Erasmus is a name most people have heard of, but who was this man, and what did he do to earn himself a place in the history books? Desiderius Erasmus Roterodamus was a Dutch scholar and Catholic priest best known for his humanist scholarship and his translation of the New Testament into Greek and Latin. His writings and wisdom enabled him to become a correspondent with kings and intellectuals all over Europe. Read on to find out more about this giant of intellectual history!
Fig. 1 A Painting of Desiderius Erasmus by Hans Holbein.
Desiderius Erasmus: Facts
These ten key facts about Desiderius Erasmus give a brief overview of the life of this outstanding humanist scholar.
- Desiderius Erasmus was born in Rotterdam in the Netherlands in 1466.
- Erasmus' father was a priest, so Desiderius Erasmus was born outside of wedlock.
- The young boy Erasmus received a good education in several monastic schools. Here he learnt Greek.
- Desiderius Erasmus was ordained a priest in the Catholic Church in 1487.
- In 1495, the Church gave Erasmus permission to study at the University of Paris.
- In 1499, Erasmus was invited to England and ended up teaching at both Oxford and Cambridge universities for a while. However, he turned down the opportunity to become a permanent professor at Cambridge, preferring to stay an independent scholar who travelled around Europe.
- He spent time in Italy, graduating from the University of Turin as a Doctor of Divinity in 1506.
- In 1516, Erasmus published his Latin and Greek translations of the New Testament. He also wrote his own notes and commentary on the New Testament.
- Erasmus was dedicated to reform of the Church from within rather than breaking away from the Catholic Church. This brought him into conflict with Martin Luther and the Protestant Reformation.
- Erasmus died in 1536 in Basel, Switzerland. Despite never having held a high office in academia or the Church, he had succeeded in becoming the most well-known Renaissance humanist and scholar in Europe.
Fig. 2 Queens' College, Cambridge is where Erasmus spent most of his years in England teaching.
Desiderius Erasmus: Renaissance Humanist
Renaissance Humanism was an intellectual movement that spread across Europe from 1400 to 1600. Let's look at Erasmus' contributions to the movement.
Desiderius Erasmus: Humanist Scholar
Erasmus was a firm believer in the power of education. He wrote several textbooks, guides on education, and a guide for those wishing to establish a school: On the Method of Study (1511).
Erasmus spent much time translating ancient works of Greek and Latin philosophy into modern European languages. He published his own Greek and Latin translation of the New Testament in 1516, along with his notes on the texts. He used humanist scholarship to interrogate biblical texts.
For example, he believed that some verses supporting the doctrine of the Trinity were added to the New Testament centuries after they were written to legitimise the decisions made by early Church Councils. He also argued in Ratio Verae Theologiae (1518) that good theology was created by good language skills rather than simply holding a priest's office. These views brought him into conflict with conservative Catholic priests.
Modern scholarship has since proved Erasmus' hypothesis that some verses were added later to be correct.
Erasmus was also a commentator on essential issues of religion and politics of his day. He was in regular correspondence with nearly every European intellectual and significant public figure, such as Henry VIII and the future Holy Roman Emperor, Charles V. He advocated that leaders such as Charles V pursued peace rather than war.
Historian Wim Blockmans sums up Erasmus' intellectual achievements in the following statement:
[Erasmus] could often be found in the offices and workshops of the Swiss and Italian printers who published his works, and without ever having held a public office of any significance Erasmus achieved the status of a best-selling writer and cultural megastar. At the height of his fame, around 1515, his name was on the lips of every intellectual of importance in Europe.1
Desiderius Erasmus: Religion
Desiderius Erasmus remained committed to the Catholic Church all his life. That said, he was a critical and progressive voice within Catholicism. Erasmus believed that the Church needed urgent reform, even publishing a satirical work called Praise of Folly (1511), in which he ridiculed various aspects of Catholicism, including corruption in monasteries and the theatricality of services.
Erasmus vs Luther
Erasmus initially sympathised with Luther and his followers when the Protestant Reformation kicked off. He agreed with Luther that the abuses of the Church needed urgent reform.
However, Erasmus soon grew unhappy with how Luther's doctrines and methods developed. In 1524, Erasmus published an essay, The Freedom of the Will, arguing that humans could choose good or evil. This went against Luther's view that humans did not have free will because God predestined every choice.
Fig. 3 Painting of Martin Luther.
Erasmus also disagreed with Luther's decision to break from the Catholic Church and start his own religious movement - arguing that such a decision would lead to violence rather than peaceful reform. In the end, Luther and Erasmus came into fierce conflict with one another.
This quote well sums up Erasmus' attitude to Luther:
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.2
Desiderius Erasmus: Beliefs
This table gives an overview of Erasmus' most well-known beliefs, arranged by topic.
| Topic | Beliefs | Associated works (if applicable) |
| Education | - Education was the most effective way to change society.
- All children should have access to a good education.
| - On the Method of Study (1511)
- On Copia (1512)
- On Writing Letters (1521)
- On Civility in Children (1530)
|
| War/Peace | - Peace was always preferable to war, even a just war.
| |
| Catholic Church | - The Church needed to reform to correct its abuses of power, particularly among clergy and monks.
- The doctrines of the Catholic Church were mostly sound.
| - In Praise of Folly (1511)
- Julius Excluded from Heaven (1514)
- Sileni Alcibiadis (1515)
|
| Protestant Reformation | - In favour of the reformers' criticisms of the Catholic Church.
- Against doctrinal innovation of the reformers, e.g. new doctrines like predestination.
- Against the violence used in the Reformation in Europe.
- Against Luther's decision to break away from the Catholic Church rather than reform it from within.
| |
| Free Will | - Humans can make choices to act for good or evil.
| - The Freedom of the Will (1524)
|
| Theology | - Whether someone was a faithful Christian did not rely on whether they followed the rites of the Church to the letter but on whether they chose to live good lives according to the faith.
- Doctrine of Synergism: Salvation relied on God's grace and human freedom to choose God's grace.
- Good theology came from good language scholarship in reading the Bible well in its original languages.
| - Handbook of a Christian Knight (1501)
- New Testament with Commentary (1516)
- A Playne and Godly Exposition or Declaration of the Commune Crede (1533)
- Ecclesiastes: On the Art of Preaching (1535)
|
Salvation
A Christian belief that one can be rescued from sin and death and attain entrance to heaven through the work of Jesus on the cross.
Predestination
The Lutheran belief that God has already ordained everything that will happen on earth, including whether someone is admitted to heaven or not.
Free Will
The belief that humans can choose to do good or evil.
Desiderius Erasmus Roterodamus: Quotes
These quotes highlight the character and some of the beliefs of Desiderius Erasmus.
Picture the prince, such as most of them are today: a man ignorant of the law, well-nigh an enemy to his people's advantage, while intent on his personal convenience, a dedicated voluptuary, a hater of learning, freedom and truth, without a thought for the interests of his country, and measuring everything in terms of his own profit and desires.3
In the kingdom of the blind, the one-eyed man is king.4
The most disadvantageous peace is better than the most just war.5
I have turned my entire attention to Greek. The first thing I shall do, as soon as some money arrives, is to buy some Greek authors; after that, I shall buy clothes.6
Desiderius Erasmus: Major Accomplishments
Erasmus is known today as one of the most outstanding European scholars who ever lived. He was a Renaissance humanist dedicated to his work. He influenced the intellectual mood of Europe during his lifetime and after it.
Fig. 4 A Painting of Desiderius Erasmus by Hans Holbein the Younger.
His many works, not least his translation of the New Testament, demonstrate his extraordinary scholarly abilities. Biographer of Erasmus, Fran Rees, encapsulates this golden image of Erasmus in her introduction:
Erasmus became one of the leading thinkers and most famous scholar of his time. He was witty, charming and intelligent, and always an independent thinker. His ideas became the foundation of a movement called humanism..."7
A Critical Historian's Perspective on Erasmus
Historian Lisa Jardine offers a more nuanced depiction of the idealised genius-scholar we tend to conjure up when we think of Erasmus. Indeed, she argues that Erasmus deliberately cultivated this charismatic genius figure in his public representation. This strategy was highly influential in that it seems to have worked down to the present day, presenting an illusion of Erasmus as a successful scholar admired by everyone during his lifetime and after it.
Instead, Jardine depicts Erasmus as a 'maverick inventor who in his lifetime achieved limited academic recognition and no significant clerical preferment.'8 She points out that many of Erasmus' works were banned because they were deemed too politically and religiously provocative and that most of his works were textbooks and translations rather than treatises. This far less successful image is the one she depicts as the true 'historical' Erasmus.9
Desiderius Erasmus - Key takeaways
Erasmus was one of the most renowned humanist scholars of the Renaissance.
Desiderius Erasmus was born in 1466 in the Netherlands and died in 1536, having travelled all over Europe.
Erasmus was a firm believer in the importance of education.
Although Erasmus was a Catholic priest, he was critical of the Church's abuse of power. He was also critical of the Protestant Reformation and wrote works against Martin Luther's theology.
One of Erasmus' crowning achievements is his translation of the New Testament into Greek and Latin.
References
- Wim Blockmans & Peter Hoppenbrouwers, Introduction to Medieval Europe 300-1500, (2017), pp. 297.
- Hyperaspistes, Book I, Collected Works of Erasmus, Vol. 76, (1974), pp. 204–05.
- Desiderius Erasmus, “Praise of Folly”, (1511).
- William Watson Barker, The Adages of Erasmus, (2001), pp. 276.
- Desiderius Erasmus, "Adagia", (1500).
- Desiderius Erasmus, “The Correspondence of Erasmus: Letters 1 to 141, 1484-1500”, (1974), pp. 252.
- Fran Rees, Desiderius Erasmus: Writer and Christian Humanist, (2006), pp. 15.
- Lisa Jardine, Erasmus: Man of Letters, (2015), pp. 7.
- Lisa Jardine, Erasmus: Man of Letters, (2015), pp. 7.
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