the Latin versions were consistently comparable to be the essential core of the church's New Testament tradition. [918] => {{clear}} [919] => [920] => ====Publication and editions==== [921] => [[File:Hans Holbein the Younger - Johannes Froben.jpg|thumbnail|200px [922] => |''Portrait of Johannes Froben'' by Holbein{{Royal Collection|403035|Johannes Froben (1460–1527)}}]] [923] => [[File:Print, book-illustration (BM 1870,1008.1986).jpg|thumb|200px|First page of Gospel according to Matthew, Froben (1521)]] [924] => Erasmus said the printing{{cite journal |last1=Riddle |first1=Jeffrey T. |title=Erasmus Anecdotes |journal=Puritan Reformed Journal |date=January 2017 |volume=9 |issue=1 |pages=101–112 }}{{rp|105}} of the first edition was "precipitated rather than published","Epistle 694" in ''Collected Works of Erasmus Volume 5'', 167. It was ''precipitated rather than edited'': the Latin is ''prœcipitatum fuit verius quam editum''. resulting in a number of transcription errors. After comparing what writings he could find, Erasmus wrote corrections between the lines of the manuscripts he was using (among which was [[Minuscule 2]]) and sent them as proofs to Froben.[http://www.ccel.org/php/disp.php?authorID=schaff&bookID=encyc02&page=106&view= "History of the Printed Text"], in: ''New Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge, Vol. II: Basilica – Chambers'', p. 106 ff. His access to Greek manuscripts was limited compared to modern scholars and he had to rely on [[Jerome]]'s late-4th century [[Vulgate]] to fill in the blanks.{{cite book |last1=Metzger |first1=Bruce |title=The Oxford Companion to the Bible |page=490}} [925] => [926] => His effort was hurriedly published by his friend Johann Froben of Basel in 1516 and thence became the [[editio princeps|first published]] Greek New Testament, the ''[[Novum Instrumentum omne]], diligenter ab Erasmo Rot. Recognitum et Emendatum''. Erasmus used several Greek manuscript sources because he did not have access to a single complete manuscript. Most of the manuscripts were, however, late Greek manuscripts of the Byzantine textual family and Erasmus used the oldest manuscript the least because "he was afraid of its supposedly erratic text."Bruce Metzger, ''The Text of the New Testament. Its Transmission, Corruption, and Restoration'', Oxford University Press, 1992, p. 102. He also ignored some manuscripts that were at his disposal which are now deemed older and better.Paul Arblaster, Gergely Juhász, Guido Latré (eds) ''Tyndale's Testament'', Brepols 2002, {{ISBN|2-503-51411-1}}, p. 28. [927] => [928] => In the second (1519) edition, the more familiar term ''Testamentum'' was used instead of ''Instrumentum''. Together, the first and second editions sold 3,300 copies.{{cite web |last1=Elliott |first1=J. K. |title=Labours of Basle: Erasmus's 'revised and improved' edition of the New Testament--500 years on. |url=https://go.gale.com/ps/i.do?p=AONE&u=googlescholar&id=GALE%7CA635360985&v=2.1&it=r&sid=googleScholar&asid=98adabcc |website=TLS. Times Literary Supplement |access-date=16 October 2023 |pages=14–15 |language=English |date=25 March 2016}} By comparison, only 600 copies of the Complutensian Polyglot were ever printed. This edition was used by [[Martin Luther]] in his [[Luther Bible|German translation of the Bible]], written for people who could not understand Latin. The first and second edition texts did not include the passage (1 John 5:7–8) that has become known as the [[Comma Johanneum]].{{cite journal |last1=Galiza |first1=Rodrigo |last2=Reeve |first2=John W. |title=The Johannine Comma (1 John 5:7-8): the Status of its Textual History and Theological Usage in English, Greek and Latin |journal=Andrew University Seminary Studies |date=2018 |volume=56 |issue=1 |pages=63–89 |url=https://www.andrews.edu/library/car/cardigital/Periodicals/AUSS/2018/2018_56_1.pdf |access-date=3 June 2023}} Erasmus had been unable to find those verses in any Greek manuscript, but one was supplied to him during production of the third edition. The Catholic Church decreed that the ''Comma Johanneum'' was open to dispute (2 June 1927), and it is rarely included in modern scholarly translations. [929] => [930] => The third edition of 1522 was probably used by [[William Tyndale]] for the first English New Testament (Worms, 1526) and was the basis for the 1550 [[Robert Estienne|Robert Stephanus]] edition used by the translators of the [[Geneva Bible]] and [[King James Version]] of the English Bible. Erasmus published a fourth edition in 1527 containing parallel columns of Greek, Latin Vulgate and Erasmus's Latin texts. In this edition Erasmus also supplied the Greek text of the last six verses of [[Book of Revelation|Revelation]] (which he had translated from Latin back into Greek in his first edition) from [[Francisco Jiménez de Cisneros|Cardinal Ximenez de Cisneros]]'s ''[[Complutensian Polyglot Bible|Biblia Complutensis]]''.{{refn|group=note|Erasmus had a good relationship with Cisneros, who defended Erasmus against Stunica: "Cisneros was very open to the northern influences particularly the writings of the humanist (Erasmus) because of its focus on mental prayer, and piety which were consistent with his Franciscan mysticism."{{cite thesis |last1=Okolo |first1=Felix Ifeanyichukwu |title=The Centrality of the Eucharist in the Experience of Christ of Saint Teresa of Jesus |date=2021 |publisher=St. Patrick's College, Maynooth |url=https://mural.maynoothuniversity.ie/14529/ |type=phd |language=en}} Cisneros was at times Archbishop of Toledo, the nominal head of the Inquisition and the co-regent of Spain. Erasmus was also personal friends with Cisneros' Latin secretary [[Juan de Vergara]], and exchanged polite-ish letters with several of the Complutensian team, some of whom vehemently opposed his translation.}} In 1535 Erasmus published the fifth (and final) edition which dropped the Latin Vulgate column but was otherwise similar to the fourth edition. Later versions of the Greek New Testament by others, but based on Erasmus's Greek New Testament, became known as the ''[[Textus Receptus]]''.W. W. Combs, ''Erasmus and the textus receptus'', DBSJ 1 (Spring 1996), 45. [931] => [932] => Erasmus dedicated his work to [[Pope Leo X]] as a patron of learning and regarded this work as his chief service to the cause of Christianity. Immediately afterwards, he began the publication of his ''[[Paraphrases of Erasmus|Paraphrases of the New Testament]]'', a popular presentation of the contents of the several books. These, like all of his writings, were published in Latin but were quickly translated into other languages with his encouragement. [933] => [934] => === The Complaint of Peace (1517) === [935] => [[File:Hans Holbein d. J. - Portrait of Erasmus of Rotterdam Writing - WGA11498.jpg|thumbnail|200px|Erasmus by [[Hans Holbein the Younger|Holbein]] ]] [936] => {{See also|Erasmus#Pacifism}} [937] => [938] => Lady Peace complains about warmongering. This book was written at the request of the Burgundian Chancellor, who was then seeking a peace deal with France, to influence the ''zeitgeist''. [939] => [940] => On the use of [[War flag|battle standards]] featuring [[Crosses in heraldry|crosses]]:The standard of the cross image invokes, but to some extent contradicts, the imagery of St [[Catherine of Sienna]], who used it to call for European peace in order for joint military relief of the Holy Lands: she finished many letters with "''pace, pace, pace''." Esther Cohen, ''Holy women as spokeswomen for peace in late medieval Europe'', in {{cite book |last1=Friedman |first1=Yvonne |title=Religion and peace: historical aspects |date=2018 |publisher=Routledge |location=London |isbn=978-1138694248}} [941] => {{Blockquote|That cross is the standard of him who conquered, not by fighting, but by dying; who came, not to destroy men's lives, but to save them. It is a standard, the very sight of which might teach you what sort of enemies you have to war against, if you are a christian, and how you may be sure to gain the victory. [942] => I see you, while the standard of salvation is in one hand, rushing on with a sword in the other, to the murder of your brother; and, under the banner of the cross, destroying the life of one who to the cross owes his salvation.|source= The Complaint of Peace}} [943] => [944] => The final paragraph of ''The Complaint of Peace'' finishes with the command {{lang|la|resipiscite}}, meaning a [[Novum Instrumentum omne#Approach|voluntary return from madness and unconsciousness]]: [945] => [946] => {{Blockquote|At last! Enough and more than enough blood has been spilled, human blood, and if that were little, even Christian blood. Enough has been squandered in mutual destruction, enough already sacrificed to [[Orcus]] and [[Erinyes|the Furies]] and to nourish the eyes of [[Ottoman Empire#Expansion and peak (1453–1566)|the Turks]]. The comedy is at an end. Finally, after tolerating far too long the miseries of war, repent!{{cite journal |last1=Cook |first1=Brendan |title=The Uses of Resipiscere in the Latin of Erasmus: In the Gospels and Beyond |journal=Canadian Journal of History |date=December 2007 |volume=42 |issue=3 |pages=397–410 |doi=10.3138/cjh.42.3.397}}}} [947] => [948] => However, the subsequent [[European wars of religion]] which accompanied the [[Reformation]] resulted in the deaths of between [[European wars of religion#Death toll|7 and 18 million]] Europeans, including up to one third of the population of Germany. [949] => [950] => ===Paraphrases of the New Testament (1517-1524, 1532, 1534)=== [951] => [[File:Print, title-page (BM 1895,1031.1023).jpg|thumb|200px|Title page of Paraphrase of Pauline Epistles(1520) Abraham and Isaac lower right, the goat lower left, God the Father top left, the printer's mark top right]] [952] => [[File:Print, book-illustration (BM 1895,1031.1036).jpg|thumb|200px|Paraphrase (1520s), with initial capital woodcut by Hans Holbein]] [953] => Erasmus described his editorial intent with the Paraphrases of the New Testament as philological rather than theological: "to fill in the gaps, to soften the abrupt ones, to digest the confused ones, to develop the developed ones, to explain the knotty ones, to add light to the dark ones, to give (Paul's) Hebraicisms a Roman polish ... and thus to moderate παραφρασιννε παραφρόνησις: that is, 'to say otherwise so as not to say otherwise.'"{{lang-la|"hiantia committere, abrupta mollire, confusa digerere, evoluta evolvere, nodosa explicare, obscuris lucem addere, hebraismum romana civitate donare ... et ita temperare παράφρασινne fiat παραφρόνησις, h. e. sic aliter dicere ut non dicas alia."}}
Dedicatory preface ''ad Card. Grimanum'' to ''Paraphrase of the Pauline Epistles'', apud {{cite book |last1=Schaff |first1=Philip |title=History of the Christian Church, Volume VII. Modern Christianity. The German Reformation - Christian Classics Ethereal Library |url=https://ccel.org/ccel/schaff/hcc7/hcc7.ii.iv.xii.html?queryID=26857203&resultID=162373#fnf_ii.iv.xii-p91.1 |access-date=5 August 2023}} [954] => [955] => He brought out the Paraphrases progressively: Romans (1517), Corinthians (1519), the rest of the Epistles throughout 1520 and 1521, and the four Gospels and Acts from 1522 to 1524. He did not put out a paraphrase of the Book of Revelation.{{cite journal |last1=Sider |first1=Robert |editor-first1=Robert D. |editor-last1=Sider |title=Erasmus on the New Testament |journal=Erasmus Studies |date=2 April 2020 |doi=10.3138/9781487533250 |url=https://doi.org/10.3138/9781487533250 |publisher=University of Toronto Press |isbn=978-1-4875-3325-0 |s2cid=241298542 |language=en}} [956] => [957] => According to Erasmus: "A paraphrase is not a translation but something looser, a kind of commentary in which the writer and his author retain separate roles."{{cite journal |last1=Barnett |first1=Mary Jane |title=Erasmus and the Hermeneutics of Linguistic Praxis |journal=Renaissance Quarterly |date=1996 |volume=49 |issue=3 |pages=542–572 |doi=10.2307/2863366 |jstor=2863366 |s2cid=171063858 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/2863366 |issn=0034-4338}}{{rp|557}} [958] => [959] => The Paraphrases allowed Erasmus to amplify the text of the New Testament by integrating philological and theological points from his scholarly ''Annotations'', allowing more of a role for his personal opinions or angles, but in a less scholarly format. Unusually, Erasmus gives paraphrases of the speech of Christ in the persona of Christ in the Gospels, and for each Epistle uses the voice of the Apostle, not Erasmus or a neutral third person as is conventional.{{cite book |last1=Vasut |first1=Ryan |title=Erasmus as Interpreter of the Sermon on the Mount in his Paraphrase on Matthew |date=18 June 2015 |publisher=Southern Baptist Theological Seminary |hdl=10392/4951 |url=http://hdl.handle.net/10392/4951 |language=en}} Unlike traditional medieval exegesis, which for some authors treated the whole the scriptures as a single unified document of propositions which, because they had the same divine author, could be mixed and matched as necessary, Erasmus treated each individual book as the literary unit that limited intertextual combination.{{rp|24–38}} [960] => [961] => Erasmus wrote his paraphrases of the Gospels at the same time as his study of Luther's work in preparation for 1524's ''[[De libero arbitrio diatribe sive collatio|On Free Will]]'', ''[[De libero arbitrio diatribe sive collatio#Background|On the Immense Mercy of God]]'', etc. Some scholars see an increased explicit promotion of faith and grace in these paraphrases, with Erasmus attempting to accommodate some of Luther's exegesis, and Protestant thematic requirements, though not their theology. [962] => [963] => The Paraphrases were very well-received, particularly in England, by most{{cite journal |last1=Rummel |first1=Erika |title=9. Why Noël Béda Did Not Like Erasmus' Paraphrases |journal=Holy Scripture Speaks |date=31 December 2002 |pages=265–278 |doi=10.3138/9781442675803-014|isbn=978-1-4426-7580-3 }} parties. [964] => [965] => Biographer [[Roland Bainton]] nominated this passage as "the essence of Erasmus" (its positivity to natural affection has none of the Lutheran [[total depravity]] doctrine, and it accords with the Catholic ''analogia entis'' pattern): [966] => [967] => {{blockquote|"Now in the natural love of this father for his son behold the goodness of God, who is far more clement to sinful man, if only he repents and despises himself, than any father to his son, however tenderly he may love him."|source=Erasmus, ''Paraphrase of St Matthew''}} [968] => [969] => ===Method of True Theology=== [970] => The ''{{lang|la|Ratio seu methodus compendio perveniendi ad veram theologia}}'' was originally the Preface to the first edition of his New Testament, but was expanded and had a life of its own. [971] => [972] => {{blockquote|"The Ratio sets out a whole programme of theological thought, and an ideal of spirituality. If there is a Reformism proper to Erasmus—previously sketched in the ''{{lang|la|Enchiridion}}'', later defined in the polemic against Luther in the ''{{lang|la|Hyperaspites}}'', and vulgarized in the ''{{lang|la|Ecclesiastes}}''—then assuredly we must look to the Ratio for its fundamental exposition." |source=Louis Bouyer}} [973] => [974] => Following [[Lectio Divina#Early beginnings|Origen]], Erasmus in effect resuscitates ''{{lang|la|[[lectio divina]]}}'' as the core activity of real theology.{{refn|group=note|For "the early Christian practitioners of ''{{lang|la|lectio divina}}''...(being read the text)...was considered a form of being spoken to by God who was believed to be present in the texts. ''{{lang|la|Lectio divina}}'' draws the reader—as a listener to God’s Word—into the text... Gregory the Great positioned himself within the monastic orthopraxis of ''{{lang|la|lectio divina}}''. For him studying scripture was ''{{lang|la|contemplatio}}'', and it was both a communal (''{{lang|la|collatio}}'') and moving (''{{lang|la|compunctio}}'') act.{{cite journal |last1=Smeets |first1=Arnold |title=The Impulse of Allegory. Lectio Divina as Mystagogy in Gregory the Great |journal=P.J.J. Van Geest (Ed.), the Mystagogy of the Church Fathers (Late Antique History and Religion 8) (In Preparation) |date=1 January 2015 |url=https://www.academia.edu/10109613}}}} Following [[Tertullian]], Erasmus stresses that adoration and reverence were the proper attitudes of a Christian (and therefore any Christian theology) toward God and the sacred mysteries and that all ''{{lang|la|impia curiositas}}'' must be eschewed{{cite journal |last1=D’Amico |first1=John F. |title=Beatus Rhenanus, Tertullian and the Reformation: A Humanist's Critique of Scholasticism |journal=Archiv für Reformationsgeschichte - Archive for Reformation History |date=1 December 1980 |volume=71 |issue=jg |pages=37–63 |doi=10.14315/arg-1980-jg03|s2cid=170665425 }}{{rp|44}} especially in favour of educated and humble contemplation of Christ's personality and human interactions in the Gospels. [975] => [976] => Spanish dogmatic theologian Melchor Cano characterized it along the nuanced line "Erasmus believed that for theological education nothing more should be determined than what is contained in the sacred books."{{cite web |last1=Pokrywiński |first1=Rafał |title=Melchor Cano, ON THE SOURCES OF THEOLOGY Contemporary methodology of theological disciplines lecture script |url=https://www.academia.edu/79898423 |date=1 January 2022}} [977] => [978] => === Familiar Colloquies (1518-1533) === [979] => {{Main|Colloquies}} [980] => The ''Colloquia familiaria'' began as simple spoken Latin exercises for schoolboys to encourage fluency in colloquial Latin interaction, but expanded in number, ambition and audience. The sensational nature of many of the Colloquies made it a prime target for censorship.{{cite web |title=Erasmus' Colloquies: Latin and the Good Life · VIC 442 - The Renaissance Book (2021) · Centre for Renaissance and Reformation Studies (CRRS) Rare Book Collection |url=https://crrs.library.utoronto.ca/exhibits/show/vic4422021/colloquies |website=crrs.library.utoronto.ca}} [981] => [982] => Notable Colloquies include the exciting ''Naufragium'' (Shipwreck), the philosophical and path-forging ''The Epicurean'', and the zany catalogue of fantastic animal stories ''Friendship''. [983] => [984] => For example, ''A Religious Pilgrimage''''A Religious Pilgrimage'', {{cite web |last1=Seery |first1=Stephenia |title=The Colloquies of Erasmus |url=https://it.cgu.edu/earlymodernjournal/vol1-no1/seery.html |website=it.cgu.edu}} deals with many serious subjects humorously, and scandalously includes a letter supposedly written by a Statue of the Virgin Mary to [[Zwingli]],{{cite journal |last1=Lauria |first1=Virginia |title=“The Burning Light of Phoebus”: A New Perspective on Erasmus’ Poem to St. Genevieve |journal=Erasmus Studies |date=23 October 2023 |volume=43 |issue=2 |pages=141–159 |doi=10.1163/18749275-04302005}} in which, while it first thanks the reformer for following Luther against needlessly invoking saints (where the listed invocations are all for sinful or wordly things), becomes a warning against [[iconoclasm#Reformation era|iconoclasm]]"Erasmus himself deprecated excessive devotion to images, but deplored iconoclasm. For him, both extremes represented a focus on the external trappings rather than the inner truths of religion." {{cite journal |last1=Rex |first1=Richard |title=The Religion of Henry Viii |journal=The Historical Journal |date=2014 |volume=57 |issue=1 |pages=1–32 |doi=10.1017/S0018246X13000368 |jstor=24528908 |s2cid=159664113 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/24528908 |issn=0018-246X}} p 17 and stripping altars. [985] => [986] => ''[[Colloquies#Amicitia (Friendship)|Amicitia]]'' (Friendship) can be considered a sweet companion piece to the vinegary ''Spongia'' of the same year. [987] => [988] => === A Sponge to wipe away the Spray of Hutten (1523) === [989] => As a result of his reformatory activities, Erasmus found himself at odds with some reformers and some Catholic churchmen. His last years were made difficult by controversies with men toward whom he was sympathetic."Against his own advice, he took part in a series of public controversies with men he called 'barking dogs.' They hounded him to his grave." [990] => {{cite journal |last1=Regier |first1=Willis |title=Review of Erasmus, Controversies: Collected Works of Erasmus, vol. 78, trans. Peter Matheson, Peter McCardle, Garth Tissol, and James Tracy. |journal=Bryn Mawr Review of Comparative Literature |date=1 January 2011 |volume=9 |issue=2 |url=https://repository.brynmawr.edu/bmrcl/vol9/iss2/5 |issn=1523-5734}} [991] => [992] => [[File:DBP 1988 1364 Ulrich von Hutten.jpg|thumb|100px|Ulrich von Hutten (1988)]] [993] => Notable among these was [[Ulrich von Hutten]], once a friend, a brilliant but erratic genius who had thrown himself into the Lutheran cause (and militant German nationalism.{{cite journal |last1=Melin |first1=C. A. |title="Ich sprich, sie habents nimmer Fug": Propaganda and Poetry in Ulrich von Hutten's "Klag und Vormahnung" |journal=Modern Language Studies |date=1985 |volume=15 |issue=1 |pages=50–59 |doi=10.2307/3194417 |jstor=3194417 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/3194417 |issn=0047-7729}}) Erasmus claimed that von Hutten, who had a long history of adventure, violence and manslaughter, and had proposed a literal war against the clergy, had extorted money from a Carthusian monastery, highway robbed three Abbots, and cut the ears off two Benedictines.Introductpry Note in {{cite journal |last1=Tracey |first1=James |title=The Sponge of Erasmus against the Aspersions of Hutten/ Spongia adversus aspergines Hutteni |journal=Controversies |date=31 December 2010 |pages=1–146 |doi=10.3138/9781442660076-002 |publisher=University of Toronto Press|isbn=978-1-4426-6007-6 }} [994] => [995] => Von Hutten declared that Erasmus, if he had a spark of honesty, would throw himself into Luther's cause and help to subdue the Pope. Hutten published a book in 1523 ''{{lang|la|Ulrichi ab Hutten cum Erasmo Rotirodamo, Presbytero, Theologo, Expostulatio}}''. In his reply in the same year, ''{{lang|la|Spongia adversus aspergines Hutteni}}'', Erasmus accused von Hutten of having misinterpreted his utterances about reform and reiterates his determination never to break with the Catholic Church.{{cite journal |last1=Pabel |first1=Hilmar M. |title=Known by his works, in Erasmus: Christ's humanist |journal=Christian History - Issuu |date=2 November 2022 |issue=145 |page=18 |url=https://issuu.com/christianhistory/docs/ch-145-erasmus |access-date=17 July 2023}} [996] => [997] => Erasmus returns multiple times to the issue that old friendships should be maintained (not betrayed) and that scholarly expertise should be acknowledged, but that neither of these should imply agreement or endorsement in total or in part with each other's views. Nor should the acknowledgement of a strained relationship or the absence of some polite title be construed as necessarily an avowal of an opposing view. Erasmus advocated being a moderating friend and a constructive voice of sanity, even to sincere but civil partisans of either side. [998] => [999] => Historian [[Francis Aidan Gasquet]] regarded this book as necessary for understanding Erasmus' true position on Rome, quoting: [1000] => [1001] => {{blockquote|"I have never approved of (the Roman See's) tyranny, rapacity, and other vices about which of old common complaints were heard from good men. Neither do I sweepingly condemn ‘Indulgences,’ though I have always disliked any barefaced traffic in them. What I think about ceremonies, many places in my works plainly show.… What it may mean ‘to reduce the Pope to order’ I do not rightly understand. First, I think it must be allowed that Rome is a Church, for no number of evils can make it cease to be a Church, otherwise we should have no Churches whatever. Moreover, I hold it to be an orthodox Church; and this Church, it must be admitted, has a Bishop. Let him be allowed also to be Metropolitan, seeing there are very many archbishops in countries where there has been no apostle, and Rome, without controversy, had certainly SS. Peter and Paul, the two chief apostles. Then how is it absurd that among Metropolitans the chief place be granted to the Roman Pontiff?"|source=Erasmus, ''Spongia'' trans, Gasquet}} [1002] => [1003] => Erasmus noted that he would not renounce old friends because they took sides for or against Luther, noting that several had changed their minds again. [1004] => [1005] => {{Blockquote|The paradoxes of Luther are not worth dying for. “There is no question of articles of faith, but of such matters as ‘Whether the supremacy of the Roman Pontiff was established by Christ:’ ‘whether cardinals are necessary to the Christian Church:’ ‘whether confession is ''{{lang|la|de jure divino}}'':’ ‘whether bishops can make their laws binding under pain of mortal sin:’ ‘whether free will is necessary for salvation:’ ‘whether faith alone assures salvation,’ etc. If Christ gave him grace,” Erasmus hopes that “he would be a martyr for His truth, but he has no desire whatever to be one for Luther.”|source = Gasquet, ''The Eve of the Reformation'' quoting Erasmus, ''Spongia''}} [1006] => [1007] => Erasmus' break with the endangering Lutheran poet-scholar-knight von Hutten was complete, even refusing (or making it too difficult) to see him when von Hutten, homeless and dying of syphilis, passed through Basel in 1523 and found refuge with humanists there.{{refn|group=note|Von Hutten was fleeing after fighting on the losing side in the [[Knights' War]] (1522), and finally was directed by [[Zwingli]] in Zurich to a small [[Ufenau|island]]{{cite web |last1=Basting |first1=Barbara |title=The two graves of Ulrich von Hutten |url=https://blog.nationalmuseum.ch/en/2022/10/the-two-graves-of-ulrich-von-hutten/ |website=Swiss National Museum - Swiss history blog |date=7 October 2022}} owned by a [[Einsiedeln Abbey|Benedictine abbey]], where he died in relative seclusion in what may have been a syphilis hospice, supported by the local Protestant pastor. }} [1008] => [1009] => ===On Free Will (1524)=== [1010] => {{Main|De libero arbitrio diatribe sive collatio}} [1011] => [1012] => Erasmus wrote ''[[De libero arbitrio diatribe sive collatio|On Free Will (De libero arbitrio)]]'' (1524) against Luther's view on free will: that everything happens by strict necessity.Written to refute Martin Luther's doctrine of "enslaved will", according to [[Alister McGrath]], Luther believed that only Erasmus, of all his interlocutors, understood and appreciated the locus of his doctrinal emphases and reforms. {{cite book | title=Iustitia Dei | publisher=Cambridge University Press| author=McGrath, Alister | year=2012 | location=3.4: "Justification in Early Lutheranism" | pages=xiv+ 448 | edition=3rd}} [1013] => [1014] => Erasmus lays down both sides of the argument impartially. [1015] => In this controversy Erasmus lets it be seen that, from the thrust of Scripture, he would like to claim more for free will than St. Paul and St. Augustine seem to allow according to Luther's interpretation.Britannica Online Encyclopedia, Desiderius Erasmus ''Dutch humanist and scholar'', [https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/191015/Desiderius-Erasmus/59231/The-Protestant-challenge#ref=ref24610The Protestant challenge] For Erasmus the essential point is that humans have the freedom of choice,{{Citation [1016] => | last=Watson [1017] => | first=Philip [1018] => | title=Erasmus, Luther and Aquinas [1019] => | journal=Concordia Theological Monthly [1020] => | volume=40 [1021] => | issue=11 [1022] => | year=1969 [1023] => | pages=747–58 [1024] => }} [1025] => when responding to prior grace ([[synergism]]). [1026] => [1027] => On the same day as publishing ''De libero arbitrio diatribe sive'' Erasmus also published ''Concio de immensa Dei misericordia'' (Sermon on the Immense Mercy of God) which presented his positive alternative to Lutheranism: where Grace serves Mercy.{{refn|group=note|This was translated into Italian by the Mantuan Marsilio Andreasi as ''Trattato divoto et utilissimo della Divina misericordia'' then later re-translated back into Latin by Orazio Curione in Basel with the connection to Erasmus lost.{{cite journal |last1=Guida |first1=Vito |title=The Messianic Secret and the Significance of Preaching in Gabriele Biondo, Otto Brunfels, and Celio Secondo Curione |journal=Journal of Early Modern Christianity |date=27 November 2023 |volume=10 |issue=2 |pages=317–354 |doi=10.1515/jemc-2023-2050}} There were two more Italian translations and printings (''Trattato della grandeza della misericordie del Signore di Erasmo Roterodamo'', Brescia, 1542; Venice, 1554.){{cite journal |last1=Corradine |first1=Jimena Gamba |title=Itinerario de un texto de Erasmo: el Sermón de las misericordias de Dios en castellano (1528, 1544 y 1549) |journal=Romanistisches Jahrbuch |date=18 November 2021 |volume=72 |issue=1 |pages=421–445 |doi=10.1515/roja-2021-0018}} The 1531 English translation by [[Gentian Hervet]] is ''A sermon of the excedynge great mercy of god''. The Spanish version is ''Sermón de la grandeza y muchedumbre de las misericordias de Dios'' (1528, 1544, 1549). Erasmus' book may have owed to [[Alger of Liège]]'s book ''De Misericordia et Justitia'' which treated the interplay of mercy and justice as policies rather than virtues: for Erasmus, "mercy is justice in a higher form."{{cite journal |title=A Sermon on the Immense Mercy of God / Concio de immensa Dei misericordia |journal=Spiritualia and Pastoralia |date=31 December 1998 |pages=69–140 |doi=10.3138/9781442680128-003|isbn=978-1-4426-8012-8 }}}} [1028] => [1029] => In response, Luther wrote his ''De servo arbitrio'' (''[[On the Bondage of the Will]]'') (1525), which attacked "''On Free Will''" and Erasmus himself, going so far as to claim that Erasmus was not a Christian. "Free will does not exist", according to Luther in that sin makes human beings completely incapable of bringing themselves to God ([[monergism]]). [1030] => [1031] => Erasmus responded with a lengthy, two-part book ''Hyperaspistes'' (1526–27).''Hyperaspistes'' means ''protected by a shield'' (i.e., self-defence) but also, countering Luther's calling of Erasmus as a viper, 'SuperSnake'.
Note 7, {{cite web |title=Martin Luther > Notes (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy/Winter 2022 Edition) |url=https://plato.stanford.edu/Archives/win2022/entries/luther/notes.html |website=plato.stanford.edu}} [1032] => [1033] => ===Liturgy of the Virgin Mother venerated at Loreto (1525)=== [1034] => [[File:The Translation of the Holy House of Loreto MET DP158156.jpg|thumb|100px|The Translation of the Holy House of Loreto, anonymous, Italian (1510)]] [1035] => Editions: 1523, 1525, 1529{{cite journal |last1=Fallica |first1=Maria |title=Erasmus and the Lady of Loreto: The Virgin, the Bride, and the Progress of the Church |journal=Erasmus Studies |date=23 October 2023 |volume=43 |issue=2 |pages=119–140 |doi=10.1163/18749275-04302002|s2cid=264507946 |doi-access=free }} [1036] => [1037] => This [[liturgy]] for a [[Catholic Mass]], with [[Sequence (musical form)|sequence]]s and a [[homily]] teaching that for Mary, and the Saints, imitation should be the chief part of veneration.{{cite book |title=Oxford Handbook of Mary |date=2019 |publisher=OUP |isbn=9780192511140 |page=414}} [1038] => [1039] => Fair choir of angels, [1040] => take up the zither, take up the lyre. [1041] => The Virgin Mother must be celebrated in song, [1042] => in a virginal ode. [1043] => The angels, joining in the song, [1044] => will re-echo your voice. [1045] => For they love virgins, [1046] => being virgins themselves.{{cite journal |last1=Marc’hadour |first1=Germain |title=Erasmus as a guide to the Life of the Spirit |journal=Moreana |date=June 2002 |volume=39 (Number 150) |issue=2 |pages=97–142 |doi=10.3366/more.2002.39.2.11}} [1047] => [1048] => The liturgy re-framed the existing Marian devotions: as a substitute for mentioning the [[Basilica della Santa Casa|Holy House of Loreto]],{{cite journal |last1=Miller |first1=Clement A. |title=Erasmus on Music |journal=The Musical Quarterly |date=1966 |volume=52 |issue=3 |page=337 |jstor=3085961 |url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/3085961 |issn=0027-4631}} he used the meaning of Loreto as '[[Lauraceae|laurel]]', as in the champion's [[laurel wreath]]. The work also may have been intended to demonstrate the proper application of [[indulgences]], as it came with one from the archbishop of Besançon. [1049] => [1050] => === The Tongue (or Language) (1525) === [1051] => The writings of Erasmus exhibit a continuing concern with language, and in 1525 he devoted an entire treatise to the subject, ''Lingua''. This and several of his other works are said to have provided a starting point for a philosophy of language, though Erasmus did not produce a completely elaborated system.Rummel, Erika, "[https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/erasmus/ Desiderius Erasmus]", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Winter 2017 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.). It includes a "systematic denunciation of all forms of seditious expression."{{cite journal |last1=Kinney |first1=Daniel |title=Georges Chantraine, S.J ., Erasme et Luther: Libre et serf arbitre, etude Historique et Theologique. Paris : Éditions Lethielleux / Presses Universitaires de Namur, 1981. XLV + 503 pp. in-8°. 270 Fr |journal=Moreana |date=February 1983 |volume=20 (Number 77) |issue=1 |pages=85–88 |doi=10.3366/more.1983.20.1.22}} [1052] => [1053] => Erasmus characteristically viewed language providentially and in relation to peace: according to textual historian Margaret O'Rourke Boyle, "The gift of speech was ‘the principal reconciler of human relationships' conferred by the Creator ‘so that people might live together more agreeably.’" [1054] => [1055] => === On the Institution of Christian Marriage (1526) === [1056] => The ''{{lang|la|Institutio matrimonii}}'' was published in 1526 as treatise about marriage,{{Cite book |last=Christ - von Wedel |first=Christine |date=2019 |title=Die Äbtissin, der Söldnerführer und ihre Töchter |url=https://www.tvz-verlag.ch/buch/die-aebtissin-der-soeldnerfuehrer-und-ihre-toechter-9783290182557.pdf |pages=128–129 |publisher=Theologischer Verlag Zürich |isbn=978-3-290-18255-7}} and dedicated to [[Catherine of Aragon]], who had befriended Erasmus and More. He did not follow the contemporary mainstream which saw the woman as a subject to the man, but suggested the man was to love the woman similar as he would Christ, who also descended to earth to serve. He saw the role of the woman as a ''socia'' (partner) to the man. [1057] => [1058] => The relationship should be of ''{{lang|la|[[amicitia]]}}''Erasmus wrote a colloquy ''{{lang|la|Amicitia}}'' considered generally, which mentioned the mutual sympathy of Thomas More and his monkey. {{cite journal |last1=Cummings |first1=Brian |title=Erasmus and the Colloquial Emotions |journal=Erasmus Studies |date=12 November 2020 |volume=40 |issue=2 |pages=127–150 |doi=10.1163/18749275-04002004|s2cid=228925860 |doi-access=free }} (sweet and mutual fondness).{{cite journal |last1=Hutson |first1=Lorna Margaret |title=' "Especyal Swetnes": An Erasmian Footnote to the Civil Partnership Act' |journal=Risweb.st-andrews.ac.uk |date=April 2011 |volume=20 |issue=1 |pages=5–21 |url=https://risweb.st-andrews.ac.uk/portal/en/researchoutput/-especyal-swetnes-an-erasmian-footnote-to-the-civil-partnership-act(a6c6ff09-2e52-4358-8552-27fce87f2a00).html |language=en}} Erasmus suggested that true marriage between devout Christians required a true friendship (contrary to contemporary legal theories that required community consensus or consummation); and because true friendship never dies, divorce of a true marriage was impossible; the seeking of a divorce was a sign that the true friendship (and so the true marriage) never existed and so the divorce should be allowed, after investigation and protecting the individuals.{{refn|group=note|Erasmus, in his ''Annotations on the New Testament'', makes the related point that the sacrament of marriage requires an exacting standard of consent: "I admit that there is no marriage without mutual consent, but it must be sober consent, not consent extorted by craft or in the midst of intoxication, but consent given with the counsel of friends, as is appropriate in something that can never be undone and that deserves to be numbered among the sacraments of the church. But when, after investigating the case carefully, a bishop or other legitimate judges dissolve the kind of marriage I have described, this is not a case of ‘man separating what God has joined together.’ In fact, what youth, wine, rashness, ignorance has wrongly glued together, what the devil has wickedly bound together through his ministers, the panderers and bawds, this God rightly separates through his servants."{{cite journal |last1=Sider |first1=Robert |editor-first1=Robert D. |editor-last1=Sider |title=Erasmus on the New Testament |journal=Erasmus Studies |date=31 December 2020 |doi=10.3138/9781487533250|isbn=978-1-4875-3325-0 |s2cid=241298542 }}{{rp|272}} }}{{cite journal |last1=Weiler |first1=Anton G. |last2=Barker |first2=G. |last3=Barker |first3=J. |title=Desiderius Erasmus of Rotterdam on Marriage and Divorce |journal=Nederlands Archief voor Kerkgeschiedenis / Dutch Review of Church History |date=2004 |volume=84 |pages=149–197 |doi=10.1163/187607504X00101 |jstor=24012798 |s2cid=123261630 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/24012798 |issn=0028-2030}} In his ''{{lang|la|Colloquia}}'' Erasmus raised issues such as being practical in courtship ("''On Courtship''"), (arranged) marriages between the very young and the very old, and (forced) marriage to a partner with syphilis ("''The Unequal Marriage''".) [1059] => [1060] => As far as sex in marriage is concerned, Erasmus' gentle, gradualist asceticism promoted that a mutually-agreed celibate marriage, if God had made this doable by the partners, could be the ideal: in theory it allowed more opportunity for spiritual pursuits. But he controversially noted [1061] => [1062] => {{Blockquote|text=Since everything else has been designed for a purpose, it hardly seems probable that in this one matter alone nature was asleep. I have no patience with those who say that sexual excitement is shameful and that venereal stimuli have their origin not in nature, but in sin.{{cite journal |last1=Reese |first1=Alan W. |title=Learning Virginity: Erasmus' Ideal of Christian Marriage |journal=Bibliothèque d'Humanisme et Renaissance |date=1995 |volume=57 |issue=3 |pages=551–567 |jstor=20677971 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/20677971 |issn=0006-1999}}}} [1063] => [1064] => === The Ciceronians (1528) === [1065] => {{Main|Ciceronianus}} [1066] => The ''[[Ciceronianus]]'' came out in 1528, attacking [[Ciceronianism]], the style of Latin that was based exclusively and fanatically on Cicero's writings. Étienne Dolet wrote a riposte titled ''Erasmianus'' in 1535.{{Cite journal |last=Nuttall |first=Geoffrey |date=January 1975 |title=L'Erasmianus sive Ciceronianus d'Etienne Dolet (1535). Introduction—Fac-similé de l'édition originale du De Imitatione Ciceroniana—Commentaires et appendices. By Emile V. Telle. (Travaux d'humanisme et renaissance, cxxxviii). Pp. 480. Geneva: Droz, 1974. Swiss Frs. 95. - Erasmus von Rotterdam und die Einleitungsschriften zum Neuen Testament: formale Strukturen und theologischer Sinn. By Gerhard B. Winkler. (Reformations-geschichtliche Studien und Texte, 108). Pp. xii + 254. Münster Westfalen: Aschendorff, 1974. DM. 54. |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-ecclesiastical-history/article/abs/lerasmianus-sive-ciceronianus-detienne-dolet-1535-introductionfacsimile-de-ledition-originale-du-de-imitatione-ciceronianacommentaires-et-appendices-by-emile-v-telle-travaux-dhumanisme-et-renaissance-cxxxviii-pp-480-geneva-droz-1974-swiss-frs-95-erasmus-von-rotterdam-und-die-einleitungsschriften-zum-neuen-testament-formale-strukturen-und-theologischer-sinn-by-gerhard-b-winkler-reformationsgeschichtliche-studien-und-texte-108-pp-xii-254-munster-westfalen-aschendorff-1974-dm-54/10327E9F30C22E1DFEC416B38CE972D3 |journal=The Journal of Ecclesiastical History |volume=26 |issue=1 |pages=92–94 |doi=10.1017/S0022046900060395 |via=CambridgeCore}} Erasmus' own Latin style{{cite web |title=Desiderius Erasmus |url=https://www.luminarium.org/encyclopedia/erasmus.htm |website=Luminarium Encyclopedia Project}} was late classical (i.e., from Terence to Jerome) as far as syntax and grammar, but freely used medievalisms in its vocabulary.{{cite journal |last1=Tunberg |first1=Terence |title=The Latinity of Erasmus and Medieval Latin: Continuities and Discontinuities |journal=The Journal of Medieval Latin |date=2004 |volume=14 |pages=147–170 |doi=10.1484/J.JML.2.304219 |jstor=45019597 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/45019597 |issn=0778-9750}}{{rp|164,164}} [1067] => [1068] => ===Explanation of the Apostles' Creed (1530)=== [1069] => In his [[catechism]] (entitled ''Explanation of the [[Apostles' Creed]]'') (1530), Erasmus took a stand against Luther's recent Catechisms by asserting the unwritten [[Sacred Tradition]] as just as valid a source of revelation as the [[Bible]], by enumerating the [[Deuterocanonical books]] in the [[Biblical canon|canon of the Bible]]{{refn|group=note|Erasmus public attitude was "It is not yet agreed in what spirit the Church now holds in public use books which the ancients with great consent reckoned among the Apocrypha. Whatever the authority of the Church has approved I embrace simply as a Christian man ought to do...Yet it is of great moment to know in what spirit the Church approves anything. For allowing that it assigns equal authority to the Hebrew Canon and the Four Gospels, it assuredly does not wish [1070] => Judith, Tobit, and Wisdom to have the same weight as the Pentateuch." Preface to ''Jerome'', ''apud'' Medford{{cite journal |last1=Medford |first1=Floyd C. |title=The Apocrypha in the Sixteenth Century: A Summary and Survey |journal=Historical Magazine of the Protestant Episcopal Church |date=1983 |volume=52 |issue=4 |pages=343–354 |jstor=42973978 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/42973978 |issn=0018-2486}}{{rp|348}}}} and by acknowledging seven [[sacraments]].''Opera omnia Desiderii Erasmi Roterodami'', vol. V/1, Amsterdam: North-Holland, pp. 278–90 He identified anyone who questioned the [[perpetual virginity of Mary]] as blasphemous.''Opera omnia Desiderii Erasmi Roterodami'', vol. V/1, Amsterdam: North-Holland, pp. 245, 279. However, he supported lay access to the Bible. [1071] => [1072] => In a letter to [[Nikolaus von Amsdorf]], Luther objected to Erasmus's catechism and called Erasmus a "viper", "liar", and "the very mouth and organ of Satan".''D. Martin Luther. Werke: Kritische Gesamtausgabe. Briefwechsel'', vol. 7, Weimar: Böhlau, pp. 27–40. [1073] => [1074] => === The Preacher (1536) === [1075] => {{Main|Ecclesiastes of Erasmus}} [1076] => Erasmus had preached, but considered it a better use of his time to write books.Letter to Thomas More, Dec, 1520 {{cite book |last1=Erasmus |first1=Desiderius |last2=Mynors |first2=R. A. B. |last3=Bietenholz |first3=Peter G. |last4=Erasmus |first4=Desiderius |title=The correspondence of Erasmus. 8: Letters 1122 - 1251: 1520 - 1521 / transl. by R. A. B. Mynors. Annot. by Peter G. Bietenholz |date=1988 |publisher=Univ. of Toronto Press |location=Toronto |isbn=9780802026071}}{{rp|93}} [1077] => [1078] => Erasmus's last major work, published the year of his death, is the ''[[Ecclesiastes of Erasmus|Ecclesiastes]]'' or "Gospel Preacher" (Basel, 1536), a massive manual for preachers of around a thousand pages. Though somewhat unwieldy—it has been called "diffuse, prolix and confused"{{rp|63}}—because Erasmus was unable to edit it properly in his old age, it is in some ways the culmination of all of Erasmus's literary and theological learning and indeed, according to some scholars, the culmination of the previous millennium of preaching manuals since Augustine. It offered prospective preachers advice on important aspects of their vocation with abundant reference to classical and biblical sources.{{cite journal |last1=Kilcoyne |first1=Francis P. |last2=Jennings |first2=Margaret |title=Rethinking "Continuity": Erasmus' "Ecclesiastes" and the "Artes Praedicandi" |journal=Renaissance and Reformation / Renaissance et Réforme |date=1997 |volume=21 |issue=4 |pages=5–24 |doi=10.33137/rr.v33i4.11372 |jstor=43445150 |issn=0034-429X|doi-access=free }} [1079] => [1080] => It is also notable for calling for a mission program to outside Christendom to usefully occupy friars, castigating that commercial exploitation was prioritized over the Gospel. It called out the practice of taking criminal religious convicts and transferring them to the New World as missionaries. [1081] => [1082] => === Patristic Editions === [1083] => {{See also|#Patristic and classical editions}} [1084] => According to [[Ernest Barker]], "Besides his work on the New Testament, Erasmus laboured also, and even more arduously, on the [[Church Fathers|early Fathers]]. Among the Latin Fathers he edited the works of [[St Jerome]], [[Hilary of Poitiers|St Hilary]], and [[St Augustine]];{{cite journal |last1=Tello |first1=Joan |title=Erasmus' Edition of the Complete Works of Augustine |journal=Erasmus Studies |year=2022 |volume=42 |issue=2 |pages=122–156 |doi=10.1163/18749275-04202002 |s2cid=254327857 |url=https://brill.com/view/journals/eras/42/2/eras.42.issue-2.xml}} among the Greeks he worked on [[Irenaeus]], [[Origen]] and [[Chrysostom]]."[[Ernest Barker]] (1948) ''Traditions of Civility'', chapter 4: The Connection between the Renaissance and the Reformation, pp. 93–94, [[Cambridge University Press]] [1085] => [1086] => ==== Alleged forgery ==== [1087] => {{further|Pseudo-Cyprian}} [1088] => In 1530, Erasmus, in his fourth edition of the works of [[Cyprian]], introduced a treatise ''De duplici martyrio ad Fortunatum'', which he attributed to Cyprian and presented as having been found by chance in an old library. This text, close to the works of Erasmus, both in content (hostility to the confusion between virtue and suffering) and in form, and of which no manuscript is known, contains at least one flagrant anachronism: an allusion to the persecution of [[Diocletian]], persecution that took place long after the death of Cyprian. In 1544, the Dominican {{ill|Henricus Gravius|de}} denounced the work as inauthentic and attributed its authorship to Erasmus or an imitator of Erasmus. In the twentieth century, the hypothesis of a fraud by Erasmus was rejected a priori by most of the great Erasmians, for example [[Percy Stafford Allen]],{{citation needed|date=October 2023}} but it is adopted by academics like [[Anthony Grafton]].Anthony Grafton, ''Forgers and Critics. Creativity and Duplicity in Western Scholarship'' (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1990), p. 53-54.Neil Adkin, "The Use of Scripture in the Pseudo-Cyprianic ''De duplici martyrio'' ", in ''Giornale italiano di filologia'', 47, 1995, p. 219-248. See review of N. Adkin's article by François Dolbeau in ''Revue des études augustiniennes'', 44 (1998), p. 307-339, [http://www.etudes-augustiniennes.paris-sorbonne.fr/IMG/pdf/AUGUST_1998_44_2_307.pdf online].Fernand Halleyn, « Le fictif, le vrai et le faux », in Jan Herman et al. (dir.), ''Le Topos du manuscrit trouvé'', Louvain - Paris, ed. Peeters, 1999, p. 503-506. The attribution to Erasmus was supported by F. Lezius, "Der Verfasser des pseudocyprianischen Tractates ''De duplici martyrio'': Ein Beitrag zur Charakteristik des Erasmus", in ''Neue Jahrbücher für Deutsche Theologie'', IV (1895), p. 95-100; by Silvana Seidel Menchi, "Un'opera misconosciuta di Erasmo? », in ''[[Rivista Storica Italiana]]'', XC (1978), p. 709-743; [1089] => {{clear}} [1090] => [1091] => ==Legacy and evaluations== [1092] => [[File:HolbeinErasmusHands.jpg|thumb|upright|200px|Holbein's studies of Erasmus's hands, in silverpoint and chalks, ca. 1523 ([[Louvre]])]] [1093] => Erasmus was given the sobriquet "Prince of the Humanists", and has been called "the crowning glory of the [[Christian humanism|Christian humanists]]".Latourette, Kenneth Scott. A History of Christianity. [[New York City|New York]]: Harper & Brothers, 1953, p. 661. He has also been called "the most illustrious rhetorician and educationalist of the Renaissance".{{cite book |last1=Laytam |first1=Miles J.J. |title=The Medium was the Message: Classical Rhetoric and the Materiality of Language from Empedocles to Shakespeare |date=2007 |publisher=English Dept, University of York |page=81 |url=https://etheses.whiterose.ac.uk/11008/1/440731.pdf |access-date=26 July 2023}} [1094] => [1095] => {{Blockquote|Since the origin of Christianity there have been perhaps only two other men—St Augustine and Voltaire—whose influence can be paralleled with Erasmus.|W.S. Lily, ''Renaissance Types''{{cite journal |last1=Kloss |first1=Waldemar |title=Erasmus's Place in the History of Philosophy |journal=The Monist |date=1907 |volume=17 |issue=1 |pages=84–101 |doi=10.5840/monist190717138 |jstor=27900019 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/27900019 |issn=0026-9662}}}} [1096] => [1097] => {{Blockquote|text=No man before or since acquired such undisputed sovereignty in the republic of letters... The reform which he set in motion went beyond him, and left him behind. In some of his opinions, however, he was ahead of his age, and anticipated a more modern stage of Protestantism. He was as much a forerunner of Rationalism as of the Reformation.|source=71. Erasmus, ''History of the Christian Church'', vol 7, [[Philip Schaff]]}} [1098] => [1099] => French biographer [[Désiré Nisard]] characterized him as a lens or focal point: "the whole of the Renaissance in Western Europe in the sixteenth century converged towards him."{{refn|group=note|An comment mirrored by historian Fr [[James Kelsey McConica]]: "Erasmus commanded the allegience of the best minds of his day for a reason. It as his genius to fuse into a single stream of thought the converging currents of the late fifteenth century: humanistic textual scholarship, Florentine neo-Platonism, Netherlands piety of the ''devotio moderna'' and the Windesheim reform movement, and the manifold discontents of a middle class suddenly aware of its power and needs." {{cite book |last1=McConica |first1=James |title=English humanists and reformation politics under Henry VIII and Edward VI |date=1965 |publisher=Clarendon Press}}{{rp|14–15}} }} [1100] => However,according to historian Erika Rummel, "Erasmus' role in the dissemination of ideas is therefore less that of a forerunner of the Reformation than that of a synthesizer of many of the currents of thought that fed into the Reformation."{{cite journal |last1=Rummel |first1=Erika |title=Voices of Reform from Hus to Erasmus |journal=Handbook of European History 1400-1600: Late Middle Ages, Renaissance and Reformation |date=1 January 1995 |pages=61–91 |doi=10.1163/9789004391680_004|isbn=978-90-04-39168-0 }}{{rp|86}} [1101] => [1102] => Erasmus's reputation and the interpretations of his work have varied over time. Moderate Catholics recognized him as a leading figure in attempts to reform the Church, while Protestants recognized his initial support for (and, in part, inspiration of) Luther's ideas and the groundwork he laid for the future Reformation, especially in biblical scholarship. However, at times he has been viciously criticized, his works suppressed, his expertise corralled, his writings misinterpreted, his thought demonized, and his legacy marginalized. [1103] => [1104] => Historian Lewis Spitz identifies four views of Erasmus: [1105] => [1106] => * "a man of weak character whose timidity and weak will kept him from the consequences of his own premises;" [1107] => * "a devotee of reason who followed this natural light through storm and stress to the very end;" [1108] => * "as the forerunner of Luther, the John the Baptist of the evangelical revival;" or [1109] => * "a man with his own positive reform program, in part critical, for the most part constructive."{{cite journal |last1=Spitz |first1=Lewis W. |title=Desiderius Erasmus |journal=Reformers in profile : [essays]. |date=1967 |url=https://archive.org/details/reformers-in-profile/page/n67/mode/2up}}{{rp|26}} [1110] => [1111] => ===Erasmianism=== [1112] => {{anchor |Erasmians}}{{anchor |Erasmian liberalism}} [1113] => {{distinguish |Thomas Erastus#Erastianism}} [1114] => '''Erasmians''': Erasmus frequently mentioned that he did not want office nor to be the founder or figurehead of a sect or movement, despite his vigorous branding and self-promotion.{{cite book |last1=Jardine |first1=Lisa |title=Erasmus, Man of Letters: The Construction of Charisma in Print |date=1993 |publisher=Princeton University Press |jstor=j.ctt130hjzb |isbn=978-0-691-16569-1 |edition=REV - Revised |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt130hjzb}} Nevertheless, historians do identify ''de facto'' "Erasmians" (ranging from the early JesuitsThe Jesuits have been described as intermediaries for the ideas of Erasmus in the [[Counter-reformation]], such as in Ignatius' ''[[Spiritual Exercises]]''. {{cite journal |last1=Kallendorf |first1=Hilaire |title=Quevedo, Reader of Erasmus |journal=La Perinola |date=2019 |volume=23 |pages=67–84 |doi=10.15581/017.23.67-84|doi-access=free }} to the early reformers,{{cite journal |last1=Scribner |first1=R. W. |title=The Erasmians and the Beginning of the Reformation in Erfurt* |journal=Journal of Religious History |date=June 1976 |volume=9 |issue=1 |pages=3–31 |doi=10.1111/j.1467-9809.1976.tb00382.x|doi-access=free }} and both Thomas More and William Tyndale)—Christian humanists who picked up on some or other aspects of Erasmus' agenda.{{refn|group=note|"Describing Tyndale merely as an Erasmian, however, is not particularly helpful" as, theologically, he followed Luther. }} [1115] => [1116] => '''Erasmianism''': This has been described as a "more intellectual form of spiritualized Christianity"{{cite web |title=Spain - Inquisition, Religion, Culture |url=https://www.britannica.com/place/Spain/The-Spanish-Inquisition#ref587475 |website=www.britannica.com |language=en}} that is "an undercurrent of religious thought between Catholicism and Lutheranism."{{cite book |last1=Pérez-Romero |first1=Antonio |title=Subversion and Liberation in the Writings of Saint Teresa of Avila |date=1996 |publisher=Rodopi |location=Amsterdam}} It had a notable influence in Spain.{{cite journal |last1=Schevill |first1=Rudolph |title=Erasmus and Spain |journal=Hispanic Review |date=1939 |volume=7 |issue=2 |pages=93–116 |doi=10.2307/470253 |jstor=470253 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/470253 |issn=0018-2176}} {{rp|39}} The near election of [[Reginald Pole]] as pope in 1546 has been attributed to Erasmianism in the electors.{{Cite web |last=Cummings |first=Thomas |date=17 October 2016 |title=Erasmus and the Second Vatican Council |url=https://m.bianet.org/english/print/207869-call-by-50-nobel-prize-laureates-end-the-solitary-confinement |website=Church Life Journal}} However, a precise definition is not possible;{{refn|group=note| "As Erasmus himself has taken [1117] => on more substance, achieved a firmer outline, the notion ("Erasmianism") has become more wraithlike or, at least, more problematic and lacking in definition."{{rp|227}} }} it is not, for example, a set of systematic doctrinal propositions. [1118] => [1119] => French historian Jean-Claude Margolin has noted an Erasmian stream in French culture putting "the concrete before the abstract and the ethical before the speculative", though not without noting that it is not clear whether Erasmus influenced the French or ''vice versa''.{{rp|213}} [1120] => [1121] => Historian [[W. R. Ward]] notes that "the direst enemies of theosophy were always Erasmian Catholics and Calvinist Protestants who were trying to get the magic out of Christianity."{{cite journal |last1=Ward |first1=W. R. |title=Early Evangelicalism: A Global Intellectual History, 1670–1789 |date=7 September 2006 |doi=10.1017/CBO9780511497315.002}}{{rp|19}} [1122] => [1123] => {{anchor|Erasmian_reformation}} [1124] => '''Erasmian Reformation''': Some historians such as [[Edward Gibbon]] and [[Hugh Trevor-Roper]] have even claimed an "'Erasmianism after Erasmus,' a secret stream which meandered to and fro across the Catholic/Protestant divide, creating oases of rational thought impartially on either side." For some, this amounted to a third church: or even that "Luther's and Calvin's Reformations were minor affairs" compared to the Reformation of Erasmus and the humanists' which swept away the Middle Ages.{{rp|149}} [1125] => [1126] => '''Erasmian liberalism''': This has had an enduring run: described by philosopher Edwin Curley{{cite web |title=Edwin Curley |url=https://lsa.umich.edu/philosophy/people/emeritus-faculty/emcurley.html |website=U-M LSA Philosophy |access-date=19 December 2023 |language=en}} that "the spirit of Erasmian liberalism was to emphasize the ethical aspects of Christianity at the expense of the doctrinal, to suspend judgment on many theological issues, and to insist that the faith actually required for salvation was a simple and uncontroversial one."{{cite journal |last1=Curley |first1=Edwin |title=Sebastian Castellio's Erasmian Liberalism |journal=Philosophical Topics |date=2003 |volume=31 |issue=1 |pages=47–73 |doi=10.5840/PHILTOPICS2003311/23}} [1127] => [1128] => Erasmus has frequently been described as "proto-liberal"{{rp|s.3.12}} (both, e.g., in the UK "Lloyd George" sense of [[Social liberalism#New Liberals|liberalism]] as a form of conservatism that wants moderate but real reform to prevent immoderate and destructive revolution, or the ethical sense of socio-economic [[Socinianism]]{{cite journal |last1=Gomes |first1=Alan W. |title=Some Observations on the Theological Method of Faustus Socinus (1539–1604) |journal=Westminster Theological Journal |date=2008 |volume=70 |issue=1 }}{{rp|70}}) [1129] => [1130] => Protestant historian Roland Bainton is quoted "no-one did more than Erasmus to break down the theory and practice of the medieval variety of intolerance."{{rp|4}} Other popular or scholarly writers have suggested that Erasmus' tolerant but idealistic agenda failed,{{cite journal |last1=Wager |first1=Charles H. A. |title=A Plea for Erasmians |journal=The Atlantic |date=1 July 1914 |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1914/07/a-plea-for-erasmians/645649/ |language=en}}{{cite web |last1=Starkey |first1=David |title=From Worms to Woke |url=https://thecritic.co.uk/issues/june-2022/from-worms-to-woke/ |website=The Critic Magazine |access-date=19 December 2023 |date=27 May 2022}} certainly at the political level, evidenced by the wars and persecutions of the [[Protestant Reformation]]. [1131] => [1132] => Erasmus was also notable for exposing several important historical documents as forgeries or misattributions: including pseudo-[[Dionysius the Areopagite]], the ''[[Gravi de pugna]]'' attributed to [[St Augustine]], the [[Ad Herennium]] attributed to Cicero, and (by reprinting [[Lorenzo Valla]]'s work){{cite journal |last1=Levine |first1=Joseph M. |title=Reginald Pecock and Lorenzo Valla on the Donation of Constantine |journal=Studies in the Renaissance |date=1973 |volume=20 |pages=118–143 |doi=10.2307/2857015 |jstor=2857015 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/2857015 |issn=0081-8658}} the [[Donation of Constantine]]. [1133] => [1134] => ===Educationalist=== [1135] => Erasmus has been variously called an "educator of educators", a "teacher of teachers" and a "professor of professors", but also a "pastor of pastors."{{rp|60}} [1136] => [1137] => {{Blockquote|text=Erasmus is the greatest man we come across in the history of education! (R.R. Bolger) … with greater confidence it can be claimed that Erasmus is the greatest man we come across in the history of education in the sixteenth century. …It may also be claimed that Erasmus was one of the most important champions of women's rights in his century. |source=J.K. Sowards }} [1138] => [1139] => Erasmus was notable for his textbooks, his sense of learning as play, his emphasis on speech skills and promoting early classical-language acquisition).{{rp|15}} [1140] => [1141] => According to scholar Gerald J. Luhrman, "the system of secondary education, as developed in a number of European countries, is inconceivable without the efforts of humanist educationalists, particularly Erasmus. His ideas in the field of language acquisition were systematized and realized to a large extent in the schools founded by the Jesuits..."{{cite book |last1=Noordegraaf |first1=Jan |last2=Vonk |first2=Frank |title=Five hundred years of foreign language teaching in the Netherlands 1450-1950 |date=1993 |publisher=Stichting Neerlandistiek VU |location=Amsterdam |isbn=90-72365-32-1 |page=36}}{{refn|group=note|20th Century historian John C. Olin recounts that his Latin and Greek education at a Jesuit school in Buffalo, NY "followed substantially the Messina program" set up in 1548 in Sicily by Canesius, ''et. al'', which used Erasmus' non-theological works, such as ''De copia'', his letter-writing guide ''De conscribendis epistolis'', and his Latin syntax ''De constructione''.{{cite journal |title=6. The Jesuits, Humanism, and History |journal=Erasmus, Utopia, and the Jesuits |date=23 October 2020 |pages=85–103 |doi=10.1515/9780823295449-009|isbn=9780823295449 |s2cid=244949436 }} }} Historian Brian Cummings wrote "for a hundred years Erasmus commanded the curriculum."{{cite journal |last1=Essary |first1=Kirk |title=A Companion to Erasmus, edited by Eric MacPhail |journal=Journal of Jesuit Studies |date=8 December 2023 |volume=11 |issue=1 |pages=163–166 |doi=10.1163/22141332-11010007-02|doi-access=free }} In the 1540s, Ursulines founded schools in Rezatto, Brescia, "inspired by Erasmus’s pedagogical programme..." {{refn|group=note|..."and by [[Girolamo Miani]]’s work with children." }} [1142] => [1143] => His system of [[Ancient Greek phonology#The Renaissance|pronouncing ancient Greek]] was adopted [[Pronunciation of Ancient Greek in teaching|for teaching]] in the major Western European nations. [1144] => [1145] => In England, he wrote the first curriculum for [[St Paul's School, London|St Paul's School]] and his Latin grammar (written with Lily and Colet) "continued to be used, in adapted form, into the Twentieth Century."{{cite web |title=English Renaissance |url=http://east_west_dialogue.tripod.com/europe/id5.html |website=east_west_dialogue.tripod.com}} Erasmus' curriculum, grammar, pronunciation and ''de Copia'' were adopted by the other major grammar schools: Eton, Westminster, Winchester, Canterbury, etc. and the universities{{cite book |last1=Kilroy |first1=Gerard |title=Edmund Campion: a scholarly life |date=2015 |publisher=Ashgate Publishing Limited ; Burlington, VT : Ashgate Publishing Company |location=Farnham, Surrey, England |isbn=9781409401513}}{{rp|16,17}} [1146] => [1147] => Erasmus "tried to realize a practical goal: a modern education as preparation for administrators from the higher estates."{{cite journal |last1=Wolf |first1=Erik |title=Religion and Right in the Philosophia Christriana of Erasmus from Rotterdam |journal=UC Law Journal |date=1 January 1978 |volume=29 |issue=6 |pages=1535 |url=https://repository.uclawsf.edu/hastings_law_journal/vol29/iss6/11/ |issn=0017-8322}} [1148] => [1149] => Erasmus was a key part of the humanist program to get Greek and Hebrew taught at the major Universities, inspired by Cardinal Cisneros' Trilingual College of San Ildefonso/Alcalá (1499/1509) and Bishop John Fisher's establishment of Greek and Hebrew lectures at Cambridge: the Trilingual Colleges at Louvain (1517) and Paris (1530) (where students included Loyola and Calvin){{cite journal |last1=Cuming |first1=G. J. |last2=Hall |first2=Basil |title=The Trilingual College of San Ildefonso and the Making of the Complutensian Polyglot Bible |journal=The Church and Academic Learning |date=1 January 1969 |pages=114–146 |doi=10.1163/9789004623019_007|isbn=978-90-04-62301-9 }} spawned programs in Zurich, Rome, Strasbourg and Oxford (c.1566).{{cite journal |last1=Weinberg |first1=Joanna |title=Corpus Christi College's 'Trilingual Library': A Historical Assessment |journal=History of Universities |date=21 August 2019 |pages=128–142 |doi=10.1093/oso/9780198848523.003.0008|isbn=978-0-19-884852-3 }} He has been described as "an unsuspected superspreader of New [[Ancient Greek]]."{{refn| group=note|The seven Greek "short pieces by Erasmus may have made a big difference, contributing to bringing about a tipping point in humanist linguistic culture."Van Rooy, Raf, "Ch 10 Erasmus, an Unsuspected Superspreader of New Ancient Greek?" in {{cite book |last1=Castelli |first1=Silvia |last2=Sluiter |first2=Ineke |title=Agents of Change in the Greco-Roman and Early Modern Periods: Ten Case Studies in Agency in Innovation |date=24 August 2023 |doi=10.1163/9789004680012_012}} }} [1150] => [1151] => Historian and Germanist Fritz Caspari saw education as the core of Erasmus' program: [1152] => [1153] => {{blockquote|"Erasmus hoped that the education of all individuals, especially of princes and nobles, in the spirit and disciplines of antiquity and Christianity would bring the rational element in them to full fruition. ''Ratio'', reason, was in his mind almost synonymous with "goodness" and "kindness." The rule of reason, achieved through education,would therefore result in men's living together in universal peace and harmony in accord with the lessons of Christ's [[Sermon on the Mount]]." |Frtz Caspari (1941)}} [1154] => [1155] => ===Writer=== [1156] => The popularity of his books is reflected in the number of editions and translations that have appeared since the sixteenth century. Ten columns of the catalogue of the British Library are taken up with the enumeration of the works and their subsequent reprints. The greatest names of the classical and patristic world are among those translated, edited, or annotated by Erasmus, including [[Ambrose]], [[Aristotle]], [[Augustine of Hippo|Augustine]], [[Basil of Caesarea|Basil]], [[John Chrysostom]], [[Cicero]] and [[Jerome]].{{cite book |last1=Hoffmann |first1=Manfred |last2=Tracy |first2=James D. |title=Controversies: Collected Works of Erasmus |year=2011 |publisher=University of Toronto Press}} [1157] => [[File:In Winssen bij Nijmegen beeld van Erasmus onthuld waarvan H. Kortekaas beeldhouwer, Bestanddeelnr 917-0493.jpg|thumbnail|200px|Unveiling of a Dutch statue of Erasmus (1964)]] [1158] => [1159] => ===In the Netherlands=== [1160] => In his native Rotterdam, the [[Erasmus University Rotterdam]], [[Erasmusbrug|Erasmus Bridge]], [[Erasmus MC]] and [[Gymnasium Erasmianum]] have been named in his honor. Between 1997 and 2009, one of the main [[Rotterdam Metro|metro lines of the city]] was named ''{{lang|nl|Erasmuslijn}}''. The Foundation Erasmus House (Rotterdam),{{Cite web|title=Stichting Erasmushuis – Rotterdam|url=http://www.erasmushuisrotterdam.nl/|language=nl|access-date=2020-05-23}} is dedicated to celebrating Erasmus's legacy. Three moments in Erasmus's life are celebrated annually. On 1 April, the city celebrates the publication of his best-known book ''The Praise of Folly''. On 11 July, the ''Night of Erasmus'' celebrates the lasting influence of his work. His birthday is celebrated on 28 October.{{cite book |last1=McConica |first1=James |title=Oxford Dictionary of National Biography |date=4 January 2007 |author-link=James Kelsey McConica}} [1161] => [1162] => ===In Spain=== [1163] => [[File:Erasmus Enchiridion.jpg|thumb|200px|''{{lang|es|Enquiridio o manual del caballero Christiano}}'', translation by Alonso Fernandez, published by Miguel de Eguía (1528) into Spanish of Erasmus' ''{{lang|la|Enchiridion}}'']] [1164] => Erasmus became extraordinarily popular and influential in Spain, including in and around the talent pool (often from ''{{lang|es|converso}}'' families) that formed the early Jesuits. There were at least 120 translations, editions, or adaptations of Erasmus' writings between 1520 and 1552,{{cite journal |last1= Stefania |first1=Pastore |title=Unwise Paths. Ignatius Loyola and the Years of Alcalá de Henares|journal=A Companion to Ignatius of Loyola: Life, Writings, Spirituality, Influence |date=28 August 2014 |pages=25–44 |doi=10.1163/9789004280601_004|isbn=978-90-04-28060-1 }} though not ''The Praise of Folly''. [1165] => [1166] => However, Erasmians and their associates faced, at times, extraordinary pushback from the theologians at Salamanca and Vallodolid, for being associated with the ''{{lang|es|alumbrado}}'' and ''illuminist'' tendencies, with many (notably [[Ignatius of Loyola]], who had lived in the house of publisher Miguel de Eguía at the time the Spanish edition of the ''{{lang|la|Enchiridion}}'' was being published){{cite journal |last1=Donnelly |first1=John |title=For the Greater Glory of God: St. Ignatius Loyola |journal=Leaders of the Reformation |date=1 January 1984 |url=https://epublications.marquette.edu/hist_fac/138}}{{rp|175}}{{refn|group=note|One historian reports that the translation was undertaken at the behest of Ven. Cardinal Cisneros (d. 1517), the Archbishop of Toledo.{{rp|51}} }} resorting to exile rather than facing the Inquisition, house arrest, imprisonment or worse. However, at times the heads of the Inquisition were themselves Erasmians. [1167] => [1168] => Erasmus faced a notable semi-secret trial in Vallodolid in 1527, attended by numerous bishops, abbots and theologians. Its records still exist. It disbanded without condemning Erasmus as a heretic, as most of his contentious beliefs were regarded as respectable or useful by at least some important bishops, and the fanciful interpretations of the accusers did not stand up to scrutiny.{{cite journal |last1=Homza |first1=Lu Ann |title=Erasmus as Hero, or Heretic? Spanish Humanism and the Valladolid Assembly of 1527* |journal=Renaissance Quarterly |date=1997 |volume=50 |issue=1 |pages=78–118 |doi=10.2307/3039329|jstor=3039329 |s2cid=193073750 }} [1169] => [1170] => From the 1530s, historians note the start of a widespread disenchantment with Eradmus' approach: however his ideas and works were still circulating enough that even fifty years later [[Miguel Cervantes]]' "Erasmianism" may not have come from him having read any Erasmus directly.{{cite journal |last1=McGrath |first1=Michael J. |title=The Hermeneutics of Cervantine Spirituality |journal=Don Quixote and Catholicism |date=2020 |volume=79 |pages=35–56 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctvs1g8v0.6 |publisher=Purdue University Press|doi=10.2307/j.ctvs1g8v0.6 |jstor=j.ctvs1g8v0.6 |isbn=978-1-55753-899-4 |s2cid=241159926 }}{{rp|37,38}} [1171] => [1172] => ===In Poland=== [1173] => According to historian Howard Louthan "Few regions embraced Erasmus as enthusiastically as Poland, and nowhere else did he have such a concentration of allies positioned at the highest levels of society including the king himself." {{refn|group=note|"More than any other figure from western Europe, Erasmus helped shape the intellectual and religious agenda of the Polish kingdom during this period."{{cite journal |last1=Louthan |first1=Howard |title=A Model for Christendom? Erasmus, Poland, and the Reformation |journal=Church History |date=March 2014 |volume=83 |issue=1 |pages=18–37 |doi=10.1017/S0009640713001662|s2cid=162590401 }}}} [1174] => [1175] => ===In England=== [1176] => [[File:Paraphrase of Erasmus 1548.png|thumbnail|200px|English translation ''Paraphrase of Erasmus'', 1548]] [1177] => [[File:Canterbury Cathedral JC 07.JPG|thumb|200px|Statue (1870), Canterbury Cathedral]] [1178] => Erasmus influenced Catholic and Protestant humanists alike. [1179] => [1180] => Historian Lucy Wooding argues (in Christopher Haigh's paraphrases) that "England nearly had a Catholic Reformation along Erasmian lines –but it was cut short by (Queen) Mary’s death and finally torpedoed by the Council of Trent.""Even before Henry VIII fell out with the pope, Erasmian humanism had given some English Catholics an evangelical enthusiasm for Scripture and a distaste for popular devotions thought to be superstitious. Catholic evangelicals and moderate Protestants differed little on the authority of Scripture and the roles of faith and works in justification." {{cite journal |last1=Haigh |first1=Christopher |title=Catholicism in Early Modern England: Bossy and Beyond |journal=The Historical Journal |date=June 2002 |volume=45 |issue=2 |pages=481–494 |doi=10.1017/S0018246X02002479|s2cid=163117077 }} The initial Henrican closure of smaller monasteries followed the Erasmian agenda, which was also shared by Catholic humanists such as [[Reginald Pole]];{{rp|155}} however the later violent closures and iconoclasm were far from Erasmus' program. [1181] => [1182] => After reading Erasmus' 1516 New Testament, [[Thomas Bilney]] "felt a marvellous comfort and quietness," and won over his [[University of Cambridge|Cambridge]] friends, future notable bishops, [[Matthew Parker]] and [[Hugh Latimer]] to reformist biblicism.{{Cite EB1911 |wstitle= Bilney, Thomas |volume = 3 |last= Pollard |first= Albert Frederick |author-link= Albert Pollard |pages=945-946 |short=1}} [1183] => [1184] => Both Lutheran Tyndale and his Catholic theological opponent [[Thomas More]] are considered Erasmians.{{cite book |last1=DeCoursey |first1=Matthew |title=The Thomas More / William Tyndale Polemic: A Selection |date=2010 |publisher=Hong Kong Institute of Education |location=Hong Kong |url=https://extra.shu.ac.uk/emls/moretyndale.pdf |access-date=18 October 2023}}{{rp|16}} One of [[William Tyndale]]'s earliest works was his translation of Erasmus' [[Handbook of the Christian Knight|Enchiridion]] (1522,1533).{{cite journal |last1=Mozley |first1=J. F. |title=The English Enchiridion of Erasmus, 1533 |journal=The Review of English Studies |date=1944 |volume=20 |issue=78 |pages=97–107 |doi=10.1093/res/os-XX.78.97 |jstor=509156 |issn=0034-6551}} Following their deaths in 1536, Tyndale's English New Testament and anti-Catholic Preface was often printed (sometimes omitting Tyndale's name) in diglot editions paired with Erasmus' Latin translation and either his ''Paraclecis'' or his ''Preface to the Paraphrase of St Matthew''.{{rp|156–168}} [1185] => [1186] => In the reign of [[Edward VI]], English translations of Erasmus' ''Paraphrases'' of the four Gospels{{Cite web|url=https://archive.org/details/paraphrases-of-erasmus-on-the-new-testament-text/Erasmus%20-%20Paraphrase%20%2800%29%20Preface/|title=Paraphrases of Erasmus on the New Testament (1548-1549) Text : Erasmus, Desiderius : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive|access-date=2 December 2023}} were legally required to be chained for public access in every church. Furthermore, all priests below a certain scholastic level were required to have their own copy of the complete ''Paraphrases of the New Testament''.{{refn|group=note|"Euery pryest under a certayne degree in scholes is bounden by the kynges Maiesties most gracious injunctions to have provided by a daye lymited for his owne study and erudicion the whole Paraphrase of D. Erasmus upon the newe testamente both in Latine and Englishe" according to translator John Old or Myles Coverdale.{{rp|361}} }} This injunction was to an extent frustrated by delays in printing, but it is estimated that as many as 20,000 to 30,000 copies may have been printed between 1548 and 1553.{{rp|361}} [1187] => [1188] => Erasmus' grammar, ''Adages'', ''Copia'', and other books continued as the core Latin educational material in England for the following centuries. His works and editions (in translation) are regularly connected with [[William Shakespeare]], to Shakespeare's education, inspirations and sources (such as the [[Colloquies#Naufragium (Shipwreck)|shipwreck scene]] in ''[[The Tempest]]''.){{cite journal |last1=Corti |first1=Claudia |title=Shakespeare Contra Erasmus |journal=Memoria di Shakespeare. A Journal of Shakespearean Studies |date=31 December 2019 |pages=N. 6 (2019): On Vanitas |doi=10.13133/2283-8759/16398}}{{cite journal |title=Moving between sources: Ovid and Erasmus in Shakespeare's Sonnets |journal=Memory and Intertextuality in Renaissance Literature |date=2016 |pages=76–112 |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/abs/memory-and-intertextuality-in-renaissance-literature/moving-between-sources-ovid-and-erasmus-in-shakespeares-sonnets |publisher=Cambridge University Press}}{{cite journal |last1=Drouet |first1=Pascale |title=A Shakespearean Exploration of Erasmus' festine lente |journal=Shakespeare |date=3 July 2019 |volume=15 |issue=3 |pages=233–242 |doi=10.1080/17450918.2019.1634133|s2cid=199248074 }} The poet-rhetorician martyr [[Edmund Campion]] was educated at St Paul's School using Erasmus' textbooks and Latin curriculum.{{rp|15}} [1189] => [1190] => Historian of literature Cathy Schrank has written that Erasmus' reputation and status changed over the course of the English "[[English Reformation#Consequences|Long Reformation]]" from "being presented as a proto-Reformer, to problematically orthodox, to irenic martyr."{{refn|group=note|"…from the Henrician period, when a nexus of evangelically-minded authors, printers, and publishers worked to co-opt Erasmus as a Reformer; through the early Stuart period, when Erasmus’ colloquies were adapted by Puritan writers, often portraying the “righteous” being derided by the ignorant and ill-informed; to a post-Restoration phase, which commemorated Erasmus as an orthodox figure and proponent of the via media, critiquing the Church from within."{{cite journal |last1=Shrank |first1=Cathy |title=Mirroring the "Long Reformation": Translating Erasmus' Colloquies in Early Modern England |journal=Reformation |date=3 July 2019 |volume=24 |issue=2 |pages=59–75 |doi=10.1080/13574175.2019.1665266|s2cid=211939110 |url=https://eprints.whiterose.ac.uk/148446/3/Shrank%2C%20Translating%20Erasmus%2C%20rev%20July%202019.pdf }}}} [1191] => For some [[Stuart Restoration|Restoration]] Anglicans, both those promoting enforced anti-extremism and [[latitudinarians]], and into the [[Age of Enlightenment]], Erasmus' moderation represented "an alternative to the belligerent Protestantism that characterized English political and social discourse".{{cite book |chapter='Betwixt Heaven and Hell': Religious Toleration and the Reception of Erasmus in Restoration England |title=The Reception of Erasmus in the Early Modern Period |date=1 January 2013 |pages=103–127 |doi=10.1163/9789004255630_006|isbn=9789004255630 |last1=Dodds |first1=Gregory D. }} It has been claimed that [[William III of England#Revolution settlement|William of Orange]]'s [[Toleration Act 1688|Toleration Act]] (1688) owed to Erasmus' inspiration.{{rp|186}} [1192] => [1193] => By 1711, English Catholic poet and satirist Alexander Pope pictured Erasmus, following in a sequence of greats from Aristotle, Horace, Homer, Quintillian to Longinusas, ending a millennium of ignorance and superstition:{{refn|group=note|Pope later wrote of "that excellent example of that great man and great saint, Erasmus, who in the midst of calumny proceeded with all the calmness of innocence, the unrevenging spirit of primitive Christianity!" and in a letter to [[Jonathan Swift]] "Yet am I of the Religion of Erasmus, a Catholick; so I live; so I shall die; and hope one day to meet you..."{{cite journal |last1=Chapin |first1=Chester |title=Alexander Pope: Erasmian Catholic |journal=Eighteenth-Century Studies |date=1973 |volume=6 |issue=4 |pages=411–430 |doi=10.2307/3031577 |jstor=3031577 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/3031577 |issn=0013-2586}} }} [1194] => {{Poem quote|... [1195] => Much was ''believ'd'', but little ''understood'', [1196] => And to be ''dull'' was constru'd to be ''good''; [1197] => A ''second'' deluge learning thus o'er-run, [1198] => And the ''monks'' finish'd what the ''Goths'' begun. [1199] => [1200] => At length ''Erasmus'', that ''great injur'd name'' [1201] => (The ''glory'' of the priesthood and the ''shame''!) [1202] => Stemm'd the ''wild torrent'' of a ''barbarous age'', [1203] => And drove those ''holy Vandals'' off the stage.|sign=[[Alexander Pope]]|source=An Essay on Criticism{{cite web |last1=Pope |first1=Alexander |title=An Essay on Criticism: Part 3 by |url=https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/44898/an-essay-on-criticism-part-3 |website=Poetry Foundation |language=en |date=2 March 2024}}}} [1204] => [1205] => For [[Edward Gibbon]], Erasmus was "the father of rational theology."{{cite journal |last1=Young |first1=Brian |title=Gibbon and Catholicism |journal=The Cambridge Companion to Edward Gibbon |date=30 June 2018 |pages=147–166 |doi=10.1017/9781139547291.010|isbn=978-1-139-54729-1 }}{{rp|157}} [1206] => [1207] => By 1929, [[G.K. Chesterton]] could write "I doubt if any thinking person, of any belief or unbelief, does not wish in his heart that the end of mediaevalism had meant the triumph of the Humanists like Erasmus and More, rather than of the rabid Puritans like Calvin and Knox.""What might have been" ''The Collected Works of G. K. Chesterton'', ed. Lawrence J. Clipper, vol. 35, The Illustrated London News 1929- 1931 (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 1991){{rp|84}} [1208] => [1209] => ===Catholic=== [1210] => [[File:Thomas van Aquino inspireert zich op de geschriften van andere theologen Titelpagina voor D. Augvstini et SS. Patrvm de Libero Arbitrio Interpres Thomifticus Contra Ianfenitas (titel op object), RP-P-OB-7416.jpg|thumb|200px|Thomas Aquinas inspiring himself on Free Will from the writings of previous theologians such as Augustine. (1652)]] [1211] => Erasmus was continually protected by popes,"It is a remarkable fact that the attitude of the popes towards Erasmus was never inimical; on the contrary, they exhibited at all times the most complete confidence in him. Paul III even wanted to make him a cardinal," [[wikisource:Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)/Desiderius Erasmus|Catholic Encyclopedia]] bishops, inquisitors-general, and Catholic kings during his lifetime.{{refn|group=note|For example, in 1527, [[Pope Clement VII]] wrote to the Spanish [[Alonso Manrique de Lara|Inquisitor General]] that he should silence those who attacked Erasmus' non-Lutheran doctrine; and [[Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor|Charles V]] (King of Spain, King of Germany, King of Sicily, Archduke of Austria, Duke of Brabant, Holy Roman Emperor) wrote to Erasmus his support. {{cite journal |last1=Ledo |first1=Jorge |title=Which Praise of Folly Did the Spanish Censors Read?: The Moria de Erasmo Roterodamo (c. 1532–1535) and the Libro del muy illustre y doctíssimo Señor Alberto Pio (1536) on the Eve of Erasmus' Inclusion in the Spanish Index |journal=Erasmus Studies |date=29 March 2018 |volume=38 |issue=1 |pages=64–108 |doi=10.1163/18749275-03801004}} Erasmus corresponded with a succession of protective Inquisitor Generals of Castille/Spain in the 1510s and 1520s, consulting with them on his work and attacks on it.{{rp|72}} }} He was a bishops' man: in constant contact, correspondence, patronage and direction with dozens at any time, and their Latin secretaries: for example, his book ''On Free Will'' was squeezed out of him by bishops, and strategized, discussed, vetted (his local bishop got him to remove some polemic material from it, for example{{cite journal |last1=Erasmus |title=A Sermon on the Immense Mercy of God / Concio de immensa Dei misericordia |journal=Spiritualia and Pastoralia |date=31 December 1998 |pages=69–140 |doi=10.3138/9781442680128-003}}{{rp|70}}) and promoted by them. [1212] => [1213] => The following generation of saints and scholars included many influenced by Erasmian humanism or spirituality, notably [[Ignatius of Loyola]],{{refn|group=note|"A.H.T. Levi notes that the preface to Erasmus’s commentary on Matthew’s Gospel, published in 1522, 'contains all the major features of Ignatius’s spirituality embryonically, including the principle of the ''{{lang|la|discretio spirituum}}'' (the discernment of the spirits) and, among much else taken by Ignatius, the idea of imaginatively reconstructing the episodes of Jesus’ life for meditative prayer that was to form the body of the ''Spiritual Exercises''.{{rp|94 }}
Ignatius claimed to have given up reading the ''{{lang|la|Enchiridion}}'' finding it cold, however historian Moshe Sluhovsky traces an influence on Ignatius' ''Exercises'' from Ven. [[Cardinal Cisneros]]' posthumous ''{{lang|la|Compendio breve de ejercidos espirituales}}'' (1520) on which he in turn traces an influence from Erasmus' ''{{lang|la|Enchiridion}}.'' {{cite journal |last1=Sluhovsky |first1=Moshe |title=St. Ignatius of Loyola's "Spiritual Exercises" and Their Contribution to Modern Introspective Subjectivity |journal=The Catholic Historical Review |date=2013 |volume=99 |issue=4 |pages=649–674 |jstor=23565320 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/23565320 |issn=0008-8080}} }}{{cite journal |last1=O'Reilly |first1=Terence |title=Erasmus, Ignatius Loyola, and Orthodoxy |journal=The Journal of Theological Studies |date=1979 |volume=30 |issue=1 |pages=115–127 |doi=10.1093/jts/XXX.1.115 |jstor=23961674 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/23961674 |issn=0022-5185}}{{cite journal |last1=Levi |first1=Anthony |title=Notes and Comments: Ignatius of Loyola and Erasmus |journal=The Heythrop Journal |date=October 1970 |volume=11 |issue=4 |pages=421–423 |doi=10.1111/j.1468-2265.1970.tb00170.x}}{{cite book |last1=O'Reilly |first1=Terence |title=The Spiritual Exercises of Saint Ignatius of Loyola: Contexts, Sources, Reception |date=1 January 2021 |doi=10.1163/9789004429758_004|s2cid=241045104 }} [[Teresa of Ávila]],{{cite web |title=On this day: Erasmus |url=https://www.ncronline.org/blogs/ncr-today/day-erasmus |website=National Catholic Reporter |language=en}}{{refn|group=note|Spanish scholar Antonio Pérez-Romero has claimed a bias in New World traditionalist Spanish Catholic biographers dealing with "the apparent affinity between St. Teresa and Erasmus": "the traditional ''{{lang|es|[[castizo]]}}'' line that all alleged foreign influences must be discarded. However, ... whether St. Teresa was influenced by Erasmus or by pre-Erasmian spirituality is really irrelevant; what matters is that this spirituality went against ''{{lang|es|castizo}}'' religiosity."{{cite book |last1=Pérez-Romero |first1=Antonio |title=Subversion and Liberation in the Writings of St. Teresa of Avila |date=1 January 1996 |doi=10.1163/9789004657960_005}}{{rp|72}} }} [[John of Ávila]],{{cite journal |last1=Coleman |first1=David |title=Moral Formation and Social Control in the Catholic Reformation: The Case of San Juan de Avila |journal=The Sixteenth Century Journal |date=1995 |volume=26 |issue=1 |pages=17–30 |doi=10.2307/2541523 |jstor=2541523 |s2cid=163720572 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/2541523 |issn=0361-0160}}{{refn|group=note|John recommended a friend, García Arias, read Erasmus, but to be discrete about it: "What happens in your heart in relation to God, be careful to keep to yourself, as a woman should keep to herself that which occurs in the marriage bed with her husband." (Decades later, Arias was prior of a monastery attacked by the Inquisition for having a cell of secret Lutherans; one of the monks who fled this persecution, [[Casiodoro de Reina]], became a Protestant in exile and translated the ''[[:es::Biblia del oso|Biblia del Oso]]'' and works of the irenical [[Sebastian Castellion]].){{rp|141–143}} }} and [[Angela Merici]].{{refn|group=note|"As emerges from Merici’s writings and according to her friends, Angela was well read in spiritual literature (she was familiar with the Scriptures, Augustine, Gregory the Great, Jacopo da Varagine’s Life of Saints, and probably with Domenico Cavalca, Catherine of Siena, The Imitation of Christ, and Erasmus’s writings)..."{{cite journal |last1=Mazzonis |first1=Querciolo |title=Reforming Christianity in early sixteenth-century Italy: the Barnabites, the Somaschans, the Ursulines, and the hospitals for the incurables |journal=Archivium Hibernicum |date=2018 |volume=71 |pages=244–272 |jstor=48564991 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/48564991 |issn=0044-8745}}{{rp|251}} }} [1214] => [1215] => However, Erasmus attracted enemies in contemporary theologians in Paris, Louvain, Valladolid, Salamanca and Rome, notably [[Juan Ginés de Sepúlveda|Sepúlveda]], [[Diego López de Zúñiga (theologian)|Stúñica]], [[Edward Lee (bishop)|Edward Lee]],{{refn| group=note|See Erasmus' response titled ''Apologia by Erasmus of Rotterdam Which Is neither Arrogant nor Biting nor Angry nor Aggressive in Which He Responds to the Two Invectives of Edward Lee- I Shall Not Add What Kind of Invectives: Let the Reader Judge for Himself.''
Thomas More, who was old friends with both Erasmus and Lee, wrote to Lee "Not only do all learned men both in Louvain and here disagree with you on each of these points, but the pope, best and greatest of primates, who ought to take precedence over all learned men’s votes, disagrees with you.… For at his pious urging Erasmus obediently undertook that task, which with God’s help he has now performed twice with success, and thereby he has twice earned [1216] => the pope’s special thanks and approval, as his solemn missives acknowledge."{{rp|97}} }} Noël Beda (who Erasmus had known in France in the 1490s, but who opposed Greek and Hebrew),{{cite journal |title=Noël Beda |journal=Oxford Reference |url=https://www.oxfordreference.com/display/10.1093/oi/authority.20110803095455501 |language=en}} as well as Alberto Pío, Prince of [[Carpi, Emilia-Romagna|Carpi]], who read his work with dedicated [[Hermeneutics of suspicion|suspicion]]. These were theologians, usually from the mendicant orders that were Erasmus' particular target (such as [[Dominican Order|Dominicans]], [[Carmelites]] and [[Franciscans]]), who held a positive "linear view of history" for theology "The linear paradigm puts the emphasis on a one-dimensional human history which heads to a point of perfection, where it should come to an end." However, the views of reformers such as [[Giles of Viterbo]] tended to a negative linear view of spiritual decay, or was cyclical. {{cite book |last1=Semonian |first1=Narik |title=Desiderius Erasmus: a spoiler of the Roman Catholic tradition? (Thesis) |date=2016 |publisher=Leiden University |url=https://studenttheses.universiteitleiden.nl/access/item%3A2601820/view |access-date=5 December 2023}} that privileged recent late-medieval theology{{cite journal |last1=Rummel |first1=Erika |title=Et cum theologo bella poeta gerit: The Conflict between Humanists and Scholastics Revisited |journal=The Sixteenth Century Journal |date=1992 |volume=23 |issue=4 |pages=713–726 |doi=10.2307/2541729 |jstor=2541729 |s2cid=165507088 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/2541729 |issn=0361-0160}} and rejected the ''{{lang|la|[[ad fontes]]}}'' methodology. Erasmus believed the vehemence of the attacks on Luther was a strategem to blacken humanism (and himself) by association, part of the centuries-long power struggle at the universities between scholastic "theologians" and humanist "poets".{{rp|724}} {{refn|group=note|Erasmus' riposte—against the idea that less biblicism and more scholasticism was the answer—was that Wycliffe, Hus, Luther, Oecolampadius, the Anabaptists, and [[Balthasar Hubmaier|Hubmaier]] all were trained in Scholastic theology (as to an extent was he, though he claimed to have slept through the classes, particularly on [[Duns Scotus|Scotus]]): he implied that scholastic training had more caused than prevented any argumentative, doctrinaire, unbalanced, un-historical, distracted and intellectually-proud mindset. This was an implied rebuke also to the antagonistic university Scholastic theologians, to the extent that they exhibited the same mindset.{{cite book |last1=Bainton |first1=Roland Herbert |title=Erasmus of christendom |date=1970 |publisher=Collins |location=London |isbn=9780002152037}}}}{{refn|group=note|Some recent historians have suggested Erasmus may have lost his election to the Lady Margaret's professorship at Cambridge due to this rivalry between scholastics and humanists.{{cite journal |last1=van Kooten |first1=George |last2=Payne |first2=Matthew |last3=Rex |first3=Richard |last4=Bloemendal |first4=Jan |title=Erasmus’ Cambridge Years (1511–1514): The Execution of Erasmus’ Christian Humanist Programme, His Epitaph for Lady Margaret’s Tomb in Westminster Abbey (1512), and His Failed Attempt to Obtain the Lady Margaret’s Professorship in the Face of Scholastic Opposition |journal=Erasmus Studies |date=6 March 2024 |volume=44 |issue=1 |pages=33–102 |doi=10.1163/18749275-04401002|doi-access=free }}}} [1217] => [1218] => A particularly powerful opponent of Erasmus was Italian humanist Jerome [[Aleander]], Erasmus' former close friend and bedmate in Venice at the Aldine Press and future cardinal. They fell out over Aleander's violent speech against Luther at the [[Diet of Worms]], and with Aleander's identification of Erasmus as "the great cornerstone of the Lutheran heresy."{{refn|group=note|It was not helped by Erasmus' ''Ciceronians'' nor when Erasmus insultingly made Aleander a thinly-disguised character ''Verpius'' in his collequy on the miserly Manutius household ''{{lang|la|Opulentia sordida}}'' (1531).{{cite journal |last1=Wiltrout |first1=Ann |title=The "Lazarillo De Tormes" and Erasmus' "Opulentia Sordida" |journal=Romanische Forschungen |date=1969 |volume=81 |issue=4 |pages=550–564 |jstor=27937606 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/27937606 |issn=0035-8126}} Erasmus suspected Aleander tried to have him poisoned.{{rp|73}}}} They periodically reconciled in warm personal meetings, only to fall into mutual suspicion again when distant. [1219] => [1220] => Erasmus spent considerable effort defending himself in writing, which he could not do after his death.{{cite journal |last1=Heesakkers |first1=Chris L. |title=Erasmus's "Controversies" |journal=The Catholic Historical Review |date=2009 |volume=95 |issue=1 |pages=79–86 |jstor=27745444 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/27745444 |issn=0008-8080}} [1221] => [1222] => The [[Council of Trent]] addressed many of the controversies Erasmus had been involved with: including free will, accumulated errors in the Vulgate, and priestly training,{{refn|group=note|Erasmus promoted the idea of priestly seminaries, and a historian was written "Erasmus’ contribution to the reform of Catholic preaching at Trent was in fact substantial, though certainly unacknowledged and probably suppressed, and ...(Erasmus' book) ''{{lang|la|[[Ecclesiastes of Erasmus|Ecclesiastes]]}}'' anticipated and informed Catholic preaching in the inter- and post- Tridentine years."{{cite journal |last1=McGinness |first1=Frederick J. |title=Chapter 5. An Erasmian Legacy. Ecclesiastes and the Reform of Preaching at Trent |journal=Heresy, Culture, and Religion in Early Modern Italy |date=22 September 2006 |pages=93–112 |doi=10.1515/9780271090795-008|isbn=978-0-271-09079-5 }}}} and followed his call for a renewed positive focus on the Creed. Erasmus' major ethical complaint that a certain kind of scholasticism was "{{lang|la|curiositas}}" (useless, vain speculation) and artificially divisive was endorsed in the 4 December 1563 ''Decree Concerning Purgatory'' which recommended the avoidance of speculations and non-essential questions. [1223] => [1224] => ====Prohibitions==== [1225] => [[File:Erasmus censored.png|right|thumb|200px|A work of Erasmus censored, perhaps following the inclusion of some works on the {{lang|la|[[Index Librorum Prohibitorum]]}}]] [1226] => By the 1560s, there was a marked downturn in reception: at various times and durations, some of Erasmus' works, especially in Protestantized editions, were placed on the various Roman, Dutch, French, Spanish and Mexican{{cite book |last1=Nesvig |first1=Martin Austin |title=Ideology and Inquisition: The World of the Censors in Early Mexico |date=2009 |publisher=Yale University Press |location=New Haven |isbn=978-0-300-14040-8}} [[Index Librorum Prohibitorum|Indexes of Prohibited Books]], either to not be read, or to be censored and expurgated: each area had different censorship considerations and severity.{{cite book |last1=Charles |first1=Henry |title=Chapters of the History of Spain connected with the Inquisition |date=1890 |publisher=Lea Brothers |location=Philadelophia |url=https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/74/Chapters_from_the_religious_history_of_Spain_connected_with_the_Inquistion_.._%28IA_gri_33125000294328%29.pdf |access-date=21 June 2023}} [1227] => [1228] => Erasmus' work had been translated or reprinted throughout Europe, often with Protestantizing revisions and sectarian prefaces. Sometimes the works of Martin Luther were sold with the name of Erasmus on the cover. [1229] => [1230] => Several of Erasmus' works, including his ''Paraphrases'' were banned in the Milanese and Venetian indexes of 1554.{{cite journal |last1=Bloemendal |first1=Jan |title=Praised and Maligned: Receptions of Erasmus’ Paraphrases on the New Testament: 2023 Roland Bainton Lecture |journal=Erasmus Studies |date=6 March 2024 |volume=44 |issue=1 |pages=5–32 |doi=10.1163/18749275-04401004}} [1231] => [1232] => Erasmus' works were to some extent prohibited in England under Queen Mary I, from 1555.{{refn|group=note|Mary herself had a decade earlier translated at least the draft of ''The Paraphrasis of Erasmus vpon saynt Mathew, translated into Englysh'',{{cite journal |last1=Devereux |first1=E J |title=he publication of the English 'Paraphrases' of Erasmus |journal=Bulletin of the John Rylands Library |date=1969 |volume=51 |issue=2 |pages=348–367 |doi=10.7227/BJRL.51.2.5 |url=https://www.escholar.manchester.ac.uk/uk-ac-man-scw:1m2924}}{{rp|351}} so the ban may have been a reaction the addition in the English ''Paraphrases'' of Tyndale's version of Luther's ''Prologue to Romans'', and Swiss Protestant [[Leo Jud]]'s paraphrase of the Book of Revelation, to the editions.{{rp|361}} }} [1233] => [1234] => For the Roman Index as it emerged at the close of the Council of Trent, Erasmus' works were completely banned (1559), mostly unbanned (1564), completely banned again (1590), and then mostly unbanned again with strategic revisions (1596) by the Indexes of successive Popes.Emerton (1889), p455 In the 1559 Index, Erasmus was classed with heretics; however Erasmus was never judicially arraigned, tried or convicted of heresy: the censorship rules established by the Council of Trent targeted not only notorious heretics but also those whose writings "[[Censorship of the Bible#General rules for the "Tridentine" and Roman Indexes|excited heresy]]" (regardless of intent), especially those making Latin translations of the New Testament deemed to vie with (rather than improve or annotate or assist) the Vulgate. [1235] => [1236] => The ''Colloquies'' were especially but not universally frowned on for school use, and many of Erasmus' tendentious prefaces and notes to his scholarly editions required adjustment.{{cite journal |last1=Wilkinson |first1=Maurice |title=Erasmus, the Sorbonne and the Index |journal=The Catholic Historical Review |date=1924 |volume=10 |issue=3 |pages=353–357 |jstor=25012096 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/25012096 |issn=0008-8080}} In Spain's Index, the translation of the ''{{lang|la|Enchiridion}}'' only needed the phrase "Monkishness is not piety" removed to become acceptable. [1237] => [1238] => By 1896, the Roman Index still listed Erasmus' ''{{lang|la|Colloquia}}'', ''The Praise of Folly'', ''The Tongue'', ''The Institution of Christian Marriage'', and one other as banned, plus particular editions of the ''{{lang|la|Adagia}}'' and ''Paraphrase of Matthew''. All other works could be read in suitable expurgated versions.{{cite web |title=Index librorum prohibitorum sanctissimi domini nostri Leonis XIII pont. max. jussu editus |url=https://archive.org/details/indexlibrorumpro00turiuoft/page/132/mode/2up |publisher=Turini : Typ. Pontificia et Archiepiscopalis Eq. P. Marietti |date=1892}} [1239] => [1240] => Because Erasmus' scholarly editions were frequently the only sources of Patristic information in print, the strict bans were often impractical, so theologians worked to produce replacement editions building on, or copying, Erasmus' editions. [1241] => [1242] => The Jesuits received a dispensation from the Roman Inquisitor General to read and use Erasmus' work (not kept on the open shelves of their libraries),Chapter 18, The Attitudes of the Jesuits toward Erasmus, {{cite book |last1=Grendler |first1=Paul F. |title=Humanism, Universities, and Jesuit Education in Late Renaissance Italy |date=2 May 2022 |isbn=9789004510289 |publisher=Brill|doi=10.1163/9789004510289_020}} as did priests working near Protestant areas such as Francis de Sales. [1243] => [1244] => ====Post-Tridentine==== [1245] => Early Dutch Jesuit scholar [[Peter Canisius]] (fl. 1547 - 1597), who produced several works superseding Erasmus',Catechisms, preaching manuals, works of St Cyril of Alexandria, and a collection of St Jerome intended to counter the anti-monastic spin given in Erasmus'.{{cite journal |last1=Donnelly |first1=John |title=Peter Canisius |url=https://epublications.marquette.edu/hist_fac/15 |journal=Shapers of Religious Traditions in Germany, Switzerland, and Poland, 1560-1600 |date=1 January 1981|doi=10.2307/j.ctt211qw0c.13 }}{{rp|142}} is known to have read, or used phrases from, Erasmus' New Testament (including the Annotations and Notes) and perhaps the Paraphrases, his Jerome biography and complete works, the Adages, the ''{{lang|la|Copia}}'', and the Colloquies:{{refn|group=note|Canisius' comment against personal attacks on Reformers "With words like these, we don't cure patients, we make them incurable"Burg, Kontroverslexikon, Essen, 1903, p224 re-works Erasmus' "It is better to cure a sick man than to kill him."}} Canisius, having actually read Erasmus, had an ambivalent view on Erasmus that contrasted with the negative line of some of his contemporaries: [1246] => [1247] => {{Blockquote|text=Very many people applied also to Erasmus, declaring: {{'}}''Either Erasmus speaks like Luther or Luther like Erasmus''{{'}} (''{{lang|la|Aut Erasmus Lutherizat, aut Lutherus Erasmizat}}''). And yet, we must say, if we would like to render an honest judgment, that Erasmus and Luther were very different. Erasmus always remained a Catholic. ... Erasmus criticized religion 'with craft rather than with force', often applying considerable caution and moderation to either his own opinions or errors. ...Erasmus passed judgment on what he thought required censure and correction in the teaching of theologians and in the Church.|source=Peter Canisius, ''De Maria virgine'' (1577), p601Pabel notes an ambivalent attitude: "After rehearsing the many ways in which Erasmus offended Catholic beliefs about and devotion to Mary, Canisius managed not only to think of Erasmus as more of a friend than a foe of Mary but also, bizarrely, to suggest that Erasmus was still the most distinguished voice in honour of Mary. Then he remembered that Erasmus was responsible for stirring up the controversy about Mary in the first place."}} [1248] => [1249] => In contrast, [[Robert Bellarmine]]'s ''Controversies'' mentions Erasmus (as presented by Erasmus' opponent Albert Pío) negatively over 100 times, categorizing him as a "forerunner of the heretics";{{cite journal |last1=Richgels |first1=Robert W. |title=The Pattern of Controversy in a Counter-Reformation Classic: The Controversies of Robert Bellarmine |journal=The Sixteenth Century Journal |date=1980 |volume=11 |issue=2 |pages=3–15 |doi=10.2307/2540028 |jstor=2540028 |s2cid=165401003 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/2540028 |issn=0361-0160}}{{rp|10}} though not a heretic."As a consultor to the Congregation of the Index, Robert Bellarmine recommended removing Erasmus from the list of heretics of the first class, since he did not consider Erasmus a heretic, despite his errors."{{cite journal |title=Entries - Erasmus |journal=The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the Jesuits |date=16 August 2017 |pages=11–858 |doi=10.1017/9781139032780.002}} Bellarmine himself had books placed on the same Roman Index as Erasmus'. Chapter 2, {{cite book |last1=Blackwell |first1=Richard J. |title=Galileo, Bellarmine, and the Bible |date=1991 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctvpg847x |publisher=University of Notre Dame Press|doi=10.2307/j.ctvpg847x |jstor=j.ctvpg847x |isbn=9780268010270 }} [[Alphonsus Ligouri]], who also had not read Erasmus, judged that Erasmus "died with the character of an unsound Catholic but not a heretic," putting it all in the context of a dispute between Theologians and Rhetoricians.{{refn|group=note|However, Ligouri re-transmits Albert Pío's libel, which Luther also repeated garbled, but which was denied by Erasmus in his lifetime, that Erasmus' statement "We dare to call the Holy Spirit true God, proceeding from the Father and the Son, something the ancients did not dare to do" as asserting it is rash to call the Holy Spirit God.{{cite book |last1=Ligouri |first1=Alphonsus |title=The History of Heresies and their Refutation |date=1772 |url=https://archive.org/download/TheHistoryOfHeresiesAndTheirRefutation/TheHistoryOfHeresiesAndTheirRefutation.pdf |access-date=16 December 2023}}{{rp|ch XI}} In context, Erasmus' claim concerned the objective historical record, used the language of the Mass about boldness not rashness, affirmed the Trinity and, in retrospect, proposed the [[development of doctrine]].}} [1250] => [1251] => His patristic scholarship continued to be valued by academics, as were un-controversial parts of his biblical scholarship,{{rp|614,617}} though Catholic biblical scholars started to criticize Erasmus' limited range of manuscripts for his direct New Testament as undermining his premise of correcting the Latin from the "original" Greek.{{rp|622}} [1252] => [1253] => The Jesuit mission to China, led by [[Matteo Ricci]],{{cite book |last1=Hsia |first1=Ronnie Po-chia |title=A Jesuit in the Forbidden city: Matteo Ricci, 1552-1610 |date=2010 |doi=10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199592258.003.0001}} adopted the approach of cultural ''accommodation''{{cite journal |last1=Schloesser |first1=Stephen |title=Accommodation as a Rhetorical Principle |journal=Journal of Jesuit Studies |date=1 April 2014 |volume=1 |issue=3 |pages=347–372 |doi=10.1163/22141332-00103001|doi-access=free }} linked to Erasmus."The method of accommodation, central in the missionary activity of Matteo Ricci, has its theological roots in the thought of Thomas Aquinas and Erasmus of Rotterdam" according to the Dean of Studies of the [[Pontifical Institute for Foreign Missions]] {{cite web |last1=Criveller |first1=Gianni |title=The Method of 'Accommodation' |url=https://www.amdgchinese.org/en/2010/10/28/the-method-of-accommodation/ |website=Society of Jesus, Chinese Province |publisher=IHS |access-date=26 December 2023 |date=28 October 2010}} The early Jesuits were exposed to Erasmus at their colleges,{{cite web |last1=Criveller |first1=Gianni |title=The Background of Matteo Ricci The Shaping of his Intellectual and Scientific Endowment |url=http://www.riccimac.org/doc/ccc/6.4/eng/4A.pdf |website=Macau Ricci Institute |access-date=26 December 2023}} and their positioning of Confucius echoed Erasmus' positioning of "Saint" Socrates.{{cite book |last1=Dijkstra |first1=Trude |title=Printing and publishing Chinese religion and philosophy in the Dutch Republic, 1595-1700: the Chinese imprint |date=2022 |publisher=Brill |location=Leiden Boston |isbn=978-90-04-42639-9}}{{rp|171}} [1254] => [1255] => [[Salesian]] scholars have noted Erasmus' significant influence on [[Francis de Sales]]: "in the approach and the spirit he (de Sales) took to reform his diocese and more importantly on how individual Christians could become better together,"{{cite web |last1=Pocetto |first1=Alexander T. |title=The Salesian Approach to Why I Remain a Catholic |url=https://www.desales.edu/docs/default-source/salesian-center-docs/live-jesus-talk.pdf |publisher=DeSales University |access-date=19 August 2023}} his optimism,{{cite web |last1=Marie |first1=Sister Susan |title=For Scholars: St. Francis de Sales and Erasmus, by Charles Bene |url=https://visitationspirit.org/2022/07/for-scholars-st-francis-de-sales-and-erasmus-by-charles-bene/ |website=Visitation Spirit |date=18 July 2022}} civility,{{cite book |last1=Wirth |first1=Morand |title=Saint Francis de Sales - A program of integral formation |date=2022 |publisher=LAS - Libreria Ateneo Salesiano |location=Rome |isbn=978-88-213-1485-8 |url=https://www.salesian.online/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/Francis_de_Sales_by_Wirth_en_web-A-program-of-integral-formation.pdf |access-date=19 August 2023}} esteem of marriage.{{cite journal |last1=McGoldrick |first1=Terence |title=The Ascent of Marriage as Vocation and Sacrament. Francis de Sales' Christian Humanist Theology of Marriage. A New and Old Vision between Two Competing Traditions on the Highest Vocation from the Apostolic Church to Erasmus |journal=Salesianum |date=2015 |volume=77 |pages=207–249 |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/279886647 |access-date=19 August 2023}} and, according to historian Charles Béné, a piety addressed to the laity, the acceptance of mental prayer, and the valuing of pagan wisdom.{{rp|212}} [1256] => [1257] => A famous 17th century Dominican library featured statues of famous churchmen on one side and of famous "heretics" (in chains) on the other: those foes including the two leading anti-mendicant Catholic voices [[William of Saint-Amour]] (fl. 1250) and Erasmus.{{cite book |last1=Edwards |first1=Edward |title=Memoirs of Libraries: Part the first. History of libraries |date=1859 |publisher=Trübner & Company |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Me65AAAAIAAJ |language=en}}{{rp|310}} [1258] => [1259] => By 1690, Erasmus was also, rather perversely, labelled as the forerunner of the heretical tendecies in the [[Jansenists]]. {{refn|group=note|In 1688, a Jansenist book was written to English Catholic King James II, with the argument that in persecuting good Jansenists, the Church was being as wrong-headed as when it denounced critical but loyal Erasmus, blaming sleeping German bishops for the Reformation. Jansenists should be kept in the Church not repelled towards Protestantism. Erasmus' Catholic spirituality was held to be a reliable guide for King James, much to the puzzlement of John Locke, who reviewed the book. A book written in rebuttal saw nothing good in Erasmus' teachings and attacks on orthodoxy. }} [1260] => [1261] => From 1648 to 1794 and then 1845 to the present, the mainly-Jesuit [[Bollandist|Bollandist Society]] has been progressively publishing ''Lives of the Saints,'' in 61 volumes and supplements. Historian John C. Olin notes an accord of approach with the hitherto "unique" method, mixing critical standards and devotional/rhetorical purpose, that Erasmus had laid out in his Life of St Jerome.{{rp|97,98}} [1262] => [1263] => By the 1700s, Erasmus' even indirect influence on Catholic thought had waned. [1264] => [1265] => ====Twentieth Century==== [1266] => A historian has written that "a number of Erasmus' modern Catholic critics do not display an accurate knowledge of his writings but misrepresent him, often by relying upon hostile secondary sources," naming [[Yves Congar]] as an example.{{cite book |last1=Scheck |first1=Thomas P. |title=Erasmus's Life of Origen |chapter=ERASMus's PROGRAM for THEOLOGICAL RENEWAL |date=2016 |pages=1–42 |chapter-url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt19rmcgd.7 |publisher=Catholic University of America Press|doi=10.2307/j.ctt19rmcgd.7 |jstor=j.ctt19rmcgd.7 |isbn=9780813228013 }}{{rp|39}} [1267] => [1268] => A major turning point in the popular Catholic appraisal of Erasmus occurred in 1900 with rosy Benedictine historian (and, later, Cardinal) [[Francis Aidan Gasquet]]'s ''The Eve of the Reformation'' which included a whole chapter on Erasmus based on a re-reading of his books and letters. Gasquet wrote "Erasmus, like many of his contemporaries, is often perhaps injudicious in the manner in which he advocated reforms. But when the matter is sifted to the bottom, it will commonly be found that his ideas are just."{{refn|group=note| [1269] => "He may fairly be taken as a type of the critical attitude of mind in which many even of the best and the most loyal Catholics of the day approached the consideration of the serious religious problems which were, at that time, forcing themselves upon the notice of the ecclesiastical authorities. Such men held that the best service a true son of the Church could give to religion was the service of a trained mind, ready to face facts as they were, convinced that the Christian faith had nothing to lose by the fullest light and the freest investigation, but at the same time protesting that they would suffer no suspicion to rest on their entire loyalty of heart to the authority of the teaching Church."{{cite book |last1=Gasquet |first1=Francis Aidan |title=The Eve of the Reformation. Studies in the Religious Life and Thought of the English people in the Period Preceding the Rejection of the Roman jurisdiction by Henry VIII |date=1900 |url=https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/50328/pg50328-images.html#CHAPTER_VI |language=en}} }} [1270] => [1271] => Over the last century, Erasmus's Catholic reputation has gradually started to be rehabilitated: favourable factors may include: [1272] => [1273] => * the increasingly active modern historical and theological scholarship on Erasmus suggested chinks in the traditional partisan characterzations of Erasmus; [1274] => * the retirement of the Roman {{lang|la|[[Index Librorum Prohibitorum#Abolition (1966)|Index librorum prohibitorum]]}} in 1966; [1275] => [[File:John Fisher (painting).jpg|thumb|200px|John Fisher, after Hans Holbein]] [1276] => * increased support for a view of Erasmus that portrays him as a conservativeViz. his colleague [[Giles of Viterbo]]'s comment on internality at the [[Fifth Lateran Council]] that "Religion should change men, not men religion" (i.e. doctrine) {{cite journal |last1=O'Malley |first1=John W. |title=Historical Thought and the Reform Crisis of the Early Sixteenth Century |journal=Theological Studies |date=September 1967 |volume=28 |issue=3 |pages=531–548 |doi=10.1177/004056396702800304|s2cid=147394335 }} endorsed by and responsive to the hierarchyErasmus nearly attended the [[Fifth Lateran Council]]: in 1512, Bishop [[John Fisher]] invited Erasmus to join his delegation, but Erasmus was prevented by circumstance.{{cite journal |last1=Porter |first1=H. C. |title=Fisher and Erasmus |journal=Humanism, Reform and the Reformation |date=26 January 1989 |pages=81–102 |doi=10.1017/CBO9780511665813.006|isbn=9780521340342 }} as much as a maverick, with him voicing and crystallizing mainstream and respectable Catholic thought of his time{{refn|group=note|Such as the Archbishop of Canterbury [[John Morton (cardinal)|John Morton]]'s criticisms of corruption in certain abbeys and monasteries.}} as much as innovating;{{refn|group=note|Historian Bruce Mansfield notes a 1936 doctoral dissertation ''{{lang|de|Die Stellung des Erasmus von Rotterdam zur scholastischen Methode}}'' by a [[Redemptorist]] scholar Christian Dolfen that suggested that Erasmus was in fact not anti-Scholastic but wanted it practiced in moderation, as had [[Jean Gerson]], and in any case was against the [[scholasticism]] of [[Duns Scotus]] not [[Aquinas]].{{rp|11}} }} and to an extent resuscitating [[School of Saint Victor|Victorine]] (the Canons Regular of St Victor){{cite journal |title=Erasmus and Biblical Scholasticism |journal=The Hybrid Reformation: A Social, Cultural, and Intellectual History of Contending Forces |date=2022 |pages=157–184 |doi=10.1017/9781108775434.011|isbn=978-1-108-77543-4 }}{{rp|171–174}} and Cappadocian and patristic{{rp|501–505}} approaches. [1277] => * his deep friendships and interactions with three Saint-Martyrs [[Thomas More#Personality according to Erasmus|Thomas More]],{{refn |group=note|"Thomas More was an unflagging apologist for Erasmus for the thirty-six years of their adult lives (1499–1535)."{{cite journal |last1=Scheck |first1=Thomas P. |title=Thomas More: First and Best Apologist for Erasmus |journal=Moreana |date=June 2021 |volume=58 |issue=1 |pages=75–111 |doi=10.3366/more.2021.0093|s2cid=236358666 }}
Erasmus scholar, Fr. Keith McConica notes "The whole meaning of his (More's) reply to Tyndale…is that Erasmianism did not necessarily lead to heresy, and that in itself it was a highly salutary, if tragically unsuccessful attempt to awake the Church to urgent reform."{{cite journal |last1=McConica |first1=James K. |title=The Recusant Reputation of Thomas More |journal=CCHA |date=1963 |volume=30}}}} [[John Fisher#Early life|John Fisher]],Scheck 2021, ''op cit.'', pits the discernment of one pair of canonized saints (More and Fisher) against another pair (Canesius and Bellarmine), quoting historian Rudolph Padberg "They (More and Fisher) knew Erasmus, they defended him…their assessment of Erasmus weighs more heavily than the assessment of the next generation and of the period of Church revolution, which saw itself compelled to turn all instruments of peace into weapons." R. Padberg, ''Erasmus als Katechet'' (Freiburg im Breisgau: Herder, 1956) 18–19 and Brigittine monk [[Richard Reynolds (martyr)|Richard Reynolds]]. [1278] => * his acknowledged or retro-fitted influence on perhaps five [[Doctor of the Church|Doctors of the Church]] (Ignatius, Theresa of Ávila, John of Ávila, Canisius, de Sales), the positive normalization of his views in influential new orders such as the [[Jesuits]], [[Oratory of Saint Philip Neri|Oratorians]], [[Redemptorists]], [[Ursulines]]{{cite journal |last1=Mazzonis |first1=Querciolo |title=A female idea of religious perfection: Angela Merici and the Company of St Ursula (1535–1540) |journal=Renaissance Studies |date=2004 |volume=18 |issue=3 |pages=391–411 |doi=10.1111/j.0269-1213.2004.00068.x |jstor=24413514 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/24413514 |issn=0269-1213}} and [[Salesians]],{{refn|group=note|There are other connections as well: in England in 1505, Erasmus was friendly with then-humanist [[Pope Paul IV|Gian Pietro Carafa]], later co-founder of the [[Theatines]] and much later still the Pope who first placed Erasmus; works on the Index.}} and an increasing list of exemplary Catholics whose views channel or parallel Erasmus', such as [[Bartolomé de las Casas]]' ''{{lang|la|De unico vocationis modo}}'' (1537),{{cite book |last1=Orique O.P. |first1=David Thomas |last2=Roldán-Figueroa |first2=Rady |title=Bartolomé de las Casas, O.P.: History, Philosophy, and Theology in the Age of European Expansion |date=1 January 2019 |doi=10.1163/9789004387669_006|s2cid=222617652 |isbn=978-90-04-36973-3| publisher=Brill }} Volume 189 in series ''Studies in the History of Christian Traditions'' and [[Jean-Baptiste de La Salle|De la Salle]]'s ''Decorum & Civility'';{{refn| group =note|Which builds on the genre Erasmus started with ''{{lang|la|De Civilitate Morum Puerilium}}'' (1530), including his advice on the social necessity of knowing how to carve meat.{{cite journal |last1=McCarthy |first1=Edwin |title=Reflections on The Rules of Christian Decorum and Civility. |journal=AXIS: Journal of Lasallian Higher Education |date=2015 |volume=6 |issue=1 |url=https://axis.smumn.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/9/2018/01/137-560-1-PB-1.pdf |access-date=17 January 2024}} }} [1279] => * the acceptance of [[John Henry Newman|St John Henry Cardinal Newman]]'s "[[development of doctrine]]", to some extent a chick hatched from the egg of Erasmus' theological historicismErasmus "surpassed his predecessors and contemporaries in his attempts to understand the Christian textual and theological tradition, not as one where we may cast back dogmatic formulations, onto first-century writers who had no notion of them, for example, but as one which developed according to the norms of particular times and places" {{cite journal |last1=Essary |first1=Kirk |title=Review, Christine Christ-von Wedel, Erasmus of Rotterdam: Advocate of a New Christianity |journal=Erasmus Studies |date=1 January 2014 |doi=10.1163/18749275-03401006 |url=https://www.academia.edu/6752891}} and his appeal to tradition (''[[sensus fidei]] fidelium'') on the Eucharist;{{rp|129}} [1280] => * the reinvigouration of patristic ''{{lang|la|[[ad fontes]]}}'' and a re-surfacing of several ideas associated with Erasmus (but ideas sometimes with a longer, forgotten patrimony, and sometimes from an even more problematic figure than Erasmus)"Origen (who was for me, as once for Erasmus, more important than Augustine) became the key to the entire Greek patristics, the early Middle Ages and, indeed, even to Hegel and Karl Barth." Hans Urs von Balthasar, ''My Work'', ''apud'' {{cite journal |last1=Polanco |first1=Rodrigo |title=Understanding Von Balthasar's Trilogy |journal=Theologica Xaveriana |date=2017 |volume=67 |issue=184 |pages=411–430 |doi=10.11144/javeriana.tx67-184.uvbt |url=https://www.redalyc.org/journal/1910/191053340006/html/ |language=en|doi-access=free }} by {{lang|fr|[[ressourcement]]}} and ''{{lang|la|[[Communio]]}}'' theologians, such as [1281] => **[[Henri de Lubac]]"De Lubac's preface to G. Chantraine's ''{{lang|la|'Mystere' et 'Philosophie du Christ' selon Erasmus}}'' (1971) presents Erasmus as, above all, a theologian who concentrated on the ''{{lang|el|mysterium}}'', ''{{lang|la|philosophia Christi}}'', and the bond between exegesis and theology. "[https://muse.jhu.edu/article/637274/summary] [1282] => De Lubac thought Erasmus "bravely tried to relaunch spiritual exegesis at an unpropitious time." [1283] => {{cite book |last1=Nichols |first1=Aidan |title=Divine fruitfulness: a guide through Balthasar's theology beyond the trilogy |date=2007 |publisher=T & T Clark |isbn=978-0567089335 |location=London}} p67 [1284] => ** [[Hans Urs von Balthasar]], who ranked Erasmus with Augustine, Bonaventure, and Thomas Aquinas as the great theologians/exegetes;{{refn|Von Balthasar, ''Theo-Drama'', Volume 1: ''Prolegomena'' {{cite web|last1=Spencer |first1=Mark K. |title=Analytic Table of Contents for Hans Urs Von Balthasar's Trilogy (Complete notes on all of Glory of the Lord, Theo-Drama, Theo-Logic, and the Epilogue) |url=https://www.academia.edu/11815080}}}} [1285] => ** Oratorian [[Louis Bouyer]], who wrote that the Method of True Theology (or ''{{lang|la|Ratio}}'') of Erasmus "represents, for the first time and in admirable fashion, the use of principles and methods entirely adequate to effect a really fruitful renewal of Catholic faith and theology;"''Erasmus and the Humanist Experiment'' (1957) p.175 quoted in {{cite journal |last1=Trethowan |first1=Illtyd |title=Reviews of Book: Erasmus and the Humanist Experiment |journal=The Downside Review |date=April 1960 |volume=78 |issue=251 |pages=142–143 |doi=10.1177/001258066007825114}} [1286] => ** [[Joseph Ratzinger]], whose famous [[Regensburg lecture|Regensberg Address]] emphasized the fundamental influence of Hellenic philosophy on primitive Christianity.Summarized as "The evolution of Greek thought represented by Socrates ‘stands in close analogy’ with the evolution of Old Testament religiosity. Christianity is the result of their actual convergence." {{cite journal |last1=Gagné |first1=Renaud |title=Whose Handmaiden? 'Hellenisation' between Philology and Theology |journal=Classical Philology and Theology |date=17 September 2020 |pages=110–125 |doi=10.1017/9781108860048.006|isbn=978-1-108-86004-8 |s2cid=224955316 }} [1287] => ** For theologian George Chantraine, Erasus's so-called skepticism was actually a function of his belief that the Church defined doctrine not individual theologians.{{refn |group=note| In Daniel Kinney's summary: "Erasmus, the servant of piety and gradual regeneration through the humble imitation of Christ, would prefer to play skeptic when it comes to questions of doctrine (like that of free will) which the Church has not settled definitively (''Diatribe'' (''On Free Will'') 1 a 4), since the actual settling of dogma is outside his competence."{{rp|86}}}} [1288] => * many of his themes are less controversial after being revisited by Popes: for example, [1289] => ** his promotion of the recognition of {{lang|el|[[adiaphora]]}} and toleration [[#Signet_ring_and_personal_motto|within bounds]] was taken up, to an extent, by [[Pope John XXIII]]: ''{{lang|la|[[In necessariis unitas, in dubiis libertas, in omnibus caritas]]}}'';{{cite book |first1=John XXIII |last1=Pope |title=Ad Petri Cathedram |date=June 29, 1959 |url=https://www.vatican.va/content/john-xxiii/en/encyclicals/documents/hf_j-xxiii_enc_29061959_ad-petri.html |access-date=9 August 2023}}The phrase was coined after Erasmus' time. [1290] => A more accurate characterization of Erasmus' views might be that while a certain docility was ideal for laypeople in theological matters, the ''quid pro quo'' was that theologians and bishops should keep the defined doctrines to a minimum. For example, see {{cite journal |last1=Tracy |first1=James D. |title=Erasmus and the Arians: Remarks on the "Consensus Ecclesiae" |journal=The Catholic Historical Review |date=1981 |volume=67 |issue=1 |pages=1–10 |jstor=25020997 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/25020997 |issn=0008-8080}} or {{cite book |last1=Cummings |first1=Brian |title=The Literary Culture of the Reformation |date=5 December 2002 |doi=10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198187356.003.0005}}{{rp|153}} and [1291] => ** John Paul II's praise of the divine foolishness in the encyclical [[Fides et Ratio]].{{cite web |last1=John Paul II |title=Fides et Ratio (14 September 1998) |url=https://www.vatican.va/content/john-paul-ii/en/encyclicals/documents/hf_jp-ii_enc_14091998_fides-et-ratio.html |website=www.vatican.va}} [1292] => [1293] => His ''instrumentalist'' approach to [[Christian humanism]] has been compared to that of John Henry Newman and the ''[[personalism]]'' of [[John Paul II]],He believed that "learning and scholarship were a powerful weapon both for the cultivation of personal piety and institutional church reform." {{cite book |last1=Cunningham |first1=Lawrence S. |title=The Catholic Heritage: Martyrs, Ascetics, Pilgrims, Warriors, Mystics, Theologians, Artists, Humanists, Activists, Outsiders, and Saints |date=1 March 2002 |publisher=Wipf and Stock Publishers |isbn=978-1-57910-897-7 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hr5KAwAAQBAJ |language=en}}{{rp|151–164}} but also has been criticized as treating the Church's doctrines merely as aids to piety.Catholic dogmatic theologian [[Aidan Nichols]] however notes that, in justice, "for Erasmus himself, the doctrine of redemption (understood as beginning with the incarnation of the Word) remained central as giving the whole world a Christocentric orientation: the goal of all living things is the harmony of all things, and especially human beings, with God, a harmony realized, in principle, in Christ." {{cite book |last1=Nichols |first1=Aidan |title=Shape of Catholic Theology: An Introduction To Its Sources, Principles, And History |date=28 August 2003 |publisher=A&C Black |isbn=978-0-8264-4360-1 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JXOvAwAAQBAJ |language=en}} p.313 [1294] => [1295] => The Catholic scholar Thomas Cummings saw parallels between Erasmus' vision of Church reform and the vision of Church reform that succeeded at the Second Vatican Council. Theologian J. Coppens noted the "Erasmian themes" of ''[[Lumen Gentium]]'' (e.g. para 12), such as the ''[[sensus fidei|sensus fidei fidelium]]'' and the dignity of all the baptized.{{rp|130,138,150}} Another scholar writes "in our days, especially after Vatican II, Erasmus is more and more regarded as an important defender of the Christian religion."{{cite journal |last1=van Ruler |first1=Han |last2=Martin |first2=Terence J. |title=Review of Truth and Irony: Philosophical Meditations on Erasmus, MartinTerence J. |journal=Renaissance Quarterly |date=2017 |volume=70 |issue=3 |pages=1168–1170 |jstor=26560563 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/26560563 |issn=0034-4338}} John O'Malley has commented on a certain closeness between Erasmus and [1296] => ''{{lang|la|[[Dei Verbum]]}}''.Even more important and impressive is how close Erasmus came in the “Paraclesis” to anticipating the teaching in {{lang|la|[[Catholic theology of Scripture|Dei Verbum]]}} that Revelation is the revelation of a person." {{cite journal |last1=O’Malley |first1=John W. |title=Theology before the Reformation: Renaissance Humanism and Vatican II |journal=Theological Studies |date=June 2019 |volume=80 |issue=2 |pages=256–270 |doi=10.1177/0040563919836245|doi-access=free }} [1297] => [1298] => In 1963, [[Thomas Merton]] suggested "If there had been no Luther, Erasmus would now be regarded by everyone as one of the great Doctors of the Catholic [1299] => Church. I like his directness, his simplicity, and his courage."{{cite journal |last1=O'Connell |first1=Patrick F. |title=If Not for Luther? Thomas Merton and Erasmus |journal=Merton Annual |date=January 2020 |volume=33 |pages=125–146}}{{rp|146}} [1300] => [1301] => Notably, since the 1950s, the Roman Catholic [[Easter Vigil]] mass has included a [[Liturgical reforms of Pope Pius XII#Easter Vigil|Renewal of Baptismal Promises]],{{cite book |title=EASTER VIGIL PART III: THE BAPTISMAL LITURGY Presider Book |date=2020 |publisher=Catholic Dioscese of Madison |location=Madison, Wisconsin |url=https://www.madisondiocese.org/documents/2020/4/Baptismal%20Liturgy%20Presider.pdf}}{{rp|3,4}} an innovation{{cite web |title=Adopting a Protestant-Inspired Rite - Dialogue Mass 62 by Dr. Carol Byrne |url=https://www.traditioninaction.org/HotTopics/f144_Dialogue_62.htm |website=www.traditioninaction.org}} first proposed{{cite web |last1=Folla |first1=Pamela |title=The Sacrament of Confirmation |url=https://www.catholicireland.net/the-sacrament-of-confirmation/ |website=Catholicireland.net |date=30 November 1999}} by Erasmus in his ''Paraphrases''. For which he was predictably accused of heresy by his university opponents, who claimed he was inventing a new sacrament. [1302] => [1303] => In his 1987 collection ''The Spirituality of Erasmus of Rotterdam'' historian Richard deMolen, later a Catholic priest, called for Erasmus' canonization.{{cite book |last1=Molen |first1=Richard L. de |title=The spirituality of Erasmus of Rotterdam |date=1987 |publisher=De Graaf |location=Nieuwkoop |isbn=978-90-6004-392-9}} [1304] => [1305] => ===Protestant=== [1306] => [[File:Zentralbibliothek Zürich - Effigies praecipuorum illustrium atque praestantium aliquot theologorum - 000008283.jpg|200px|thumb|Fictive gathering of notable theologians who "controverted prestigious superiors of the Roman church", at back 1. John Wycliffe, 2. Jan Hus, 3. Jerome of Prague, 4. Girolamo Savonarola; at table from left Martin Luther, Huldrych Zwingli, John Calvin, Philipp Melanchthon, Johannes Bugenhagen, Johannes Oecolampadius, ''et al.'' (1650) Erasmus is not shown in this company.]] [1307] => Protestant views on Erasmus fluctuated depending on region and period, with continual support in his native Netherlands and in cities of the Upper Rhine area. However, following his death and in the late sixteenth century, many Reformation supporters saw Erasmus's critiques of Luther and lifelong support for the universal Catholic Church as damning, and second-generation Protestants were less vocal in their debts to the great humanist. [1308] => [1309] => There was a tendency to downplay that many of the usages fundamental to Luther, Melancthon and Calvin, such as the forensic imputation of righteousness, grace as divine favour or mercy (rather than a medicine-like substance{{refn|group=note|refn=Though Gregory Graybill still views Erasmus' view of grace "as metaphysical fuel for good works."{{rp|c.54}} }} or habit), faith as trust (rather than a persuasion only), "repentance" over "doing penance" (as used by Luther in the first theses of the [[95 Theses]]), owed to Erasmus.{{refn|group=note|According to Lutheran historian Lowell Green, "credit is due Erasmus for providing the terminology of " faith" and "grace" for the Protestant Reformation" as well as "imputation"{{cite journal |last1=Green |first1=Lowell C. |title=The Influence of Erasmus upon Melanchthon, Luther and the Formula of Concord in the Doctrine of Justification |journal=Church History |date=1974 |volume=43 |issue=2 |pages=183–200 [1310] => |jstor=3163951 |s2cid=170458328 |doi=10.2307/3163951 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/3163951 |issn=0009-6407}}{{rp|186–188}} }} [1311] => [1312] => Luther had attempted a Biblical analogy to justify his dismissal of Erasmus' thought: "He has done what he was ordained to do: he has introduced the ancient languages, in the place of injurious scholastic studies. He will probably die like Moses in the land of Moab…I would rather he would entirely abstain from explaining and paraphrasing the Scriptures, for he is not up to this work…to lead into the land of promise, is not his business…" {{cite book |last1=Schaff |first1=Philip |title=History of the Christian Church, Volume VII. Modern Christianity. The German Reformation |date=1910 |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |url=https://ccel.org/ccel/schaff/hcc7/hcc7.ii.iv.xiv.html |access-date=19 August 2023}} "Erasmus of Rotterdam is the vilest miscreant that ever disgraced the earth…He is a very Caiaphas."{{cite web |last1=Luther |first1=Martin |title=The Table Talk of Martin Luther |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wj8uAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA283 |publisher=H. G. Bohn |language=en |date=1857}}'{{rp|283}} (translation: Hazlitt) [1313] => Also "Whenever I pray, I pray a curse upon Erasmus." "I hold Erasmus of Rotterdam to be Christ’s most bitter enemy." "With Erasmus it is translation and nothing else. He is never in earnest. He is ambiguous and a caviller" ''apud'' [1314] => {{cite web |last1=Armstrong |first1=Dave |last2=Catholicism |first2=Biblical Evidence for |title=Luther's Insults of Erasmus in "Bondage of the Will" & "Table-Talk" |url=https://www.patheos.com/blogs/davearmstrong/2017/02/luthers-insults-erasmus-bondage-will-table-talk.html |website=Biblical Evidence for Catholicism |language=en |date=2 February 2017}} However Erasmus corresponded cordially with Melancthon until the end. [1315] => [1316] => A historian has even said that "the spread of Lutheranism was checked by Luther’s antagonizing (of) Erasmus and the humanists."{{cite book |last1=Eckert |first1=Otto J. |title=Luther and the Reformation |date=1955 |url=http://essays.wisluthsem.org:8080/bitstream/handle/123456789/1262/EckertReformation.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y |access-date=18 October 2023}}{{rp|7}} [1317] => [1318] => Erasmus' reception is also demonstrable among Swiss Protestants in the sixteenth century: he had an indelible influence on the biblical commentaries of, for example, [[Konrad Pellikan]], [[Heinrich Bullinger]], and [[John Calvin]], all of whom used both his annotations on the New Testament and his paraphrases of same in their own New Testament commentaries.{{cite book|title=Erasmus and Calvin on the Foolishness of God: Reason and Emotion in the Christian Philosophy |last=Essary |first=Kirk |year=2017 |publisher=University of Toronto Press |isbn=9781487501884}} [1319] => [1320] => A historian noted "perhaps the most serious blow that Erasmus delivered to Luther and Protestantism he landed indirectly through the person of Ulrich Zwingli." [[Huldrych Zwingli]], the founder of the [[Reformed church|Reformed]] tradition, had a conversion experience after reading Erasmus' poem,'' 'Jesus' Lament to Mankind.' '' Zwingli's moralism, hermeneutics and attitude to patristic authority owe to Erasmus, and contrast with Luther's.{{cite journal |last1=Nauert |first1=Charles G. |title=Review of The Intellectual Origins of the European Reformation. |journal=Renaissance Quarterly |date=1988 |volume=41 |issue=4 |pages=725–727 |doi=10.2307/2861896 |jstor=2861896 |s2cid=164003270 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/2861896 |issn=0034-4338}} [1321] => [1322] => [[Anabaptist]] scholars have suggested an 'intellectual dependence'{{cite journal |last1=Kyle |first1=Richard |title=(Review) Erasmus, the Anabaptists, and the Great Commission |website=directionjournal.org |date=1999 |volume=28 |issue=1 |pages=126–127 |url=https://directionjournal.org/28/1/erasmus-anabaptists-and-great-commission.html |access-date=19 August 2023}} of Anabaptists on Erasmus.{{cite book |last1=Williamson |first1=Darren T. |title=Erasmus of Rotterdam's Influence upon Anabaptism: The Case of Balthasar Hubmaie |date=2005 |publisher=Simon Fraser University |url=https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/56373505.pdf |access-date=6 August 2023}} According to Dr Kenneth Davis "Erasmus had copious direct and indirect contact with many of the founding leaders of Anabaptism ... the Anabaptists can best be understood as, apart from their own creativity, a radicalization and Protestantization not of the Magisterial Reformation but of the lay-oriented, ascetic reformation of which Erasmus is the principle mediator."{{cite book |last1=Davis |first1=Kenneth Ronald |title=Anabaptism and Asceticism: A Study in Intellectual Origins |date=1974 |publisher=Herald Press |isbn=978-0-8361-1195-8 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XIrZAAAAMAAJ |language=en}}{{rp|292}} [1323] => [1324] => For [[evangelical]] Christianity, Erasmus had a strong influence{{cite web |last1=TeSlaa |first1=Kevin |last2=Treick |first2=Paul |title=Arminius and the Remonstrants |url=https://heidelbergseminary.org/2018/12/arminius-and-the-remonstrants/ |website=Heidelberg Seminary |access-date=19 August 2023 |date=31 December 2018}} on [[Jacob Arminius]], whose library featured many books by Erasmus, even though he did not dare name or quote him.{{cite book |last1=Stanglin |first1=Keith D. |last2=McCall |first2=Thomas H. |title=Jacob Arminius: Theologian of Grace |date=15 November 2012 |publisher=OUP USA |isbn=978-0-19-975567-7 |url=https://books.google.com.au/books/about/Jacob_Arminius.html?id=gQS6fa_r9CoC |language=en}}{{rp|43,44}} [1325] => [1326] => Erasmus' promotion of the recognition of [[adiaphora]] and toleration within bounds was taken up by many kinds of Protestants. [1327] => [1328] => Erasmus' Greek New Testament was the basis of the [[Textus Receptus]] bibles, which were used for all Protestant bible translations from 1600 to 1900, notably including the [[Luther Bible]] and the [[King James Version]]. [1329] => [1330] => === Character attacks === [1331] => Writers have often explained Erasmus' failure to adopt their favoured position as manifesting some deep character flaw.{{refn|group=note|Even a friendly biographer described him as "half Oedipus and half Don Quixote".{{cite journal |last1=Halkin |first1=Léon-E. |last2=Tonkin |first2=John |last3=Vredeveld |first3=Harry |title=Erasmus: A Critical Biography (Review) |journal=Erasmus of Rotterdam Society Yearbook |date=1994 |volume=14 |issue=1 |pages=100–129 |doi=10.1163/187492794X00081}}}} In historian Bruce Mansfield's words, "a smallness of character in Erasmus stood in the way of his greatness of mind."{{rp|6–10}} [1332] => [1333] => Luther's antipathy to Erasmus has continued to more recent times in some Lutheran teachers: [1334] => [1335] => {{Blockquote|Oh how Erasmus placed honor above truth! To seek honor is a human frailty. To ever permit it to go to the point of placing honor and for that matter friendship, expediency, or anything else, above truth is to be blinded by the devil himself and to set a snare for others to be entrapped in his delusions. Such delusions Erasmus would support in pride, weakness, vacillation, and false love for peace and harmony." "Erasmus, the Judas of the Reformation" "this cultured and eloquent theological midget|source=Otto J. Eckert (1955){{rp|27,28,31}}}} [1336] => [1337] => The Catholic Encyclopedia (1917) explained "His inborn vanity and self-complacency were thereby increased almost to the point of becoming a disease; at the same time he sought, often by the grossest flattery, to obtain the favour and material support of patrons or to secure the continuance of such benefits."{{cite journal |title=Catholic Encyclopedia: Desiderius Erasmus |website=www.newadvent.org |url=https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/05510b.htm}} According to Catholic historian Joseph Lortz (1962) "Erasmus remained in the church…but as a half Catholic…indecisive, hesitating, suspended in the middle."{{cite book |last1=Ozment |first1=Steven |title=The Age of Reform 1250-1550: An Intellectual and Religious History of Late Medieval and Reformation Europe |date=28 September 1980 |publisher=Yale University Press |isbn=978-0-300-18668-0 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kf5B2IMgOR8C |language=en}}{{rp|299}} English Jesuit scholar [[C. C. Martindale]] wrote "Erasmus really disliked men personally.""One difference between him ([[Edmund Campion]]) and Erasmus surely was that Erasmus was a humanist who could not help being a Catholic; Campion, irrevocably a Catholic with a convinced longing to be a humanist: and, again, Campion urged positive ideals and criticized others only in so far as they fell short of his standard; Erasmus really disliked men personally." {{cite web |last1=Martindale |first1=C. C. |title=Saint Edmund Campion |url=https://www.ecatholic2000.com/cts/untitled-401.shtml |website=www.ecatholic2000.com |access-date=22 March 2024}} [1338] => [1339] => A 1920s American historian wrote "Erasmus's ambitions, fed by an innate vanity which at times repels by its frank self-seeking, included both fame and fortune" yet pulls back on another historian's view that his "irritable self-conceit, shameless importunity,…may lead one to a sense of contempt for the scholar", pointing out the reality of Erasmus' dire poverty in Paris.{{cite journal |last1=Savage |first1=Howard J. |title=The First Visit of Erasmus to England |journal=PMLA |date=1922 |volume=37 |issue=1 |pages=94–112 |doi=10.2307/457209 |jstor=457209 |s2cid=163841538 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/457209 |issn=0030-8129}} Another 1920s British historian wrote "one feels nauseated when one reads the great scholar's choice Latin that embalms a beggar's whine without the beggar's excuse of absolute need to justify or palliate it...There is no doubt as to where Dante would have placed Erasmus" (i.e in the outer circle of Hell, with vacillators) An inter-war Anglican historian judges "He is a worm, a pigmy, a sheep able only to bleat when the gospel is destroyed ... Erasmus was a book-man and an invalid.”{{cite journal |last1=Rankin |first1=Mark |title=Tyndale, Erasmus, and the Early English Reformation |journal=Erasmus Studies |date=5 October 2018 |volume=38 |issue=2 |pages=135–170 |doi=10.1163/18749275-03802001|s2cid=165671856 }}{{rp|143}} A Victorian Scottish biographer of Tyndale contrasted Erasmus' weak constitution with the "more masculine energy" of Luther and Tyndale.{{rp|143}} [1340] => [1341] => In the 20th century, various [[Psychoanalysis|psychoanalyses]] were made of Erasmus by practitioners: these diagnosed him variously as "supremely egotistic, neurasthenic, morbidly sensitive, volatile, variable, and vacillating, injudicious, irritable, and querulous, yet always ... a baffling but interesting chararacter"; a "volatile neurotic, latent homosexual, hypochondriac, and psychasthenic"; having "a form of [1342] => narcissistic character disorder," a spiritualized, vengeful, "paranoid disposition" driven by "injured narcissism", "repeated persecutory preoccupations...(with) delusional states of paranoia toward the end of his life", repressed anger directed "father figures such as prelates and teachers," needing a "sense of victimization" {{cite journal |last1=Minnich |first1=Nelson H. |last2=Meissner |first2=W. W. |title=The Character of Erasmus |journal=The American Historical Review |date=1978 |volume=83 |issue=3 |pages=598–624 |doi=10.2307/1861840 |jstor=1861840 |pmid=11610344 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/1861840 |issn=0002-8762}}{{rp|598–624}} [1343] => [1344] => Huizinga's biography (1924) treats him more sympathically, with phrases such as: a great and sincere need for concord and affection, profoundly in need of (physical and spiritual) purity, a delicate soul (with a delicate constitution), fated to an immoderate love of liberty,{{refn|group=note|Historian Erik Wolf elaborates "Out of the need for personal independence, he remained his entire life a man in the middle. Averting everything fanatical, extreme, or absurd, he was easily frightened by the prospect of unilateral personal engagement, even when it appeared to be ethically demanded. He preferred to persist in intellectual and spiritual self-discipline…"}} having a dangerous fusion between inclination and conviction, restless but precipitate, a continual intermingling of explosion and reserve, fastidious, bashful, coquettish, a white-lier, evasive, suspicious, and feline.{{cite journal |last1=Mout |first1=Nicolette |title=Against a Feline Erasmus: On the Occasion of the Publication of the Fiftieth Volume of Erasmi Opera Omnia—Amsterdam, 19 January, 2018 |journal=Erasmus Studies |date=6 September 2019 |volume=39 |issue=2 |pages=129–145 |doi=10.1163/18749275-03902003|doi-access=free }} Yet "compared with most of his contemporaries he remains moderate and refined."{{rp|Ch.xiv}} [1345] => [1346] => ===Name used=== [1347] => * The European [[Erasmus Programme]] of [[International student|exchange students]] within the [[European Union]] is named after him. [1348] => ** The original [[Erasmus Programme]] scholarships enable European students to spend up to a year of their university courses in a university in another European country, commemorating Erasmus' impulse to travel. [1349] => ** The European Union cites the successor [[Erasmus+]] programme as a "key achievement": "Almost 640,000 people studied, trained or volunteered abroad in 2020."{{cite web |title=Achievements and benefits, European Union |url=https://european-union.europa.eu/priorities-and-actions/eu-priorities/achievements_en |website=european-union.europa.eu |publisher=European Union |access-date=25 April 2024 |language=en}} [1350] => ** The parallel [[Erasmus Mundus]] project is aimed at attracting non-European students to study in Europe. [1351] => * The [[Erasmus Prize]] is one of Europe's foremost recognitions for culture, society or social science. It was won by [[Wikipedia]] in 2015. [1352] => * The Erasmus Lectures are an annual lecture on religious subjects, given by prominent Christian (mainly Catholic) and Jewish intellectuals,{{cite web |title=Erasmus Lectures |url=https://www.firstthings.com/erasmus-lectures |website=First Things |access-date=1 October 2023 |language=en}} most notably by [[Joseph Ratzinger]] in 1988.{{cite web |last1=Ratzinger |first1=Joseph |title=Biblical Interpretation in Crisis |url=https://www.firstthings.com/web-exclusives/2008/04/biblical-interpretation-in-crisis |website=First Things |language=en |date=26 April 2008}} [1353] => * A peer-reviewed annual scholarly journal ''Erasmus Studies'' has been produced since 1981.{{cite web |title=Erasmus Studies |url=https://brill.com/view/journals/eras/eras-overview.xml |website=Brill |language=en}} [1354] => * Rotterdam has the [[Erasmus University Rotterdam]]: [1355] => ** It has the Erasmus Institute for Philosophy and Economics (EIPE),{{cite web |title=Erasmus School of Philosophy |url=https://www.eur.nl/en/esphil/research/research-institutes/eipe |website=www.eur.nl |language=en}} which produces the ''Erasmus Journal of Philosophy and Economics''{{cite web |title=Erasmus Journal for Philosophy and Economics |url=https://ejpe.org/journal |website=ejpe.org}} [1356] => ** [[Erasmus University College]] is an "international, interdisciplinary Bachelor of Science programme in Liberal Arts and Sciences."{{cite web |title=Erasmus University College |url=https://www.eur.nl/en/euc |website=www.eur.nl |publisher=Erasmus University Rotterdam |language=en}} [1357] => * From 1997 to 2008, the American [[University of Notre Dame]] had an Erasmus Institute.{{cite web |title=No more Erasmus, but NDIAS and NDCEC continue |url=https://irishrover.net/2010/09/no-more-erasmus-but-ndias-and-ndcec-continue/ |website=Irish Rover |date=19 September 2010}} [1358] => * The Erasmus Building in [[Luxembourg]] was completed in 1988 as the first addition to the [[Palais de la Cour de Justice|headquarters]] of the [[Court of Justice of the European Union]] (CJEU).{{cite web |title=Erasmus Building |url=https://curia.europa.eu/jcms/jcms/p1_3943794/en/ |publisher=Europa (web portal) |access-date=1 October 2023 |language=en}} The building houses the chambers of the judges of the CJEU's [[General Court (European Union)|General Court]] and three courtrooms. It is next to the Thomas More Building. [1359] => * Rotterdam has an [[Erasmusbrug|Erasmus Bridge]]. [1360] => * [[Queens' College]], [[University of Cambridge|Cambridge]], has an Erasmus Tower,{{cite web |title=Erasmus' Tower, Queen's College, Cambridge |url=https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O586471/erasmus-tower-queens-college-cambridge-print-rock--co/ |publisher=Victoria and Albert Museum |date=5 January 1854}} Erasmus Building{{cite web |title=Erasmus Building history |url=https://www.queens.cam.ac.uk/visiting-the-college/history/college-facts/the-buildings/erasmus-building-history |website=www.queens.cam.ac.uk |publisher=Queens' College}} and an Erasmus Room.{{cite web |title=The Erasmus Room |url=https://queensconferences.com/the-erasmus-room |website=queensconferences.com |publisher=Queens' College}} Until the early 20th century, Queens' College used to have a corkscrew that was purported to be "Erasmus' corkscrew", which was a third of a metre long; as of 1987, the college still had what it calls "Erasmus' chair".John Twigg, ''A History of Queens' College, Cambridge 1448–1986'' (Woodbridge, Suff.: Boydell Press, 1987). [1361] => * Several schools, faculties and universities in the [[Netherlands]] and [[Belgium]] are named after him, as is [[Erasmus Hall High School|Erasmus Hall]] in [[Brooklyn]], New York, USA. [1362] => [1363] => ===Intellectual=== [1364] => * Literary theorist [[Hans Urs von Balthasar]] listed Erasmus in one of three key intellectual "events" in the Germanic age:{{refn|Von Balthasar, ''The Glory of the Lord'', Volume 5: ''The Realm of Metaphysics in the Modern Age'', II.B.1.a. Origins of the Modern Period }} [1365] => ** [[Duns Scotus]]-[[William of Ockham]]-[[Francisco Suárez]] and [[Meister Eckhart]]-[[Nicholas of Cusa]]-[[Ignatius of Loyola]] [1366] => ** [[Martin Luther]]-Erasmus-[[Shakespeare]] [1367] => ** [[Kant]]-[[Hegel]]-[[Marx]] [1368] => * Political journalist [[Michael Massing]] has written of the Luther-Erasmus [[#Dispute_on_Free_Will|free will]] debate as creating a fault line in Western thinking: Europe adopted a form of Erasmian humanism while America has been shaped by Luther-inspired individualism.Massing, 2022 ([https://www.harpercollins.com/products/fatal-discord-michael-massing?variant=39387603533858 publisher's abstract]) [1369] => * By the coming of the [[Age of Enlightenment]], Erasmus increasingly again became a more widely respected cultural symbol and was hailed as an important figure by increasingly broad groups. [1370] => * In a letter to a friend, Erasmus once had written: "That you are patriotic will be praised by many and easily forgiven by everyone; but in my opinion it is wiser to treat men and things as though we held this world the common fatherland of all."Letter 480, to Budé (ed. Allen) Thus, the universalist ideals of Erasmus are sometimes claimed to be important for fixing global governance.Page, James. 2015. [https://www.onlineopinion.com.au/view.asp?article=17785 ''Fixing global governance''], Online Opinion, 29 October 2015. [1371] => * Catholic historian [[David Knowles (scholar)|Dom David Knowles]] wrote that a just appreciation of traditional Catholic doctrine was a necessary condition for appreciating Erasmus, "without which many otherwise gifted writers have repeated meaningless platitudes."{{cite journal |last1=Knowles |first1=Dom David |title=Ch XI - Erasmus |journal=The Religious Orders in England |date=27 September 1979 |doi=10.1017/CBO9780511560668.012}} [1372] => * According to two Dutch historians, "his legacy irreversibly inspired researchers to a hermeneutical approach that in the end could not but result in irrefutable attacks on the self-evident complete inerrancy of Holy Writ."{{rp|632}} [1373] => [1374] => === Quotes === [1375] => [1376] => Erasmus is credited with numerous quotes; many of them are not exactly original to him but are taken from his collections of sayings such as ''[[Adagia|Adages]]'' or ''[[Apophthegmatum opus|Apophthegmata]]''."No humanist inhabited, cultivated, and chased after ancient proverbs with as much passion as Desiderius Erasmus."{{cite journal |last1=Hui |first1=Andrew |title=The Infinite Aphorisms of Erasmus and Bacon |journal=Erasmus Studies |date=2018 |volume=38 |issue=2 |pages=171–199 |doi=10.1163/18749275-03802003 |s2cid=172124407 |url=https://www.academia.edu/37604079 |issn=0276-2854}} [1377] => [1378] => * In the country of the blind, the one-eyed man is king. ''[[Adagia|Adages]]'' [1379] => * The most disadvantageous peace is better than the justest war. ''[[Adagia|Adages]]'' [1380] => * Bidden or unbidden, God is always there. ''[[Adagia|Adages]]'' [1381] => * "When I get a little money I buy books; and if any is left, I buy food and clothes."{{Cite book|title=The Library An Illustrated History|last=Murray|first=Stuart|publisher=Skyhorse Publishing|year=2009|isbn=9781602397064|location=New York, NY|pages=[https://archive.org/details/libraryillustrat0000murr/page/80 80–81]|url=https://archive.org/details/libraryillustrat0000murr/page/80}} [1382] => * "Monkishness is not piety" ''Enchiridion'' [1383] => * "Christ said (to St Peter) 'Feed my sheep', not 'Devour my sheep'." {{citation needed|date=October 2023}} [1384] => *"All the ups and downs of comedy usually end in marriage. It looks as though the Lutheran tragedy will end the same way."{{cite journal |last1=Fudge |first1=Thomas A. |title=Incest and Lust in Luther's Marriage: Theology and Morality in Reformation Polemics |journal=The Sixteenth Century Journal |date=2003 |volume=34 |issue=2 |pages=319–345 |doi=10.2307/20061412 |jstor=20061412 |s2cid=159468076 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/20061412 |issn=0361-0160}} [1385] => * Martin Luther is "a snake without a snakecharmer" ''Hyperaspistes II'' [1386] => * On fish days, being gastricly intolerant of fish: "My heart is Catholic, but my stomach is Lutheran." ''Epistles'' [1387] => * "If I have my way, the farmer, the smith, the stone-cutter will read him (Christ), prostitutes and pimps will read him, even the Turks will read him. …If it be the [[Plowboy trope|ploughman guiding his plough]], let him chant in his own language the mystic psalms." [[Plowboy trope#Erasmus of Rotterdam (1516)|Paraphrase of St Matthew]] [1388] => * On Scholastics: "They can deal with any text of scripture as with a nose of wax, and knead it into what shape best suits their interest." ''[[The Praise of Folly]]''{{cite book |last1=Foote |first1=George |title=Flowers of Freethought |date=1894 |url=https://web.seducoahuila.gob.mx/biblioweb/upload/FLOWERS_OF_FREETHOUGHT.pdf}}{{rp|75}} [1389] => [1390] => He is also blamed for the mistranslation from Greek of "to call a bowl a bowl" as "[[Call a spade a spade|to call a spade a spade]]",[https://www.etymonline.com/word/spade Etymonline: spade(n.1)], accessed 2019-08-05 and the rendering of [[Pandora's box|Pandora's "jar"]] as "box".{{cite web |title=Pandora: Myth & Box |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Pandora-Greek-mythology |website=www.britannica.com |date=4 March 2024 |language=en}} [1391] => [1392] => The Greek epitaph for his young friend Joseph Batt ({{lang-gr|Ἰάκωβε Βάττε, θάρσεο·καλῶς θανὼν παλιμφύει}}) became a popular grave text: "have courage · he who dies well is born again." [1393] => [1394] => ==Personal== [1395] => === Clothing === [1396] => [[File:Memorial Tablet by the Master of the Spes Notra before the 2006 restoration.jpg|thumb|200px|Visitation ''{{lang|la|Momento mori}}'', painter unknown, c.1500, juxtaposing pregnancy and death, with four Augustinan canons regular of the Chapter (Abbey) of Sion. Left, with little lion, is [[St Jerome]]; right, holding a heart, is [[St Augustine]]. Rijksmuseum{{cite web |title=Four canons with Sts Augustine and Jerome by an open grave, with the Visitation |url=https://www.rijksmuseum.nl/en/collection/SK-A-2312/catalogue-entry |website=Rijksmuseum |language=en}}]] [1397] => Until Erasmus received his (1505 and 1517) Papal dispensations to wear clerical garb, Erasmus wore versions of the local [[Religious habit#Canons regular|habit of his order]], the [[Canon regular|Canons regular of St Augustine]], Chapter of Sion, which varied by region and house, unless traveling: in general, a white or perhaps black [[cassock]] with linen and lace choir [[rochet]] for liturgical contexts or ''{{lang|la|sarotium}}'' (scarf), [[almuce]] (cape), perhaps with an asymmetrical black cope of cloth or sheepskin (''{{lang-la|cacullae}}'') or long black cloak.Shoes, Boots, Leggings, and Cloaks: The Augustinian Canons and Dress in Later Medieval England [https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-british-studies/article/shoes-boots-leggings-and-cloaks-the-augustinian-canons-and-dress-in-later-medieval-england/B282527E658BD79FCFBDB6100D5BDA93] [1398] => [1399] => From 1505, and certainly after 1517, he dressed as a scholar-priest.Treu, Erwin (1959). pp.20–21 He preferred warm and soft garments: according to one source, he arranged for his clothing to be stuffed with fur to protect him against the cold, and his habit counted with a collar of fur which usually covered his nape. [1400] => [1401] => All Erasmus' portraits show him wearing a knitted scholar's bonnet.{{multiref2|1={{cite journal |last1=Kruseman |first1=Geeske M. |title=Some Uses of Experiment for Understanding Early Knitting and Erasmus' Bonnet |journal=EXARC Journal |date=25 August 2018 |issue=EXARC Journal Issue 2018/3 |url=https://exarc.net/issue-2018-3/at/some-uses-experiment-understanding-early-knitting-and-erasmus-bonnet |language=en |issn=2212-8956}} |2={{cite journal |last1=Malcolm-Davies |first1=Jane |last2=Kruseman |first2=Geeske |title=Erasmus' bonnet |journal=Kostuum |date=1 January 2016 |url=https://www.academia.edu/40168789}} }} [1402] => {{clear}} [1403] => [1404] => === Signet ring and personal motto === [1405] => [[File:Petschaft Erasmus von Rotterdam Amerbach Kabinett HMB 1893-364 c7499.jpg|thumb|left|200px|Signet rings of Erasmus of Rotterdam: Amerbach Kabinett]] [1406] => Erasmus chose the Roman god of borders and boundaries [[Terminus (god)|Terminus]] as a personal symbol{{Cite book|last=Stein|first=Wilhelm|title=Holbein der Jüngere|publisher=Julius Bard Verlag|year=1929|location=Berlin|pages=78–79|language=de}} and had a [[Seal (emblem)|signet ring]] with a [[Herm (sculpture)|herm]] he thought depicted Terminus carved into a [[carnelian]]. The herm was presented to him in Rome by his student [[Alexander Stewart (archbishop of St Andrews)|Alexander Stewart]] and in reality depicted the Greek god [[Dionysus]].{{Cite book|last=Stein|first=Wilhelm|title=Holbein der Jüngere|publisher=Julius Bard Verlag|year=1929|location=Berlin|pages=78–79}} The ring was also depicted in a portrait of his by the Flemish painter [[Quentin Matsys]]. [1407] => {{clear}} [1408] => [[File:Hans Holbein the Younger. Terminus, the Device of Erasmus (1532).jpg|thumb|200px|left|Painting of Erasmus as [[Terminus (god)|Terminus]] by [[Hans Holbein the Younger]]{{Cite web|date=2018-10-31|title=Terminus, the Device of Erasmus|url=https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1971.166|access-date=2022-01-09|website=[[Cleveland Museum of Art]]|language=en}}]] [1409] => The herm became part of the Erasmus branding at Froben, and is on his tombstone.{{rp|215}} In the early 1530s, Erasmus was portrayed as Terminus by Hans Holbein the Younger. [1410] => {{clear}} [1411] => [[File:Quinten Metsys (Massijs), bronze medal of 105 mm, commissioned in 1519 by Desiderius Erasmus.jpg|thumb|left|200px|Quinten Metsys (Massijs), medal commissioned by Desiderius Erasmus. 1519, bronze, 105 mm]] [1412] => He chose ''{{lang|la|Concedo Nulli}}'' (Lat. ''I concede to no-one'') as his personal motto.{{Cite web |date=2018-10-31 |title=Terminus, the Device of Erasmus |url=https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1971.166 |access-date=2022-01-09 |website=[[Cleveland Museum of Art]] |language=en}} The obverse of the medal by Quintin Matsys featured the Terminus herm. Mottoes on medals, along the circumference, included "A better picture of Erasmus is shown in his writing",{{cite book |last1=Papy |first1=Jan |title=Erasmus, Europe and Cosmopolitanism: the Humanist Image and Message in his Letters |url=https://www.academia.edu/9168088}} and "Contemplate the end of a long life" and [[Horace]]'s "Death is the ultimate boundary of things,"{{cite journal |last1=Panofsky |first1=Erwin |title=Erasmus and the Visual Arts |journal=Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes |date=1969 |volume=32 |pages=200–227 |doi=10.2307/750613 |jstor=750613 |s2cid=192267401 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/750613 |issn=0075-4390}}{{rp|215}} which re-casts the motto as a ''[[memento mori]]''. [1413] => [1414] => {{clear}} [1415] => [1416] => ===Representations=== [1417] => [[File:Erasmus Duerer VandA E.4621-1910.jpg|upright|thumb|200px|Portrait of Desiderius Erasmus by [[Albrecht Dürer]], 1526, engraved in [[Nuremberg]], Germany]] [1418] => [[File:Fotothek df tg 0004079 Münze ^ Gedenkmünze ^ Schaumünze ^ Medaille ^ Mythologie.jpg|thumb|200px|Commemorative coins or medals of Erasmus by Göbel, Georg Wilhelm (1790)]] [1419] => {{Main| Portrait of Erasmus of Rotterdam}} [1420] => Erasmus frequently gifted portraits and medals with his image to friends and patrons. [1421] => * [[Hans Holbein the Younger|Hans Holbein]] painted him at least three times and perhaps as many as seven, some of the Holbein portraits of Erasmus surviving only in copies by other artists. Holbein's three profile portraits – two (nearly identical) profile portraits and one three-quarters-view portrait – were all painted in the same year, 1523. Erasmus used the Holbein portraits as gifts for his friends in England, such as [[William Warham]], the Archbishop of Canterbury. (Writing in a letter to Warham regarding the gift portrait, Erasmus quipped that "he might have something of Erasmus should God call him from this place.") Erasmus spoke favourably of Holbein as an artist and person but was later critical, accusing him of sponging off various patrons whom Erasmus had recommended, for purposes more of monetary gain than artistic endeavor. There were scores of copies of these portraits made in Erasmus' time.{{cite web |title=File:Desiderius Erasmus, after Hans Holbein the Younger |url=https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Desiderius_Erasmus,_after_Hans_Holbein_the_Younger.jpg |website=commons.wikimedia.org |language=en}} Holbein's 1532 profile woodcut was particularly lauded by those who knew Erasmus.{{rp|129}} [1422] => * [[Albrecht Dürer]] also produced portraits of Erasmus, whom he met three times, in the form of an [[engraving]] of 1526 and a preliminary charcoal sketch. Concerning the former Erasmus was unimpressed, declaring it an unfavorable likeness of him, perhaps because around 1525 he was suffering severely from kidney stones.{{cite journal |last1=Kaminska |first1=Barbara A. |title="But for the Voice, the Likeness is Alive": Portraits of Erasmus of Rotterdam and Their Reception among Renaissance Humanists |url=https://www.academia.edu/44379289}} in {{cite book |last1=Borusowski |first1=Piotr |title=Ingenium et labor. Studia ofiarowane Profesorowi Antoniemu Ziembie z okazji 60. urodzin. |date=2020 |publisher=UNIWERSYTET WARSZAWSKI}}{{rp|129}} Nevertheless, Erasmus and Dürer maintained a close friendship, with Dürer going so far as to solicit Erasmus's support for the Lutheran cause, which Erasmus politely declined. Erasmus wrote a glowing [[encomium]] about the artist, likening him to famous Greek painter of antiquity [[Apelles]]. Erasmus was deeply affected by his death in 1528. [1423] => * [[Quentin Matsys]] produced the earliest known portraits of Erasmus, including an oil painting from life in 1517{{Cite web|title=Quinten Massys (1465/6-1530) - Desiderius Erasmus (1466-1536)|url=https://www.rct.uk/collection/405759/desiderius-erasmus-1466-1536|access-date=2022-01-15|website=www.rct.uk|language=en}} (which had to be delayed as Erasmus' pain distorted his face){{rp|131}} and a medal in 1519.Stein, Wilhelm (1929), p.78 [1424] => * In 1622, [[Hendrick de Keyser]] cast a [[statue of Erasmus]] in (gilt) bronze replacing an earlier stone version from 1557, itself replacing a wooden one of 1549, possibly a gift from the City of Basel. This was set up in the public square in Rotterdam, and today may be found outside the [[Grote of Sint-Laurenskerk (Rotterdam)|St. Lawrence Church]]. It is the oldest bronze statue in the Netherlands.{{cite web |last1=Giltaij |first1=Jeroen |title=Erasmus |url=https://www.sculptureinternationalrotterdam.nl/en/essays-en/erasmus/ |website=Sculpture International Rotterdam |access-date=7 March 2024 |date=12 May 2015}} [1425] => * In 1790, Georg Wilhelm Göbel struck commemorative medals.' [1426] => * Canterbury Cathedral, England has a statue of Erasmus on the North Face, placed in 1870. [1427] => * Actor [[Ken Bones]] portrays Erasmus in [[David Starkey]]'s 2009 documentary series ''[[Henry VIII: The Mind of a Tyrant]]'' [1428] => [1429] => === Exhumation === [1430] => In 1928, the site of Erasmus' grave was dug up, and a body identified in the bones and examined. In 1974, a body was dug up in a slightly different location, accompanied by an Erasmus medal. Both bodies have been claimed to be Erasmus'. However, it is possible neither is.{{cite journal |last1=Gleason |first1=John B. |title=The Allegation of Erasmus' Syphilis and the Question of His Burial Site |journal=Erasmus Studies |date=1 January 1990 |volume=10 |issue=1 |pages=122–139 |doi=10.1163/187492790X00085 |url=https://brill.com/view/journals/eras/10/1/article-p122_8.xml |access-date=19 July 2023 |language=en |issn=1874-9275}} [1431] => [1432] => {{clear}} [1433] => [1434] => ==Works== [1435] => The ''Catalogue of the Works of Erasmus'' (2023){{cite journal |last1=Tello |first1=Joan |title=Catalogue of the Works of Erasmus of Rotterdam |journal=A Companion to Erasmus |date=25 January 2023 |pages=225–344 |doi=10.1163/9789004539686_014|isbn=9789004539686 }} runs to 444 entries (120 pages), almost all from the latter half of his life. [1436] => [1437] => ===Complete editions=== [1438] => The ''Collected Works of Erasmus'' (or ''CWE'') is an 89-volume set{{cite web [1439] => | url = https://utorontopress.com/search-results/?series=collected-works-of-erasmus | title = Collected Works of Erasmus [1440] => | website = utorontopress.com | publisher = University of Toronto Press | access-date = 2024-03-30}} of English translations and commentary from the [[University of Toronto Press]]. As of May 2023, 66 of 89 volumes have been released.{{cite web |url=https://www.jstor.org/bookseries/10.3138/j.ctt7p13p?page=1 |url-status=dead |title=Collected Works of Erasmus |publisher=JSTOR |doi=10.3138/j.ctt7p13p |doi-broken-date=7 April 2024 |access-date=2024-03-30 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230614151840/https://www.jstor.org/bookseries/10.3138/j.ctt7p13p?page=1 |archive-date=2023-06-14}} [1441] => [1442] => The ''[http://www.unionacademique.org/en/projects/24/erasmi-opera-omnia Erasmi opera omni]'', known as the ''Amsterdam Edition'' or ''ASD'', is a 65 volume set of the original Latin works. As of 2022, 59 volumes have been [https://brill.com/display/serial/ASD released]. This set does not include the correspondence, which has been collected in a Latin edition by P.S. Allen. [1443] => [1444] => ===Letters=== [1445] => [[File:Erasmus, Letter to George, Duke of Saxony.jpg|thumb|200px|Erasmus, Letter to George, Duke of Saxony, (1524) giving Erasmus' view of Luther and the Reformation]] [1446] => {{main|List of Erasmus's correspondents}} [1447] => {{Blockquote|text=The best sources for the world of European [[Renaissance Humanism]] in the early sixteenth century is the correspondence of Erasmus. [1448] => |author=Froude [1449] => |title="Preface" [1450] => |source=''Life and Letters of Erasmus'' [1451] => }} [1452] => Erasmus wrote or answered up to 40 letters per day, usually waking early in the morning and writing them in his own hand. Over 3,000 letters exist for a 52-year period, including to and from most Western popes, emperors, kings and their staff, as well as to leading intellectuals, bishops, reformers, fans, friends, and enemies. [1453] => [1454] => His letters have been published in translation in the Complete Works of Erasmus. This has been accompanied by a three-volume reference book ''Contemporaries of Erasmus'' giving biographies of the over 1900 individuals he corresponded with or mentioned.{{cite book |title=Contemporaries of Erasmus: a biographical register of the Renaissance and Reformation ; volumes 1 - 3, A - Z |date=2003 |publisher=Univ. of Toronto Press |location=Toronto |isbn=9780802085771 |edition=Paperback, [Nachdr. der 3-bändigen Ausg. 1985 - 1987]}} [1455] => [1456] => His private letters were eventually written in the knowledge that they could be intercepted by hostile opponents; he revised and rewrote letters for publication; his letters have a high amount of accommodation of his correspondents' views and strong irony, and a tendency to muddy the waters where danger is involve. [1457] => [1458] => {{blockquote|"I have never censured anything but human superstition and abuses. I only wish that I could drag the universal church to where I was struggling to lead it, so that, throwing off superstition, hypocrisy, worldly attachments, and frivolous little questions, we would all serve the Lord with pure hearts, each in his own vocation."|source=Erasmus, Letter to Jean de Carondelet (1534){{cite journal |title=Letters 2803 to 2939. Part 2 |journal=The Correspondence of Erasmus |date=31 December 2020 |pages=151–302 |doi=10.3138/9781487532833-005|isbn=978-1-4875-3283-3 |s2cid=240975375 }}}} [1459] => [1460] => ===Religious and political=== [1461] => [[File:Erasmo de Róterdam (1528) Manual del caballero cristiano.png|thumb|200px|alt=Enchiridion militis Christiani (1503).|''[[Enchiridion militis Christiani]]'' (1503), Spanish translation]] [1462] => [[File:HolbeinErasmusFollymarginalia.jpg|upright|thumb|200px|Marginal drawing of Folly by Hans Holbein in the first edition of Erasmus's ''Praise of Folly'', 1515]] [1463] => [[File:Erasmus-crede-title.jpg|thumbnail|200px|''[[A Playne and Godly Exposition or Declaration of the Commune Crede]]'', 2nd edition, 1533, English translation of ''Symbolum apostolorum'']] [1464] => * ''[[Enchiridion militis Christiani|Handbook of a Christian Knight]] ({{lang-la|Enchiridion militis Christiani}})'' (1503) [1465] => * ''[[#Sileni Alcibiadis (1515)|The Silenus of Alcibiadis]] ({{lang-la|Sileni alcibiadis}}'' (1515) [1466] => * ''[[The Education of a Christian Prince]] ({{lang|la|Institutio principis Christiani}})'' (1516) [1467] => * ''The Quarrel of Peace'' (''{{lang-la|Querela pacis}}'') (1517) [1468] => ** (English translation{{cite web |last1=Erasmus |title=The Complaint of Peace |url=https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Complaint_of_Peace |website=Wikisource}}) [1469] => * ''On the Immense Mercy of God'' (''{{lang-la|De immensa misericordia dei}}'') (1524) [1470] => * ''[[De libero arbitrio diatribe sive collatio|On Free Will]]'' ({{lang-la|De libero arbitrio diatribe sive collatio}}) (1524) [1471] => * ''{{lang|la|Hyperaspistes}}'' 2 volumes (1526) [1472] => * ''The Institution of Christian Marriage'' (''{{lang-la|Institutio matrimonii}}'') (1526) [1473] => * ''Consultations on the War on the Turks'' (''{{lang-la|Consultatio de bello turcis inferendo}}'') (1530) [1474] => * ''On the Preparation for Death'' (''{{lang-la|De praeparatione ad mortem}}'') (1533) [1475] => * ''On the Apostles' Creed'' (''{{lang-la|Symbolum apostolorum}}'') [1476] => * ''[[Ecclesiastes of Erasmus|The Preacher]]'' ''({{lang-la|Ecclesiastes}})'' (1535) [1477] => [1478] => ===Comedy and satire=== [1479] => * ''[[The Praise of Folly]] ({{lang-el|Moriae encomium}} - {{lang-la|Stultitiae laus}})'' (1511) [1480] => ** (English translations{{cite web |last1=Erasmus |title=The Praise of Folly |url=https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Praise_of_Folly |website=Wikisource}}) [1481] => * Preface to Plutarch's ''How to tell a Flatterer from a Friend'' (1514) (Dedication to [[Henry VIII]]) [1482] => * ''[[Julius Excluded from Heaven]]'' (1514) (attrib.) [1483] => * ''[[Colloquies]] ({{lang|la|Colloquia}})'' (1518) [1484] => ** (English translation {{cite book |last1=Erasmus |title=Familiar Colloquies |url=https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Familiar_Colloquies |via=Wikisource}}) [1485] => * ''{{lang|la|[[Ciceronianus]]}}'' (1528) [1486] => [1487] => ===Culture and education=== [1488] => * ''[[Adagia|Adages]] ({{lang-la|Adagiorum collectanea}})'' (1500) all editions usually called ''Adagia'' [1489] => ** ''Three Thousand Adages'' (''{{lang-la|Adagiorum chilliades tres}}'') (1508) [1490] => ** ''Four Thousand Adages'' (''{{lang-la|Adagiorum ciliades quatuor}}'') (1520) [1491] => * ''On the Method of Study'' (''[[Latin]]'': ''De ratione studii'') (1511; 1512) [1492] => * ''[[Copia: Foundations of the Abundant Style|Foundations of the Abundant Style]] ({{lang-la|De utraque verborum ac rerum copia}})'' (1512) often called ''{{lang|la|De copia}}'' [1493] => * ''Introduction to the Eight Parts of Speech'' (''{{lang-la|De constructione octo partium prationis}}'') (1515) - Erasmus' version of [[William Lily (grammarian)|Lily's Grammar]], sometimes called ''{{lang|la|Brevissima Institutio}}'' [1494] => * ''Language, or the uses and abuses of language, a most useful book'', (''{{lang-la|Lingua, Sive, De Linguae usu atque abusu Liber utillissimus}}'') (1525) [1495] => * ''On the Correct Pronunciation of Latin and Greek'' (''{{lang-la|De recta Latini Graecique sermonis pronuntiatione}}'') (1528) [1496] => * ''On Early Liberal Education for Children'' (''{{lang-la|De pueris statim ac liberaliter instituendis}}'') (1529) [1497] => * ''[[On Civility in Children]] ({{lang-la|De civilitate morum puerilium}})'' (1530) [1498] => * ''{{lang|la|[[Apophthegmatum opus]]}}'' (1531) [1499] => ** includes ''{{lang|la|Opusculi plutarchi}}'' (c.1514) [1500] => *** includes ''How to tell a flatterer from a friend'' [1501] => [1502] => ===New Testament=== [1503] => The 1516 edition had Erasmus' corrected [[Vulgate]] Latin and Greek versions.{{cite journal |last1=Brown |first1=Andrew |title=The Date of Erasmus' Latin Translation of the New Testament |journal=Transactions of the Cambridge Bibliographical Society |volume=8 |issue=4 |date=1984 |pages=351–380 |jstor=41154623 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/41154623}} The subsequent revised editions had Erasmus' new Latin version and the Greek. The 1527 edition had both the Vulgate and Erasmus' new Latin with the Greek. These were accompanied by substantial annotations, methodological notes and paraphrases, in separate volumes. [1504] => [1505] => * ''{{lang|la|[[Novum Instrumentum omne]]}}'' (1516) [1506] => ** ''{{lang|la|[[Novum Instrumentum omne|Novum Testamentum omne]]}}'' (1519, 1522, 1527,1536) [1507] => * ''{{lang|la|In Novum Testamentum annotationes}}'' (1519, 1522, 1527,1535) [1508] => * ''[[Paraphrases of Erasmus]]'' (1517–1524) [1509] => ** ''[[The first tome or volume of the Paraphrase of Erasmus vpon the newe testamente]]'' (1548) [1510] => [1511] => ===Patristic and classical editions=== [1512] => [[File:Irenaeus Contra haereses 1526 title page.jpg|thumbnail|200px|The title page of the princeps edition of Irenaeus's Against heresies, which was published by Erasmus at Johannes Froben's, Basel, 1526.]] [1513] => Froben was keen to exploit Erasmus' name as a brand: for the patristic and classical editions that came out under his nameSome dates from {{cite book |last1=Bouyer |first1=Louis |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/cambridge-history-of-the-bible/erasmus-in-relation-to-the-medieval-biblical-tradition/FD0040B9E6CD586D88C6DA9D1A7BAC99 |title=Erasmus in Relation to the Medieval Biblical Tradition, Cambridge History of the Bible |date=1969 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=9780521290173 |series=The Cambridge History of the Bible |volume=2 |pages=492–506 |chapter=Erasmus in Relation to the Medieval Biblical Tradition |doi=10.1017/CHOL9780521042550.011 |access-date=23 July 2023}} and Schaff, ''History of the Christian Church'', ''op cit.''[https://ccel.org/ccel/schaff/hcc7/hcc7.ii.iv.xii.html?queryID=26857203&resultID=162373] Erasmus was variously commissioning editor, acquisitions editor, and supervising editor often working with others. He was usually the primary translator and contributed at least prefaces, notes and biographies.{{cite journal |last1=Visser |first1=Arnold |title=Thirtieth Annual Erasmus Birthday Lecture: Erasmus, the Church Fathers and the Ideological Implications of Philology |journal=Erasmus Society Yearbook |year=2011 |volume=31 |issue=December 2011 |pages=7–31 |doi=10.1163/027628511X597999}} [1514] => [1515] => * Complete Works of [[Jerome]], nine volumes (1516) with biography, ed. ii (1526), ed. iii (1537, posthumous) [1516] => * Complete Works of [[Cyprian]] (1520–21) [1517] => * ''Commentary on the Psalms'' [[Arnobius the Younger]] (1522) [1518] => * Complete Works of [[Hilary of Poitiers]] (1523) [1519] => * ''Against Heresies'', [[Irenaeus]] (1526) [1520] => * Complete Works of [[Ambrose]] (and [[Ambrosiaster]]), four volumes (1527) [1521] => * Origens ''Fragments on Matthew'' (1527) [1522] => * Works of [[Athanasius of Alexandria]] (1522–1527) [1523] => * ''On Grace'' (''{{lang|la|De gratia}}'' or ''{{lang-la|De gratia Dei et humanae mentis libero arbitrio opus insigne}}''){{cite journal |last1=Franceschini |first1=Chiara |title="Erasmus and Faustus of Riez's De gratia" |journal=Rivista di Storia del Cristianesimo |date=1 January 2014 |volume=XI |issue=2 |pages=367–390 |url=https://www.academia.edu/35244712 |access-date=23 March 2024}} [[Faustus of Riez]] (1528) [1524] => * Complete Works of [[Augustine]] (1528, 1529) [1525] => * Works of [[Lactantius]] (1529) [1526] => * [[Epiphanius of Salamis|Epiphanius]] (1529) [1527] => * Complete Works of [[John Chrysostom]], five volumes (1525–1530) with biography [1528] => * Works of [[Basil of Caesarea]] (1530) [1529] => * Homilies of [[Gregory of Nazianzus]] (1531) [1530] => * Complete Works of [[Origen]], two volumes (1536) with biography (posthumous) [1531] => [1532] => Late in his publishing career, Erasmus produced editions of two relatively obscure pre-scholastic but post-patristic writers: [1533] => [1534] => * ''On the sacrament of the Lord's body and blood'' (''{{lang-la|De sacramento corporis et sanguinis Domini}}'') [[Alger of Liège]] c.1111 (ed. 1530){{refn|group=note|According to philologist and Erasmus scholar Maria Fallica, "The edition...allows Erasmus to appropriate a moderate, orthodox, and Patristic intervention in the context of the medieval eucharistic controversy, which was particularly violent following the condemnation of Berengarius (d. 1088). Therefore, behind the mask of Alger, Erasmus was fighting the Swiss Reformers, who were styling themselves as modern followers of Berengarius and his symbolic Eucharistic theology. Moreover, through the edition of Alger, Erasmus can show himself as a fervent advocate of the Eucharistic real presence, in an alternative to the more recent and subtle scholastic speculation on the subject, which Erasmus had always opposed as too materialistic."(Publisher's English summary) {{cite book |last1=Fallica |first1=Maria |title=Un Erasmo medievale e cattolico. L'edizione di Algero di Liegi nel 1530 e l'interpretazione mistica della transustanziazione eucaristica |hdl=11573/1692740 |url=https://hdl.handle.net/11573/1692740}} in {{cite book |last1=Lettieri |first1=Gaetano |title=Erasmo libero |date=2023 |url=https://www.academia.edu/108496274}}}} [1535] => * Commentary on Psalms of [[Haymo of Halberstadt]] attrib. c.835 (ed. 1533) [1536] => [1537] => Classical writers whose works Erasmus translated or edited include [[Lucian]] (1506), [[Euripides]] (1508), [[Distichs of Cato|Pseudo-Cato]] (1513), [[Quintus Curtius Rufus|Curtius]] (1517), [[Suetonius]] (1518), [[Cicero]] (1523), [[Ovid]] and [[Prudentius]] (1524), [[Galen]] (1526), [[Seneca the Younger|Seneca]] (1515, 1528), [[Plutarch]] (1512–1531), [[Aristotle]] (1531, Introduction to edition of [[Simon Grynaeus]]), [[Demosthenes]] (1532), [[Terence]] (1532), [[Ptolemy]] (1533), as well as [[Livy]], [[Pliny the Younger|Pliny]], [[Libanius]], [[Galen]], [[Isocrates]] and [[Xenophon]]. Many of the ''{{lang|la|Adagia}}'' translate adages from ancient and classical sources, notably from [[Aesop]]; many of ''{{lang|el|Apophthegmata}}'' are from [[Platonists]] or [[Cynicism (philosophy)|Cynics]]. [1538] => [1539] => ==Endmatter== [1540] => ===Notes=== [1541] => {{reflist|group=note}} [1542] => {{reflist|group=n}} [1543] => [1544] => ===References=== [1545] => {{Reflist|30em}} [1546] => [1547] => ===Further reading=== [1548] => ====Biographies==== [1549] => * {{cite book |last1=Augustijn |first1=Cornelis |title=Erasmus: his life, works, and influence |date=1995 |publisher=Univ. of Toronto Press |location=Toronto |isbn=0802071775 |edition=Reprinted in paperback}} [1550] => * Barker, William (2022). ''Erasmus of Rotterdam: The Spirit of a Scholar.'' Reaktion Books [1551] => * {{cite book |last1=Bentley-Taylor |first1=David |title=My dear Erasmus: the forgotton reformer |date=2002 |publisher=Focus |location=Fearn |isbn=9781857926958}} [1552] => * Christ-von Wedel, Christine (2013). ''Erasmus of Rotterdam: Advocate of a New Christianity''. Toronto: University of Toronto Press [1553] => * {{cite book |last1=Dickens |first1=A. G. |last2=Jones |first2=Whitney R. D. |title=Erasmus: the reformer |date=2000 |publisher=Methuen |location=London |isbn=0413753301}} [1554] => * {{Cite book |title=Desiderius Erasmus of Rotterdam |last=Emerton |first=Ephraim |author-link=Ephraim Emerton |year=1899 |publisher=G.P. Putnam's Sons |location=New York |oclc= 312661 |url=https://archive.org/details/desideriuserasmu00emeriala }} [1555] => * {{cite book |last1=Froude |first1=James Anthony |title=Life and Letters of Erasmus: lectures delivered at Oxford 1893-4 |date=1894 |publisher=Scribner's Sons |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=/catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/001182282 |language=en |author1-link=James Anthony Froude }} [1556] => * {{cite book |last1=Halkin |first1=Leon E. |title=Erasmus: A Critical Biography |date=1994 |publisher=Wiley |isbn=978-0-631-19388-3 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-wIXPwAACAAJ |language=en |author1-link=Léon-Ernest Halkin }} [1557] => *{{cite book |last1=Huizinga |first1=Johan |last2=Flower |first2=Barbara |title=Erasmus and the Age of Reformation,with a Selection from the Letters of Erasmus |date=1952 |publisher=Harper Collins |url=https://www.gutenberg.org/files/22900/22900-h/22900-h.htm |author1-link=Johan Huizinga }} in series, ''Harper Torchbacks'', and also in ''The Cloister Library''. New York: Harper & Row, 1957. xiv, 266 pp [1558] => ** Dutch original by Huizinga (1924) [1559] => * {{cite book |last1=Jebb |first1=Richard Claverhouse |title=Erasmus |date=1897 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |author1-link=Richard Claverhouse Jebb }} [1560] => * Pennington, Arthur Robert (1875). [https://archive.org/details/lifeandcharacte00penngoog/page/n242 ''The Life and Character of Erasmus''], pp. 219. [1561] => * {{cite book |last1=Rummel |first1=Erika |title=Erasmus |date=2004 |publisher=Continuum |location=London |isbn=9780826491558}} [1562] => * [[James Tracy (historian)|Tracy]], James D. (1997). [http://content.cdlib.org/xtf/view?docId=ft5q2nb3vp&brand=eschol ''Erasmus of the Low Countries'']. Berkeley – Los Angeles – London: University of California Press [1563] => * [[Stefan Zweig|Zweig]], Stefan (1937). ''Erasmus of Rotterdam''. Translated by Eden and Cedar Paul. Garden City Publishing Co., Inc [1564] => [1565] => ====Topics==== [1566] => * {{cite book |title=Contemporaries of Erasmus: a biographical register of the Renaissance and Reformation ; volumes 1 - 3, A - Z |date=2003 |publisher=Univ. of Toronto Press |location=Toronto |isbn=9780802085771 |edition=Paperback, [Nachdr. der 3-bändigen Ausg. 1985 - 1987] |url=https://utorontopress.com/9780802085771/contemporaries-of-erasmus/ |language=en-CA}} [1567] => * Bietenholz, Peter G. (2009). ''Encounters with a Radical Erasmus. Erasmus' Work as a Source of Radical Thought in Early Modern Europe''. Toronto: University of Toronto Press [1568] => * [[Ron Dart|Dart]], Ron (2017). ''Erasmus: Wild Bird''. [1569] => * Dodds, Gregory D. (2010). ''Exploiting Erasmus: The Erasmian Legacy and Religious Change in Early Modern England''. Toronto: University of Toronto Press [1570] => * Furey, Constance M. (2009). ''Erasmus, Contarini, and the Religious Republic of Letters''. Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press [1571] => *Gulik, Egbertus van (2018). ''Erasmus and His Books''. Toronto: University of Toronto Press [1572] => * Payne, John B. (1970). ''Erasmus, His Theology of the Sacraments'', Research in Theology [1573] => * Martin, Terence J. (2016). ''[https://www.cuapress.org/9780813228099/truth-and-irony/ Truth and Irony - Philosophical Meditations on Erasmus]''. Catholic University of America Press [1574] => * MacPhail, Eric (ed) (2023). ''[https://brill.com/edcollbook/title/36025 A Companion to Erasmus]''. Leiden and Boston: Brill [1575] => * Massing, Michael (2022). ''[https://www.harpercollins.com/products/fatal-discord-michael-massing Fatal Discord - Erasmus, Luther, and the Fight for the Western Mind]''. HarperCollins [1576] => * McDonald, Grantley (2016). ''Biblical Criticism in Early Modern Europe: Erasmus, the Johannine Comma, and Trinitarian Debate''. Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press [1577] => * Ron, Nathan (2019). ''Erasmus and the “Other”: On Turks, Jews, and Indigenous Peoples''. Palgrave Macmillan Cham [1578] => * Ron, Nathan (2021). ''Erasmus: Intellectual of the 16th Century''. Palgrave Macmillan Cham [1579] => * Quinones, Ricardo J. (2010). ''Erasmus and Voltaire: Why They Still Matter''. University of Toronto Press, 240 pp. Draws parallels between the two thinkers as voices of moderation with relevance today. [1580] => * Winters, Adam. (2005). ''Erasmus' Doctrine of Free Will''. Jackson, TN: Union University Press. [1581] => [1582] => ==== Non-English ==== [1583] => * [[Marcel Bataillon|Bataillon, Marcel]] (1937) ''Erasme et l'Espagne'' , Librairie Droz (1998) ISBN 2-600-00510-2 [1584] => ** ''Erasmo y España: Estudios Sobre la Historia Espiritual del Siglo XVI'' (1950), Fondo de Cultura Económica (1997) ISBN 968-16-1069-5 [1585] => * Garcia-Villoslada, Ricardo (1965) '''Loyola y Erasmo'', Taurus Ediciones, Madrid, Spain. [1586] => * Lorenzo Cortesi (2012) ''Esortazione alla filosofia. La Paraclesis di Erasmo da Rotterdam'', Ravenna, SBC Edizioni, {{ISBN|978-88-6347-271-4}} [1587] => * Pep Mayolas (2014) ''Erasme i la construcció catalana d'Espanya'', Barcelona, Llibres de l'Índex [1588] => [1589] => ====Primary sources==== [1590] => * ''Collected Works of Erasmus'' (U of Toronto Press, 1974–2023). 84/86 volumes published as of mid 2023; see [https://utorontopress.com/search-results/?series=collected-works-of-erasmus U. Toronto Press], in English translation [1591] => * ''The Correspondence of Erasmus'' (U of Toronto Press, 1975–2023), 21/21 volumes down to 1536 are published [1592] => [1593] => Also: [1594] => * {{cite journal |last1=Rabil |first1=Albert |title=Erasmus: Recent Critical Editions and Translations |journal=Renaissance Quarterly |date=2001 |volume=54 |issue=1 |pages=246–251 |doi=10.2307/1262226 |jstor=1262226 |s2cid=163450283 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/1262226 |issn=0034-4338}} Discusses both the Toronto translation and the entirely separate Latin edition published in Amsterdam since 1969 [1595] => [1596] => ===External links=== [1597] => {{wikiquote}} [1598] => {{commons category|Desiderius Erasmus}} [1599] => {{wikisource author}} [1600] => * {{SEP|erasmus|Desiderius Erasmus}} [1601] => * {{IEP|erasmus|Desiderius Erasmus}} [1602] => * "''[https://web.archive.org/web/20100613002254/http://newadvent.org/cathen/05510b.htm Desiderius Erasmus]''" entry in Catholic Encyclopedia, 1909 by Joseph Sauer [1603] => * {{Gutenberg author |id=3026}} [1604] => * {{Internet Archive author |sname=Erasmus}} [1605] => [1606] => ====Non-English==== [1607] => * [http://magistervenemus.wordpress.com/opera-omnia-erasmi/ Index of Erasmus's Opera Omnia (Latin)] [1608] => * [https://web.archive.org/web/20100531204853/http://www.thelatinlibrary.com/erasmus.html Opera] (Latin Library) [1609] => * {{DNB-Portal|118530666}} [1610] => * {{DDB|Person|118530666}} [1611] => * {{Helveticat}} [1612] => [1613] => ====Media==== [1614] => * {{Librivox author |id=5005}} [1615] => * [http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01bmlsy In Our Time podcast] from BBC Radio 4 with [[Melvyn Bragg]], and guests [[Diarmaid MacCulloch]], [[Eamon Duffy]], and Jill Kraye. [1616] => * Desiderius Erasmus: ''"War is sweet to those who have no experience of it …" - Protest against Violence and War'' ( Publication series: Exhibitions on the History of Nonviolent Resistance, No. 1, Editors: [[:de:Christian Bartolf|Christian Bartolf]], Dominique Miething). Berlin: Freie Universität Berlin, 2022. [https://refubium.fu-berlin.de/bitstream/handle/fub188/35224/Erasmus%20-%20'War%20is%20sweet%20to%20those%20who%20have%20no%20experience%20of%20it%20%E2%80%A6'%20-%20Protest%20against%20Violence%20and%20War.pdf PDF] [1617] => * ''Sporen van Erasmus (Traces of Erasmus)'', documentary TV series, 5 episodes,{{cite web |title=Sporen van Erasmus |url=http://www.ngnprodukties.nl/index.php |website=www.ngnprodukties.nl |publisher=NGN produkties Amsterdam}} [1618] => [1619] => [1620] => {{Subject bar |portal1= Bible |portal2= Christianity |portal3= Catholicism}} [1621] => [1622] => {{Desiderius Erasmus}} [1623] => {{Martin Luther}} [1624] => {{philosophy of religion}} [1625] => {{Social and political philosophy}} [1626] => {{Catholic philosophy footer}} [1627] => {{History of Catholic theology}} [1628] => [1629] => {{Authority control}} [1630] => [1631] => {{DEFAULTSORT:Erasmus, Desiderius}} [1632] => [[Category:Desiderius Erasmus| ]] [1633] => [[Category:1460s births]] [1634] => [[Category:1536 deaths]] [1635] => [[Category:15th-century Christian biblical scholars]] [1636] => [[Category:15th-century writers in Latin]] [1637] => [[Category:15th-century Dutch philosophers]] [1638] => [[Category:16th-century Christian biblical scholars]] [1639] => [[Category:16th-century Dutch Roman Catholic priests]] [1640] => [[Category:16th-century writers in Latin]] [1641] => [[Category:16th-century Dutch philosophers]] [1642] => [[Category:Augustinian canons]] [1643] => [[Category:Catholic philosophers]] [1644] => [[Category:Former members of Catholic religious institutes]] [1645] => [[Category:Roman Catholic theologians]] [1646] => [[Category:Christian humanists]] [1647] => [[Category:Counter-Reformation]] [1648] => [[Category:Critics of the Catholic Church]] [1649] => [[Category:Historians of the Catholic Church]] [1650] => [[Category:Roman Catholic biblical scholars]] [1651] => [[Category:Dutch educators]] [1652] => [[Category:Dutch essayists]] [1653] => [[Category:Dutch expatriates in England]] [1654] => [[Category:Dutch expatriates in France]] [1655] => [[Category:Dutch Renaissance humanists]] [1656] => [[Category:Dutch rhetoricians]] [1657] => [[Category:Dutch satirists]] [1658] => [[Category:People from Gouda, South Holland]] [1659] => [[Category:Greek–Latin translators]] [1660] => [[Category:Translators of the Bible into Latin]] [1661] => [[Category:Proverb scholars]] [1662] => [[Category:Paremiologists]] [1663] => [[Category:Proto-Protestants]] [1664] => [[Category:Roman Catholic priests from the Habsburg Netherlands]] [1665] => [[Category:Alumni of Queens' College, Cambridge]] [1666] => [[Category:Academic staff of the Old University of Leuven]] [1667] => [[Category:Old University of Leuven alumni]] [1668] => [[Category:Lady Margaret's Professors of Divinity]] [1669] => [[Category:University of Paris alumni]] [1670] => [[Category:University of Turin alumni]] [1671] => [[Category:Writers from Rotterdam]] [1672] => [[Category:Burials at Basel Münster]] [1673] => [[Category:Deaths from dysentery]] [] => )
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Erasmus

Erasmus is a program initiated by the European Union (EU) that promotes exchange and cooperation in the field of higher education. The program is named after the famous Dutch philosopher Erasmus, who advocated for an open-minded and international education in the early 16th century.

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The program is named after the famous Dutch philosopher Erasmus, who advocated for an open-minded and international education in the early 16th century. The Erasmus program is designed to provide students, teachers, and other staff members with opportunities to study, train, or work abroad. It encourages mobility and cultural exchange among European countries, aiming to enhance language skills, cultural understanding, and the overall quality of higher education. Since its establishment in 1987, the Erasmus program has grown significantly and is now open to all EU member states, as well as countries participating in the EU's education and training programs. It operates under the framework of the newly introduced Erasmus+ program, which also includes initiatives for youth, vocational education, and sports. Under the Erasmus+ program, students can spend a period of study or work placement in another EU country, while teachers have the opportunity to teach abroad. The program provides financial support for participants, covering travel expenses, living costs, and language preparation. Institutions participating in Erasmus must hold an Erasmus Charter for Higher Education, ensuring their commitment to quality and innovation. In addition to the benefits for individuals, the Erasmus program also aims to foster cooperation between institutions, promote joint educational programs, and increase the recognition of studies and qualifications across Europe. The program encourages the development of strategic partnerships and innovative projects, facilitating collaboration between universities, businesses, and civil society organizations. Through the Erasmus program, millions of Europeans have had the chance to experience a different educational and cultural environment, broadening their horizons and developing skills that are highly valued in a globalized society.

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