Erasmus and the Age of Reformation

and the Age of Reformation, by
Johan Huizinga

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Title: Erasmus and the Age of Reformation
Author: Johan Huizinga
Release Date: October 5, 2007 [EBook #22900]
Language: English
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ERASMUS AND THE AGE OF REFORMATION
JOHAN HUIZINGA

with a selection from the letters of Erasmus
HARPER TORCHBOOKS / The Cloister Library
HARPER & ROW, PUBLISHERS
NEW YORK, EVANSTON, AND LONDON
[Illustration: WOODCUT BY HANS HOLBEIN. 1535]

ERASMUS AND THE AGE OF REFORMATION
Printed in the United States of America
Huizinga's text was translated from the Dutch by F. Hopman and first
published by Charles Scribner's Sons in 1924. The section from the
Letters of Erasmus was translated by Barbara Flower.
Reprinted by arrangement with Phaidon Press, Ltd., London
Originally published under the title: "Erasmus of Rotterdam"
First HARPER TORCHBOOK edition published 1957
Library of Congress catalogue card number 57-10119

CONTENTS
Preface by G. N. Clark xi
CHAP.
I CHILDHOOD AND EARLY YOUTH, 1466-88 1
II IN THE MONASTERY, 1488-95 10

III THE UNIVERSITY OF PARIS, 1495-9 20
IV FIRST STAY IN ENGLAND, 1499-1500 29
V ERASMUS AS A HUMANIST 39
VI THEOLOGICAL ASPIRATIONS, 1501 47
VII YEARS OF TROUBLE--LOUVAIN, PARIS, ENGLAND, 1502-6
55
VIII IN ITALY, 1506-9 62
IX THE PRAISE OF FOLLY 69
X THIRD STAY IN ENGLAND, 1509-14 79
XI A LIGHT OF THEOLOGY, 1514-16 87
XII ERASMUS'S MIND 100
XIII ERASMUS'S MIND (continued) 109
XIV ERASMUS'S CHARACTER 117
XV AT LOUVAIN, 1517-18 130
XVI FIRST YEARS OF THE REFORMATION 139
XVII ERASMUS AT BASLE, 1521-9 151
XVIII CONTROVERSY WITH LUTHER AND GROWING
CONSERVATISM, 1524-6 161
XIX AT WAR WITH HUMANISTS AND REFORMERS, 1528-9 170
XX LAST YEARS 179
XXI CONCLUSION 188

SELECTED LETTERS OF ERASMUS 195
List of Illustrations 257
Index of Names 263

PREFACE
by G.N. Clark, Provost of Oriel College, Oxford
Rather more than twenty years ago, on a spring morning of alternate
cloud and sunshine, I acted as guide to Johan Huizinga, the author of
this book, when he was on a visit to Oxford. As it was not his first stay
in the city, and he knew the principal buildings already, we looked at
some of the less famous. Even with a man who was well known all
over the world as a writer, I expected that these two or three hours
would be much like the others I had spent in the same capacity with
other visitors; but this proved to be a day to remember. He understood
the purposes of these ancient buildings, the intentions of their founders
and builders; but that was to be expected from an historian who had
written upon the history of universities and learning. What surprised
and delighted me was his seeing eye. He told me which of the
decorative motifs on the Tower of the Four Orders were usual at the
time when it was built, and which were less common. At All Souls he
pointed out the seldom appreciated merits of Hawksmoor's twin towers.
His eye was not merely informed but sensitive. I remembered that I had
heard of his talent for drawing, and as we walked and talked I felt the
influence of a strong, quiet personality deep down in which an artist's
perceptiveness was fused with a determination to search for historical
truth.
Huizinga's great success and reputation came suddenly when he was
over forty. Until that time his powers were ripening, not so much
slowly as secretly. His friends knew that he was unique, but neither he
nor they foresaw what direction his studies would take. He was born in
1872 in Groningen, the most northerly of the chief towns of the

Netherlands, and there he went to school and to the University. He
studied Dutch history and literature and also Oriental languages and
mythology and sociology; he was a good linguist and he steadily
accumulated great learning, but he was neither an infant prodigy nor a
universal scholar. Science and current affairs scarcely interested him,
and until his maturity imagination seemed to satisfy him more than
research. Until he was over thirty he was a schoolmaster at Haarlem, a
teacher of history; but it was still uncertain whether European or
Oriental studies would claim him in the end. For two or three years
before giving up school-teaching he lectured in the