{"id":2577,"date":"2018-08-25T22:48:49","date_gmt":"2018-08-25T22:48:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/crunchlearning.com\/website_ec2cbfb0\/?p=2577"},"modified":"2026-03-13T10:57:07","modified_gmt":"2026-03-13T10:57:07","slug":"erasmus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/crunchlearning.com\/website_ec2cbfb0\/erasmus\/","title":{"rendered":"Erasmus: A Detailed Biography"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Erasmus was a Dutch Renaissance<\/a> scholar and humanist known for his calls for reform within the Catholic Church and his emphasis on education and moral philosophy. He wrote influential works and promoted humanist ideals. As such, historians consider Erasmus to be an influential figure among Renaissance scholars an philosophers<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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WHAT WAS THE RENAISSANCE?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The\u00a0Renaissance\u00a0is an important event in European history that stretched from the 14th century to the 17th century.\u00a0 It was preceded by the\u00a0Middle Ages<\/a>\u00a0in Europe and eventually led to the major events of the\u00a0Age of Enlightenment<\/a>.\u00a0 In historical terms the Renaissance is important because it led to a major shift in European thought and worldview.\u00a0 The most significant changes that emerged as a result of the Renaissance can be seen in European architecture, art, literature, mathematics, music, philosophy, politics, religion and science.\u00a0 Intellectual thought in these fields flourished during the timeframe of the Renaissance and led to many people questioning long held beliefs about each.\u00a0 This created an environment of discovery and curiosity in which new ideas were constantly being introduced and tested.\u00a0 One such new idea or worldview that developed during the time of the Renaissance was called\u00a0humanism.\u00a0 In order to better understand Renaissance Humanism it is first important to learn about how it developed and the influential people associated with it, such as Erasmus. He is considered to be one of the most influential writers and scholars of the time<\/a> period of the Renaissance and had a profound impact on Renaissance Humanism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Renaissance\"
‘The School of Athens’ by Raphael. (1511) It is one of the most renown artworks from the time of the Renaissance and Raphael is considered to be one of the most important Renaissance artists.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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ERASMUS – EARLY LIFE<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Desiderius Erasmus Roterodamus (more commonly known as Erasmus or Erasmus of Rotterdam) was born on October 28th, 1466 in Rotterdam, which today is a large city in the Netherlands.\u00a0 The exact year of his birth is controversial and debated but most historians agree that it was likely 1466.\u00a0 His father, Gerard, was a Catholic priest.\u00a0 Little is known about his mother, but it is speculated that she may have been a housekeeper for his father.\u00a0 Regardless, his parents were never married and Erasmus was conceived out of wedlock.\u00a0 They both died in 1483 from the spread of the plague as part of the\u00a0Black Death<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Erasmus received the best education available at the time, as he studied at several different schools in the Netherlands.\u00a0 At the time he studied Latin and Greek and his education fostered his religious beliefs in\u00a0Christianity<\/a>.\u00a0 For instance, he was ordained as a Catholic priest in 1492 at the age of 25.\u00a0 However, this is little evidence that he worked long as a priest and instead continued his studies when in 1495, he went to France to study at the University of Paris.\u00a0 It was here that he began to be influenced by Renaissance Humanism<\/a> that had emerged as part of the Italian Renaissance.\u00a0 At the time, the University of Paris had become a center for learning in Europe including\u00a0Renaissance Humanism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Erasmus<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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ERASMUS – RENAISSANCE HUMANISM<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

One of the main features of the Renaissance was the rediscovery by European thinkers of ancient Greek and Roman ideas and texts.\u00a0 For example, the term \u2018renaissance\u2019 in French means \u2018rebirth\u2019.\u00a0 This is in relation to the idea that the intellectual culture of the Renaissance was sparked by the rediscovery of these ancient philosophies and ideas which had largely been ignored in Europe throughout the Middle Ages.\u00a0 Many of these ancient texts were preserved by Islamic and Jewish cultures in the Middle East and were not rediscovered by Europeans until the time of the Renaissance.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

More specifically, famous Italian Renaissance scholar and humanist\u00a0Petrarch<\/a>\u00a0(also known as Francesco Petrarca) is remembered for rediscovering the earlier work of Roman philosopher Cicero.\u00a0 Petrarch\u2019s rediscovery in the 14th century of Cicero\u2019s letters is considered to be the spark of the Italian Renaissance and inspired other European scholars (such as Erasmus) to do the same and look to ancient texts.\u00a0 Petrarch considered the ideas present in Cicero\u2019s and other ancient texts as superior to the ideas present in Europe at the time of the Middle Ages.\u00a0 As well, Petrarch is considered to be the founder of the humanist movement during the Renaissance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Petrarch\"
Photo of a statue of Petrarch on the Uffizi Palace, in Florence, Italy. (Creative Commons CC 4.0)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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In general, Renaissance Humanism<\/a> was the study of ancient Greek and Roman texts with the goal of promoting new norms and values in society.\u00a0 These norms and views varied from those at the time because they focused less heavily on a religious worldview.\u00a0 Instead, Renaissance humanists such as Petrarch used ancient texts to promote a worldview based on logic and reason.\u00a0 This was to be accomplished through the study of the \u2018studia humanitatis\u2019, which today is known as the humanities and includes topics such as: grammar, history, poetry, and philosophy.\u00a0 Renaissance humanists promoted the idea that citizens should be educated in these topics in order to allow them to participate in the social and political life of their society.\u00a0 This was a fundamental shift from the feudalistic<\/a> and religious life that was the reality for most people in the Europe in the Middle Ages.\u00a0 As such, Petrarch\u2019s actions are considered to be important to the emergence and growth of the overall Renaissance, and inspired other such as Erasmus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As time passed through the 15th and 16th centuries, the ideals of Renaissance Humanism spread out of Italy<\/a> and to the rest of Europe, including: France, England and the Germanic kingdoms.\u00a0 For example, this is when Erasmus played a significant role as a humanist during the Renaissance in Europe.\u00a0 He is the most famous Christian humanist of the Renaissance and is considered by many to be \u2018the greatest scholar of the Northern Renaissance\u2019.\u00a0 He was a lifelong supporter of the Catholic Church.\u00a0 With that said, he often argued against abuses carried out by the church and instead promoted a focus on traditional faith.\u00a0 For example, during the events of the Protestant Reformation<\/a> in Europe he continued to support the authority of the Pope and argued instead for reform.\u00a0 For instance, he famously disagreed with Martin Luther<\/a> and did not fully commit to the ideas of the Protestant Movement.\u00a0 He is most famous for his work as a writer and the translations he provided of ancient works, including the Bible<\/a>.\u00a0 For example, he is credited with writing new Latin and Greek versions of the Bible.\u00a0 He also translated the works of other notable ancient scholars, including: Cicero and Aristotle.\u00a0 Erasmus is an important Renaissance Humanist because he promoted ancient Greek and Roman knowledge and its importance.\u200b<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Protestant
‘Luther Publishes the 95 Theses’ Painting by Julius H\u00fcbner. (1878) The 95 Theses of Martin Luther is considered to be a significant event in the history of the Protestant Reformation.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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ERASMUS – DEATH AND SIGNIFICANCE<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Erasmus died on July 12th, 1536 at the age of 69 from dysentery.  Like Petrarch before him, Erasmus travelled and studied throughout much of Europe.  This exposure to many different places and cultures helped spread his ideas and helped further develop the main principles of the humanist movement in Renaissance Europe.  Today he is best remembered as a writer, scholar and humanist from the Renaissance.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Erasmus is best remembered as a writer, scholar and humanist from the timeframe of the Renaissance. This article details the life and significance of Erasmus.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6512,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"iawp_total_views":12,"footnotes":""},"categories":[48,100],"tags":[18,15,82],"class_list":["post-2577","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-renaissance","category-biography","tag-biography","tag-history","tag-renaissance"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/crunchlearning.com\/website_ec2cbfb0\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2577","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/crunchlearning.com\/website_ec2cbfb0\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/crunchlearning.com\/website_ec2cbfb0\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crunchlearning.com\/website_ec2cbfb0\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crunchlearning.com\/website_ec2cbfb0\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2577"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/crunchlearning.com\/website_ec2cbfb0\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2577\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6514,"href":"https:\/\/crunchlearning.com\/website_ec2cbfb0\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2577\/revisions\/6514"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crunchlearning.com\/website_ec2cbfb0\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6512"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/crunchlearning.com\/website_ec2cbfb0\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2577"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crunchlearning.com\/website_ec2cbfb0\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2577"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crunchlearning.com\/website_ec2cbfb0\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2577"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}