Erasmus

Erasmus
Portrait of Erasmus of Rotterdam (1523) by Hans Holbein the Younger resting his hands on a Greek The Labours of Hercules,[1] "arguably…the most important portrait in England"
Born	c. 28 October 1466 Rotterdam or Gouda, Burgundian Netherlands, Holy Roman Empire
Died	12 July 1536(1536-07-12) (aged 69) Basel, Old Swiss Confederacy
Other names	Desiderius Erasmus Roterodamus Erasmus of Rotterdam
Known for	New Testament translations and exegesis, satire, pacificism, letters, best-selling author and editor, and influencer
Awards	Counsellor to Charles V. (hon.)
Academic background
Education	University of Paris Queens' College, Cambridge University of Turin (STD, 1506)
Influences	Jerome Origen Lorenzo Valla John Colet Thomas More Jean Vitrier John Fisher Thomas Linacre William Grocyn Aldus Manutius Cicero Socrates Augustine of Hippo Thomas Aquinas Giovanni Pico della Mirandola
Academic work
Era	Northern Renaissance
School or tradition	Renaissance humanism
Institutions	University of Cambridge University of Oxford University of Leuven
Main interests	Bonae litterae Philology Pastoral theology Patristics Catholic theology Political philosophy Philosophy of education Criticism of Protestantism
Notable works	The Praise of Folly Handbook of a Christian Knight On Civility in Children Julius Excluded The Education of a Christian Prince Novum Instrumentum omne On Free Will
Notable ideas	Philosophia Christi Biblical ad fontes Erasmian pronunciation Critique of just war theory accommodation Lectio difficilior potior
Influenced	Thomas More John Fisher John Colet Jacques Lefèvre d'Étaples Martin Luther Philip Melanchthon Huldrych Zwingli Johannes Oecolampadius William Tyndale John Calvin Jacob Milich Wolfgang Capito Damião de Góis Rabelais Miguel de Cervantes William Shakespeare John Milton Pius V Peter Canisius Robert Bellarmine Ignatius of Loyola Francis Xavier Charles Borromeo John of Ávila Teresa of Ávila Francis De Sales John Henry Newman Henri de Lubac
Ecclesiastical career
Religion	Christianity
Church	Catholic Church
Ordained	25 April 1492

Desiderius Erasmus Roterodamus (/ˌdɛzɪˈdɪəriəs ɪˈræzməs/; Dutch: [ˌdeːziˈdeːriʏs eˈrɑsmʏs]; English: Erasmus of Rotterdam or Erasmus; 28 October c.1466 – 12 July 1536) was a Dutch Christian humanist, Catholic theologian, educationalist, 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.^[2][3]

He was an important figure in classical scholarship who wrote in a spontaneous, copious and natural Latin style. As a Catholic priest developing humanist techniques for working on texts, he prepared important new Latin and Greek editions of the New Testament, which raised questions that would be influential in the Reformation and Counter-Reformation. He also wrote 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.

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 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 middle-road approach disappointed, and even angered, partisans in both camps.

Biography[edit]

Erasmus's almost 70 years can be divided into four quarters.

• First was his medieval Dutch childhood, ending with his being orphaned and impoverished;
• 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;
• 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
• fourth, his final more secure and settled Black Forest years as a prime influencer of European thought through his New Testament and increasing opposition to Lutheranism.

Early life[edit]

Desiderius Erasmus is reported to have been born in Rotterdam on 27 or 28 October ("the vigil of Simon and Jude")^[4] in the late-1460s. He was named^{[note 1]} after Erasmus of Formiae, whom Erasmus' father Gerard (Gerardus Helye)^[5] personally favored.^[6][7] Although associated closely with Rotterdam, he lived there for only four years, never to return afterwards.

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.^[8][9]: 8 (This article currently gives 1466 as the birth year.^[10][11] 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").^[12]

His parents could not be legally married: his father, Gerard, was a Catholic priest^[13] who may have spent up to six years in the 1450s or 60s in Italy as a scribe and scholar.^[14]: 196 His mother was Margaretha Rogerius (Latinized form of Dutch surname Rutgers),^[15] the daughter of a doctor from Zevenbergen. She may have been Gerard's housekeeper.^[13][16] 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 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.^[9] There were legal and social restrictions on the careers and opportunities open to the children of unwed parents.

Erasmus' own story, in the possibly forged 1524 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.^[17]: 89

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.^[5]

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,^[5] 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.^[18])

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 (St. Lebuin's Church).^[10] Towards the end of his stay there the curriculum was renewed by the new principal of the school, 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^[19] and this is where he began learning it.^[20] His education there ended when plague struck the city about 1483,^[21] 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^[9] he moved back to his patria (Rotterdam?)^[5] where he was supported by Berthe de Heyden,^[22] a compassionate widow.^[9]

In 1484, around the age 14 (or 17), he and his brother went to a cheaper^[23] grammar school or seminary at 's-Hertogenbosch run by the Brethren of the Common Life:^{[24][note 2]} Erasmus' Epistle to Grunnius satirizes them as the "Collationary Brethren"^[12] 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.^[10] The two brothers made an agreement that they would resist the clergy but attend the university;^[22] Erasmus longed to study in Italy, the birthplace of Latin, and have a degree from an Italian university.^[8]: 804 Instead, Peter left for the Augustinian canonry in Stein, which left Erasmus feeling betrayed.^[22] Around this time he wrote forlornly to his friend Elizabeth de Heyden "Shipwrecked am I, and lost, 'mid waters chill'."^[9] He suffered Quartan fever for over a year. Eventually Erasmus moved to the same abbey as a postulant in or before 1487,^[5] around the age of 16 (or 19.)^{[note 3]}

Vows, ordination and canonry experience[edit]

Poverty^[25] had forced Erasmus into the consecrated life, entering the novitiate in 1487^[26] at the canonry at rural Stein, very near Gouda, South Holland: the Chapter of Sion community largely borrowed its rule from the larger monkish Congregation of Windesheim.^{[note 4]} In 1488–1490, the surrounding region was plundered badly by armies fighting the Jonker Fransen war of succession and then suffered a famine.^[8]: 759 Erasmus professed his vows as a Canon Regular of St. Augustine^{[note 5]} there in late 1488 at age 19 (or 22).^[26] 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."^[30] According to one Catholic biographer, Erasmus had a spiritual awakening at the monastery.^[31]

Certain abuses in religious orders 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.^[27]: 439

While at Stein, 18-(or 21-)year-old Erasmus fell in unrequited love, forming what he called a "passionate attachment" (Latin: fervidos amores), with a fellow canon, Servatius Rogerus,^{[note 6]} and wrote a series of love letters^{[note 7][33]} in which he called Rogerus "half my soul",^{[note 8]} 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 then? Why, that you love him who loves you."^{[34][note 9]} 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,^{[note 10]} such as with More, Colet, and Ammonio.^{[note 11]} No mentions or sexual accusations were ever made of Erasmus during his lifetime. His works notably praise moderate sexual desire in marriage between men and women.^[35]

In 1493, his Prior arranged for him to leave the Stein house^[38] and take up the post of Latin Secretary to the ambitious Bishop of Cambrai, Henry of Bergen, on account of his great skill in Latin and his reputation as a man of letters.^{[39][note 13]}

He was ordained to the Catholic priesthood either on 25 April 1492,^[25] or 25 April 1495, at age 25 (or 28.)^{[note 14]} Either way, he did not actively work as a choir priest for very long,^[41] though his many works on confession and penance suggests experience of dispensing them.

From 1500, he avoided returning to the canonry at Stein even insisting the diet and hours would kill him,^{[note 15]} 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 canonry^{[note 16]} ended up with by far the largest collection of Erasmus' publications in the Gouda region.^[42]

In 1505 Pope Julius II granted a dispensation from the vow of poverty to the extent of allowing Erasmus to hold certain benefices, and from the control and habit of his order, though he remained a priest and, formally, an Augustinian canon regular^{[note 17]} the rest his life.^[27] In 1517 Pope Leo X granted legal dispensations for Erasmus' defects of natality^{[note 18]} and confirmed the previous dispensation, allowing the 48-(or 51-)year-old his independence^[43] but still, as a canon, capable of holding office as a prior or abbot.^[27]

Many of Erasmus' convictions seem to spring from his early biography: esteem for the married state and appropriate marriages, support for priestly marriage, concern for improving marriage prospects for females, opposition to inconsiderate rules notably institutional dietary rules, a desire to make education engaging for the participants, interest in classical languages, horror of poverty and spiritual hopelessness, distaste for friars begging when they could study or work, unwillingness to be in the control of authorities, laicism, the need for those in authority to act in the best interest of their charges, a prizing of mercy and peace, an anger over unnecessary war especially between avaricious princes, an awareness of mortality, etc.

Travels[edit]

Cities and Routes of Erasmus
Oxford, Cambridge London Reading Canterbury Deventer Woerden Calais Stein, Gouda Rotterdam St Omer 's-Hertogenbosch Paris, Cambrai Brussels, Antwerp Orléans Louvain Turin Cologne Bologna Mainz Strasbourg Florence Freiburg im Breisgau Sienna, Padua Basel Rome, Venice Konstanz Cumae
Green: early life Dark circles: residence Thin line: Alpine crossing Blue lines: Rhine and English Channel

Erasmus traveled widely and regularly, for reasons of poverty, "escape" from his Stein canonry (to Cambrai), education (to Paris, Turin), escape from the sweating sickness plague (to Orléans), employment (to England), searching libraries for manuscripts, writing (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^[44]

Paris[edit]

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,^{[note 19]} under the direction of the ascetic Jan Standonck, of whose rigors he complained.^[45] The university was then the chief seat of Scholastic learning but already coming under the influence of Renaissance humanism.^[46] For instance, Erasmus became an intimate friend of an Italian humanist Publio Fausto Andrelini, poet and "professor of humanity" in Paris.^[47]

During this time, Erasmus developed a deep aversion to exclusive or excessive Aristotelianism and Scholasticism^[48] and started finding work as a tutor/chaperone to visiting English and Scottish aristocrats.

England[edit]

Erasmus stayed in England at least three times.^{[note 20]} In between he had periods studying in Paris, Orléans, Leuven and other cities.

First visit - 1499-1500[edit]

In 1499 he was invited to England by William Blount, 4th Baron Mountjoy, who offered to accompany him on his trip to England.^[50] 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.

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.^[50] Other distinctive features of Colet's thought that may have influenced Erasmus are his pacifism,^[51] reform-mindedness,^[52] anti-Scholasticism and pastoral esteem for the sacrament of Confession.^[53]: 94

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.^[54]: 518

Erasmus also became 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,^[55][56] and whose intellect had been developed by his powerful patron Cardinal John Morton (d. 1500) who had famously attempted reforms of English monasteries.^[57]

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.

Second visit - 1505-1506[edit]

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.^[49]

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.^[58] In England Erasmus was approached with prominent offices but he declined them all, until the King himself offered his support.^[58] He was inclined, but eventually did not accept and longed for a stay in Italy.^[58]

Third visit - 1510-1515[edit]

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.

After his glorious reception in Italy, Erasmus had returned broke and jobless,^{[note 21]} 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;^{[note 11]} 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.^{[note 22]}

He assisted his friend John Colet by authoring Greek textbooks and securing members of staff for the newly established St Paul's School^[60] and was in contact when Colet gave his notorious 1512 Convocation sermon which called for a reformation of ecclesiastical affairs.^{[61]: 230–250} At Colet's instigation, Erasmus started work on De copia.

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.^{[49][note 23]}

Erasmus mainly stayed at Queens' College while lecturing at the university,^[63] between 1511 and 1515.^{[note 24]} Erasmus' rooms were located in the "I" staircase of Old Court.^[64] 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.^[65]

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.^[66] He complained that Queens' College could not supply him with enough decent wine^{[note 25]} (wine was the Renaissance medicine for gallstones, from which Erasmus suffered).^[67] As Queens' was an unusually humanist-leaning institution in the 16th century, 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.^[68]

By this time More was a judge on the poorman's equity court (Master of Requests) and a Privy Counsellor.

France and Brabant[edit]

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,^{[53]: 94, 95} ceremonialism^{[note 26]} and fasting^{[note 27]} in a kind of conversion experience,^{[14]: 213, 219} and introduced him to Origen.^[70]

In 1502, Erasmus went to Brabant, ultimately to the university at Louvain, then back to Paris in 1504.

Italy[edit]

In 1506 he was able to accompany and tutor the sons of the personal physician of the English King through Italy to Bologna.^[58]

His discovery 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.^[71]

In 1506 they passed through Turin and he arranged to be awarded the degree of Doctor of Sacred Theology (Sacra Theologia)^[72]: 638 from the University of Turin per saltum^[58] 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.^[58]

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,^[73] and was an honorary member of the graecophone Aldine "New Academy" (Greek: Neakadêmia (Νεακαδημία)).^[74] 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.^[30]

In 1507, according to his letters, he studied advanced Greek in Padua with the Venetian natural philosopher, Giulio Camillo.^[75] He found employment tutoring and escorting Scottish nobleman Alexander Stewart, the 24-year old Archbishop of St Andrews, through Padua, Florence, and Siena^{[note 28]} 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.

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.^[77] On his trip back over the Alps, down the Rhein, to England, Erasmus mentally composed The Praise of Folly.

Brabant (Flanders)[edit]

His residence at Leuven, where he lectured at the University, exposed Erasmus to much criticism from those ascetics, academics and clerics hostile to the principles of literary and religious reform to which he was devoting his life.^[78] In 1514, en route to Basel, he made the acquaintance of Hermannus Buschius, Ulrich von Hutten and Johann Reuchlin who introduced him to the Hebrew language in Mainz.^[79] In 1514, he suffered a fall from his horse and injured his back.

Erasmus may have made several other short visits to England or English territory while living in Brabant.^[49] 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 (pub. 1516) with Erasmus' encouragement,^{[note 29]} Erasmus editing and perhaps even contributing fragments.^[82] However, in 1517, his great friend Ammonio died in England of the Sweating Sickness.

Erasmus had accepted an honorary position as a Councillor to Charles V with an annuity of 200 guilders,^[83] and tutored his brother, the teenage future Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand of Hapsburg. At this time he wrote The Education of a Christian Prince (Institutio principis Christiani).

In 1517, he supported the foundation at the university of the Collegium Trilingue for the study of Hebrew, Latin, and Greek^{[84]: s1.14.14}—after the model of Cisneros' College of the Three Languages at the University of Alcalá—financed by his late friend Hieronymus van Busleyden's will.^[85]

In 1520 he was present at the Field of the Cloth of Gold with Guillaume Budé, probably his last meetings with Thomas More^[86] and William Warham. His friends and former students and old correspondents were the incoming political elite, and he had risen with them.^{[note 30]}

He stayed in various locations including Anderlecht (near Brussels) in the Summer of 1521.^[87]

Basel[edit]

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' godson) who together published over 200 works with Erasmus,^[89] working with expert scholar-correctors who went on to illustrious careers.^[88]

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).^[90] 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;^[88]: 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.^{[note 31]}

In 1521 he settled in Basel.^[91] He was weary of the controversies and hostility at Louvain, and feared being dragged further into the Lutheran controversy.^[92] He agreed to be the Froben press' literary superintendent writing dedications and prefaces^[30] for an annuity and profit share.^[62] Apart from Froben's production team, he had his own household^{[note 32]}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.^[94] 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.^[95]

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 testamentum omne and pirated individually throughout Europe— then finally his amplified Paraphrases.

In 1522, Erasmus' compatriot, former teacher (c. 1502) and friend from University of Louvain unexpectedly became Pope Adrian VI,^{[note 33]} 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.^[97]

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).^{[note 34]}

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.^[98]: 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 Sorbonne theologians.

Freiburg[edit]

Following iconoclastic rioting in 1529 led by Œcolampadius his former assistant,^{[note 35]} the city of Basel definitely adopted the Reformation, and banned the Catholic mass on April 1, 1529.^[99] 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, Archduke Ferdinand of Austria,^[14]: 210 staying for two years on the top floor of the Whale House,^[100] then buying and refurbishing a house of his own,^{[note 36]} where he took in scholar/assistants as table-boarders^[101] such as Cornelius Grapheus' friend Damião de Góis, some of them fleeing persecution.

Despite increasing frailty^{[note 37]} 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,^[98] worked on his lobbying on the plight of the Sámi in Sweden and the Ethiopian church, and stimulated^[103]: 82 Erasmus' increasing awareness of foreign missions.^{[note 38]}

There are no extant letters between More and Erasmus from the start of More's period as Chancellor until his resignation (1529–1523), almost to the day. Erasmus wrote several important non-political works under the surprising patronage of 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.^{[105][note 39]}

Fates of Friends[edit]

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.^[106]: 80

There was a generational change in the Catholic hierarchy. In 1530, the reforming French bishop Guillaume Briçonnet died. In 1532 his beloved long-time mentor English Primate Warham died of old age,^{[note 40]} as did reforming cardinal Giles of Viterbo and Swiss bishop Hugo von Hohenlandenberg. In 1534 his distrusted protector Clement IV died, his recent Italian ally Cardinal Cajetan died, and his old ally Cardinal Campeggio retired.

As more friends died (in 1533, his friend Pieter Gillis; in 1534, 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.^{[note 41]}

In 1535, Erasmus' friends Thomas More, Bishop John Fisher and Brigittine Richard Reynolds^{[note 42]} were executed as pro-Rome traitors by Henry VIII, who Erasmus and More had first met as a boy. Despite illness Erasmus wrote the first biography of More (and Fisher), the short, anonymous Expositio Fidelis, which Froben published, at the instigation of de Góis.^[98]

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.

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,^[108] was later imprisoned in the Tower of London for five years under Edward VI for impeding Protestantism.^{[note 43]} Damião de Góis was tried before the Portuguese Inquisition at age 72,^[98] detained almost incommunicado, finally exiled to a monastery, and on release perhaps murdered.^[110] His amanuensis Gilbert Cousin died in prison at age 66, shortly after being arrested on the personal order of Pope Pius V.^[94]

Death in Basel[edit]

When his strength began to fail, he finally decided to accept an invitation by 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 Brabant. In 1535, he moved back to the Froben compound in Basel in preparation (Œcolampadius having died, and private practice of his religion now possible) and saw his last major works such as Ecclesiastes through publication, though he grew more frail. On July 12, 1536, he died at an attack of dysentery.^[111]

He had remained loyal to Roman Catholicism,^[112] but biographers have disagreed whether to treat him as an insider or an outsider.^{[note 44]}

He may not have received or had the opportunity to receive the last rites of the Catholic Church;^{[note 45]} the contemporary reports of his death do not mention whether he asked for a Catholic priest or not,^{[note 46]} if any were secretly or privately in Basel.

His last words, as recorded by his friend and biographer Beatus Rhenanus, were apparently "Dear God" (Dutch: Lieve God).^[114] 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.^[115]

As his heir he instated Bonifacius Amerbach to give seed money^{[note 47]} to students and the needy;^{[note 48]} 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.^[116][117] 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.^[118]

Thought and views[edit]

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"^[119] "In all spheres, his outlook was essentially pastoral."^[14]: 225

Erasmus has been called a seminal rather than a consistent or systematic thinker,^[120] notably averse to over-extending from the specific to the general; who nevertheless should be taken very seriously as a pastoral^{[note 49]} and rhetorical theologian, with a philological and historical approach—rather than a metaphysical approach—to interpreting Scripture^{[122][note 50]} and interested in the literal and tropological senses.^[14]: 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."^[123]

A theologian has written of "Erasmus’ preparedness completely to satisfy no-one but himself."^[124] He has been called moderate, judicious and constructive even when being critical or when mocking extremes.^{[125][note 51]}

Pacifism[edit]

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:^[126] "the sum and summary of our religion is peace and unanimity" ^{[note 52]} At the Nativity of Jesus "the angels sang not the glories of war, nor a song of triumph, but a hymn of peace.":^[127]

He (Christ) conquered by gentleness; He conquered by kindness; he conquered by truth itself

— Method of True Theology, 4 ^{[note 53]: 570}

Erasmus was not an absolute Pacifist but promoted political Pacificism and religious Irenicism.^[128] 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,^{[note 54]} in an as non-excluding way as possible, including by the preferably-minimal development of doctrine.

In the latter, Lady Peace insists on peace as the crux of Christian life and for understanding Christ:

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.

— The Complaint of Peace^[129]

A historian has called him "The 16th Century's Pioneer of Peace Education and a Culture of Peace".^{[note 55]}

War[edit]

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" (Dulce bellum inexpertis from Pindar's Greek.)^{[note 56]}

He promoted and was present at the Field of Cloth of Gold,^[131] and his wide-ranging correspondence frequently related to issues of peacemaking.^{[note 57]} He saw a key role of the Church in peacemaking by arbitration,^[133] and the office of the Pope was necessary to reign in tyrannical princes and bishops.^[30]: 195

He questioned the practical usefulness and abuses^{[note 58]} 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."^[134] In his Adages he discusses (common translation) "A disadvantageous peace is better than a just war", which owes to Cicero and John Colet's "Better an unjust peace than the justest war."

Erasmus was extremely critical of the warlike way of important European princes of his era, including some princes of the church.^{[note 59]} 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".^{[84]: 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, whom Erasmus blamed for allegedly preventing the Netherlands from signing a peace treaty with Guelders^[135] and other schemes to cause wars in order to extract money from his subjects.^{[note 60]}

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.^[103]: 75

Christian religious toleration[edit]

He referred to his irenical disposition in the Preface to 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 from what was uncontentiously explicit in the New Testament or absolutely mandated by Church teaching.^[136] Concord demanded unity and assent: Erasmus was anti-sectarian^{[note 61]} as well as non-sectarian.^[137] To follow the law of love, our intellects must be humble and friendly when making any assertions: he called contention "earthly, beastly, demonic"^[138]: 739 and a good-enough reason to reject a teacher or their followers. In Melancthon's view, Erasmus taught charity not faith.^[139]: 10

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."^[140]

Erasmus' pacificism included a particular dislike for sedition, which caused warfare:

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.

— Letter to Martin Bucer^[141]

Erasmus had been involved in early attempts to protect Luther and his sympathisers from charges of heresy. Erasmus wrote 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,^[142] 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."^[143] The Church has the duty to protect believers and convert or heal heretics; he invoked Jesus' parable of the wheat and tares.^[14]: 200

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 Donatists: 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.^[144] Despite these concessions to state power, he suggested that religious persecution could still be challenged as inexpedient (ineffective).^[145]

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]}

Jews and Turks[edit]

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 public policy debate on war with the Ottoman Empire, which was then invading Western Europe, notably in his book On the war against the Turks (1530), with Pope Leo X promoting going on the offensive with a new crusade.^{[note 62]}

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 aggressive warfare against the Ottoman threat, reforms which might themselves, if sincere, prevent both the internecine and foreign warfare.^[103]

In common with his times,^[146] Erasmus regarded the Jewish and Islamic religions as Christian heresies rather than separate religions, using the inclusive term half-Christian for the latter. However, there is a wide range of scholarly opinion on the extent and nature of antisemitic and anti-Moslem prejudice in his writings: Erasmus scholar Shimon Markish wrote that the charge of antisemitism could not be sustained in Erasmus' public writings,^[147] however historian Nathan Ron has found his writing to be harsh and racial in its implications, with contempt and hostility to Islam.^[148] Biographer James Tracy sees an anti-semitic edge in Erasmus' comments against Johannes Pfefferkorn in the Ruechlin affair, which expresses Erasmus' general "suspicion of those who, behind the scenes, manipulate influence and opinion for nefarious ends."^{[note 63]}

Erasmus was not vehemently antisemitic in the way of the later post-Catholic 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"^{[note 64]} however Markish suggests that it is probable Erasmus never actually encountered a (practicing) Jew.^{[149][note 65]}

Unusually for a Christian theologian of any time, he perceived and championed strong Hellenistic rather than exclusively Hebraic influences on the intellectual milieux of Jesus, Paul and the early church.^{[note 66]}

Interpretation caveats: analogy, irony, foils[edit]

• The picture is complicated because when Erasmus wrote of Judaism, he frequently was not referring to contemporary Jews but allegorically, by analogy with Second Temple Judaism, to Christians of his time who mistakenly promoted external ritualism over interior piety,^{[note 67]} notably in the monastic lifestyle.^{[note 68]} 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.^{[note 69]}
• Erasmus often wrote in a highly ironical idiom,^[119] especially in his letters,^{[note 70]} which makes them prone to different interpretations when taken literally rather than ironically.^{[note 71]} 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.^[95]: 27
• 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 against which the failures of Christian culture can be exposed and criticized."^[152] In de bello Turcico, Erasmus allegorizes that we should "kill the Turk, not the man."^{[note 72]}

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.^[153] 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.

Domestic and community peace[edit]

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."^[154]

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."^{[155]: 4:43}

Religious reform[edit]

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Erasmus expressed much of his reform program in terms of the proper attitude towards the sacraments, and their ramifications:^[156] notably for the underappreciated sacraments of Baptism and Marriage (see On the Institution of Christian Marriage) considered as vocations more than events; and for the mysterious Eucharist, pragmatic Confession, the dangerous Last Rites (writing On the Preparation for Death),^{[note 73]} and the pastoral Holy Orders (see Ecclesiastes.)^[157] Historians have noted that Erasmus commended the benefits of immersive, docile scripture-reading in sacramental terms.^{[note 74]}

Anti-fraternalism[edit]

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:^[159]: 669 in the Enchiridion he controversially put it "Monkishness is not piety."^{[note 75]} At this time, it was better to live as "a monk in the world" than in the monastery.^{[note 76]}

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, crime^[161] 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.

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.^[162]

These ideas widely influenced his generation of humanists, both Catholic and Protestant,^[163]: 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.^[30]

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.

Catholic reform[edit]

The Protestant Reformation began in the year following the publication of his pathbreaking edition of the New Testament in Latin and Greek (1516). The issues between the reforming and reactionary tendencies of the church, from which Protestantism later emerged, had become so clear that many intellectuals and churchmen could not escape the summons to join the debate.

According to historian C. Scott Dixon, Erasmus' not only criticized church failings but questioned many of his Church's basic teachings;^{[note 77]} however, according to biographer Erika Rummel, "Erasmus was aiming at the correction of abuses rather than at doctrinal innovation or institutional change."^{[note 78]}

In theologian Louis Bouyer's interpretation^[123] 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..."^{[note 79]}

Erasmus, at the height of his literary fame, was called upon to take one side, but partisanship was foreign to his beliefs, his nature and his habits. Despite all his criticism of clerical corruption and abuses within the Western Church,^{[note 80]} 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 offshoots.^[112]

"I have constantly declared, in countless letters, booklets, and personal statements, that I do not want to be involved with either party."

— Erasmus, Spongia (1523)

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.^[165]

Disagreement with Luther[edit]

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.

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,^[166] human transformation over reformation, congregation over church, mystery over sacrament, etc. In Erasmus' view, they went too far and irresponsibly fomented bloodshed.

Noting Luther's criticisms of corruption in the Church, Erasmus (before Luther's On the Babylonian Captivity of the Church (1520))^[167] 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."^[168] Behind the scenes Erasmus forbade his publisher Froben from handling the works of Luther^[88]: 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."^[169]

Luther hoped for his cooperation in a work which seemed only the natural outcome of Erasmus' own,^{[note 81]} 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 bonae litterae^{[note 82][170]} 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.

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:

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.^[171]

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."^[172]: 86

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,^{[note 83]} which he regarded as peacemaking accommodation:

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.

— "On Free Will"^[168]

Dispute on free will[edit]

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^[173] on how to respond with proper moderation^[174] without making the situation worse for all, especially for the humanist reform agenda. He eventually chose a 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."

The publication of his brief book On Free Will initiated what has been called "The greatest debate of that era" ^[175] which still has ramifications today.^[176] 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.

Luther responded with On the Bondage of the Will (De servo arbitrio) (1525).

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:

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^[177] you say one thing in the beginning and something else later on, recanting what you said before.

— Hyperaspistes I^[178]

Continuing his chastisement of Luther – and undoubtedly put off by the notion of there being "no pure interpretation of Scripture anywhere but in Wittenberg"^[179] – Erasmus touches upon another important point of the controversy:

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.

— Hyperaspistes, Book I^[180]

"False evangelicals"[edit]

In 1529, Erasmus wrote "An epistle against those who falsely boast they are Evangelicals" to Vulturius Neocomus (Gerardus Geldenhouwer).

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. ...^[181]

Here Erasmus complains of the doctrines and morals of the Reformers, applying the same critique he had made about public Scholastic disputations:

Look around on this 'Evangelical' generation,^[182] 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.

— Epistola contra quosdam qui se falso iactant evangelicos.^[183]

Sacraments[edit]

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 sacramentarians, headed by 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. In 1530, Erasmus published a 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. ^[184]

Other[edit]

Erasmus wrote books against aspects of the teaching, impacts or threats of several other Reformers:^[185]

• Ulrich von Hutten Spongia adversus aspergines Hutteni (1523) see below
• Martin Bucer Responsio ad fratres Inferioris Germaniae ad epistolam apologeticam incerto autoreproditam (1530)
• Heinrich Eppendorf Admonitio adversus mendacium et obstrectationem (1530)

However, Erasmus maintained friendly relations with other Protestants, notably the irenic Melancthon and Albrecht Duerer.

A common accusation, supposedly started by antagonistic monk-theologians,^{[note 84]} 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."^[187] Erasmus-reader Peter Canisius commented: "Certainly there was no lack of eggs for Luther to hatch."^{[188][note 85]}

Philosophy and Erasmus[edit]

Erasmus has a problematic standing in the history of philosophy: whether he should be called a philosopher at all,^{[note 86]} (as, indeed, some question whether he should be considered a theologian either.^[14]: 205) Erasmus deemed himself to be a rhetorician or grammarian rather than a philosopher.^[189]: 66 He was particularly influenced by satirist and rhetorician Lucian.^{[note 87]} Erasmus' writings shifted "an intellectual culture from logical disputation about things to quarrels about texts, contexts, and words."^[186]

Classical[edit]

Erasmus syncretistically took phrases, ideas and motifs from many classical philosophers to furnish discussions of Christian themes:^{[note 88]} academics have identified aspects of his thought as variously Platonist (duality),^{[note 89]} Cynical (asceticism),^{[191] [192]} Stoic (adiaphora),^[193] Epicurean (ataraxia,^{[note 90]} pleasure as virtue),^[194] realist/non-voluntarist,^[195] and Isocratic (rhetoric, political education, syncretism.)^[196]: 19 However, his Christianized version of Epicureanism is regarded as his own.^[197]

Erasmus was sympathetic to a kind of Scepticism:^{[note 91]}

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.

— Erasmus^[199]

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;^[200]: 17 however historian Ross Dealy sees Erasmus' decrial of other non-gentle "perverse affections" as having Stoical roots.^[193]

He eschewed metaphysical, epistemological and logical philosophy as found in Aristotle,^{[note 92]} in particular the curriculum and systematic methods of the post-Aquinas Schoolmen (Scholastics)^{[note 93]} and their frigid, counter-productive Aristoteleanism: "What has Aristotle to do with Christ?"^[202] We should avoid philosophical factionalism and so "make the whole world Christian."^[203]: 851 Indeed, Erasmus thought that Scholastic philosophy actually distracted participants from their proper focus on immediate morality,^{[note 94][note 95]} unless used moderately.^{[note 96]} And, by "excluding the Platonists from their commentaries, they strangle the beauty of revelation."^{[note 97]}

Erasmus wrote in terms of a tri-partite nature of man, with the soul the seat of free will:

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^[205]

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.^{[206][citation needed]}

Philosophia Christi[edit]

(Not to be confused with his Italian contemporary Chrysostom Javelli's Philosophia Christiana.)

Erasmus approached 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^[14]: 117): the philosophia Christi.^{[note 98][note 99]} "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.)^{[note 100]}

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^[207]) philosophy:^{[note 101]}

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.

— Erasmus, Method of True Theology

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."^[209]

Useful "philosophy" needed to be limited to (or re-defined as) the practical and moral:

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."

— Erasmus, Anti-Barbieri

Theology of Erasmus[edit]

Three key distinctive features of Erasmus' theology are accommodation, inverbation, and scopus christi. ^{[note 102]} (Scopus is the unifying reference point, the navigation goal, or the organizing principle of topics.)

In the view of literary historian Chester Chapin, Erasmus' tendency of thought was "towards cautious dulcification of the traditional view."^{[note 103]}

Accommodation[edit]

Historian Manfred Hoffmann has described accommodation as "the single most important concept in Erasmus' hermeneutic." ^{[note 104]}

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, which in turn merely reflects the eternal mutual accommodation within the Trinity. And the primary mechanism of accommodation is language,^{[note 105]: 6} which mediates between reality and abstraction, which allows disputes of all kinds to be resolved and the gospel to be transmitted:^[213] in his New Testament, Erasmus notably translated the Greek logos in John 1:1 "In the beginning was the Word" using Latin sermo (discourse, conversation, language) not verbum (word) emphasizing the dynamic and interpersonal communication rather than static principle: more like "In the beginning was Speech".^[214]

The role models of accommodation^{[note 106]} were Paul, that "chameleon"^[215]: 385 (or "slippery squid"^[216]) and Christ, who was "more mutable than Proteus himself."^[215]: 386

In this light, Erasmus' ability to have friendly correspondence with both Thomas More and Thomas Bolyn,^[105] and with both Philip Melancthon and Pope Adrian VI, can be seen as outworkings of his theology, rather than slippery insincerity^{[note 70]} 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.

Inverbation[edit]

For Erasmus, further to accommodating humans in his Incarnation, Christ accommodated us by a kind of inverbation:^{[note 107]} 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;^{[note 108]} this will or may transform us.^{[note 109]}

Since the Gospels become, in effect, like sacraments:^{[217][note 110]} for Erasmus reading them becomes a form of prayer which is spoiled by taking single sentences in isolation and using them as syllogisms. Instead, learning to understand the genres and literary expression in the New Testament becomes a spiritual exercise.^[213] Erasmus' has been called rhetorical theology (theologia rhetorica.)^[160]: 32

Scopus christi[edit]

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."^[213]: 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.^[14]: 135

One effect is that scriptural interpretation must be done starting with the teachings and interactions of Jesus in the Gospels,^[219]: 78 with the Sermon on the Mount serving as the starting point,^{[note 111][138]} and arguably with the Beatitudes and the Lord's Prayer at the head of the queue.^[221] This privileges peacemaking, mercy, meekness,^{[note 112]} purity of heart, hungering after righteousness, poverty of spirit, etc. as the unassailable core of Christianity and piety and true theology.^{[note 113]}

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.^{[note 114]}

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. ^{[note 115]}

Mystical Theology[edit]

Another important concept to Erasmus was "the Folly of the Cross"^[14]: 119 (which The Praise of Folly explored):^{[note 116]} the view that Truth belongs to the exuberant, perhaps ecstatic,^[14]: 140 world of what is foolish, strange and unexpected to us,^[223] rather than to the frigid worlds which intricate scholastic dialectical and syllogistic philosophical argument generate; this produced in Erasmus a profound disinterest in hyper-rationality,^{[note 117]} and an emphasis on verbal, rhetorical, mystical, pastoral and personal/political moral concerns instead.

Theological Writings[edit]

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.

— Louis Bouyer^[123]: 498

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:^[224]

"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. [...]

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. [...]

Both the Old and the New Testament, like two cherubim with wings joined and unanimous voices, repeatedly sing your praise. [...]

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."

— Erasmus, Paean in Honour of the Virgin Mary (1503)^[224]

Notable writings[edit]

Erasmus wrote for educated audiences on both Christian subjects and those of general human interest.^{[note 118][225]} 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.^[226] "Undoubtedly he was the most read author of his age."^[227]: 608

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."^[228]

His writing method (recommended in De copia and De ratio studii)^[229] 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.

Adages (1500-1520)[edit]

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).^[230]

Examples of Adages are: more haste, less speed; a dung beetle hunting an eagle.

Erasmus later spent nine months in Venice at the Aldine Press expanding the Adagia to over three thousand entries;^[231] in the course of 27 editions, it expanded to over four thousand entries in Basel at the Froben press. It "introduced a fairly wide audience to the actual words and thoughts of the ancients."^[232]: 81

An English version was selected and translated by Richard Taverner.

Handbook of the Christian Soldier (1501) [edit]

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.")^[233] In this short work, Erasmus outlines the views of the normal Christian life, which he was to spend the rest of his days elaborating. He has been described as "evangelical in his beliefs and pietistic in his practise."^{[note 119]: 82}

The Praise of Folly (1511)[edit]

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 Faustino Perisauli.^[234] 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.^[235][236]

de Copia (1512)[edit]

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De Copia (or Foundations of the Abundant Style or On Copiousness) is a textbook designed to teach aspects of classical 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 copia of words and arguments in a double commentary" (Latin: De duplici copia verborum ac rerum commentarii duo).^{[237]: 118, 119} It was "the most often printed rhetoric textbook written in the renaissance, with 168 editions between 1512 and 1580."^[238]

The first part of the book is about verborum (words). It famously includes 147 variations on "Your letter pleased me very much",^[239] and 203 variations on "Always, as long as I live, I shall remember you."^{[note 120][237]: 119}

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 (Latin: in utramque parte).

Opuscula plutarchi (1514), and Apophthegmatum opus (1531)[edit]

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^[240] (c1514).

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 Cynic sayings and anecdotes",^[192] particular of Diogenes (from Diogenes Laertius.)

One of these was published independently, as How to tell a Flatterer from a Friend, dedicated to England's Henry VIII.

Julius exclusus e coelis (1514) attrib.[edit]

Julius excluded from Heaven is a biting satire usually attributed to Erasmus^[241] 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.

Sileni Alcibiadis (1515)[edit]

Erasmus's Sileni Alcibiadis is one of his most direct assessments of the need for Church reform.^[242]: 105 It started as a small entry in the 1508 Adagia citing Plato's Symposium and expanded to several hundred sentences.^[206] Johann Froben published it first within a revised edition of the Adagia in 1515, then as a stand-alone work in 1517.

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. 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.^[243]

Alcibiades was a Greek politician in the 5th century 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.^[244]

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, in which Alcibiades also appears.^{[note 121]}

On the other hand, Erasmus lists several Sileni and then controversially questions whether Christ is the most noticeable Silenus of them all. The Apostles were Sileni since they were ridiculed by others. The scriptures are a Silenus too.^[242]: 105

The work then launches into a biting endorsement of the need for high church officials (especially the Pope) to follow the 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.^{[note 122]}

The Education of a Christian Prince (1516)[edit]

The 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.^[245] 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.

Latin and Greek New Testaments[edit]

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.^[246][247]

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."^{[note 123]} 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.

Erasmus had, for his time, relatively little interest in the Old Testament, apart from the Psalms.^{[note 66]} 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:^[250] Erasmus had none of the apocalypticism of his times which so animated Savonarolan and Protestant rhetoric:^[251] only one percent of his Annotations on the New Testament concerned the Book of Revelation.^[252]

New Latin translation[edit]

Erasmus had been working for years on two related projects to help theologians: philological notes on the Latin and Greek texts^{[note 124]} 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."^[254] In the earlier phases of the project, he never mentioned a Greek text.

While his intentions for publishing a fresh Latin translation are clear,^{[note 125]} 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."^[255] He further demonstrated the reason for the inclusion of the Greek text when defending his work:

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.

— Epistle 337^[256]

So he included the Greek text to permit qualified readers to verify the quality of his Latin version.^[257] 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.

Publication and editions[edit]

Erasmus said the printing^[259]: 105 of the first edition was "precipitated rather than published",^[260] 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.^[261] 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.^[262]

His effort was hurriedly published by his friend Johann Froben of Basel in 1516 and thence became the 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."^[263] He also ignored some manuscripts that were at his disposal which are now deemed older and better.^[264]

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.^[265] By comparison, only 600 copies of the Complutensian Polyglot were ever printed. This edition was used by Martin Luther in his 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.^[266] Erasmus had been unable to find those verses in any Greek manuscript, but one was supplied to him during production of the third edition. ^{[note 126]}

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 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 Revelation (which he had translated from Latin back into Greek in his first edition) from Cardinal Ximenez de Cisneros's Biblia Complutensis.^{[note 127]} 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.^[268]

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 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.

The Complaint of Peace (1517)[edit]

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.^[128]

On the use of battle standards featuring crosses:^{[note 128]}

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. 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.

— The Complaint of Peace^[129]

The final paragraph of The Complaint of Peace finishes with the command resipiscite, meaning a voluntary return from madness and unconsciousness:

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 the Furies and to nourish the eyes of the Turks. The comedy is at an end. Finally, after tolerating far too long the miseries of war, repent!^[269]

However, the subsequent European wars of religion which accompanied the Reformation resulted in the deaths of between 7 and 18 million Europeans, including up to one third of the population of Germany.

Paraphrases of the New Testament (1517-1524, 1532, 1534)[edit]

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.'"^{[note 129]}

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.^[201]

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."^[270]: 557

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.^[271] 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.^{[271]: 24–38}

Erasmus wrote his paraphrases of the Gospels at the same time as his study of Luther's work in preparation for 1524's On Free Will, 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.^[169]

The Paraphrases were very well-received, particularly in England, by most^[272] parties.

Biographer Roland Bainton nominated this passage as "the essence of Erasmus"^[138] (its positivity to natural affection has none of the Lutheran total depravity doctrine, and it accords with the Catholic analogia entis pattern):

"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."

— Erasmus, Paraphrase of St Matthew

Method of True Theology[edit]

The 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.

"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 Enchiridion, later defined in the polemic against Luther in the Hyperaspites, and vulgarized in the Ecclesiastes—then assuredly we must look to the Ratio for its fundamental exposition."

— Louis Bouyer^[123]

Following Origen, Erasmus in effect resuscitates lectio divina as the core activity of real theology.^{[note 130]} 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 impia curiositas must be eschewed^[274]: 44 especially in favour of educated and humble contemplation of Christ's personality and human interactions in the Gospels.

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."^[275]

Familiar Colloquies (1518-1533)[edit]

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.^[276]

Notable Colloquies include the exciting Naufragium (Shipwreck), the philosophical and path-forging The Epicurean, and the zany catalogue of fantastic animal stories Friendship.

For example, A Religious Pilgrimage^[162] deals with many serious subjects humorously, and scandalously includes a letter supposedly written by a Statue of the Virgin Mary, in which, while it first thanks a reformer for following Luther against needlessly invoking saints (where the listed invocations are all for sinful or wordly things), becomes a warning against iconoclasm^{[note 131]} and stripping altars.

Amicitia (Friendship) can be considered a sweet companion piece to the vinegary Spongia of the same year.

A Sponge to wipe away the Spray of Hutten (1523)[edit]

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.^{[note 132]}

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.^[277]) 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.^[95]

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 Ulrichi ab Hutten cum Erasmo Rotirodamo, Presbytero, Theologo, Expostulatio. In his reply in the same year, 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.^[278]

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.

Historian Francis Aidan Gasquet regarded this book as necessary for understanding Erasmus' true position on Rome, quoting:

"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?"

— Erasmus, Spongia trans, Gasquet^[30]

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.^[30]

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 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.”

— Gasquet, The Eve of the Reformation quoting Erasmus, Spongia

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.^{[note 133]}

On Free Will (1524)[edit]

Erasmus wrote On Free Will (De libero arbitrio) (1524) against Luther's view on free will: that everything happens by strict necessity.^{[note 134]}

Erasmus lays down both sides of the argument impartially. 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.^[280] For Erasmus the essential point is that humans have the freedom of choice,^[281] when responding to prior grace (synergism).

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.^{[282][note 135]}

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).

Erasmus responded with a lengthy, two-part book Hyperaspistes (1526–27).^{[note 136]}

Liturgy of the Virgin Mother venerated at Loreto (1525)[edit]

Editions: 1523, 1525, 1529^[282]

This liturgy for a Catholic Mass, with sequences and a homily teaching that for Mary, and the Saints, imitation should be the chief part of veneration.^[286]

The liturgy re-framed the existing Marian devotions: as a substitute for mentioning the Holy House of Loreto,^[288] he used the meaning of Loreto as '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.^[287]

The Tongue (or Language) (1525)[edit]

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.^[289] It includes a "systematic denunciation of all forms of seditious expression."^[172]

On the Institution of Christian Marriage (1526)[edit]

The Institutio matrimonii was published in 1526 as treatise about marriage,^[290] 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.^[290] He saw the role of the woman as a socia (partner) to the man.^[290]

The relationship should be of amicitia^{[note 137]} (sweet and mutual fondness).^[291] 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.^{[note 138][292]} In his 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".)

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

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.^[293]

The Ciceronians (1528)[edit]

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.^[294] Erasmus' own Latin style^[295] was late classical (i.e., from Terence to Jerome) as far as syntax and grammar, but freely used medievalisms in its vocabulary.^{[296]: 164, 164}

Explanation of the Apostles' Creed (1530)[edit]

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 canon of the Bible^{[note 139]} and by acknowledging seven sacraments.^[298] He identified anyone who questioned the perpetual virginity of Mary as blasphemous.^[299] However, he supported lay access to the Bible.^[299]

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".^[300]

The Preacher (1536)[edit]

Erasmus had preached, but considered it a better use of his time to write books.^[301]: 93

Erasmus's last major work, published the year of his death, is the Ecclesiastes or "Gospel Preacher" (Basel, 1536), a massive manual for preachers of around a thousand pages. Though somewhat unwieldy 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.^[302]

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.^[103]

Patristic Editions[edit]

According to Ernest Barker, "Besides his work on the New Testament, Erasmus laboured also, and even more arduously, on the early Fathers. Among the Latin Fathers he edited the works of St Jerome, St Hilary, and St Augustine;^[303] among the Greeks he worked on Irenaeus, Origen and Chrysostom."^[304]

Alleged forgery[edit]

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 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]} but it is adopted by academics like Anthony Grafton.^{[305][306][307]}

Legacy and evaluations[edit]

Erasmus was given the sobriquet "Prince of the Humanists", and has been called "the crowning glory of the Christian humanists".^[308] He has also been called "the most illustrious rhetorician and educationalist of the Renaissance".^[205]

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^[309]

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.

— 71. Erasmus, History of the Christian Church, vol 7, Philip Schaff

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."^{[205][note 140]} 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."^[311]: 86

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.

Erasmianism[edit]

Erasmians: Erasmus frequently mentioned that he did not want office^[69] nor to be the founder or figurehead of a sect or movement, despite his vigorous branding and self-promotion.^[312] Nevertheless, historians do identify de facto "Erasmians" (ranging from the early Jesuits^{[note 141]} to the early reformers,^[313] and both Thomas More and William Tyndale)—Christian humanists who picked up on some or other aspects of Erasmus' agenda.^{[note 142]}

Erasmianism: This has been described as a "more intellectual form of spiritualized Christianity"^[315] that is "an undercurrent of religious thought between Catholicism and Lutheranism."^[316] It had a notable influence in Spain.^{[317] : 39} The near election of Reginald Pole as pope in 1546 has been attributed to Erasmianism in the electors.^[318] However, a precise definition is not possible;^{[note 143]} it is not, for example, a set of systematic doctrinal propositions.

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.^[14]: 213

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.^[14]: 149

Erasmian liberalism: This has had an enduring run: described by philosopher Edwin Curley^[319] 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."^[320]

Erasmus has frequently been described as "proto-liberal"^{[84]: s.3.12} (both, e.g., in the UK "Lloyd George" sense of 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^[321]: 70)

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."^[320]: 4 Other popular or scholarly writers have suggested that Erasmus' tolerant but idealistic agenda failed,^[322][323] certainly at the political level, evidenced by the wars and persecutions of the Protestant Reformation.

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)^[324] the Donation of Constantine.

Educationalist[edit]

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.

— J.K. Sowards ^[86]

Erasmus was notable for his textbooks, his sense of learning as play, his emphasis on speech skills and promoting early classical-language acquisition).^[325]: 15

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..."^{[326][note 144]} In the 1540s, Ursulines founded schools in Rezatto, Brescia, "inspired by Erasmus’s pedagogical programme..." ^{[note 145]}

His system of pronouncing ancient Greek was adopted for teaching in the major Western European nations.

In England, he wrote the first curriculum for St Paul's School and his Latin grammar (written with Lily and Colet) "continued to be used, in adapted form, into the Twentieth Century."^[328] Erasmus' curriculum, grammar, pronunciation and de Copia were adopted by the other major grammar schools: Eton, Westminster, Winchester, Canterbury, etc. and the universities^{[325]: 16, 17}

Erasmus "tried to realize a practical goal: a modern education as preparation for administrators from the higher estates."^[207]

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)^[329] spawned programs in Zurich, Rome, Strasbourg and Oxford (c.1566).^[330] He has been described as "an unsuspected superspreader of New Ancient Greek."^{[note 146]}

Historian and Germanist Fritz Caspari saw education as the core of Erasmus' program:

"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)^[198]

Writer[edit]

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,^[303] Basil, John Chrysostom, Cicero and Jerome.^[332]

In the Netherlands[edit]

In his native Rotterdam, the Erasmus University Rotterdam, Erasmus Bridge, Erasmus MC and Gymnasium Erasmianum have been named in his honor. Between 1997 and 2009, one of the main metro lines of the city was named Erasmuslijn. The Foundation Erasmus House (Rotterdam),^[333] 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.^[334]

In Spain[edit]

Erasmus became extraordinarily popular and influential in Spain, including in and around the talent pool (often from converso families) that formed the early Jesuits. There were at least 120 translations, editions, or adaptations of Erasmus' writings between 1520 and 1552,^[335] though not The Praise of Folly.

However, Erasmians and their associates faced, at times, extraordinary pushback from the theologians at Salamanca and Vallodolid, for being associated with the 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 Enchiridion was being published)^{[336]: 175 [note 147]} resorting to exile rather than facing the Inquisition, house arrest, imprisonment or worse. However, at times the heads of the Inquisition were themselves Erasmians.

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.^[337]

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.^{[338]: 37, 38}

In Poland[edit]

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." ^{[note 148]}

In England[edit]

Erasmus influenced Catholic and Protestant humanists alike.

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."^{[note 149]} The initial Henrican closure of smaller monasteries followed the Erasmian agenda, which was also shared by Catholic humanists such as Reginald Pole;^[163]: 155 however the later violent closures and iconoclasm were far from Erasmus' program.

After reading Erasmus' 1516 New Testament, Thomas Bilney "felt a marvellous comfort and quietness," and won over his Cambridge friends, future notable bishops, Matthew Parker and Hugh Latimer to reformist biblicism.^[340]

Both Lutheran Tyndale and his Catholic theological opponent Thomas More are considered Erasmians.^[341]: 16 One of William Tyndale's earliest works was his translation of Erasmus' Enchiridion (1522,1533).^[342] 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.^{[314]: 156–168}

In the reign of Edward VI, English translations of Erasmus' Paraphrases of the four Gospels^[343] 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.^{[note 150]} 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.^[344]: 361

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 shipwreck scene in The Tempest.)^{[345][346][347]} The poet-rhetorician martyr Edmund Campion was educated at St Paul's School using Erasmus' textbooks and Latin curriculum.^[325]: 15

Historian of literature Cathy Schrank has written that Erasmus' reputation and status changed over the course of the English "Long Reformation" from "being presented as a proto-Reformer, to problematically orthodox, to irenic martyr."^{[note 151]} For some 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".^[349] It has been claimed that William of Orange's Toleration Act (1688) owed to Erasmus' inspiration.^[14]: 186

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:^{[note 152]}

...
Much was believ'd, but little understood,
And to be dull was constru'd to be good;
A second deluge learning thus o'er-run,
And the monks finish'd what the Goths begun.

At length Erasmus, that great injur'd name
(The glory of the priesthood and the shame!)
Stemm'd the wild torrent of a barbarous age,
And drove those holy Vandals off the stage.

— Alexander Pope, An Essay on Criticism^[350]

For Edward Gibbon, Erasmus was "the father of rational theology."^[351]: 157

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."^[352]: 84

Catholic[edit]

Erasmus was continually protected by popes,^{[note 153]} bishops, inquisitors-general, and Catholic kings^{[note 30]} during his lifetime.^{[note 154]} The following generation of saints and scholars included many influenced by Erasmian humanism or spirituality, notably Ignatius of Loyola,^{[note 155][354][355][356]} Teresa of Ávila,^{[357][note 156]} John of Ávila,^{[359][note 157]} and Angela Merici.^{[note 158]}

However, Erasmus attracted enemies in contemporary theologians in Paris, Louvain, Valladolid, Salamanca and Rome, notably Sepúlveda, Stúñica, Edward Lee,^{[note 159]} Noël Beda (who Erasmus had known in France in the 1490s, but who opposed Greek and Hebrew),^[360] as well as Alberto Pío, Prince of Carpi, who read his work with dedicated suspicion. These were theologians, usually from the mendicant orders that were Erasmus' particular target (such as Dominicans, Carmelites and Franciscans), who held a positive "linear view of history" for theology ^{[note 160]} that privileged recent late-medieval theology^[361] and rejected the 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".^{[361]: 724  [note 161]}

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."^{[187][note 162]} They periodically reconciled in warm personal meetings, only to fall into mutual suspicion again when distant.

Erasmus spent considerable effort defending himself in writing, which he could not do after his death.^[364]

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,^{[note 163]} and followed his call for a renewed positive focus on the Creed. Erasmus' major ethical complaint that a certain kind of scholasticism was "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.

Prohibitions[edit]

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^[366] Indexes of Prohibited Books, either to not be read, or to be censored and expurgated: each area had different censorship considerations and severity.^[367]

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.

Erasmus' works were to some extent prohibited in England under Queen Mary I, from 1555.^{[note 164]}

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.^[368] 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 "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.

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.^[369] In Spain's Index, the translation of the Enchiridion only needed the phrase "Monkishness is not piety" removed to become acceptable.

By 1896, the Roman Index still listed Erasmus' Colloquia, The Praise of Folly, The Tongue, The Institution of Christian Marriage, and one other as banned, plus particular editions of the Adagia and Paraphrase of Matthew. All other works could be read in suitable expurgated versions.^[370]

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.

The Jesuits received a dispensation from the Roman Inquisitor General to read and use Erasmus' work^[188] (not kept on the open shelves of their libraries),^[371] as did priests working near Protestant areas such as Francis de Sales.

Post-Tridentine[edit]

Early Dutch Jesuit scholar Peter Canisius (fl. 1547 - 1597), who produced several works superseding Erasmus',^{[note 165]} 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 Copia, and the Colloquies:^{[note 166]} Canisius, having actually read Erasmus, had an ambivalent view on Erasmus that contrasted with the negative line of some of his contemporaries:

Very many people applied also to Erasmus, declaring: 'Either Erasmus speaks like Luther or Luther like Erasmus' (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.

— Peter Canisius, De Maria virgine (1577), p601^{[note 167]}

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";^[373]: 10 though not a heretic.^{[note 168] [note 169]} 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.^{[note 170]}

His patristic scholarship continued to be valued by academics, as were un-controversial parts of his biblical scholarship,^{[227]: 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.^[227]: 622

The Jesuit mission to China, led by Matteo Ricci,^[375] adopted the approach of cultural accommodation^[376] linked to Erasmus.^{[note 171]} The early Jesuits were exposed to Erasmus at their colleges,^[377] and their positioning of Confucius echoed Erasmus' positioning of "Saint" Socrates.^[378]: 171

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,"^[379] his optimism,^[380] civility,^[381] esteem of marriage.^[382] and, according to historian Charles Béné, a piety addressed to the laity, the acceptance of mental prayer, and the valuing of pagan wisdom.^[14]: 212

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.^[383]: 310

By 1690, Erasmus was also, rather perversely, labelled as the forerunner of the heretical tendecies in the Jansenists. ^{[note 172]}

From 1648 to 1794 and then 1845 to the present, the mainly-Jesuit 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.^{[327]: 97, 98}

By the 1700s, Erasmus' even indirect influence on Catholic thought had waned.

Twentieth Century[edit]

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.^[204]: 39

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."^{[note 173]}

Over the last century, Erasmus's Catholic reputation has gradually started to be rehabilitated: favourable factors may include:

• the increasingly active modern historical and theological scholarship on Erasmus suggested chinks in the traditional partisan characterzations of Erasmus;
• the retirement of the Roman Index librorum prohibitorum in 1966;

• increased support for a view of Erasmus that portrays him as a conservative^{[note 174]} endorsed by and responsive to the hierarchy^{[note 175]} as much as a maverick, with him voicing and crystallizing mainstream and respectable Catholic thought of his time^{[note 176]} as much as innovating;^{[note 177]} and to an extent resuscitating Victorine (the Canons Regular of St Victor)^{[384]: 171–174} and Cappadocian and patristic^{[123]: 501–505} approaches.
• his deep friendships and interactions with three Saint-Martyrs Thomas More,^{[note 178]} John Fisher,^{[note 179]} and Brigittine monk Richard Reynolds.
• his acknowledged or retro-fitted influence on perhaps five 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, Oratorians, Redemptorists, Ursulines^[387] and Salesians,^{[note 180]} and an increasing list of exemplary Catholics whose views channel or parallel Erasmus', such as Bartolomé de las Casas' De unico vocationis modo (1537),^[388] and De la Salle's Decorum & Civility;^{[note 181]}
• the acceptance of St John Henry Cardinal Newman's "development of doctrine", to some extent a chick hatched from the egg of Erasmus' theological historicism^{[note 182]} and his appeal to tradition (sensus fidei fidelium) on the Eucharist;^[14]: 129
• the reinvigouration of patristic 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)^{[note 183]} by ressourcement and Communio theologians, such as
  • Henri de Lubac^{[note 184]}
  • Hans Urs von Balthasar, who ranked Erasmus with Augustine, Bonaventure, and Thomas Aquinas as the great theologians/exegetes;^[391]
  • Oratorian Louis Bouyer, who wrote that the Method of True Theology (or 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;"^[392]
  • Joseph Ratzinger, whose famous Regensberg Address emphasized the fundamental influence of Hellenic philosophy on primitive Christianity.^{[note 185]}
  • For theologian George Chantraine, Erasus's so-called skepticism was actually a function of his belief that Church defined doctrine not individual theologians.^{[note 186]}
• his promotion of the recognition of adiaphora and toleration within bounds was taken up, to an extent, by Pope John XXIII: In necessariis unitas, in dubiis libertas, in omnibus caritas.^{[393][note 187]}

His instrumentalist approach to Christian humanism has been compared to that of John Henry Newman and the personalism of John Paul II,^{[note 188]: 151–164} but also has been criticized as treating the Church's doctrines merely as aids to piety.^{[note 189]}

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.^[318] Theologian J. Coppens noted the "Erasmian themes" of Lumen Gentium (e.g. para 12), such as the sensus fidei fidelium and the dignity of all the baptized.^{[14]: 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."^[394] John O'Malley has commented on a certain closeness between Erasmus and Dei Verbum.^{[note 190]}

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 Church. I like his directness, his simplicity, and his courage."^[395]: 146

Notably, since the 1950s, the Roman Catholic Easter Vigil mass has included a Renewal of Baptismal Promises,^{[396]: 3, 4} an innovation^[397] first proposed^[398] by Erasmus in his Paraphrases. ^{[note 191]}

In his 1987 collection The Spirituality of Erasmus of Rotterdam historian Richard deMolen, later a Catholic priest, called for Erasmus' canonization.^[31]

Protestant[edit]

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.

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^{[note 192]} 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.^{[note 193]}

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…" ^[399] "Erasmus of Rotterdam is the vilest miscreant that ever disgraced the earth…He is a very Caiaphas."^{[note 194]} However Erasmus corresponded cordially with Melancthon until the end.^[166]

Some historians have even said that "the spread of Lutheranism was checked by Luther’s antagonizing (of) Erasmus and the humanists."^[400]: 7

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.^[401] Huldrych Zwingli, the founder of the 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.^[402]

Anabaptist scholars have suggested an 'intellectual dependence'^[403] of Anabaptists on Erasmus.^[404] 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."^[405]: 292

For evangelical Christianity, Erasmus had a strong influence^[406] on Arminius.

Erasmus' promotion of the recognition of adiaphora and toleration within bounds was taken up by many kinds of Protestants.

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.

Character attacks[edit]

Writers have often explained Erasmus' failure to adopt their favoured position as manifesting some deep character flaw.^{[note 195]} In historian Bruce Mansfield's words, "a smallness of character in Erasmus stood in the way of his greatness of mind."^{[14]: 6–10}

Luther's antipathy to Erasmus has continued to more recent times in some Lutheran teachers:

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

— Otto J. Eckert (1955)^{[400]: 27, 28, 31}

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."^[408] According to Catholic historian Joseph Lortz (1962) "Erasmus remained in the church…but as a half Catholic…indecisive, hesitating, suspended in the middle."^[409]: 299 English Jesuit scholar C. C. Martindale wrote "Erasmus really disliked men personally."^{[note 196]}

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.^[410] 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)^[151] 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.”^[314]: 143 A Victorian Scottish biographer of Tyndale contrasted Erasmus' weak constitution with the "more masculine energy" of Luther and Tyndale.^[314]: 143

In the 20th century, various 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 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" ^{[411]: 598–624}

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,^{[note 197]} 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.^[412] Yet "compared with most of his contemporaries he remains moderate and refined."^{[141]: Ch.xiv}

Name used[edit]

• The European Erasmus Programme of exchange students within the European Union is named after him. The Erasmus Programme scholarships enable students to spend up to a year of their university courses in a university in another European country, commemorating Erasmus' impulse to travel.
• The Erasmus Journal of Philosophy and Economics^[413] is produced at the Erasmus Institute for Philosophy and Economics (EIPE)^[414] at the Erasmus University Rotterdam. Rotterdam also an Erasmus Bridge.
• A peer-reviewed annual scholarly journal Erasmus Studies has been produced since 1981.^[415]
• The Erasmus Prize is one of Europe's foremost recognitions for culture, society or social science. It was won by Wikipedia in 2015.
• The Erasmus Lectures are an annual lecture on religious subjects, given by prominent Christian (mainly Catholic) and Jewish intellectuals,^[416] most notably by Joseph Ratzinger in 1988.^[417]
• The Erasmus Building in Luxembourg was completed in 1988 as the first addition to the headquarters of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU).^[418] The building houses the chambers of the judges of the CJEU's General Court and three courtrooms.^[418] It is next to the Thomas More Building.
• Several schools, faculties and universities in the Netherlands and Belgium are named after him, as is Erasmus Hall in Brooklyn, New York, USA.
• Queens' College, Cambridge, has an Erasmus Tower,^[419] Erasmus Building^[420] and an Erasmus Room.^[421] 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".^[422]
• From 1997 to 2008, the American University of Notre Dame had an Erasmus Institute.^[423]

Intellectual[edit]

• Literary theorist Hans Urs von Balthasar listed Erasmus in one of three key intellectual "events" in the Germanic age:^[424]
  • Duns Scotus-William of Ockham-Francisco Suárez and Meister Eckhart-Nicholas of Cusa-Ignatius of Loyola
  • Martin Luther-Erasmus-Shakespeare
  • Kant-Hegel-Marx
• Political journalist Michael Massing has written of the Luther-Erasmus 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.^[176]
• 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.
• 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."^[425] Thus, the universalist ideals of Erasmus are sometimes claimed to be important for fixing global governance.^[426]
• Catholic historian 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."^[163]
• 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."^[227]: 632

Quotes[edit]

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 Adages or Apophthegmata.^{[note 198]}

• In the country of the blind, the one-eyed man is king. Adages
• The most disadvantageous peace is better than the justest war. Adages
• Bidden or unbidden, God is always there. Adages
• "When I get a little money I buy books; and if any is left, I buy food and clothes."^[427]
• "Monkishness is not piety" Enchiridion
• "Christ said (to St Peter) 'Feed my sheep', not 'Devour my sheep'." ^{[citation needed]}
• "All the ups and downs of comedy usually end in marriage. It looks as though the Lutheran tragedy will end the same way."^[428]
• Martin Luther is "a snake without a snakecharmer" Hyperaspistes II
• "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 ploughman guiding his plough, let him chant in his own language the mystic psalms." Paraphrase of St Matthew
• 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^[429]: 75

He is also blamed for the mistranslation from Greek of "to call a bowl a bowl" as "to call a spade a spade",^[430] and the rendering of Pandora's "jar" as "box".^[431]

The Greek epitaph for his young friend Joseph Batt (Greek: Ἰάκωβε Βάττε, θάρσεο·καλῶς θανὼν παλιμφύει) became a popular grave text: "have courage · he who dies well is born again."^[331]

Personal[edit]

Clothing[edit]

Until Erasmus received his (1505 and 1517) Papal dispensations to wear clerical garb, Erasmus wore versions of the local habit of his order, the 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 sarotium (scarf), almuce (cape), perhaps with an asymmetrical black cope of cloth or sheepskin (Latin: cacullae) or long black cloak.^[433]

From 1505, and certainly after 1517, he dressed as a scholar-priest.^[434] 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.^[434]

All Erasmus' portraits show him wearing a knitted scholar's bonnet.^[435]

Signet ring and personal motto[edit]

Erasmus chose the Roman god of borders and boundaries Terminus as a personal symbol^[436] and had a signet ring with a herm he thought depicted Terminus carved into a carnelian.^[436] The herm was presented to him in Rome by his student Alexander Stewart and in reality depicted the Greek god Dionysus.^[437] The ring was also depicted in a portrait of his by the Flemish painter Quentin Matsys.^[436]

The herm became part of the Erasmus branding at Froben, and is on his tombstone.^[439]: 215 In the early 1530s, Erasmus was portrayed as Terminus by Hans Holbein the Younger.^[438]