Editing Erasmus (section)

===Travels===

{{routemap
| title = Cities and routes of Erasmus
| legend = no
| map = Walsingham~~ ! !\\eKHSTa\\\\ ~~
Oxford, Cambridge~~ ! !KBHFa\\BHF\\\\ ~~ 
~~ ! !KRWl\KRW+lr\KRWr\\\\ ~~ 
London~~ ! !\BHF\\\\\ ~~ 
Reading~~! !KBHFaq\ABZgr\\\\\~~
Canterbury~~ ~~ ! !\eHST\\\\\fKBHFa~~Deventer 
~~ ~~ ! !\uWASSER\\\\\fBHF~~Woerden
Calais~~ ~~ ! !\eHST\\\\fKBHFaq\fHST!~fKHSTeq~~Stein, Gouda
~~ ! !\ABZgl\STRq\STRq\STR+r\\fHST!~fENDE ~~Rotterdam
St Omer ! !\BHF\\\STR\\fBHF ~~'s-Hertogenbosch
Cambrai/Bergen ~~ ! !\ABZgl+l\BHFq\BHFq\ABZqlr+lr\BHFq\fSTRr~~Brussels, Antwerp 
Paris ~~ ! !\BHF\\\BHF\\~~Louvain
Orléans ~~ ! !\BHF\\\ABZgl\STRq\STR+r
Lyon~~ ~~ ! !\eKHSTe\nSTR+r\\eHST\\ueHST~~ ~~Liège, Cologne ~~
~~ ~~ ! !\\exnSTR!~nCONTf\\STRl\STRgq\TEEeq!~ueHST~~ ~~Mainz ~~
Turin~~ ~~! !\eKBHFa\nSTRr\\\\ueHST ~~ Strasbourg
Bologna~~ ! !\BHF\nSTR2+r\\\\uBHF~~Freiburg im Breisgau 
~~ ! !KRW+l\KRWlr\KRW+r\nSTR2+4\\eKHSTaq\KBHFeq!~uBHF ~~ ~~ Besançon, Basel<sup> †</sup>
Florence, Ferrara~~ ~~ ! !eHST\\eHST\\nSTRl+4\nCONTfq\ueKHSTe~~Konstanz
Siena,~~ Padua ~~! !eHST\\BHF\\\\~~
Rome,~~ Venice ~~! !eBHF\\KBHFe\\\\
Cumae~~ ~~! !eKHSTe\\\\\\ ~~
| footnote = {{ubli|Green: early life|Dark circles: residence|Thin line: alpine crossings|Red and green lines: horseback, carriage|Blue lines: Rhine and English Channel}}
}}

Erasmus traveled widely and regularly, for reasons of poverty, "escape"<ref name=maarten/>{{rp|154}} from his [[Stein, South Holland|Stein]] canonry (to [[Cambrai]]), education (to [[Paris]], [[Turin]]), escape from the [[sweating sickness]] plague (to [[Orléans]]), employment (to [[England]]),  searching libraries for manuscripts, writing ([[Duchy of Brabant|Brabant]]), royal counsel ([[Cologne]]), patronage, tutoring and chaperoning (North [[Italy]]), networking ([[Rome]]), seeing books through printing in person ([[Paris]], [[Venice]], [[Louvain]], [[Basel]]), and avoiding the persecution of religious fanatics (to [[Freiburg]]). He enjoyed horseback riding.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://ccel.org/ccel/schaff/hcc7/hcc7.ii.iv.xii.html|title=Philip Schaff: History of the Christian Church, Volume VII. Modern Christianity. The German Reformation – Christian Classics Ethereal Library|website=ccel.org|access-date=2 December 2023|archive-date=21 June 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230621060839/https://ccel.org/ccel/schaff/hcc7/hcc7.ii.iv.xii.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

====Paris====
In 1495 with Bishop Henry's consent and a stipend, Erasmus went on to study at the [[University of Paris]]  in the [[Collège de Montaigu]], a centre of reforming zeal,<ref group=note>Subsequent students included Ignatius of Loyola, Noël Béda, Jean Calvin, and John Knox.</ref> under the direction of the [[ascetic]] [[Jan Standonck]], of whose rigors he complained.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Andrews |first1=Edward D. |last2=Lightfoot |first2=J.B. |last3=Kenyon |first3=Frederic G. |title=The Revisions of the English Holy Bible: Misunderstandings and Misconceptions about the English Bible Translations |date=2022 |publisher=Christian Publishing House |isbn=979-8-3521-2418-5}}</ref> The university was then the chief seat of [[Scholasticism|Scholastic]] learning but already coming under the influence of [[Renaissance]] humanism.<ref>{{cite thesis |last1=Lundberg |first1=Christa |title=Apostolic theology and humanism at the University of Paris, 1490–1540 |date=16 February 2022 |publisher=Apollo – University of Cambridge Repository |doi=10.17863/CAM.81488 |language=en}}</ref> For instance, Erasmus became an intimate friend of an Italian humanist [[Publio Fausto Andrelini]], poet and "professor of humanity" in Paris.{{Cn|date=April 2025}}

During this time, Erasmus developed a deep aversion to exclusive or excessive [[Aristotelianism]] and [[Scholasticism]]<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Ptaszyński |first1=Maciej |title=Theologians and Their Bellies: The Erasmian Epithet Theologaster during the Reformation |journal=Erasmus Studies |date=8 October 2021 |volume=41 |issue=2 |pages=200–229 |doi=10.1163/18749275-04102001 |s2cid=240246657 |issn=1874-9275 |doi-access=free }}</ref> and started finding work as a tutor/chaperone to visiting English and Scottish aristocrats, most importantly in his life [[William Blount, 4th Baron Mountjoy]].  There is no record of him graduating.

====First visit to England (1499–1500)====
{{Side box |metadata=No
 | above = '''English circle'''.<ref name=circle>{{cite ODNB |last1=Baker House |first1=Simon |title=Erasmus circle in England |url=https://www.oxforddnb.com/display/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-96813 |doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/96813 |access-date=20 July 2023}}</ref>
 | text = {{hlist|[[Thomas More]]|[[John Colet]]|[[Thomas Linacre]]|[[William Grocyn]]|[[William Lily (grammarian)|William Lily]]|[[Andrea Ammonio]]|[[Juan Luis Vives]]|[[Cuthbert Tunstall]] |[[Henry Bullock]]|[[Thomas Lupset]]|[[Richard Foxe]]|[[Christopher Urswick]]|[[Robert Aldrich (bishop)|Robert Aldrich]]|[[Richard Whitford]]|[[Lorenzo Campeggio]]|[[Richard Reynolds (martyr)|Richard Reynolds]]|[[Polydore Vergil]]}}
''Patrons'': {{hlist|class=inline|[[William Blount, 4th Baron Mountjoy|William Blount]]|[[William Warham]]|[[John Fisher]]| [[John Longland]]|[[Margaret Beaufort]]|[[Catherine of Aragon]]}}<br />
"I can truly say that no place in the world has given me so many friends—true, learned, helpful, and illustrious friends—as the single city of London." Letter to Colet, 1509<ref name=gasquet/>
}}
Erasmus stayed in England at least three times.<ref group=note>Some of these visits were interrupted by trips back to Europe.{{citation needed|date=July 2023}}</ref> In between he had periods studying in Paris, Orléans, Leuven and other cities.

In 1499 he was invited to England by Blount, who offered to accompany him on his trip to England.<ref name=":3">{{Cite book |last=Treu |first=Erwin |title=Die Bildnisse des Erasmus von Rotterdam |publisher=Gute Schriften Basel |year=1959 |pages=6–7 |language=de}}</ref> His six months in England was fruitful in the making of lifelong friendships with the leaders of English thought in the days of King [[Henry VIII]].

During his first visit to England in 1499, he stayed for two months at the [[University of Oxford]], at [[St Mary's College, Oxford|St Mary's College]], the college for Augustinian canons, where he befriended the leading Greek scholars [[Thomas Linacre]], [[William Grocyn]] and [[William Lily (grammarian)|William Lily]]. Erasmus was particularly impressed by the Bible teaching of [[John Colet]], who pursued a preaching style more akin to the [[church fathers]] than the [[Scholastics]]. Through the influence of the humanist John Colet, his interests turned towards [[patristic]] theology.<ref name=":3" /> Other distinctive features of Colet's thought that may have influenced Erasmus are his pacifism,<ref>{{cite book |last1=Adams |first1=Robert Pardee |title=Pacifism in the English Renaissance, 1497–1530: John Colet, Erasmus, Thomas More and J. L. Vives |date=1937 |publisher=University of Chicago |language=en}}</ref> reform-mindedness,<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Harper-Bill |first1=Christopher |title=Dean Colet's Convocation Sermon and the Pre-Reformation Church in England |journal=History |date=1988 |volume=73 |issue=238 |pages=191–210 |doi=10.1111/j.1468-229X.1988.tb02151.x |jstor=24413851  |issn=0018-2648}}</ref> anti-Scholasticism and pastoral esteem for the sacrament of Confession.<ref name=tracy/>{{rp|94}}

This prompted him, upon his return from England to Paris, to intensively study the Greek language, which would enable him to study patristic theology on a more profound level.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Giese |first1=Rachel |title=Erasmus' Greek Studies |journal=The Classical Journal |date=1934 |volume=29 |issue=7 |pages=517–526 |jstor=3290377  |issn=0009-8353}}</ref>{{rp|518}}

Erasmus also became [[Thomas More#Personality according to Erasmus|fast friends]] with [[Thomas More]], a young law student considering becoming a monk, whose thought (e.g., on conscience and equity) had been influenced by 14th century French theologian [[Jean Gerson]],<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Suzanne |first1=Hélène |title=Conscience in the Early Renaissance: the case of Erasmus, Luther and Thomas More |journal=Moreana |date=December 2014 |volume=51  |issue=3–4 (197–198) |pages=231–244 |doi=10.3366/more.2014.51.3-4.13 |language=en |issn=0047-8105}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Masur-Matusevich |first1=Yelena |title=Le père du siècle: the early modern reception of Jean Gerson (1363-1429) theological authority between Middle Ages and early modern era |date=2023 |publisher=Brepols |location=Turnhout |isbn=978-2-503-60225-7}}</ref> and whose intellect had been developed by his powerful patron Cardinal [[John Morton (cardinal)|John Morton]] (d. 1500) who had famously attempted reforms of English monasteries.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Gairdner |first1=James |title=Archbishop Morton and St. Albans |journal=The English Historical Review |date=1909 |volume=24 |issue=93 |pages=91–96 |doi=10.1093/ehr/XXIV.XCIII.91 |jstor=550277  |issn=0013-8266}}</ref>

Erasmus left London with a full purse from his generous friends, to allow him to complete his studies. However, he had been provided with bad legal advice by his friends: the English customs officials confiscated all the gold and silver, leaving him with nothing except a night fever that lasted several months.

====France and Brabant====
{{Side box |metadata=No
 | above = '''French circle''' 
 | text = {{hlist|class=inline|Jean Vitrier (or Vourier)|Jacob/James Batt|[[Publio Fausto Andrelini]]|[[Josse Bade]]|[[Louis de Berquin]] |[[Robert Fisher (priest)|Robert Fisher]]|[[Richard Whitford]]|[[Guillaume Budé]]|[[Thomas Grey, 2nd Marquess of Dorset|Thomas Grey]]|[[Hector Boece]]|[[Robert Gaguin]]|Christopher Fisher}}<br />
''Opponents'': Noël Béda (or Bédier)<br />
''Patrons'': Bishop Henry of Bergen,[[Thomas Grey, 1st Marquess of Dorset|Thomas Grey]], [[Anna van Borselen|Lady of Veere]] 
}}

Following his first trip to England, Erasmus returned first to poverty in Paris, where he started to compile the ''Adagio'' for his students, then to Orléans to escape the plague, and then to semi-monastic life, scholarly studies and writing in France, notably at the Benedictine [[Abbey of Saint Bertin]] at St Omer (1501,1502) where he wrote the initial version of the ''Enchiridion'' (''[[Handbook of the Christian Knight]]''). A particular influence was his encounter in 1501 with Jean (Jehan) Vitrier, a radical Franciscan who consolidated Erasmus' thoughts against excessive valorization of monasticism,<ref name=tracy>{{cite book |last1=Tracy |first1=James D. |title=Erasmus, the Growth of a Mind |date=1972 |publisher=Librairie Droz |isbn=978-2-600-03041-0 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RqvtT9d522IC&q=%22Jean+Voirier%22+++erasmus |language=en |access-date=26 November 2023 |archive-date=28 November 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231128035505/https://books.google.com/books?id=RqvtT9d522IC&q=%22Jean+Voirier%22+++erasmus |url-status=live }}</ref>{{rp|94,95}} ceremonialism{{efn|group=note|According to theologian Thomas Scheck, "In the fuller context of the ''Ratio'' the 'ceremonies' Erasmus criticizes are not the liturgical rites of the Church, but the special devotions and prescriptions added to them, particularly those related to food and clothing, which became binding in particular religious orders and more generally, under threat of excommunication and even eternal punishment."<ref name=scheck1>{{cite journal |last1=Scheck |first1=Thomas P. |title=Mark Vessey (ed.), Erasmus on Literature: His Ratio or 'System' of 1518/1519 (Review) |journal=Moreana |date=June 2022 |volume=59 |issue=1 |pages=141–148 |doi=10.3366/more.2022.0119|s2cid=248601520 }}</ref>}} and fasting{{efn|group=note|"We ﬁnd in the New Testament that fasting was observed by Christians and praised by the apostles, but I do not remember reading that it was prescribed with certain rites. These things are not mentioned so that any ceremonies that the church has instituted concerning clothing, fasting or similar matters should be despised, but to show that Christ and his apostles were more concerned with things pertaining to salvation."<ref name=scheck1/>}} in a kind of conversion experience,<ref name=mansfield/>{{rp|213,219}}  and introduced him to [[Origen]].<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |title=Erasmus |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Erasmus-Dutch-humanist |encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica |language=en |date=23 October 2023 |access-date=22 April 2023 |archive-date=26 April 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190426032309/https://www.britannica.com/biography/Erasmus-Dutch-humanist |url-status=live }}</ref>

In 1502, Erasmus went to Brabant, ultimately to the university at Louvain. In 1504 he was hired by the leaders of the Brabantian "Provincial States" to deliver one of his few public speeches, a very long formal [[panegyric]] for [[Philip I of Castile|Philip "the Fair"]], Duke of Burgundy and later King of Castille: the first half being the conventional extravagant praise, but the second half being a strong treatment of the miseries of war, the need for neutrality and conciliation (with the neighbours France and England),<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Tinelli |first1=Elisa |title=Erasmus' Panegyricus ad Philippum Austriae ducem (1504) |journal=Lectio |date=January 2018 |volume=7 |pages=445–464 |doi=10.1484/M.LECTIO-EB.5.116073|isbn=978-2-503-58077-7 }}</ref> and the excellence of peaceful rulers: that real courage in a leader was not to wage war but to put a bridle on greed, etc.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Emerton |first1=Ephraim |author-link=Ephraim Emerton |title=Desiderius Erasmus of Rotterdam |date=25 July 2020 |orig-date=1899 |publisher=BoD – Books on Demand |isbn=978-3-7523-4313-7 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EBLzDwAAQBAJ |language=en}}</ref>{{rp|71}} This was later published as ''Panegyricus''. Erasmus then returned to Paris in 1504.

====Second visit to England (1505–1506)====
[[File:Hans Holbein d. J. - Erasmus - Louvre.jpg|thumb|Erasmus by [[Hans Holbein the Younger]]. [[Louvre]], Paris]]
For Erasmus' second visit, he spent over a year staying at recently married [[Thomas More]]'s house, now a lawyer and Member of Parliament, honing his translation skills.<ref name=circle/>

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 individual freedom.<ref name=":5">Treu, Erwin (1959), p.8</ref> In England Erasmus was approached with prominent offices but he declined them all, until the [[King Henry VII|King]] himself offered his support.<ref name=":5" /> He was inclined, but eventually did not accept and longed for a stay in Italy.<ref name=":5" />

====Italy====
{{Side box |metadata=No
 | above = '''Italian circle''' 
 | text = {{hlist|class=inline|[[Aldus Manutius]]|[[Giulio Camillo]]|[[Aleander]]|[[Alexander Stewart (archbishop of St Andrews)|Alexander Stewart]]|[[Pietro Bembo]]|[[Paulus Bombasius|Bombasius]]|[[Marcus Musurus]]|[[Janus Lascaris]]|[[Giles of Viterbo]]|[[Egnazio]]|[[Germain de Brie]]|[[Ferry Carondelet]]|Urbano Valeriani|[[Tommaso Inghirami]]|Scipio Carteromachus|[[Domenico Grimani]]}}<br />
''Opponents'': {{hlist|class=inline|[[Alberto III Pio, Prince of Carpi|Alberto Pío]]|[[Juan Ginés de Sepúlveda|Sepúlveda]]}}<br />
''Patrons'': Popes [[Leo X]], [[Adrian VI]], [[Clement VII]], [[Paul III]],  King [[James IV]]
}}

In 1506 he was able to accompany and tutor the sons of the [[Physician to the King|personal physician]] of the English King through Italy to Bologna.<ref name=":5" />

His discovery en route at [[Park Abbey]] of [[Lorenzo Valla]]'s ''New Testament Notes'' was a major event in his career and prompted Erasmus to study the New Testament using [[philology]].<ref>{{cite journal
 | last=Anderson
 | first=Marvin
 | title=Erasmus the Exegete
 | journal=Concordia Theeological Monthly
 | volume=40
 | issue=11
 | year=1969
 | pages=722–46
}}</ref>

In 1506 they passed through Turin and he arranged to be awarded the degree of [[Doctor of Divinity|Doctor of Sacred Theology]] ({{lang|la|Sacra Theologia}})<ref name=van>{{cite book |last1=van Herwaarden |first1=Jan |title=Between Saint James and Erasmus: Studies in Late-Medieval Religious Life – Devotion and Pilgrimage in the Netherlands |date=1 January 2003 |doi=10.1163/9789004473676_024|s2cid=239956783 }}</ref>{{rp|638}} from the [[University of Turin]]<ref name=":5" /> {{lang|la|[[per saltum]]}}<ref>{{cite book |last1=Grendler |first1=Paul F. |chapter=How to Get a Degree in Fifteen Days: Erasmus' Doctorate of Theology from the University of Turin |title=Renaissance Education Between Religion and Politics |date=23 August 2024 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-003-55390-8 |edition=1st |doi=10.4324/9781003553908  |language=en}}</ref> at age 37 (or 40). Erasmus stayed tutoring in Bologna for a year;{{refn|group=note|He made friends with aristocrat Mark Laurin, future Dean of Bruges.<ref>{{cite journal |title=Chapter Xxiii: Ii. Students |journal=Humanistica Lovaniensia |date=1955 |volume=13 |pages=116–218 |jstor=23973448 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/23973448 |issn=0774-2908}}</ref>{{rp|185}} }} in the winter, Erasmus was present when [[Pope Julius II]] entered victorious into the conquered Bologna which he had besieged before.<ref name=":5" />

[[File: Book printed by Aldus Manutius-Horace.jpg|thumb|Book printed and illuminated at the [[Aldine Press]], Venice (1501): [[Horace]], ''Works'']]
Erasmus travelled on to Venice, working on an expanded version of his Adagia at the [[Aldine Press]] of the famous printer [[Aldus Manutius]], advised him which manuscripts to publish,<ref>Murray, Stuart (2009). ''The library: an illustrated history''. Chicago: ALA Editions</ref>  and was an honorary member of the graecophone Aldine "New Academy" ({{langx|el|Neakadêmia (Νεακαδημία)}}).<ref>Treu, Erwin (1959), pp.8–9.</ref> From Aldus he learned the in-person workflow that made him productive at Froben: making last-minute changes, and immediately checking and correcting printed page proofs as soon as the ink had dried. Aldus wrote that Erasmus could do twice as much work in a given time as any other man he had ever met.<ref name=gasquet/>

In 1507, according to his letters, he studied advanced Greek in Padua with the Venetian natural philosopher, [[Giulio Camillo]].<ref>H.M. Allen (1937). ''Opus Epistolarum Des. Erasmi Roterdami''. Oxford University Press. Ep. 3032: 219–22; 2682: 8–13.</ref> He found employment tutoring and escorting Scottish nobleman [[Alexander Stewart (archbishop of St Andrews)|Alexander Stewart]], the 24-year old Archbishop of St Andrews, through Padua, Florence, and Siena,{{refn|group=note|He movingly remembers later how Alexander would play the monochord, recorder or lute in the afternoon after studies.<ref>Shire, Helena M., Stewart Style ''1513–1542'', Tuckwell, (1996), 126–27, quoting Phillips, M. M., ''The Adages of Erasmus'' Cambridge (1964), 305–307.</ref>}} Erasmus made it to Rome in 1509, visiting some notable libraries and cardinals, but having a less active association with Italian scholars than might have been expected.

In 1509, William Warham, Archbishop of Canterbury, and Lord Mountjoy lured him back to England, now ruled by what was hoped would be a wise and benevolent king ([[Henry VIII]]) educated by humanists. Warham and Mountjoy sent Erasmus £10 to cover his expenses on the journey.<ref>Massing, ''Fatal Discord'' (2018), p. 159</ref> On his trip over the Alps via Splügen Pass, and down the Rhine toward England, Erasmus began to compose ''The Praise of Folly''.<ref>Massing, ''Fatal Discord'' (2018), p. 160</ref>

====Third visit to England (1510–1515)====
[[File:Sir Thomas More, by Hans Holbein the Younger.jpg|thumb|upright=.8|[[Thomas More|Sir Thomas More]], by [[Hans Holbein the Younger]]. According to their friend [[Richard Whitford]], Erasmus and More were "so alike in wit, manners, affections, and pursuits, that no pair of twins could be found more so."<ref>{{cite DNB|wstitle= Whitford, Richard |volume= 61 |last= Bayne |first= Ronald |author-link= |pages= 125-127 |year= |short=1}}</ref>]]
In 1510, Erasmus arrived at More's bustling house, was confined to bed to recover from his recurrent illness, and wrote ''The Praise of Folly'', which was to be a best-seller. More was at that time the [[undersheriff]] of the [[City of London]]. His wife Jane died, aged 21, in 1511, and More quickly [[Alice More|remarrried]]. 

After his glorious reception in Italy, Erasmus had returned broke and jobless,{{refn|group=note|Even in good times, Erasmus had a "frequent inability to understand the details of his own finances" which caused him disappointment and suspicion.<ref>{{cite web |title=The Correspondence of Erasmus |url=https://utorontopress.com/9781487501990/the-correspondence-of-erasmus/ |website=University of Toronto Press |language=en-CA |access-date=23 May 2024 |archive-date=17 January 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240117101146/https://utorontopress.com/9781487501990/the-correspondence-of-erasmus/ |url-status=live }}</ref> His finances as late as 1530 have been described as "bewilderingly complicated" with multiple small income sources being managed with varying degrees of promptness by different associates in different countries.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Erasmus |first1=Desiderius |title=The correspondence of Erasmus. Letters 2357 to 2471 August 1530 – March 1531 |translator-first=Charles |translator-last=Fantazzi |editor-first=James M. |editor-last=Estes |date=2016 |publisher=University of Toronto Press |location=Toronto, Buffalo, London |isbn=978-1-4426-4878-4}}</ref>{{rp|2404}} }} with strained relations with former friends and benefactors on the continent, and he regretted leaving Italy, despite being horrified by papal warfare. There is a gap in his usually voluminous correspondence: his so-called "two lost years", perhaps due to self-censorship of dangerous or disgruntled opinions;<ref name=lost group=note /> he shared lodgings with his friend [[Andrea Ammonio]] (Latin secretary to Mountjoy, and the next year, to Henry VIII, who had been lodging in Thomas More's large and welcoming household but did not get on with the new wife<ref>{{cite web |last1=Baker-Smith |first1=Dominic |title=Thomas More |url=https://plato.stanford.edu/archIves/fall2021/entries/thomas-more/#LifWor |website=Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy |date=19 March 2014}}</ref>) provided at the London [[Austin Friars]]' compound, skipping out after a disagreement with the friars over rent that caused bad blood.{{refn| group=note| Erasmus claimed the blind poet laureate friar [[Bernard André]], the former tutor of Prince Arthur, had promised to cover the rent. {{cite journal |last1=Roth |first1=F. |title=A History of the English Austin Friars (continuation) |journal=Augustiniana |date=1965 |volume=15 |jstor=44992025 |issn=0004-8003 |page=624}} It may also show the practical difficulty of being dispensed from wearing the habit of his order without being entirely dispensed from his vow of poverty: indeed, Erasmus had said his order of Augustinian Canons regular were priests when that suited and monks when that suited.<ref name=demolen/> }}

He assisted his friend John Colet by authoring Greek textbooks and securing members of staff for the newly established [[St Paul's School, London|St Paul's School]]<ref>{{Cite web |title=History and Archives |url=https://www.stpaulsschool.org.uk/about/history |website=St. Paul's School |access-date=16 January 2019 |archive-date=16 January 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190116200822/https://www.stpaulsschool.org.uk/about/history |url-status=live }}</ref> and was in contact when Colet gave his notorious 1512 [[John Colet#Colet's convocation sermon (1512)|Convocation sermon]] which called for a reformation of ecclesiastical affairs.<ref name=Seebohm>{{cite book |last1=Seebohm |first1=Frederic |title=The Oxford Reformers. John Colet, Erasmus and Thomas More |date=1869 |publisher=Longmans, Green and Co. |edition=3rd |url=https://reformationchurch.org.uk/book_oxford-reformers_seebohm.php |access-date=17 December 2023 |archive-date=17 December 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231217121512/https://reformationchurch.org.uk/book_oxford-reformers_seebohm.php |url-status=live }}</ref>{{rp|230–250}} At Colet's instigation, Erasmus started work on {{lang|la|De copia}}.

In 1511, the [[University of Cambridge]]'s chancellor, [[John Fisher]], arranged for Erasmus to be (or to study to prepare to be) the [[Lady Margaret's Professor of Divinity]], though whether he actually was accepted for it or took it up is contested by historians.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=van Kooten |first1=George |last2=Payne |first2=Matthew |last3=Rex |first3=Richard |last4=Bloemendal |first4=Jan |title=Erasmus' Cambridge Years (1511–1514): The Execution of Erasmus' Christian Humanist Programme, His Epitaph for Lady Margaret's Tomb in Westminster Abbey (1512), and His Failed Attempt to Obtain the Lady Margaret's Professorship in the Face of Scholastic Opposition |journal=Erasmus Studies |date=6 March 2024 |volume=44 |issue=1 |pages=33–102 |doi=10.1163/18749275-04401002|doi-access=free }}</ref> He studied and taught Greek and researched and lectured on [[Jerome]].<ref name=circle/>{{refn|group=note|He wrote to Servatius Rogerus, the prior at Stein, to justify his jobs: "I do not aim at becoming rich, so long as I possess just enough means to provide for my health and free time for my studies and to ensure that I am a burden to none."<ref name=cheng_davies>{{cite journal |last1=Cheng-Davies |first1=Tania |title=Erasmian Perspectives on Copyright: Justifying a Right to Research |journal=Joint PIJIP/TLS Research Paper Series |date=1 May 2023 |url=https://digitalcommons.wcl.american.edu/research/94 |access-date=7 January 2024 |archive-date=7 January 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240107234956/https://digitalcommons.wcl.american.edu/research/94/ |url-status=live }}</ref>}}

Erasmus mainly stayed at [[Queens' College]] while lecturing at the university,<ref>{{cite web|last=Askin|first=Lindsey|title=Erasmus and Queens' College, Cambridge|date=12 July 2013|url=http://queenslib.wordpress.com/2013/07/12/erasmus-and-queens-college/|website=Queens' Old Library Books Blog|access-date=8 March 2014|archive-date=19 July 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230719070807/https://queenslib.wordpress.com/2013/07/12/erasmus-and-queens-college/|url-status=live}}</ref> between 1511 and 1515.<ref group=note>It is reported that the commission of theologians Henry VIII assembled to identify the errors of Luther was made up of three of Erasmus' former students: [[Henry Bullock]], Humphrey Walkden and John Watson.{{cite thesis |last1=Schofield |first1=John |title=The lost Reformation: Why Lutheranism failed in England during the reigns of Henry VIII and Edward VI |degree=PhD |date=2003 |publisher=Newcastle University |hdl=10443/596 |url=http://theses.ncl.ac.uk/jspui/handle/10443/596 |language=en |page=28}}</ref> Erasmus' rooms were located in the "{{serif|I}}" staircase of Old Court.<ref>{{acad|id=ERSS465D|name=Erasmus, Desiderius}}</ref> Despite a chronic shortage of money, he succeeded in mastering Greek by an intensive, day-and-night study of three years, taught by [[Thomas Linacre]], continuously begging in letters that his friends send him books and money for teachers.<ref>Huizinga, Dutch edition, pp. 52–53.</ref>

Erasmus suffered from poor health and was especially concerned with heating, clean air, ventilation, draughts, fresh food and unspoiled wine: he complained about the draughtiness of English buildings.<ref>{{cite web |title=Erasmus, Life in 16th Century England |website=World Civilizations |url=https://wwnorton.com/college/history/ralph/workbook/ralprs22.htm |access-date=3 December 2023 |archive-date=4 April 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230404001238/https://wwnorton.com/college/history/ralph/workbook/ralprs22.htm |url-status=live }}</ref> He complained that Queens' College could not supply him with enough decent wine<ref group=note>"Beer does not suit me either, and the wine is horrible." {{cite book |last1=Froud |first1=J. A. |title=Life and Letters of Erasmus |date=1896 |publisher=Scribner and Sons |page=112}}</ref> (wine was the Renaissance medicine for gallstones, from which Erasmus suffered).<ref>{{multiref2|1={{cite book |last1=Seltman |first1=Charles |title=Wine In The Ancient World |date=1957 |url=https://archive.org/details/dli.venugopal.697 |language=English }}|2={{cite journal |last1=Taylor |first1=Fred M. |title=Thomas Linacre: Humanist, Physician, Priest |journal=The Linacre Quarterly |date=February 2021 |volume=88 |issue=1 |pages=9–13 |doi=10.1177/0024363920968427|doi-access=free |pmid=33487740 |pmc=7804502 }}|3={{cite journal |last1=Herbert |first1=Amanda |title=Bibulous Erasmus |url=https://recipes.hypotheses.org/10239 |website=The Recipes Project |date=23 January 2018 |doi=10.58079/td2u |access-date=22 June 2023 |archive-date=22 June 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230622013545/https://recipes.hypotheses.org/10239 |url-status=live }}}}</ref> As Queens' was an unusually humanist-leaning institution in the 16th century, [[Queens' College, Cambridge#Old Court|Queens' College Old Library]] still houses many first editions of Erasmus's publications, many of which were acquired during that period by bequest or purchase, including Erasmus's New Testament translation, which is signed by friend and Polish religious reformer [[Jan Łaski]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Old Library Collections|website=Queens' Rare Book and Special Collections|url=http://www.queens.cam.ac.uk/student-information/library-archives/collections |publisher=Queens' College, Cambridge |access-date=8 March 2014|archive-date=13 December 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131213000139/http://www.queens.cam.ac.uk/student-information/library-archives/collections}}</ref>

By this time More was a judge on the poorman's equity court ([[Master of Requests (England)|Master of Requests]]) and a [[Privy Counsellor]].

====Flanders and Brabant====
{{Side box |metadata=No
 | above = '''Burgundy/Louvain circle''' 
 | text = {{hlist|class=inline|[[Adrian of Utrecht]]|[[Pieter Gillis]]|[[Martinus Dorpius|Martin Dorp]]|[[Hieronymus van Busleyden]]|[[Albrecht Dürer]]|[[Dirk Martens]]|[[Nicolas Cleynaerts]]|[[Cornelius Grapheus]]|Jan van Borssele|Jean de Neve|[[Richard Sampson]]|[http://dantiscus.ibi.uw.edu.pl/?f=personDetails&person=163 Mark Laurijn]<ref>{{cite journal |title=Bruges Friends |journal=Humanistica Lovaniensia |date=1961 |volume=16 |pages=85–428 |jstor=23973159 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/23973159 |issn=0774-2908}}</ref>}}<br />
''Opponents'': {{hlist|class=inline|[[Jacobs Latomus]]|[[Edward Lee (bishop)|Edward Lee]]|[[Ulrich von Hutten]]|{{ill|Nicolaas Baechem|nl}} (Egmondanus)}}<br />
''Patrons'': [[Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor|Charles V]]
}}

His residence at Leuven, where he lectured at the [[Old University of Leuven|University]], exposed Erasmus to much criticism from those ascetics, academics and clerics hostile to the principles of [[Ad fontes#Counter views|literary]] and religious reform to which he was devoting his life.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Rummel |first1=Erika |title=Erasmus and the Louvain Theologians – a Strategy of Defense |journal=Nederlands Archief voor Kerkgeschiedenis / Dutch Review of Church History |date=1990 |volume=70 |issue=1 |pages=2–12 |doi=10.1163/002820390X00024 |jstor=24009249  |issn=0028-2030}}</ref> In 1514, ''en route'' to Basel, he made the acquaintance of [[Hermannus Buschius]], [[Ulrich von Hutten]] and [[Johann Reuchlin]] who introduced him to the Hebrew language in Mainz.<ref>{{Cite web |editor-last=Seidel Menchi |editor-first=S. |title=Opera Omnia Desiderii Erasmi – Erasmus, Opera Omnia |url=https://brill.com/display/serial/ASD |access-date=2022-12-21 |website=Brill |pages=50–51 |language=en}}</ref> In 1514, he suffered a fall from his horse and injured his back.

[[File:Quinten Massijs - Portret van Peter Gilles.JPG|thumb|[[Quinten Matsys]] – Portrait of Peter Gillis or Gilles (1517), half of a diptych with a portrait of Erasmus below, painted as a gift from them for [[Thomas More]].<ref name=kaminska />]]
Erasmus may have made several other short visits to England or English territory while living in Brabant.<ref name=circle/> Happily for Erasmus, More and Tunstall were posted in Brussels or Antwerp on government missions around 1516, More for six months, Tunstall for longer. Their circle include [[Pieter Gillis]] of Antwerp, in whose house [[Thomas More]]'s wrote [[Utopia (More book)|''Utopia'']] (1516) with Erasmus' encouragement,{{refn|group=note|Historians have speculated that Erasmus passed on to More an early version of [[Bartholome de las Casas]]' {{lang|la|Memoria}} which More used for ''Utopia'', due to 33 specific similarities of ideas, and that the fictional character Raphael Hythloday is de las Casas.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Varacalli |first1=Thomas |title=The Thomism of Bartolomé de Las Casas and the Indians of the New World |journal=LSU Doctoral Dissertations |date=1 January 2016 |doi=10.31390/gradschool_dissertations.1664 |url=https://repository.lsu.edu/gradschool_dissertations/1664 |access-date=12 January 2024 |archive-date=12 January 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240112041335/https://repository.lsu.edu/gradschool_dissertations/1664/ |url-status=live }}</ref>{{rp|45}} Coincidentally, de las Casas' nemesis [[Juan Ginés de Sepúlveda|Sepúlveda]], arguing for the natural slavery of American Indians, had previously been Erasmus' opponent as well, initially supporting the anti-decadence of Erasmus' ''Ciceronians'' but then finding heresy in his translations and works. Another theory is that Raphael Hythloday is Erasmus himself.<ref name=maarten>{{cite journal |last1=Vermeir |first1=Maarten M. K. |title=Brabantia: decoding the main characters of Utopia |journal=Moreana |date=June 2012 |volume=49 (Number 187- |issue=1–2 |pages=151–182 |doi=10.3366/more.2012.49.1-2.9}}</ref>}} Erasmus editing and perhaps even contributing fragments.<ref name="researchgate.net">{{cite journal |last1=Dungen |first1=Peter van den |title=Erasmus: The 16th Century's Pioneer of Peace Education and a Culture of Peace |journal=Journal of East Asia and International Law |date=30 November 2009 |volume=2 |issue=2 |page=5 |doi=10.14330/jeail.2009.2.2.05 |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/291216079 |access-date=28 July 2023|hdl=10454/5003 |hdl-access=free }}</ref> His old Cambridge friend [[Richard Sampson]] was [[vicar general]] running the nearby [[diocese of Tournai]], recently under [[Battle of the Spurs|English control]] and governed by his former pupil [[William Blount]].<ref>{{cite web |title=William Blount (4º B. Mountjoy) |url=http://www.tudorplace.com.ar/Bios/WilliamBlount(4BMountjoy).htm |website=Tudor Place}}</ref>

In 1516, Erasmus accepted an honorary position as a Councillor to [[Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor|Charles V]] with an annuity of 200 guilders (over US$100,000{{cn|date=May 2025}}), rarely paid,<ref>{{cite journal |last1=De Landtsheer |first1=Jeanine |title=On Good Government: Erasmus's Institutio Principis Christiani versus Lipsius's Politica |journal=The Reception of Erasmus in the Early Modern Period |date=1 January 2013 |pages=179–208 |doi=10.1163/9789004255630_009|isbn=978-90-04-25563-0 |url=https://lirias.kuleuven.be/handle/123456789/418743 }}</ref> and tutored Charles' brother, the teenage future Holy Roman Emperor [[Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor|Ferdinand of Hapsburg]].

In 1516, Erasmus published the first edition of his scholarly Latin-Greek [[Novum Instrumentum omne|New Testament]] with annotations, his complete works of Jerome, and ''[[The Education of a Christian Prince]]'' ({{lang|la|Institutio principis Christiani}}) for Charles and Ferdinand.

In 1517, he supported the foundation at the university of the [[Collegium Trilingue]] for the study of [[Hebrew]], Latin, and Greek<ref name=tracy_low/>{{rp|s1.14.14}}—after the model of [[Francisco Jiménez de Cisneros|Cisneros]]' College of the Three Languages at the [[Complutense University of Madrid#History|University of Alcalá]]—financed by his late friend [[Hieronymus van Busleyden]]'s will.<ref>{{cite web |title=500 years Collegium Trilingue |url=https://expo.bib.kuleuven.be/exhibits/show/500-years-collegium-trilingue/formation-of-the-collegium-tri |website=expo.bib.kuleuven.be |language=en}}</ref> On being asked by [[Jean Le Sauvage]], former Chancellor of Brabant and now Chancellor of Burgundy, Erasmus wrote ''[[Works of Erasmus#The Complaint of Peace (1517)|The Complaint of Peace]]''. 

In 1517, his great friend Ammonio died in England of the [[Sweating Sickness]]. In 1518, Erasmus was diagnosed with [[Bubonic plague|the plague]]; despite the danger, he was taken in and cared for in the home of his Flemish friend and publisher [[Dirk Martens]] in [[Antwerp]] for a month and recovered.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Feys |first1=Xander |title=Mourning an Oenophile: A Forgotten Mock Epitaph for Dirk Martens by Erasmus |journal=Erasmus Studies |date=6 March 2024 |volume=44 |issue=1 |pages=103–113 |doi=10.1163/18749275-04401001}}</ref>

By 1518, he reported to [[Paulus Bombasius]] that his income was over 300 ducats{{refn|group=note|Italian gold [[florin]]s and Venetian gold [[ducat]]s, Dutch silver [[Dutch guilder#1500–1560: Spanish Netherlands|guilder]]s had similar values. However, there is no single modern equivalent exchange rate.<ref>{{cite web |title=Measuring Worth – Purchasing Power of the Pound |url=https://www.measuringworth.com/calculators/ukcompare/ }}</ref>}} per year (over US$150,000) without including patronage.<ref name=letters594/>{{rp|350}} By 1522 he reported his annual income as 400 gold florins<ref name=ron2/>{{rp|50}} (over US$200,000{{cn|date=May 2025}}).

[[File:British - Field of the Cloth of Gold - Google Art Project.jpg|centre|thumb|upright=2.2|The [[Field of the Cloth of Gold]], showing King [[Henry VIII]] arriving at left. The figure on horseback with raised sword ahead of Henry VIII is [[Thomas Grey, 2nd Marquess of Dorset]], a former pupil of Erasmus.]]
In 1520 he was present at the [[Field of the Cloth of Gold]] with [[Guillaume Budé]], probably his last meetings with [[Thomas More#Personality according to Erasmus|Thomas More]]<ref name=soward>{{cite journal |last1=Sowards |first1=J. K. |title=Erasmus and the Education of Women |journal=The Sixteenth Century Journal |date=1982 |volume=13 |issue=4 |pages=77–89 |doi=10.2307/2540011 |jstor=2540011 |s2cid=166057335  |issn=0361-0160}}</ref> and [[William Warham]]. His friend [[Richard Pace]] gave the main sermon to the kings.<ref>{{cite web |title=Field of the Cloth of Gold 1520 |url=https://www.thebritishmonarchy.co.uk/post/field-of-the-cloth-of-gold-1520 |website=The British Monarchy |language=en |date=25 March 2024}}</ref> His friends and former students and old correspondents were the incoming political elite, and he had risen with them.<ref group=note name=kings>By 1524, his disciples included, in his words, "the (Holy Roman) Emperor, the Kings of England, France, and Denmark, Prince Ferdinand of Germany, the Cardinal of England, the Archbishop of Canterbury, and more princes, more bishops, more learned and honourable men than I can name, not only in England, Flanders, France, and Germany, but even in Poland and Hungary..." quoted in {{cite web |last1=Trevor-Roper |first1=Hugh |title=Erasmus |url=https://www.pro-europa.eu/europe/trevor-roper-hugh-erasmus/ |website=Pro Europa |date=30 July 2020 |access-date=29 December 2023 |archive-date=29 December 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231229081301/https://www.pro-europa.eu/europe/trevor-roper-hugh-erasmus/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

He stayed in various locations including Anderlecht (near Brussels) in the summer of 1521.<ref>{{cite web |title=Erasmus House, Anderlecht |date=14 February 2016 |url=https://theculturetrip.com/europe/belgium/articles/the-erasmus-house-a-historical-cultural-complex-not-to-be-missed/ |access-date=30 April 2023 |archive-date=30 April 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230430162903/https://theculturetrip.com/europe/belgium/articles/the-erasmus-house-a-historical-cultural-complex-not-to-be-missed/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

====Basel (1521–1529)====
{{Side box |metadata=No
 | above = '''Swiss circle<ref name=serikoff/>{{rp|56,63}}''' 
 | text = {{hlist|[[Johannes Froben]]|[[Hieronymus Froben]]|[[Beatus Rhenanus]]|[[Bonifacius Amerbach]]|Bruno Amerbach|[[Hans Holbein the Younger]]|[[Johann Faber]]|[[Simon Grynaeus]]|[[Sebastian Brandt]]|[[Wolfgang Capito]]|[[Damião de Góis]]|Gilbert Cousin|Jakob Näf|{{ill|Augustin Mair|de|Augustinus Marius}}}}<br />
''Opponents'': [[Johannes Oecolampadius|Œcolampadius]]<br />
''Patrons'':  [[Counts of Dammartin#House of Vergy|Antoine I. de Vergy]], [[Christoph von Utenheim]]
}}
[[File:Cognatus-erasmus.tiff|thumbnail|Desiderius Erasmus dictating to his ammenuensis Gilbert Cousin or Cognatus. From a book by Cousin, and itself claimed to be based on fresco in Cousin's house in [[Nozeroy]], Burgundy. Engraving possibly by {{ill|Claude Luc|fr|Claude Luc}}. ]] 
From 1514, Erasmus regularly traveled to [[Basel]] to coordinate the printing of his books with [[Froben]]. He developed a lasting association with the great Basel publisher [[Johann Froben]] and later his son [[Hieronymus Froben]] (Erasmus' [[godson]]) who together published over 200 works with Erasmus,<ref name=":8">{{Cite book|last=Müller|first=Christian|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vU5tQgAACAAJ|title=Hans Holbein the Younger: The Basel Years, 1515–1532|publisher=[[Prestel]]|year=2006|isbn=978-3-7913-3580-3|page=296|language=en}}</ref> working with expert scholar-correctors who went on to illustrious careers.<ref name=serikoff/>

His initial interest in Froben's operation was aroused by his discovery of the printer's folio edition of the {{lang|la|Adagiorum Chiliades tres}} ([[Adagia]]) (1513).<ref>Bloch Eileen M. (April 1965). "Erasmus and the Froben Press". ''Library Quarterly'' 35: 109–120.</ref> Froben's work was notable for using the new [[Roman type]] (rather than [[blackletter]]) and Aldine-like Italic and Greek fonts, as well as elegant layouts using borders and fancy capitals;<ref name=serikoff/>{{rp|59}} [[Hans Holbein the Younger]] cut several woodblock capitals for Erasmus' editions. The printing of many his books was supervised by his Alsatian friend, the Greek scholar [[Beatus Rhenanus]].{{refn|group=note| Rhenanus shared many humanist contacts from Paris and Strassburg: a former student of [[Publio Fausto Andrelini|Andrelini]], friend of the Amerbach family, colleague of [[Sebastian Brant]] etc. He had learned printing in Paris with [[Robert Estienne]]. He was a mentor of [[Martin Bucer#Early years (1491–1523)|Martin Bucer]], who further developed several of Erasmus' ideas.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Schirrmacher |first1=Thomas |title=Advocate of love – Martin Bucer as theologian and pastor: achieving unity through listening to the scriptures and to each other: Martin Bucer's theological and practical agenda as a challenge to evangelicals today |date=2017 |publisher=Verlag für Kultur und Wissenschaft |location=Bonn |isbn=978-3-86269-058-9 |edition=2nd}}</ref>}}

In 1521 he settled in Basel.<ref>{{cite web |title=Portrait of Erasmus of Rotterdam (Hans Holbein the Younger) |url=https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_1895-0122-843 |website=print |publisher=British Museum |access-date=17 July 2023 |archive-date=17 July 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230717224100/https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_1895-0122-843 |url-status=live }} Quoting G. Bartrum, ''German Renaissance Prints 1490–1550'', BM exh. cat. 1995, no. 238.</ref> He was weary of the controversies and hostility at Louvain, and feared being dragged further into the Lutheran controversy.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Erasmus |first1=Desiderius |title=The Correspondence of Erasmus: Letters 1252–1355 (1522–1523) |date=31 December 1989 |doi=10.3138/9781442680944|isbn=978-1-4426-8094-4 }}</ref> He agreed to be the Froben press' literary superintendent writing dedications and prefaces<ref name=gasquet/> for an annuity and profit share.<ref name=cheng_davies/> Apart from Froben's production team, he had his own household{{refn|group=note|Froben had bought Erasmus his own house {{lang|de|"Zur alten Treu"}} in 1521 and fitted it with Erasmus' required fireplace.<ref>{{cite web |title=Altbasel – Erasmus in Basel |url=https://altbasel.ch/fragen/erasmus_in_basel.html |website=altbasel.ch |access-date=8 January 2024 |archive-date=8 January 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240108002558/https://altbasel.ch/fragen/erasmus_in_basel.html |url-status=live }}</ref>}} with a formidable housekeeper, stable of horses, and up to eight boarders or paid servants who acted as assistants, correctors, amanuenses, dining companions, international couriers, and carers.<ref name=blair>{{cite journal |last1=Blair |first1=Ann |title=Erasmus and His Amanuenses |journal=Erasmus Studies |date=13 March 2019 |volume=39 |issue=1 |pages=22–49 |doi=10.1163/18749275-03901011|s2cid=171933331 |url=http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:41473796 }}</ref> It was his habit to sit at times by a ground-floor window, to make it easier to see and be seen by strolling humanists for chatting.<ref name=tracey_sponge>Introductory Note in {{cite journal |last1=Tracey |first1=James |title=The Sponge of Erasmus against the Aspersions of Hutten/ Spongia adversus aspergines Hutteni |journal=Controversies |date=31 December 2010 |pages=1–146 |doi=10.3138/9781442660076-002 |publisher=University of Toronto Press|isbn=978-1-4426-6007-6 }}</ref>

In collaboration with Froben and his team, the scope and ambition of Erasmus' ''Annotations'', Erasmus' long-researched project of philological notes of the New Testament along the lines of Valla's ''Adnotations'', had grown to also include a lightly revised Latin Vulgate, then the Greek text, then several edifying essays on methodology, then a highly revised Vulgate—all bundled as his {{lang|la|[[Novum Instrumentum omne|Novum testamentum omne]]}} and pirated individually throughout Europe— then finally his amplified  ''Paraphrases''.

In 1522, Erasmus' compatriot, former teacher (c. 1502) and friend from the University of Louvain unexpectedly became [[Pope Adrian VI]],{{refn|group=note|Adrian's election was engineered by reformer Cardinal [[Thomas Cajetan]],<ref>{{cite book |last1=Pastor |first1=Ludwig |title=The History of the Popes, from the Close of the Middle Ages |date=1923}}</ref> the leading Thomist of his age, who had become a friendly correspondent of Erasmus and had moved to bibliocentrism, progressively producing his own commentaries on the New Testament and most of the Old. Erasmus was initially sceptical of Cajetan, blaming him for taking a too-hard line against Luther; however, he was won over in 1521 after reading Cajetan's works on the Eucharist, Confession and invocation of the saints.<ref name=seaver>{{cite journal |last1=Seaver |first1=William |title=Cardinal Cajetan Renaissance Man |journal=Dominicana |year=1959 |volume=44 |issue=4 |url=https://www.dominicanajournal.org/wp-content/files/old-journal-archive/vol44/no4/dominicanav44n4cardinalcajetanrenaissanceman.pdf |access-date=4 May 2024 |archive-date=13 May 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240513013157/https://www.dominicanajournal.org/wp-content/files/old-journal-archive/vol44/no4/dominicanav44n4cardinalcajetanrenaissanceman.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref>{{rp|357}} In 1530, Cajetan proposed that concessions be made to Germany to allow communion under both kinds and married clergy, in full sympathy with Erasmus' spirit of mediation. }} after having served as Regent (and/or Grand Inquisitor) of Spain for six years. Like Erasmus and Luther, he had been influenced by the Brethren of the Common Life. He tried to entice Erasmus to Rome. His reforms of the [[Roman Curia]] which he hoped would meet the objections of many Lutherans were stymied (party because the Holy See was broke), though re-worked at the Council of Trent, and he died in 1523.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Geurts |first1=Twan |title=Pope Adrian VI, the 'Barbarian From the North' Who Wanted to Reform the Vatican |url=https://www.the-low-countries.com/article/pope-adrian-vi-the-barbarian-from-the-north-who-wanted-to-reform-the-vatican |website=The Low Countries |date=17 October 2022 |language=en |access-date=23 May 2024 |archive-date=12 January 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240112091254/https://www.the-low-countries.com/article/pope-adrian-vi-the-barbarian-from-the-north-who-wanted-to-reform-the-vatican |url-status=live }}</ref>

[[File:Pop adrian VI.JPG|thumb|left|Pope Adrian VI]]
As the popular and nationalist responses to Luther gathered momentum, the social disorders, which Erasmus dreaded and Luther disassociated himself from, began to appear, including the [[German Peasants' War]] (1524–1525), the [[Anabaptist]] insurrections in Germany and in the Low Countries, iconoclasm, and the radicalisation of peasants across Europe. If these were the outcomes of reform, Erasmus was thankful that he had kept out of it. Yet he was ever more bitterly accused of having started the whole "tragedy" (as Erasmus dubbed the matter).<ref group=note>"When the Lutheran tragedy ({{Langx|la|Lutheranae tragoediae }}) opened, and all the world applauded, I advised my friends to stand aloof. I thought it would end in bloodshed", Letter to Alberto Pío, 1525, in e.g., {{cite book |url=https://commons.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Life_and_letters_of_Erasmus_(IA_cu31924026502793).pdf |last=Froude |first=James Anthony |title=Life and Letters of Erasmus |year=1894 |location=New York |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |page=322}}</ref>

In 1523, he provided financial support to the impoverished and disgraced former Latin Secretary of Antwerp [[Cornelius Grapheus]], on his release from the newly introduced Inquisition.<ref name=hirsch/>{{rp|558}} In 1525, a former student of Erasmus who had served at Erasmus' father's former church at Woerden, [[Jan de Bakker]] (Pistorius) was the first  priest to be executed as a heretic in the Netherlands. In 1529, his French translator and friend [[Louis de Berquin]] was burnt in Paris, following his condemnation as an anti-Rome heretic by the [[College of Sorbonne|Sorbonne]] theologians.

====Freiburg (1529–1535)====
Following sudden, violent, iconoclastic rioting in early 1529{{refn|group=note|"In a few hours, they cleansed churches of idolatry by smashing statues, rood-screens, lights, altar paintings – everything they could lay their hands on, including Hans Holbein the Younger's work. [...] the hang-man lit nine ﬁres in front of the Minster [...] It was, [a witness] lamented, as though these objects 'had been public heretics'. [...] Nowhere else was the destruction by Christian activists so unexpected, violent, swift and complete."<ref name=rublack>{{cite book |last1=Rublack |first1=Ulinka |title=Reformation Europe |date=2017 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1-107-60354-7 |pages=92–123 |edition=2 |chapter=People and Networks in the Age of the Reformations|doi=10.1017/9781139087728.005 }}</ref>{{rp|96}}}} led by [[Johannes Oecolampadius|Œcolampadius]] his former assistant, in which elected Catholic councilmen were deposed, the city of Basel definitely adopted the Reformation—finally banning the Catholic Mass on 1 April 1529.<ref>{{multiref2|1={{cite web |title=Erasmus – Dutch Humanist, Protestant Challenge |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Erasmus-Dutch-humanist/The-Protestant-challenge |website=www.britannica.com |language=en |access-date=21 June 2023 |archive-date=21 June 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230621053941/https://www.britannica.com/biography/Erasmus-Dutch-humanist/The-Protestant-challenge |url-status=live }}  | 2={{cite book |last1=Schaff |first1=Philip |title=The Reformation in Basel. Oecolampadius. History of the Christian Church, Volume VIII: Modern Christianity. The Swiss Reformation |url=https://ccel.org/ccel/schaff/hcc8/hcc8.iv.iv.iii.html |access-date=21 June 2023 |archive-date=21 June 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230621062226/https://ccel.org/ccel/schaff/hcc8/hcc8.iv.iv.iii.html |url-status=live }} }}</ref> 
 
Erasmus, in company with other Basel Catholic priests including Bishop {{ill|Augustin Mair|de|Augustinus Marius}}, left Basel on 13 April 1529<ref group=note>Prominent reformers like [[Oecolampadius]] urged him to stay. However, Campion, ''Erasmus and Switzerland'', op. cit., p. 26, says that Œcolampadius wanted to drive Erasmus from the city.</ref> and departed by ship to the Catholic university town of [[Freiburg im Breisgau]] to be under the protection of his former student, [[Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor|Archduke Ferdinand of Austria]].<ref name=mansfield/>{{rp|210}} Erasmus wrote somewhat dramatically to Thomas More of his frail condition at the time: "I preferred to risk my life rather than appear to approve a programme like theirs. There was some hope of a return to moderation."<ref>2211 / To Thomas More, Freiburg, 5 September 1529, {{cite journal |title=Letters 2803 to 2939. Part 2 |journal=The Correspondence of Erasmus |date=31 December 2020 |pages=151–302 |doi=10.3138/9781487532833-005|isbn=978-1-4875-3283-3 |s2cid=240975375 }}</ref>

[[File:Damiao de gois-albertina.png|thumb|[[Damião de Góis]]]]
In Spring early 1530 Erasmus was bedridden for three months with an intensely painful infection, likely carbunculosis, that, unusually for him, left him too ill to work.<ref name="letters16"/>{{rp|411}} He declined to attend the [[Diet of Augsburg]] to which both the Bishop of Augsburg and the Papal legate Campeggio had invited him, and he expressed doubt on non-theological grounds, to Campeggio and Melanchthon, that reconciliation was then possible: he wrote to Campeggio, "I can discern no way out of this enormous tragedy unless God suddenly appears like a {{lang|la|deus ex machina}} and changes the hearts of men";<ref name=letters16>{{cite journal |title=Letters 2803 to 2939. Part 2 |journal=The Correspondence of Erasmus |date=31 December 2020 |pages=151–302 |doi=10.3138/9781487532833-005|isbn=978-1-4875-3283-3 |s2cid=240975375 }}</ref>{{rp|331}} and later, "What upsets me is not so much their teaching, especially Luther's, as the fact that, under the pre-text of the gospel, I see a class of men emerging whom I find repugnant from every point of view."<ref name=letters16/>{{rp|367}}

He stayed for two years on the top floor of [[the Whale House]],<ref name=":2">{{Cite book |last=Wilson |first=Derek |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cM2GAQAACAAJ |title=Hans Holbein: Portrait of an Unknown Man |date=1996 |publisher= Phoenix Giant|isbn=978-0297 815617 |pages=161–162 |language=en}}</ref> then following another rent dispute{{refn|group=note|He spent the first two years in Freiburg as a guest of the city in the unfinished mansion {{lang|de|{{ill|Haus zum Walfisch|de}}}} and was indignant when an attempt was made to charge back-rent: he paid this rent, and that of another refugee from Basel in his house, his fellow [[Augustinian Canon]] Bishop {{ill|Augustin Mair|de|Augustinus Marius}}, the humanist preacher who had led the efforts in Basel to resist Œcolampadius. Emerton (1889), p.449. }} bought and refurbished a house of his own, where he took in scholar/assistants as table-boarders<ref>Emerton (1889), ''op cit'' p442</ref> such as Cornelius Grapheus' friend [[Damião de Góis]], some of them fleeing persecution.

Despite increasing frailty{{refn|group=note|His arthritic gout<ref>{{cite journal |title=Erasmus' Illnesses in His Final Years (1533–6) |journal=The Correspondence of Erasmus |date=31 December 2020 |pages=335–339 |doi=10.3138/9781487532833-007|isbn=978-1-4875-3283-3 |s2cid=240920541 }}</ref> kept him housebound and unable to write: "Even on Easter Day I said mass in my bedroom." Letter to Nicolaus Olahus (1534)}} Erasmus continued to work productively, notably on a new ''magnum opus'', his manual on preaching ''[[Ecclesiastes]]'', and his small book on preparing for death. His boarder for five months, the Portuguese scholar/diplomat [[Damião de Góis]],<ref name=hirsch>{{cite journal |last1=Hirsch |first1=Elisabeth Feist |title=The Friendship of Erasmus and Damiâo De Goes |journal=Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society |date=1951 |volume=95 |issue=5 |pages=556–568 |jstor=3143242  |issn=0003-049X}}</ref> worked on his lobbying on the plight of the [[Sámi people|Sámi]] in Sweden and on the Ethiopian church, and stimulated<ref name=herwaarden/>{{rp|82}} Erasmus' increasing awareness of foreign missions.{{refn|group=note|De Góis then proceeded to Padua, meeting with the humanist cardinals Bembo and Sadeleto, and with Ignatius of Loyola. He had previously dined with Luther and Melanchthon, and met Bucer.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Bell |first1=Aubrey F. G. |title=Damião de Goes, a Portuguese Humanist |journal=Hispanic Review |date=1941 |volume=9 |issue=2 |pages=243–251 |doi=10.2307/470220 |jstor=470220  |issn=0018-2176}}</ref>}}

There are no extant letters between More and Erasmus from the start of More's period as Lord Chancellor until his resignation (1529–1532), almost to the day. Erasmus wrote several  important non-political works under the surprising patronage of [[Thomas Boleyn, 1st Earl of Wiltshire|Thomas Bolyn]]: his {{lang|la|Ennaratio triplex in Psalmum XXII}} or ''Triple Commentary on Psalm 23'' (1529); <!-- Editors note: 22? 23? different counting systems from Catholic and Protestant psalters, please don't correct--> his catechism to counter Luther {{lang|la|Explanatio Symboli}} or ''[[A Playne and Godly Exposition or Declaration of the Commune Crede]]'' (1533) which sold out in three hours at the Frankfurt Book Fair; and {{lang|la|Praeparatio ad mortem}} or ''Preparation for Death'' (1534), which would be one of Erasmus' most popular and most hijacked works.<ref name=mackay>{{cite thesis |last1=Mackay |first1=Lauren |title=The life and career of Thomas Boleyn (1477–1539): courtier, ambassador, and statesman |date=2019 |publisher=University of Newcastle |hdl=1959.13/1397919 |url=http://hdl.handle.net/1959.13/1397919 |language=en}}</ref><ref group=note>The last was released at the time of Henry VIII and Anne Bolyn's wedding; Erasmus appended a statement that indicated he opposed the marriage. Erasmus outlived Anne and her brother by two months.</ref>