Erasmus of Rotterdam

Agora

Erasmus of Rotterdam

c. 1466–1536

A first way ina deliberate simplification – the portrait says more

True Christianity is a way of life, not dogma; people have free will, and education and peace matter more than theological quarrels.

Placement

Renaissance & Humanism · Western Europe · Ethics, Religion

Prince of the humanists: mockery of dogmatism, a plea for peace, education and free will.

Key ideas

Humanism
Free will
Tolerance

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Influence

Influenced by 5

Plato

influenced by
Erasmus took up the image of Socrates as a Silenus, ugly outside and divine within, from Plato’s Symposium for his adage ‘Sileni Alcibiadis’ (1515). Erasmus, Adagia III.iii.1 ‘Sileni Alcibiadis’ (1515); Plato, Symposium 215a–b; SEP “Desiderius Erasmus”
Evidence: AI draft
Plato › 428–348 BCE
Cicero

influenced by ✓
Erasmus edited Cicero’s De officiis (1501) and admired his moral philosophy, but mocked slavish imitation of his Latin style in the Ciceronianus (1528). Erasmus (ed.), Cicero, De officiis (Paris, 1501); Ciceronianus (1528); SEP “Desiderius Erasmus”
Evidence: also in Wikidata · Wikidata
Cicero › 106–43 BCE
Origen

influenced by
Erasmus recommended Origen as an interpreter of Scripture in the Enchiridion (1503) and took up his spiritual exegesis; his edition of Origen appeared in 1536. Erasmus, Enchiridion militis christiani (1503); Origenis opera (Basel, 1536); SEP “Desiderius Erasmus”
Evidence: AI draft
Origen › c. 185–253
Augustine

influenced by
Erasmus edited Augustine’s collected works (Basel, 1528–29), though as an interpreter of Scripture he preferred Jerome and Origen. Erasmus (ed.), Augustini opera (Froben, Basel 1528–29); SEP “Desiderius Erasmus”
Evidence: AI draft
Augustine › 354–430
Lorenzo Valla

influenced by
Erasmus published Valla’s Annotations on the New Testament in 1505 and took up their philological criticism of the Vulgate for his Greek New Testament (1516). L. Valla, Adnotationes in Novum Testamentum, ed. Erasmus (Paris, 1505); Erasmus, Novum Instrumentum (1516); SEP “Lorenzo Valla”
Evidence: AI draft
Lorenzo Valla › c. 1407–1457

Influenced 2

Juan Luis Vives

influenced
Vives, a friend of Erasmus, shared his humanist programme of learning and piety and at his suggestion wrote the commentary on Augustine’s City of God (1522). J. L. Vives, Commentarii in De civitate Dei (1522); SEP “Juan Luis Vives”
Evidence: AI draft
Juan Luis Vives › 1493–1540
Andrzej Frycz Modrzewski

influenced
Frycz Modrzewski came to Erasmian humanism in Jan Łaski’s circle; his De republica emendanda (1551–54) shares its call for church reform and peace. A. Frycz Modrzewski, Commentariorum de republica emendanda libri quinque (1551–54); W. Voisé, Frycza Modrzewskiego nauka o państwie i prawie (1956)
Evidence: AI draft
Andrzej Frycz Modrzewski › c. 1503–1572

Works

1511The Praise of Folly
Folly delivers a eulogy of herself – a satire on the Church and the learned.

Position

Erasmus wanted to renew Christianity through learning: back to the sources, to the Greek New Testament and the Church Fathers, and to a simple “philosophy of Christ” lived in everyday piety rather than in ritual and scholastic subtlety. In The Praise of Folly he let Folly herself mock the vanity of theologians, monks and princes. He was a passionate advocate of peace, education and tolerance. Although he criticised abuses in the Church, he refused to join Luther, and in On Free Will he defended the human capacity to cooperate with grace. His ideal of a humane, peaceful and learned Europe made him the “prince of humanists”.

Life & context

Born in Rotterdam around 1466, Erasmus was educated by the Brethren of the Common Life and became an Augustinian canon, but soon lived as an independent scholar. He moved between Paris, England, where he befriended Thomas More, Italy and Leuven, and finally settled in Basel near his printer Froben. The best-known scholar of his day in Europe, he died in Basel in 1536.