1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Alberus, Erasmus |←Albertus
Magnus||1911 Encyclopædia Britannica, Volume 1 |See also Erasmus
Alberus on Wikipedia, and our 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica
disclaimer.| ALBERUS, ERASMUS (c. 1500-1553), German humanist,
reformer and poet, was a native of the village of Sprendlingen
near Frankfort-on-Main, where he was born about the year 1500.
Although his father was a schoolmaster, his early education was
neglected. Ultimately in 1518 he found his way to the university
of Wittenberg, where he studied theology. He had here the good
fortune to attract the attention of Luther and Melanchthon, and
subsequently became one of Luther's most active helpers in the
Reformation. Not merely did he fight for the Protestant cause as
a preacher and theologian, but he was almost the only member of
Luther's party who was able to confront the Roman Catholics with
the weapon of literary satire. In 1542 he published a prose
satire to which Luther wrote the preface, Der Barfusser Monche
Eulenspiegel und A