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HEROES OF THE REFORMATION.


   I.--Martin Luther (1483-1546). THE HERO OF THE REFORMATION. By
   Henry Eyster Jacobs, D.D., LL.D.

   II.--Philip Melanchthon (1497-1560). THE PROTESTANT PRECEPTOR
   OF GERMANY. By James William Richard, D.D.

   III.--Desiderius Erasmus (1467-1536). THE HUMANIST IN THE
   SERVICE OF THE REFORMATION. By Ephraim Emerton, Ph.D.

   G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS
   NEW YORK AND LONDON




    _Heroes of the Reformation_

    EDITED BY
    Samuel Macauley Jackson
    PROFESSOR OF CHURCH HISTORY, NEW YORK
    UNIVERSITY

    Διαιρέσεις χαρισμάτων, τὸ δὲ αὐτὸ πνεῦμα.
    DIVERSITIES OF GIFTS, BUT THE SAME SPIRIT.


DESIDERIUS ERASMUS




  [Illustration]




  [Illustration: PORTRAIT OF ERASMUS BY HOLBEIN.
  ORIGINAL IN THE LOUVRE.]




    DESIDERIUS ERASMUS
    OF ROTTERDAM


    BY
    EPHRAIM EMERTON, PH.D.
    WINN PROFESSOR OF ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY IN HARVARD UNIVERSITY


    O Erasme Roterodame, wo wiltu bleiben? Sieh, was vermag die
    ungerecht tyranney der weltlichen gewahlt, der macht der
    finsternuss? Hör, du ritter Christi, reith hervor neben den
    herrn Christum, beschüz die wahrheit, erlang der martärer cron.
                                         A. DÜRER'S DIARY, 1521.


    G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS
    NEW YORK AND LONDON
    The Knickerbocker Press
    1899




    COPYRIGHT, 1899
    BY
    G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS
    Entered at Stationers' Hall, London


    The Knickerbocker Press, New York




PREFACE


A complete and satisfactory life of Erasmus of Rotterdam still
remains to be written. Its author will have to be a thorough student
of the classic literatures, a theologian familiar with every form
of Christian speculation, a historian, to whom the complicated
movement of the Reformation is altogether intelligible, an educator,
a moralist, and a man of humour. Only to such a person--if such there
ever were--could the writing of this life be a wholly congenial task.
The subject has been approached by different writers from all the
points of view indicated, but no biography has yet shown the whole
range or value of Erasmus' varied activities.

The limitations of the present volume have fortunately been clearly
defined by the title of the series in which it forms a part. Its
function is to deal with Erasmus as a factor in the Protestant
Reformation of the sixteenth century. With the very peculiar and
often elusive personality of the man it has to do only in so far
as it serves to suggest an explanation of his attitude towards the
world-movement of his time. I say "suggest an explanation" rather
than "explain," because, with all diligence, I cannot hope to have
made clear all of the many problems involved in the inquiry. At
every stage of the study of Erasmus one has to ask first what he
believed himself to be doing, then what he wished others to believe
he was doing, then what others did think he was doing, and finally
what the man actually _was_ doing. And all this has to be learned
chiefly from his own words and from his reports of the words of
others.

His life was full of strange incongruities, and any story of his life
which should seek to cover these incongruities by any fictitious
theory of consistency would but ill reflect the truth. And yet,
with all its pettinesses and weaknesses, its contradictions and its
comings-short of natural demands upon it, this life has, after all,
an element of the heroic. If there be a heroism of persistent work
and cheerful endurance, of steady exclusion of all distractions, of
refusal to commit oneself to anything or anybody which might impede
one's chosen line of duty, then we may gladly admit Erasmus into the
choice company of the Heroes of the Reformation.

Such a distinction would vastly have amused him. He would have seized
his pen and dashed off to some friend, who would spread the word,
some such disclaimer as this: "Well, of all things in the world, now
they are calling me a hero! If you never laughed before, laugh now to
your heart's content. I a hero! a man afraid of my shadow,--a man of
books, a hater of conflict, a man, who, if he were put to the test
would, I fear, follow the example of Peter and deny his Lord. And,
not content with this, they add 'of the Reformation.' I, who never,
by word or deed, drunk or sober, gave so much as a hint of belonging
to any of their accursed'movements'! Well, no man can strive against
the Fates."

I have chosen the chronological method because it serves best to
illustrate the development of the man in his relation to his time.
Such selections from Erasmus' writings have been chosen for detailed
examination as bear most directly upon the main objects of the book.
It has seemed wiser to make them long enough to show their true
meaning rather than to use a greater number of mere scraps, which
might in almost every case be contradicted by other scraps. So far as
possible the merely controversial has been avoided. For example, I
have barely alluded to the prolonged discussions with Archbishop Lee,
the Frenchman Bedda, the Spaniard Stunica, and the Italian prince of
Carpi. The detail of these controversies tends rather to confuse than
to illuminate the point of chief interest to us. Yet no treatment of
Erasmus could escape entirely the tone of controversy. He set that
tone himself and the student of his writings inevitably falls into it.

The translations have been kept as close to the originals as was
consistent with a freedom of style somewhat corresponding to Erasmus'
own. It would be hopeless to attempt, by any paraphrasing whatever,
to improve upon the freshness and vivacity of the author.

My thanks are due to many friends for kind assistance and suggestion,
but especially to my colleague, Professor Albert A. Howard of the
Latin department of Harvard University, to whose careful revision
the accuracy of the translations is chiefly due.

References to the Leyden edition of Erasmus' works in 1703-1706 are
given simply by volume, page (column), and division of the column,
as, _e. g._, iii.¹, 157-B.




CONTENTS


                                                         PAGE

    PREFACE                                               iii

    INTRODUCTION                                         xiii

    BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE                                xxiii


    CHAPTER I.

    SCHOOL AND MONASTERY.  1467-1490                        1


    CHAPTER II.

    PARIS AND HOLLAND.  1492-1498                          26


    CHAPTER III.

    FIRST VISIT TO ENGLAND.  1498-1500                     62


    CHAPTER IV.

    PARIS--THE "ADAGIA"--THE "ENCHIRIDION MILITIS
    CHRISTIANI"--PANEGYRIC ON PHILIP OF BURGUNDY.
    1500-1506                                              87


    CHAPTER V.

    RESIDENCE IN ITALY--THE "PRAISE OF FOLLY." 1506-1509  122


    CHAPTER VI.

    ENGLAND (1509-1514)--THE NEW TESTAMENT--THE "DE
    COPIA VERBORUM ET RERUM."                             179


    CHAPTER VII.

    BASEL AND LOUVAIN--THE "INSTITUTIO PRINCIPIS
    CHRISTIANI."  1515-1518                               218


    CHAPTER VIII.

    BEGINNINGS OF THE REFORMATION--CORRESPONDENCE OF
    1518-1519                                             268


    CHAPTER IX.

    DEFINITE BREACH WITH THE REFORMING PARTIES--HUTTEN'S
    "EXPOSTULATIO" AND ERASMUS' "SPONGIA." 1520-1523      336


    CHAPTER X.

    DOCTRINAL OPPOSITION TO THE REFORMATION--FREEDOM
    OF THE WILL--THE EUCHARIST--THE "SPIRIT." 1523-1527   380


    CHAPTER XI.

    FAMILIAR COLLOQUIES--NEW TESTAMENT PARAPHRASES--
    CONTROVERSIAL AND DIDACTIC WRITINGS--REMOVAL TO
    FREIBURG--LAST REFORMATORY TREATISES--RETURN TO
    BASEL--DEATH. 1523-1536                               420


    INDEX                                                 465




ILLUSTRATIONS


                                                         PAGE

    ERASMUS                               _Frontispiece_
      From the portrait by Holbein in the Louvre.

    STATUE OF ERASMUS AT ROTTERDAM                          2

    HOUSE AT ROTTERDAM IN WHICH ERASMUS WAS BORN            4
      From Knight's "Life of Erasmus."

    PARISH CHURCH AT ALDINGTON, KENT                       20
      From Knight's "Life of Erasmus."

    HOLBEIN'S STUDIES FOR THE HANDS OF ERASMUS             48

    THOMAS MORE                                            64
      From the drawing by Holbein in Windsor Castle.

    JOHN COLET                                             70
      From the drawing by Holbein in Windsor Castle.

    HENRY VIII. AND HENRY VII.                             77
     