The Erasmus Reader

edited by Erika Rummel

UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO PRESS

Toronto Buffalo London
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Contents
1" 111 1,' " III L',lIl. ld"

I · .1 1i J (I ~'( .~j) (i Hll f) .. ~

100
Introduction 3

1'1'1 ' il l:d Oil ,1\:id -ln:c paper

1 Erasmus: His Life and Works 15

Brief Outline of His Life / Compendium vitae 15

Catalogue of His Works / Catalogus lucubrationum 21

Canad ian Cataloguing in Pu blication D ata

2 Erasmus as Educator 51
1', ",mus, Desickrius, d. 1536
Jill' I ~ r.l,rnu~ rcader The Antibarbarians / Antibarbarorum libel' 51
IldSl'd on the Collected works of Erasmus. On Education for Children / De pueris instituendis 65
Ill d uuc ~ bibliographical referen ces.
On Good Manners / De civilitate 1 01
'..,IIN 11-8ll2U-6806-S

1. RummeL Erika, 1942- II. Title. 3 Erasmus the Christian H uman ist 12 3

, · , K ,l,.'.. I'.'i!{/\ 1990 199'.492 C90-094710-1 The Ciceronian / Dialogus Ciceronian us 123

Th e Handbook of the Christian Soldier / Enchiridion militis

christiani 138
hi, \ "It II 11 L' is based on the Collected Works of Erasmus (eWE), the research
'h i 1" ",Iii "lion of which have been generously supported by the Social
4 Erasmus as Reformer and Critic of the Church 155
It' ll, . ', .lnd Humanities Research Council of Canada.

Praise of Folly / Moriae encomium 155

',\ ' ' i II-. the Praise of Folly published with the kind permission of
11'<1111
Letter to Dorp / Letter 337 169
1" 'I ) ~lIin Hooks Ltd.
The Luther Affair / Letters 980, 1033, 1202 195
, " \'I '{ " Hans Holbein, Bildnis des Schreibenden Erasmus vall
I . USTRt\TlON:

1,!'lI a r/wll / Portrait of Erasmus ~Vriting. Courtesy Oeffentliche Kunstsamm­

Julius Excluded from Heaven / Dialogus Julius exclu5Us e coelis 216

IlIlI g 13;)sel, Kunstmll seum. Colorfolo Hans Hinz, Allschwil, Switzerland. Shipwreck / Naufragium (from the Colloquies) 239

5 Erasmus and Politics 7.49

Th e Ed uGJtio n oJ;) Christian Prinn' ' 11I .;lillilin /lr;lIi'ipisrilri,o.: lilllli :!.49
194 Erasmus as a Reformer
\
my case to them with 11\, ' ".1 1111': frankness with which you have pul
theirs to me. Make my ,'l'<\tl' with them as far as you can, and make
The Luther Affair

them see that I foU nw Illi ~ course not in order to discredit those wh(J
know nothing of thl' ~ l' I. II 19 l1Llges, but for the general good, which will
be available to anyon l.: W il l I cares to use it and will not be a burden on
the man who prefer:; lu Jo without; also that my attitude is that, it
anyone arises who can 01" will teach us something better, I shall be tht' Martin Luther (1483-1546) first approached Erasmus in March 1518 with
first to tear up and ::tba ndon what I have written and subscribe to hi~ I letter (Ep 933) that expressed his admiration for the Dutch scholar. At that

opinion. Illne Luther was already the centre of a growing controversy, though he
h.ld not yet been condemned officially. Erasmus originally gave his quali­
la·d support to Luther although he objected to his tactics of confrontation.
l uther's intransigence and Erasmus' need to defend himself against those
who proclaimed that 'Erasmus laid the egg that Luther hatched' led to an
'pen breach between the two men in 1524. The following three letters
panning the years 1518-1521 show the gradual change in their relation­
hi p.
Ep 980, dating from 1518, and addressed to Luther himself, is polite and
w",ll-meaning. Ep 1033 of October 1519 also expresses support for the reformer
lit contains a warnin g note. It is addressed to the archbishop of Mainz,
Ihert of Brandenburg (1490- 1545), who was favourably disposed to the New
",lrning and to w hom Erasmus had previo usly dedicated his Ratio I Method
rrue Theology outlining his approach to biblical studies. The letter, which
.IS notintended for publication but found its way into the hands of a publisher

Ihrnugh the indiscretion of a friend, contained some candid statements that

,I"ased Luther's supporters but outraged conservative Catholics. Ep 1202
I May 1521 was written after Luther's appearance at the Diet of Worms
li d shows a shift in Erasmus' perception that foreshadows later develop-
Iwnts. Whereas he had previously seen Luther as an instrument of God
hn lugh which the church might be purged of its abuses, he now regarded
1111 as a danger to the unity of the church. Ep 1202 is addressed to Justus

' II.IS (1498- 1555), at the time professor at the University of Erfurt, a com­

"lIl'd Lutheran and later to become one of Luther's closest associates in

" 11 il'nberg.
I hese extracts are from e W E 6 391-3, translated by R.A.B. Mynors and D.F.s.
III li nson, annotated by Peter G. Bietenholz; e WE 7 110-16, translated by R.A.B.

h 1Il1 rS, annotated by Peter G. Bietenholz; and eWE 8 201-11, translated by

\ II. Mynors, annotated by Peter G. Bietenholz.
196 Erasmus as a Reformer
Ep 980
ERASMUS OF ROTTE RDAM T O MARTIN LUTHER
Greetings, dearest brother in Christ. Your letter gave me great pleasure:
it displayed the brilliance of your mind and breathed the spirit of a
Christian. No words of mine could describe the storm raised here by
your books. Even now it is impossible to root out from men's minds
the most groundless suspicion that your work is written with assistance
from me and that I am, as they call it, a standard~bearer of this new
movement. They supposed that this gave them an opening to suppress
both humane studies - for which they have a burning hatred, as likely
to stand in the way of her majesty Queen Theology, whom they value
much more than they do Christ - and myself at the same time, un der
the impression that I contribute something of importance towards this
outburst of zeal. In the whole business their weapons are clamour,
audacity, subterfuge, misinterpretation, innuendo; if I had not seen it
with my own eyes - felt it, rather - I would never have believed
theologians could be such maniacs. One would think it was some
disastrous infection. And yet this poisonous virus, starting in a small
circle, spread to a larger number, so tha t a great part of this university'
was carried away by the spreading contagion of this epidemic p aranoia.
I assured them that you were quite unknown to me; that I had
nnl yet read your books and could therefore neither disapprove nor
.ll'prove anything. I merely told them not to make such an offensiw
lIrroar in public before they had even read "",hat you have writteIl,
,Inl! t hat this was in their own interests, since their judgment ough t tll
" Irry g reat weight. I also advised them to consider whether it was .1
gppd plan to produce before a casual audience of laymen a distorted
oIln} Unt of views which it would be more proper to refute in print 01
di .,t:u'is among specialists, especially since all with one voice sp ei.1~
l11 g hly of the author's manner of life. I did no good at all: they are S CI
hllnded by their own jaundiced, indeed slanderous disputations. Wh\'r 1
I t'hink how often we have agreed terms of peace, and how often lice
~ Ull1e trifling and rash suspicion they have stirred up fresh trou bh ,1
An d they regard themselves as theologians. Theologians in this P,II I
I If tlw w orld are unpopular at court; and this too they think is my fault
1\11 the bish op s are cordially on my side. These men have no confidc mt
in the p rin ted word; their hope of victory lies entirely in mal iciml
The Luth er Affair 197
gossip. This I despise, fo r my conscience is d ear . Their atti tude to you
has softened somewhat. They are afraid of my pen, knowing their own
record; and, my word, I would paint them in their true colours, as they
deserve, did not Christ's teaching and Christ's example point in quite
another direction. Fierce wild beasts are tamed by kin dness; these men
are driven wild if you do anything for them.
You have people in England who think well of what you write, and
they are in high place. There are some here too, the bishop of Liege
among them, who favour your views. As for me, I keep myself uncom­
mitted, so far as I can, in hopes of being able to do more for the
revival of good literature. And I think one gets further by courtesy and '
moderation than by clamour. That was how Christ brought the world
under his sway; that was how Paul did away with the Jewish law, by
reducing everything to allegory. It is more expedient to protest against
those who misuse the authority of bishops than against the bishops
themselves; and · I think one should do the same with kings. The
universities are not so much to be despised as recalled to more serious
studies. Things which are of su ch w ide acceptance that they cannot be
torn out of men's minds all at once should be met with argument,
close-reasoned forcible argument, rather than bare assertion. Some
people's poisonous propagan da is better ignored than refuted. Every­
where we must take pains to do and say nothing out of arrogance or
faction; for I think the spirit of Christ would have it so. Meanwhile we
must keep our minds above the corruption of anger or hatred, or of
ambition; for it is this that lies in wait for us when our religious zeal is
in full course.
I am not instructing you to do this, only to do what you do always,
1 have dipped into your commentary on the Psalms; I like the look of
it particularly and hope that it will be of great service. There is a man
in Antwerp, the prior of the monastery there,3 a genuine Christian,
who is most devoted to you and was once your pupil, or so he says.
He is almost the only one among them all who preaches Christ; the
others as a rule preach the inventions of men or their own advantage.
I have written to Melanchthon. 4 May the Lord Jesus ever more richly
endue you with his spirit every day, for his own glory and the good
of mankind. Your letter was not at hand w hen I wrote this.
Farewell, from Louvain, 30 May 151 9