Editing Erasmus (section)

====First visit to England (1499–1500)====
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 | 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/>
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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.