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16 - Erasmus and the Age of Reformation by Johan Huizinga · Erasmus and the Age of Reformation

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Speaker 1: Chapter sixteen of Erasmus and the Age of Reformation. This
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Speaker 1: is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the
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Speaker 1: public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit
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Speaker 1: LibriVox dot organ. Erasmus and the Age of Reformation by
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Speaker 1: John Huzinga, translated by Frederic John Hopmann. Chapter sixteen, First
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Speaker 1: Years of the Reformation, Beginning of the relations between Erasmus
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Speaker 1: and Luther. Archbishop Albert of Mainz fifteen seventeen. Progress of
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Speaker 1: the Reformation. Luther tries to bring about a reproachment with
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Speaker 1: the Erasmus March fifteen nineteen. Erasmus keeps aloof fancies he
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Speaker 1: may yet act as a conciliator. His attitude becomes ambiguous.
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Speaker 1: He denies ever more emphatic please all relations with Luther
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Speaker 1: and resolves to remain a spectator. He is pressed by
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Speaker 1: either camp to take sides. Alexander in the Netherlands The
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Speaker 1: Diet of Worms fifteen twenty one. Erasmus leaves Louvain to
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Speaker 1: safeguard his freedom. October fifteen twenty one, about the close
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Speaker 1: of fifteen sixteen, Erasmus received a letter from the librarian
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Speaker 1: and secretary of Frederick Elector of Saxony, George Spalatinus, written
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Speaker 1: in the respectful and reverential tone in which the great
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Speaker 1: man was now approached, We all esteem you here most highly.
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Speaker 1: The Elector has all your books in his library and
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Speaker 1: intends to buy everything you may publish in future. But
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Speaker 1: the object of Spalatinius's letter was the execution of a
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Speaker 1: friend's commission. An Augustinian ecclesiastic a great mayer of Erasmus,
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Speaker 1: had requested him to direct his attention to the fact that,
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Speaker 1: in his interpretation of Saint Paul, especially in that of
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Speaker 1: the Epistle to the Romans, Erasmus had failed to conceive
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Speaker 1: the idea of Justitia correctly, had paid too little attention
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Speaker 1: to original sin. He might profit by reading Augustine. The
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Speaker 1: nameless Austin Fryer was Luther, then still unknown outside the
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Speaker 1: circle of the Vittenburg University in which he was a professor,
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Speaker 1: and the criticism regarded the cardinal point of his hardly
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Speaker 1: acquired conviction justification by faith. Erasmus paid little attention to
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Speaker 1: this letter, he received so many of that sort, containing
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Speaker 1: still more praise and no criticism. If he answered it.
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Speaker 1: The reply did not reached Paullatinus, and later Erasmus completely
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Speaker 1: forgot the whole letter. Nine months afterwards, in September fifteen seventeen,
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Speaker 1: when Erasmus had been at Louvain for a short time,
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Speaker 1: he received an honorable invitation written by the first Prelate
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Speaker 1: of the Empire, the young Archbishop of Mainz, Albert of Brandenburg.
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Speaker 1: The archbishop would be pleased to see him on an occasion.
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Speaker 1: He greatly admired his work. He knew it so little
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Speaker 1: as to speak of Erasmus's emendation of the Old Testament
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Speaker 1: instead of the New, and hoped that he would one
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Speaker 1: day write some lives of saints in elegant style. The
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Speaker 1: young Johan Zohler, advocate of the new light of classical studies,
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Speaker 1: whose attention had probably been drawn to Erasmus by Hutten
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Speaker 1: and Kupito, who so joined at his court, had recently
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Speaker 1: become engaged in one of the boldest political and financial
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Speaker 1: transactions of his life. His elevation to the See of
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Speaker 1: Mainz at the age of twenty four had necessitated a
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Speaker 1: papal dispensation, as he also wished to keep the Archbishopric
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Speaker 1: of Magdenburg and the See of Halberstodt. This accumulation of
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Speaker 1: ecclesiastical offices had to be made subservient to the Brandenburg policy,
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Speaker 1: which opposed the rival House of Saxony. The Pope granted
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Speaker 1: the dispensation in return for a great sum of money,
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Speaker 1: but to facilitate its payment he accorded to the archbishop
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Speaker 1: a liberal indulgence for the whole Archbishopric of Mainz, Magdenburg
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Speaker 1: and the Brandenburg territories Albert, to whom half the proceeds
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Speaker 1: were tacitly left raised alone with the House of Fugar,
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Speaker 1: and this charged itself with the indulgence traffic. When in
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Speaker 1: December fifteen seventeen Erasmus answered the Archbishop Luther's propositions against indulgences,
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Speaker 1: provoked by the Archbishop of Mainza's instructions regarding their cold
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Speaker 1: portage had already been posted up thirty one October fifteen
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Speaker 1: seventeen and were circulated throughout Germany, rousing the whole church.
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Speaker 1: They were leveled at the same abuses which Erasmus combated,
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Speaker 1: the mechanical, atomistical and juridical conception of religion. But how
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Speaker 1: different was their practical effect as compared with Erasmus's pacific
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Speaker 1: endeavor to purify the church by lenient means lives of saints,
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Speaker 1: Erasmus asked, replying the Archbishop, I have tried, in my
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Speaker 1: poor way to add a little light to the Prince
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Speaker 1: of Saints himself. For the rest your endeavor, in addition
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Speaker 1: to so many difficult matters of government, and at such
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Speaker 1: an early age, to get the lives of the saints
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Speaker 1: purged of old womenman's tales and disgusting style, is extremely laudable,
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Speaker 1: for nothing should be suffered in the Church which is
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Speaker 1: not perfectly pure or refined. And he concludes with a
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Speaker 1: magnificent eulogy of the excellent prelate. During the greater part
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Speaker 1: of fifteen eighteen, Erasmus was too much occupied by his
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Speaker 1: own affairs, the journey to Basil and his red hot
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Speaker 1: labors there, and afterwards his serious illness to concern himself
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Speaker 1: much with Luther's business. In March, he sends Luther's thesis
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Speaker 1: to Moore without comment, and in passing complains to Coles
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Speaker 1: about the impudence with which Rome disseminates indulgences. Luther, now
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Speaker 1: declared a heretic and summoned to appear at Augsburg, stands
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Speaker 1: before the legate Cagatanus, and refuses to recount. Seething enthusiasm
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Speaker 1: surrounds him. Just about that time, Erasmus writes to one
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Speaker 1: of Luther's partisans, John Lang, in very favorable terms about
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Speaker 1: his work. The thesis have pleased everybody. I see that
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Speaker 1: the monarchy of the Pope at Rome as it is
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Speaker 1: now is a pestilence to Christendom. And I do not
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Speaker 1: know if it is expedient to touch that sore openly.
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Speaker 1: That would be a matter for princes. But I fear
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Speaker 1: that these will act in concert with the Pope to
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Speaker 1: secure the part of the spoils. I do not understand
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Speaker 1: what possessed Eck to take up arms against Luther. The
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Speaker 1: letter did not find its way into any of the collections.
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Speaker 1: On twenty eight March fifteen nineteen, Luther addressed himself personally
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Speaker 1: to Erasmus for the first time. I speak with you
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Speaker 1: so often, and you with me. Erasmus, our ornament and
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Speaker 1: our hope, and we do not know each other as yet.
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Speaker 1: He rejoices to find that Erasmus displeases many. For this
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Speaker 1: he regards as a sign that God has blessed him.
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Speaker 1: Now that his Luther's name begins to get known, too,
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Speaker 1: a longer silence between them might be wrongly interpreted. Therefore,
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Speaker 1: my Erasmus amyebau Man, if you think fit acknowledge. Also,
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Speaker 1: this little brother in Christ, who really admires you and
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Speaker 1: feels friendly disposed towards you and for the rest, would
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Speaker 1: deserve no better because of his ignorance than to lie unknown,
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Speaker 1: buried in a corner. There was a very definite purpose
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Speaker 1: in this somewhat rustically cunning and half ironical letter. Luther wanted,
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Speaker 1: if possible, to make Erasmus show his colors, to win
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Speaker 1: him the powerful authority touchstone of science and culture for
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Speaker 1: the cause which he advocated in his heart. Luther had
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Speaker 1: long been aware of the deep gulf separating him from Erasmus.
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Speaker 1: As early as March fifteen, seventeen, six months before his
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Speaker 1: public appearance, he wrote about Erasmus to John Lange, human
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Speaker 1: matters way heavier with him than divine, in an opinion
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Speaker 1: that so many have pronounced about Erasmus obvious and yet unfair.
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Speaker 1: An attempt on the part of Luther to effect our
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Speaker 1: approachment was a reason for Erasmus to retire at once.
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Speaker 1: Now began that extremely ambiguous policy of Erasmus to preserve
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Speaker 1: peace by his authority as a light of the world,
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Speaker 1: and to steer a middle course between committing himself. In
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Speaker 1: that attitude, the great and the petty side of his
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Speaker 1: personality were inextricably intertwined. The air because of which most
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Speaker 1: historians have seen Erasmus's attitude towards the Reformation either in
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Speaker 1: far too unfavorable alight, or, as for instance the German
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Speaker 1: historian Karloff, much too heroic and far seen, is that
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Speaker 1: they erroneously regard him as psychologically homogeneous, just that he
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Speaker 1: is not. His double sidedness roots in the depths of
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Speaker 1: his being. Many of his utterances during the struggle proceed
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Speaker 1: directly from his fear and lack of character, also from
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Speaker 1: his inveterate dislike of siding with a person or a cause.
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Speaker 1: But behind that is always his deep and fervent conviction
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Speaker 1: that neither of the conflicting opinions can completely express the
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Speaker 1: truth that human hatred and purblindness infatuate men's minds. And
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Speaker 1: with that conviction is allied the noble illusion that it
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Speaker 1: might yet be possible to preserve the peace by moderation, insight,
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Speaker 1: and kindliness. In April fifteen nineteen, Erasmus addressed himself by
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Speaker 1: letter to the Elector Frederick of Saxony, Luther's patron. He
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Speaker 1: begins by alluding to his dedication to Suetonius two years before,
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Speaker 1: but his real purpose is to say something about Luther.
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Speaker 1: Luther's writings, he said, have given the Luvain obscurance plenty
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Speaker 1: of reason to inveigh against the bonnet litterae, to decry
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Speaker 1: all scholars. He himself does not know Luther, and has
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Speaker 1: glanced through his writings only cursorily as yet, but everyone
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Speaker 1: praises his life a little in accordance with theological gentleness.
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Speaker 1: It is to condemn him off hand, and that before
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Speaker 1: the indiscreet vulgar. For has he not proposed a dispute
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Speaker 1: and submitted himself to everybody's judgment. No one has so
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Speaker 1: far admonished, taught convinced him. Every heir is not at
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Speaker 1: once heresy. The best of Christianity is a life worthy
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Speaker 1: of Christ. Where we find that we should not rashly
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Speaker 1: suspect people of heresy? Why do we so uncharitably persecute
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Speaker 1: the lapses of others, though none of us is free
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Speaker 1: from error? Why do we rather want to conquer than cure,
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Speaker 1: suppressed than instruct. But he concludes with a word that
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Speaker 1: could not but please Luther's friends, who so hoped for
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Speaker 1: his support. May the Duke prevent an innocent man from
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Speaker 1: being surrendered under the cloak of piety to the impiety
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Speaker 1: of a few. This is also the wish of Pope Leo,
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Speaker 1: who has nothing more at heart than that innocence be safe.
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Speaker 1: At this time, Erasmus does his best to keep Froben
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Speaker 1: back from publishing Luther's writings, that they may not feign
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Speaker 1: the hatred of the bona Let tree. Still more, and
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Speaker 1: he keeps repeating, I do not know Luther. I have
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Speaker 1: not read his writings. He makes this declaration to Luther
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Speaker 1: himself in his reply to the Latter's epistle of twenty
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Speaker 1: eight March. This letter of Erasmus, dated thirty May fifteen nineteen,
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Speaker 1: should be regarded as a newspaper leader to acquaint the
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Speaker 1: public with his attitude towards the Luther question. Luther does
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Speaker 1: not know the tragedies which his writings have caused at Louvain.
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Speaker 1: People here think that Erasmus has helped him in composing them,
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Speaker 1: and call him the standard bearer of the party that
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Speaker 1: seems to them a fitting pretext to suppress the bona
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Speaker 1: lit tree. I have declared that you are perfectly unknown
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Speaker 1: to me, and that I have not yet read your books,
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Speaker 1: and therefore neither approve nor disapprove anything. I reserve myself
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Speaker 1: so far as I may, to the use of the
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Speaker 1: reviving studies. Discreet moderation seems likely to bring better progress
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Speaker 1: than impetuosity. It was by this that Christ subjugated the world.
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Speaker 1: On the same day, he writes to John Lang, one
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Speaker 1: of Luther's friends and followers, a short note not meant
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Speaker 1: for publication. I hope that the endeavors of yourself and
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Speaker 1: your party will be successful. Here the papos ray violently.
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Speaker 1: All the best minds are rejoiced at Luther's boldness. I
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Speaker 1: do not doubt he will be careful that things do
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Speaker 1: not end in a quarrel of parties. We shall never
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Speaker 1: triumph over feigned Christians unless we first abolish the tyranny
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Speaker 1: of the Roman Sea and of its satellites, the Dominicans,
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Speaker 1: the Franciscans, and the Carmelites. But no one could attempt
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Speaker 1: that without as serious to molt as the Gulf widens
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Speaker 1: Erasmus's protestations that he has nothing to do with Luther
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Speaker 1: become much more frequent. Relations at Luvain grow ever more disagreeable,
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Speaker 1: and the general sentiment about him evermore unkind. In August
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Speaker 1: fifteen nineteen, he turns to the Pope himself for protection
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Speaker 1: against his opponents. He still fails to see how wide
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Speaker 1: the breeches. He still takes it all to be quarrels
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Speaker 1: of scholars. King Henry of England and King Francis of France,
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Speaker 1: in their own countries have imposed silence upon the quarrelers
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Speaker 1: and slanderers, if only the Pope would do the same.
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Speaker 1: In October he was once more reconciled with the Luvain faculty.
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Speaker 1: It was just at this time that COLEI died in London,
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Speaker 1: the man who had better, perhaps than any one else,
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Speaker 1: understood Erasmus's standpoint. Kindred spirits in Germany still looked up
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Speaker 1: to Erasmus as a great man who was on the
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Speaker 1: alert to impose at the right moment, and who had
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Speaker 1: made moderation the botchword until the time should come to
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Speaker 1: give his friends the signal. But in the increasing noise
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Speaker 1: of the battle, his voice already sounded less powerfully than before.
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Speaker 1: A letter to Cardinal Albert of Mentz nineteen October fifteen nineteen,
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Speaker 1: of about the same content as that of Frederick of Saxony,
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Speaker 1: written in the preceding spring, was at once circulated by
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Speaker 1: Luther's friends and by the advocates of conservatism. In spite
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Speaker 1: of the usual protestation I do not know Luther. It
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Speaker 1: was made to serve against Erasmus. It became more and
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Speaker 1: more clear that the mediating inconciliatory position which Erasmus wished
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Speaker 1: to take up would soon be altogether untenable. The inquisitor
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Speaker 1: Jacob Utstratten, had come from Cologne, where he was a
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Speaker 1: member of the University of Leuvage, to work against Luther there,
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Speaker 1: as he had worked against rock Clean. On seven November
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Speaker 1: fifteen nineteen, the Louvain faculty, following the example of that
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Speaker 1: of Cologne, proceeded to take the decisive step the solemn
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Speaker 1: condemnation of a number of Luther's opinions. In future, no
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Speaker 1: place could be less suitable to Erasmus than Leuvain, the
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Speaker 1: citadel of action against reformers. It is surprising that he
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Speaker 1: remained there another two years. The expectation that he would
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Speaker 1: be able to speak the conciliating word was paling. For
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Speaker 1: the rest he failed to see the true proportions. During
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Speaker 1: the first months of fifteen twenty is a tension was
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Speaker 1: almost entirely taken up by his own polemics with Lee
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Speaker 1: a paltry incident in the Great Revolution. The desire to
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Speaker 1: keep aloof got more and more the upper hand of him.
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Speaker 1: In June, he writes to Melengthen I see that matters
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Speaker 1: begin to look like sedition. It is perhaps necessary that
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Speaker 1: skendals occur, but I should prefer not to be the
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Speaker 1: author he has. He thinks, by his influence with Wolsey
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Speaker 1: prevented the burning of Luther's writings in England, which had
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Speaker 1: been ordered, but he was mistaken. The burning takes place
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Speaker 1: in London as early as twelve May. The best proof
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Speaker 1: that Erasmus had practically given up his hope to play
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Speaker 1: a conciliatory part may be found in what follows. In
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Speaker 1: the summer of fifteen twenty the famous meeting between the
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Speaker 1: three monarchs Henry the eighth, Francis the First, and Charles
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Speaker 1: the fifth took place at Calais. Erasmus was to go
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Speaker 1: there in the train of his prince. How would such
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Speaker 1: a congress of princes, where in peaceful conclave the interests
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Speaker 1: of France, England, Spain and the German Empire and a
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Speaker 1: considerable part of Italy were represented together, have affected Erasmus's
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Speaker 1: imagination if his ideal had remained unshaken, But there are
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Speaker 1: no traces of this. Erasmus was at Calais in July
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Speaker 1: fifteen twenty, had some conversation with Henry the eighth there
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Speaker 1: and greeted more, but it does not appear that he
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Speaker 1: attached any other importance to the journey than that of
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Speaker 1: an opportunity for the last time to greet his English friends.
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Speaker 1: It was awkward for Erasmus that, just at this time,
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Speaker 1: when the cause of faith took so much harsher forms,
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Speaker 1: his duties as counselor of the youthful Charles, now back
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Speaker 1: from Spain to be crowned as Emperor, circumscribed his liberty
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Speaker 1: more than before. In the summer of fifteen twenty appeared,
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Speaker 1: based on the incriminating material furnished by the Louvain faculty,
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Speaker 1: the papal bull declaring Luther to be a heretic and
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Speaker 1: unless he should speedily recant excommunicating him. I fear the
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Speaker 1: worst for the unfortunate Luther, Erasmus writes nine September fifteen twenty.
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Speaker 1: So does conspiracy rage everywhere, So our princes incensed with
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Speaker 1: him on all sides, and most of all Pope Leo.
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Speaker 1: Would Luther have followed my advice and abstained from those
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Speaker 1: hostile and seditious actions. They will not rest until they
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Speaker 1: have quite subverted the study of languages and the good
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Speaker 1: learning out of the hatred against these and the stupidity
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Speaker 1: of monks. Did this tragedy first, arise, I do not
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Speaker 1: meddle with it, for the rest the bishopric is waiting
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Speaker 1: for me if I choose to write against Luther. Indeed,
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Speaker 1: Erasmus had become, by virtue of his enormous celebrity, as
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Speaker 1: circumstances would have it, more and more a valuable asset
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Speaker 1: in the great policy of Emperor and Pope. People wanted
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Speaker 1: to use his name and to make him choose sides,
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Speaker 1: and that he would not do for any consideration. He
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Speaker 1: wrote evasively to the Pope about his relations with Luther,
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Speaker 1: without altogether disavowing him. How zealously he defends himself from
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Speaker 1: the suspicion of being on Luther's side, as noisy monks
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Speaker 1: make out their sermons, who summarily link the two in
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Speaker 1: their coughing disparagement. But on the other side also he
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Speaker 1: is pressed to choose sides and to speak out. To
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Speaker 1: the end of October fifteen twenty the coronation of the
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Speaker 1: Emperor took place at ah La Chapelle. Erasmus was perhaps present.
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Speaker 1: In any case, he accompanied the Emperor of Cologne there.
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Speaker 1: On five November, he had an interview about Luther with
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Speaker 1: the Elector of Saxony. He was persuaded to write down
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Speaker 1: the result of that discussion in the form of twenty
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Speaker 1: two axiomata concerning Luther's cause, against his intention. They were
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Speaker 1: printed at once. Erasmus's hesitation in those days between the
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Speaker 1: repudiation and the approbation of Luther is not discreditable to him.
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Speaker 1: It is the tragic defect running through his whole personality,
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Speaker 1: his refusal or inability ever to draw ultimate conclusions. Had
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Speaker 1: he only been a calculating and selfish nature afraid of
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Speaker 1: losing his life, he would long sense have altogether forsaken
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Speaker 1: Luther's cause. It is his misfortune affecting his fame that
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Speaker 1: he continually shows his weaknesses, whereas what is great in
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Speaker 1: him lies deep. At Cologne, Erasmus also met the man
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Speaker 1: with whom, as a promising young humanist fourteen years younger
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Speaker 1: than himself, he had for some months shared a room
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Speaker 1: in the house of Aldus's father in law at Venice.
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Speaker 1: Heromenus Aleander, now sent to the Emperor as a Papa
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Speaker 1: muncial to persuade him to conform his imperial policy to
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Speaker 1: that of the pope in the matter of the great
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Speaker 1: ecclesiastical question and give effect to the papal excommunication by
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Speaker 1: the imperial ban. It must have been somewhat painful for
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Speaker 1: Erasmus that his friend had so far surpassed him in
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Speaker 1: power and position, and was now called to bring by
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Speaker 1: diplomatic means the solution in which he himself would have
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Speaker 1: liked to see achieved by ideal harmony, good will and toleration.
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Speaker 1: He had never trusted Holeander, and was more than ever
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Speaker 1: on his guard against him. As a humanist. In spite
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Speaker 1: of brilliant gifts. Holeander was by far Erasmus's inferior, and
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Speaker 1: had never, like him, risen from literature to serious theological studies.
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Speaker 1: He had simply prospered in the service of church magnates,
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Speaker 1: whom Erasmus had given up early. This man was now
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Speaker 1: invested with the highest mediating powers. To what degree of
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Speaker 1: exasperation Erasmus's most violent antagonists at Louvain had now been
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Speaker 1: reduced is seen from the witty and slightly malicious account
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Speaker 1: he gives Thomas Moore of his meeting with Egmondamus before
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Speaker 1: the rector of the university, who wanted to reconcile them. Still,
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Speaker 1: things did not look so black as Ulrich van Houden
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Speaker 1: thought when he wrote to Erasmus, do you think that
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Speaker 1: you are still safe now that Luther's books are burned?
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Speaker 1: Fly and save yourself for us? Even more emphatic do
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Speaker 1: Erasmus's protestations become that he has nothing to do with Luther.
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Speaker 1: Long ago he had already requested him not to mention
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Speaker 1: his name, and Luther promised it very well. Then I
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Speaker 1: shall not again refer to you, neither will other good friends,
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Speaker 1: since it troubles you. Even louder, too, are Erasmus's complaints
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Speaker 1: about the raving of the monks at him and his
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Speaker 1: demands that the mendicant orders be deprived of the right
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Speaker 1: to preach. In April fifteen twenty one comes the moment
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Speaker 1: in the world's history to which Christendom has been looking forward.
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Speaker 1: Luther at the diet of worms, holding fast to his opinions,
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Speaker 1: confronted by the highest authority in the Empire. So great
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Speaker 1: is the rejoicing in Germany that for a moment it
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Speaker 1: may seem that the Emperor's power is in danger, rather
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Speaker 1: than Luther and his adherents. If I had been present,
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Speaker 1: writes Erasmus, I should have endeavored that this tragedy would
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Speaker 1: have been so tempered by moderate arguments that it could
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Speaker 1: not afterwards break out again to the still greater detriment
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Speaker 1: of the world. The imperial sentence was pronounced within the Empire,
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Speaker 1: as in the Burgundian Netherlands before that time. Luther's books
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Speaker 1: were to be burned, his adherents arrested and their goods confiscated,
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Speaker 1: and Luther was to be given up to the authorities.
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Speaker 1: Erasmus hopes that now relief will follow. The Luther tragedy
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Speaker 1: is at an end with us here would it had
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Speaker 1: never appeared on the stage in these days. Alprich Durer,
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Speaker 1: on hearing the false news of Luther's death, wrote in
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Speaker 1: the Diary of his journey, with passionate exclamation, Oh Erastmus
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Speaker 1: of Rotterdam, where will you be here? You knight of Christ?
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Speaker 1: Ride forth beside the Lord Christ, protect the truth, obtain
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Speaker 1: the murdyr's crown, For you are but an old mannikin.
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Speaker 1: I have heard that you say that you have allowed
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Speaker 1: yourself two more years in which you are still fit
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Speaker 1: to do some work. Spend them well in behalf of
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Speaker 1: the Gospel and the true Christian faith. Oh Erasmus, be
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Speaker 1: on this side, that God may be proud of you.
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Speaker 1: It expresses confidence in Erasmus's power, but at bottom is
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Speaker 1: the expectation that he will not do all This doer
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Speaker 1: had rightly understood, Erastmus. The struggle abated no wise, least
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Speaker 1: of all at Leuvain. Lotamus, the most dignified and able
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Speaker 1: of Louvain divines, had now become one of the most
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Speaker 1: serious opponents of Luther, and in so doing touched Erasmus too.
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Speaker 1: Indirectly to Nicholas of Egmont, the Karmelit, another of Erasmus's compatriots,
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Speaker 1: had been added as a violent antagonist. Vincent Dirks of Harlem,
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Speaker 1: a Dominican. Erasmus addresses himself to the faculty to defend
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Speaker 1: himself against the new attacks and to explain why he
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Speaker 1: has never written against Luther. He will read him. He
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Speaker 1: will soon take up something to quiet the tumult. He
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Speaker 1: succeeds in getting a Leander, who arrived at Luvain in June,
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Speaker 1: to prohibit preaching against him. The Pope still hopes that
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Speaker 1: Aleander will succeed in bringing back Erasmus, with whom he
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Speaker 1: is again on friendly terms, to the right track. But
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Speaker 1: Erasmus began to consider the only exit which was now
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Speaker 1: left to him, to leave Louvain and the Netherlands to
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Speaker 1: regain him his menaced independence. The occasion to depart had
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Speaker 1: long ago presented itself. The third edition of his New
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Speaker 1: Testament called him to Basle once more. It would not
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Speaker 1: be a permanent departure, and he proposed to return to Levain.
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Speaker 1: On twenty eighth October, his birthday, he left the town
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Speaker 1: where he had spent four difficult years. His chambers in
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Speaker 1: the College of the Lily were preserved for him, and
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Speaker 1: he left his books behind. On fifteen November, he reached Basle.
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Speaker 1: Soon the rumor spread that out of fear of Aleander.
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Speaker 1: He had saved himself by flight. But the idea revived
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Speaker 1: again in our days in spite of Erasmus's own painstaking denial,
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Speaker 1: that Aleander should have cunningly and expressly driven him from
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Speaker 1: the Netherlands is inherently improbable. So far as the Church
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Speaker 1: was concerned, Erasmus would at almost any point be more
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Speaker 1: dangerous than at Louvain, in the headquarters of conservatism, under
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Speaker 1: immediate control of the strict Burgundian government, where it seemed
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Speaker 1: he could sooner or later be pressed into the service
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Speaker 1: of the anti Lutheran policy. It was this contingency, as
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Speaker 1: doctor Allen has correctly pointed out, which he feared and evaded.
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Speaker 1: Not for his bodily safety did he emigrate. Erasmus would
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Speaker 1: not have been touched. He was far too valuable an
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Speaker 1: asset for such measures. It was his mental independence, so
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Speaker 1: dear to him above all else, that he felt to
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Speaker 1: be threatened, and to safeguard that he did not return
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Speaker 1: to Louvain. End of Chapter sixteen