65 Facts About Desiderius Erasmus

Desiderius Erasmus Roterodamus was a Dutch philosopher and Catholic theologian who is considered one of the greatest scholars of the northern Renaissance.

Desiderius Erasmus wrote On Free Will, 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.

Desiderius Erasmus remained a member of the Catholic Church all his life, remaining committed to reforming the Church and its clerics' abuses from within.

Desiderius Erasmus held to the doctrine of synergism, which some Reformers rejected in favor of the doctrine of monergism.

Desiderius 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.

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Desiderius Erasmus was named after Saint Erasmus of Formiae, whom Erasmus's father Gerard personally favored.

Desiderius Erasmus's father, Gerard, was a Catholic priest and curate in Gouda.

Desiderius Erasmus's mother was Margaretha Rogerius, the daughter of a doctor from Zevenbergen.

Desiderius Erasmus was given the highest education available to a young man of his day, in a series of monastic or semi-monastic schools.

Desiderius Erasmus gleaned there the importance of a personal relationship with God but eschewed the harsh rules and strict methods of the religious brothers and educators.

For instance, Desiderius Erasmus became an intimate friend of an Italian humanist Publio Fausto Andrelini, poet and "professor of humanity" in Paris.

Desiderius Erasmus's rooms were located in the "I" staircase of Old Court, and he showed a marked disdain for the ale and weather of England.

Desiderius Erasmus suffered from poor health and complained that Queens' College could not supply him with enough decent wine.

Until the early 20th century, Queens' College used to have a corkscrew that was purported to be "Desiderius Erasmus's corkscrew", which was a third of a metre long; as of 1987, the college still had what it calls "Desiderius Erasmus's chair".

Desiderius Erasmus's legacy is marked for someone who complained bitterly about the lack of comforts and luxuries to which he was accustomed.

Desiderius Erasmus was particularly impressed by the Bible teaching of John Colet, who pursued a style more akin to the church fathers than the Scholastics.

Desiderius Erasmus preferred to live the life of an independent scholar and made a conscious effort to avoid any actions or formal ties that might inhibit his freedom of intellect and literary expression.

Desiderius Erasmus did however assist his friend John Colet by authoring Greek textbooks and procuring members of staff for the newly established St Paul's School.

Desiderius Erasmus felt called upon to use his learning in a purification of doctrine by returning to the historic documents and original languages of sacred scripture.

Desiderius Erasmus tried to free the methods of scholarship from the rigidity and formalism of medieval traditions, but he was not satisfied with this.

Aloof from entangling obligations, Desiderius Erasmus was the centre of the literary movement of his time, corresponding with more than five hundred men in the worlds of politics and of thought.

Desiderius Erasmus requested a "Publication Privilege" for the Novum Instrumentum omne to ensure that his work would not be copied by other printers.

Desiderius Erasmus was invited by Cisneros to work on Complutensian Polyglot edition in 1517; he offered him a bishop's office.

The fear of their publishing first, though, affected Desiderius Erasmus's work, rushing him to printing and causing him to forgo editing.

Desiderius Erasmus had been working for years on two projects: a collation of Greek texts and a fresh Latin New Testament.

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Desiderius Erasmus collected all the Vulgate manuscripts he could find to create a critical edition.

Desiderius Erasmus retranslated the Latin text into Greek wherever he found that the Greek text and the accompanying commentaries were mixed up, or where he simply preferred the Vulgate's reading to the Greek text.

Desiderius Erasmus said it was "rushed into print rather than edited", resulting in a number of transcription errors.

Desiderius Erasmus's hurried effort was published by his friend Johann Froben of Basel in 1516 and thence became the first published Greek New Testament, the Novum Instrumentum omne, diligenter ab Erasmo Rot.

Desiderius Erasmus used several Greek manuscript sources because he did not have access to a single complete manuscript.

Desiderius Erasmus had been unable to find those verses in any Greek manuscript, but one was supplied to him during production of the third edition.

Desiderius Erasmus published a fourth edition in 1527 containing parallel columns of Greek, Latin Vulgate and Desiderius Erasmus's Latin texts.

In 1535 Desiderius Erasmus published the fifth edition which dropped the Latin Vulgate column but was otherwise similar to the fourth edition.

Desiderius Erasmus dedicated his work to Pope Leo X as a patron of learning and regarded this work as his chief service to the cause of Christianity.

Desiderius Erasmus believed that his work so far had commended itself to the best minds and to the dominant powers in the religious world.

Desiderius Erasmus did not build a large body of supporters with his letters.

Desiderius Erasmus chose to write in Greek and Latin, the languages of scholars.

Desiderius Erasmus declined to commit himself, arguing that to do so would endanger his position as a leader in the movement for pure scholarship which he regarded as his purpose in life.

When Desiderius Erasmus hesitated to support him, the straightforward Luther became angered that Desiderius Erasmus was avoiding the responsibility due either to cowardice or a lack of purpose.

Apart from these perceived moral failings of the Reformers, Desiderius Erasmus dreaded any change in doctrine, citing the long history of the Church as a bulwark against innovation.

Desiderius Erasmus identified anyone who questioned the perpetual virginity of Mary as blasphemous.

Desiderius Erasmus, they said, had laid the egg, and Luther had hatched it.

Desiderius Erasmus wittily dismissed the charge, claiming that Luther had hatched a different bird entirely.

The content of Desiderius Erasmus's works engaged with later thought on the state of the question, including the perspectives of the via moderna school and of Lorenzo Valla, whose ideas he rejected.

Desiderius Erasmus's departure was mainly because he feared his loss of impartiality and prominent reformators like Oekolampad urged him to stay.

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Certain works of Desiderius Erasmus laid a foundation for religious toleration and ecumenism.

In 1530, Desiderius Erasmus published a new edition of the orthodox treatise of Algerus against the heretic Berengar of Tours in the eleventh century.

Desiderius Erasmus added a dedication, affirming his belief in the reality of the Body of Christ after consecration in the Eucharist, commonly referred to as transubstantiation.

The sacramentarians, headed by Œcolampadius of Basel, were, as Desiderius Erasmus says, quoting him as holding views similar to their own in order to try to claim him for their schismatic and "erroneous" movement.

Desiderius Erasmus wrote both on church subjects and those of general human interest.

Desiderius Erasmus emphasized personal spiritual disciplines and called for a reformation which he characterized as a collective return to the Fathers and Scripture.

Desiderius Erasmus wrote of the legendary Frisian freedom fighter and rebel Pier Gerlofs Donia, though more often in criticism than in praise of his exploits.

Desiderius Erasmus saw him as a dim, brutal man who preferred physical strength to wisdom.

Desiderius Erasmus applies the general principles of honor and sincerity to the special functions of the Prince, whom he represents throughout as the servant of the people.

Desiderius Erasmus preferred for the prince to be loved, and strongly suggested a well-rounded education in order to govern justly and benevolently and avoid becoming a source of oppression.

Desiderius Erasmus accuses Hutten of having misinterpreted his utterances about reform and reiterates his determination never to break with the Church.

Desiderius Erasmus believes that the things which are the least ostentatious can be the most significant, and that the Church constitutes all Christian people – that despite contemporary references to clergy as the whole of the Church, they are merely its servants.

Desiderius Erasmus criticizes those that spend the Church's riches at the people's expense.

Desiderius Erasmus criticizes the riches of the popes, believing that it would be better for the Gospel to be most important.

Desiderius Erasmus had remained loyal to the papal authorities in Rome, but he did not have the opportunity to receive the last rites of the Catholic Church; the reports of his death do not mention whether he asked for a priest or not.

Desiderius Erasmus was buried with great ceremony in the Basel Minster.

Protestant views of Desiderius Erasmus fluctuated depending on region and period, with continual support in his native Netherlands and in cities of the Upper Rhine area.

However, Desiderius Erasmus designated his own legacy, and his life works were turned over at his death to his friend the Protestant humanist turned remonstrator Sebastian Castellio for the repair of the breach and divide of Christianity in its Catholic, Anabaptist, and Protestant branches.

Desiderius Erasmus is blamed for the mistranslation from Greek of "to call a bowl a bowl" as "to call a spade a spade".

Desiderius Erasmus has chosen the Roman god of the borders Terminus as a personal symbol and had a signet ring with a herm he thought included a depiction of Terminus carved into a carnelian.

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