Erasmus,
Desiderius (1466-1536) Dutch humanist and scholar, one of the most
influential Renaissance figures, born in Rotterdam. he was educated by
the Brethren of the Common Life in Deventer and joined an Augustine monastery
at Steyn near Gouda in 1487, and was ordained a priest in 1492. But Erasmus
was already reacting against scholasticism and was drawn to the Humanists.
He studied and taught in Paris, and later in most of the cultural centres
in Europe, including Oxford and Cambridge, where he was professor of divinity
and of Greek. He published many popular, sometimes didactic works like
Adages
(1500, 1508),
Handbook of a Christian Soldier (1503), and the famous
In praise of Folly (1509). He also published scholarly editions
of classical authors and the Church fathers, and edited the Greek New Testament
(1516). Erasmus traveled widely and met Europe’s foremost intellectuals,
including Thomas More. In Basel he stayed for 15 years. Hans Holbein the
Younger was among his admirers and friends.
See: Albrecht Durer. Portrait
of Erasmus.
Hans Holbein. Portrait
of Erasmus. Portrait of Erasmus
von Rotterdam in a Round Frame.
Quentin Massys. Erasmus
of Rotterdam.