ERASMUS AND THE AGE OF REFORMATION

By

JOHAN HUIZINGA

with a selection from the letters of Erasmus

HARPER TORCHBOOKS / The Cloister Library
HARPER & ROW, PUBLISHERS

NEW YORK, EVANSTON, AND LONDON

WOODCUT BY HANS HOLBEIN. 1535

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

Chapter I. CHILDHOOD AND EARLY YOUTH, 1466-88

Chapter II. IN THE MONASTERY, 1488-95

Chapter III. THE UNIVERSITY OF PARIS, 1495-9

Chapter IV. FIRST STAY IN ENGLAND, 1499-1500

Chapter V. ERASMUS AS A HUMANIST

Chapter VI. THEOLOGICAL ASPIRATIONS, 1501

Chapter VII. YEARS OF TROUBLE—LOUVAIN, PARIS, ENGLAND, 1502-6

Chapter VIII. IN ITALY, 1506-9

Chapter IX. THE PRAISE OF FOLLY

Chapter X. THIRD STAY IN ENGLAND, 1509-14

Chapter XI. A LIGHT OF THEOLOGY, 1514-16

Chapter XII. ERASMUS'S MIND

Chapter XIII. ERASMUS'S MIND (continued)

Chapter XIV. ERASMUS'S CHARACTER

Chapter XV. AT LOUVAIN, 1517-18

Chapter XVI. FIRST YEARS OF THE REFORMATION

Chapter XVII. ERASMUS AT BASLE, 1521-9

Chapter XVIII. CONTROVERSY WITH LUTHER AND GROWING CONSERVATISM, 1524-6

Chapter XIX. AT WAR WITH HUMANISTS AND REFORMERS, 1528-9

Chapter XX. LAST YEARS

Chapter XXI. CONCLUSION

SELECTED LETTERS OF ERASMUS

List of Illustrations

Index of Names

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.