Timeline
Title
Country/Nationality
Desiderius Erasmus
Desiderius Erasmus Roterodamus was a Dutch philosopher and Catholic theologian who is considered one of the greatest scholars of the northern Renaissance. As a Catholic priest, he was an important figure in classical scholarship who wrote in a pure Latin style. Among humanists he enjoyed the sobriquet "Prince of the Humanists", and has been called "the crowning glory of the Christian humanists". Using humanist techniques for working on texts, he prepared important new Latin and Greek editions of the New Testament, which raised questions that would be influential in the Protestant Reformation and Catholic Counter-Reformation. He also wrote On Free Will,[6] In Praise of Folly, Handbook of a Christian Knight, On Civility in Children, Copia: Foundations of the Abundant Style, Julius Exclusus, and many other works.
Erasmus lived against the backdrop of the growing European religious Reformation. He remained a member of the Catholic Church all his life, remaining committed to reforming the Church and its clerics' abuses from within. He also held to the doctrine of synergism, which some Reformers (Calvinists) rejected in favor of the doctrine of monergism. His middle-road (via media) approach disappointed, and even angered, scholars in both camps.
Erasmus died suddenly in Basel in 1536 while preparing to return to Brabant and was buried in Basel Minster, the former cathedral of the city.
Books by Desiderius Erasmus
The Praise of Folly
In Praise of Folly begins with a satirical learned encomium, in which Folly praises herself, in the manner of the Greek satirist Lucian (2nd century AD), whose work Erasmus and Sir Thomas More had recently translated into Latin; it then takes a darke...
Colloquia Familiaria
Colloquia Familiaria is a collection of Latin dialogues written by Desiderius Erasmus. First published in 1518 and expanded until 1533, it is considered one of the most important works of Renaissance humanism. The dialogues cover a wide range of topi...
Lob der Narrheit
In Praise of Folly is a philosophical work by Desiderius Erasmus, a Dutch Renaissance humanist. First published in 1509, the book is a satirical attack on the folly and superstition of the Catholic Church and the human condition in general. Erasmus a...