erasmus essays

erasmus essays A writer, scholar, humanist, and chief interpreter of intellectual currents to northern Europe; this is what Desiderius Erasmus was known for being during the Italian Renisance. He was born in Gouda, Holland, on Oct. 27, in 1469. He was the illegitimate son of a priest and a physicians daughter. He went to a strict monastic schools in Deventer and s-Hwetogenbosch. After his fathers death, he became an Augustinian canon (member of the order) in Steyn. In 1492, he was ordained as a priest. When working for the bishop of Cambrai, he studied Scholastic Philosophy and Greek in Paris. Erasmus found religious life distasteful, and sought secular employment. Later on, he received a papal dispensation to live as a secular scholar. Erasmus lived much of his life moving around, as well as writing. Starting in 1499, he began working as a tutor and lecturer. He taught at Cambridge in 1511-1514, also visiting Oxford during that time. He constantly wrote, while searching for ancient manuscripts. More than 1500 letters that he wrote have survived. Some of these letters are to friends of his. These friends were prominent figures of his time. Some were; John Colet (founder of St. Paul's School in London), Thomas More (author and Lord Chancellor of England), Thomas Linacre (founder of the Royal College of Physicians), and William Grocyn (lecturer in Greek at the University of Oxford). Through these associations he helped establish humanism in England. Erasmus died in 1536, at the age of 70, in Basel. The writing of Erasmus were written in elegant Latin. They showed extensive knowledge on the subject. He also wrote with wit and tolerance. Adagia, written in 1500, established his scholarly reputation. Most of Erasmuss early work attacked church practices and rationalist Scholasticism. Manuella of the Cristen Knyght and his most famous work, The Praise of Folie, both advocate for a return to simple ...