Erasmus, Desiderius

Erasmus, Desiderius

I INTRODUCTION  Erasmus, Desiderius (1466?-1536), Dutch writer, scholar, and humanist, the chief interpreter to northern Europe of the intellectual currents of the Italian Renaissance.

II LIFE  

Erasmus was born in Rotterdam, the illegitimate son of a priest and a physician's daughter. He was educated in strict monastic schools in Deventer and ‘s-Hertogenbosch and, after his father's death, he became an Augustinian canon, or member of the order, at Steyn. He was ordained a priest in 1492 and, while employed by the bishop of Cambrai, studied Scholastic philosophy and Greek at the University of Paris. Finding religious life distasteful, he sought secular employment, and he later received papal dispensation to live and dress as a secular scholar.

Beginning in 1499, Erasmus moved from city to city working as a tutor and lecturer and constantly writing and searching out ancient manuscripts. He maintained a voluminous correspondence—more than 1500 of his letters survive—with some of the most prominent figures of his time. During four trips to England, Erasmus became friends with such scholars of the new humanistic learning as John Colet, founder of Saint Paul's School in London; Thomas Linacre, founder of the Royal College of Physicians; Thomas More, author and lord chancellor of England; and William Grocyn, lecturer in Greek at the University of Oxford. Erasmus himself taught Greek at the University of Cambridge. Through these associations Erasmus helped establish humanism in England, especially the application of classical studies to Christian learning. While in Italy he earned a doctorate at the University of Turin and became a friend to Venetian publisher Aldus Manutius. In the Swiss city of Basel, he was a friend of and editor for publisher Johann Froben. Erasmus died in Basel.

III WORKS  
Erasmus's works, written in an elegant Latin, display vast erudition usually tempered by tolerance and wit. His Adagia (Adages, 1500; enlarged 1508), a collection of Latin proverbs, established his scholarly reputation. Most of his other early works attack corrupt church practices and the rationalist Scholasticism developed by churchmen. The Manuell of the Cristen Knyght (1503; translated 1533) and the famous satire The Praise of Folie (1509; translated 1549), dedicated to More, both advocate a return to simple Christian ethics. His Greek New Testament (1516), based on recently discovered manuscripts, with critical notes and a new Latin translation, was a more accurate version than the Latin Vulgate. Because these works influenced religious reformers of the time, Erasmus is sometimes called the father of the Reformation, a 16th-century religious revolution in the Christian church.

Erasmus expounded enlightened educational views in De Ratione Studii (On the Method of Study, 1511) and De Pueris Satim ac Liberaliter Instituendis (On Teaching Children Firmly but Kindly, 1529). He held that elementary Latin and basic Christianity should be taught at home before the start of formal schooling at the age of seven. Latin was to be taught first through conversation and only later through grammar, a method similar to present-day teaching techniques. Equally advanced were his advocacy of physical education, criticism of severe discipline, and insistence on arousing the interest of pupils.

In 1517, when the Reformation had become a burning issue under the energetic leadership of German theologian Martin Luther, Erasmus's intellectual life took a new direction. He had always been admired and feared as a critic, but now he became an apologist, not really trusted by either Roman Catholics or Reformers, always refusing to take sides. He remained a Roman Catholic although he frequently associated with the Reformers. In his Colloquia (Colloquies, 1518), his continuing assaults on the evils and errors of the church authorities and on superstition made him vulnerable to the accusation that he was a Lutheran, a charge he vehemently denied. He was also accused of concealing his true opinions for fear of the consequences. To counter this, Erasmus wrote a complete declaration of his theological position, De Libero Arbitrio (On the Freedom of the Will, 1524), which contains a brilliant attack on Luther. A counterattack by Luther elicited a final polemic, or argument, by Erasmus, Hyperaspistes (1526). Meanwhile he was producing, with the publisher Froben, numerous scholarly editions of the works of the church fathers.

Although Erasmus is often regarded as a precursor of the Reformation and his works were later listed in the Index of Forbidden Books by the Council of Trent, his war against ignorance and superstition was prompted by his convictions as a humanist rather than as a theologian. He was not a religious reformer, as were Luther and French theologian John Calvin, nor was he inclined to participate in theological discussions. He was first and foremost a man of letters, and as a humanist he was at the forefront of his age.

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