Erasmus
— Prince of the Humanists
Today is the anniversary of the death in
1536 of Erasmus of Rotterdam, the Prince of the Humanists. Erasmus devoted his career and his mastery of
Latin and Greek to translating and commenting upon sacred texts including a new
translation of the New Testament and non-sacred literature such as the writings
of Seneca. Along the way he wrote the Colloquies and the Adages, social commentary such as the Praise of Folly and on the need for internal reform of church
practices including one of my favorites the Julius
Exclusus. He wrote a “paraphrase” of
the New Testament (far longer in paraphrase than was the original text) that
under Edward VI (in English translation) was required to be in every English
church. The future Queen Mary I (Mary
Tudor) translated a portion of the Paraphrases into English. The Paraphrases feature in the third of the
Kingsbridge novels of Ken Follett, the Pillar of Fire.
He and Sir Thomas More were the best of
friends, and the Praise of Folly was
written while he was staying with More at Chelsea.
It’s not that I think a lot of Erasmus,
it’s just that I have copies of his portrait hanging in both my house and my
office.
The Cloister and the Hearth is a novel
of an imagined account of the lives of Erasmus’ parents. Of more recent
vintage, the book Fatal Discord recounts in parallel the lives of
Erasmus and Luther and their conflict over the Reformation.
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