Desiderius Erasmus, the Great Humanist

Desiderius Erasmus, the Great Humanist

Desiderius Erasmus was one of the great humanists. He was well

educated and practice scholasticism. He was also a great writer, who wrote

books of many types. He is even called the greatest European scholar of the

16th century (Britannica Macropedia). He was also courageous, as he

criticized the Church harshly. It was said by R. C. Trench that "Erasmus

laid the egg of the Reformation and Luther hatched it."

Erasmus was the illegitimate son of a priest named Gerard. This fact

would haunt him for his entire life. He feared that, if this fact was

widely known, his life would be ruined. Therefore, there has been much

confusion about his early life. It has been discerned that he as born in

Gouda, Holland in 1469 and that he had a brother. Erasmus tried to keep all

these facts hidden, confusing modern day historians. He died in 1536.

Erasmus's writings included The Praise of Folly, a satire which pointed

out major problems in the clergy, saying that monks were beggars, the

clergy was greedy, and that the pope had no resemblance to the Apostles. He

also wrote a short satirical skit in which Pope Julius II had trouble

getting into heaven. In the skit, Pope Julius II is made out to be more of

a Muslim than a Catholic. Writing this had to take considerable courage,

for, though the Church was in decline, it still had considerable power. He

also published the Greek version of the New Testament in Latin, so

Europeans could read it.

Erasmus was a traveller. He lived in many places in Europe at different

times. He had lived in Rome, Paris, England, and many other European

countries. His worked as a writer, but was dependant on gifts of nobles as

most writers of the time were. In his travels he befriended many humanists.

Erasmus became a humanist because of his education. He studied both

ancient Greek and Latin. He had tried to be monk and a priest, but could

not. He went to Paris where he mastered Latin. He received a good education

there. This education, combined with his morality, made him a great

humanist. He had both the knowledge and the ethics to criticize the Church

(a person who lacked ethics and criticized the Church would be a hypocrite).

Surprisingly, Erasmus was both tolerant and a pacifist. He, apparently,

picked up these traits when in England.