Erasmus of the Low Countries - Hardcover

Few historical figures have been more important in modelling the ideal of impartial critical scholarship than Erasmus of Rotterdam (1469-1536). Yet, his critical scholarship, though beholden to no one, was not dispassionate. This book shows how Erasmus the scholar sought through his writings to promote the moral and religious renewal of Christian society. The author finds the genesis of the humanist's notion of a "Christian republic" of pious and learned individuals in his "Burgundian", or Low Countries, roots. Erasmus's vision of reform, he argues sprang from a humanist tradition focusing on the importance of teaching (doctrina), a tradition from which Erasmus departed in his optimism about human nature and his deep suspicion of the powers that be. Amid the storms of Reformation controversy, Erasmus pruned back the "dissimulation" by which he had thought to convey different meanings to different readers, yet, in the end, he could not control the way his words were read. If Erasmus's scholarly ideal carries an enduring fascination, so too does his dilemma as a man of circumspection who would also be a reformer. James D. Tracy is the author of "Holland Under Habsburg Rule" and "Financial Revolution in the Habsburg Netherlands".

"This sensitive and well-researched intellectual biography of Erasmus, situating him in his political and cultural milieu . . . contributes to a new understanding of Erasmian texts."Erika Rummel, Wilfrid Laurier University

"Tracy's 'life and times' approach results in a considerably deeper understanding on the part of the reader of what sparked Erasmus's works, and of their intent."Elisabeth G. Gleason, University of San Francisco