Commentary #10: Erasmus

Erasmus Erupts in The Praise of Folly

Desiderius Erasmus was not a happy camper.

First of all, his parents were unmarried (and totally star-crossed) lovers – his mother a widow and the daughter of a physician, and his father a priest. As he matured, Erasmus remained sensitive to the stigma of his illegitimacy and, while he lived with his mother and grandmother, continued to suffer from being abandoned by his father. According to Minnich and Meissner, after both of Erasmus’s parents died during his teen-age years, his guardians persuaded him to study in a monastery – a course of action that he accepted but did not embrace. Having no family, no wealth, and being in poor health, how could he refuse the plans of his elders?

Erasmus’s spirits lifted when he pursued classical studies and became familiar with the humanist culture, which seemed to address his own personal needs. Humanists believed that God would not blame children for their parents’ sins, and that view soothed Erasmus, to a certain degree. The oppression he felt at school was somewhat lessened, too, after he met Servatius Roger, a young man for whom Erasmus felt a deep affection. But Servatius did not share the love, and Erasmus was again left feeling abandoned.

After becoming an ordained priest, Erasmus was flung from the tranquility of the monastery into the harried political scene, where he served as secretary to Bishop Henry of Bergen. Unhappy with this position, Erasmus convinced his boss to let him study theology in Paris, where he also encountered disillusionment, discouragement, and more depression. Feeling victimized, he blamed the incompetence of teachers for his lack of scholarly success.

Taking a welcomed opportunity to spend a year in England, Erasmus was able to rub elbows with a number of aristocrats – one of which was John Colet, a humanist-theologian, who became a good friend. Five years later, he met humanist/scholar/statesman Thomas More, the man who most inspired Erasmus to take the plunge into satire – resulting in the eyebrow-lifting The Praise of Folly.

It must have been amazingly therapeutic for Erasmus to unload years of pent-up anger, criticism, gripes, cynicism, and frustration via the satirical commentary of Folly. The pleasure of the purge was short-lived, however, as noted by Minnich and Meissner (609):

. . . Once in print, the Praise of Folly did not go unnoticed. Erasmus believed that as a man of learning he was entitled to satirize with impunity the foibles of humanity, especially since he had provoked in the process serious reflection. . . While friends like More appreciated his Moriae Encomium, others could neither forgive nor forget those large sections of the work in which they found themselves scoffed at and satirized. But it was perhaps his playful use of the text of the Holy Scripture that caused the most trouble.

Taken aback by the backlash, Erasmus answered his critics, defended his work, but later admitted he might not have written Folly had he known it would vilify him. Furthermore, he lost one great joy of his life, his supportive, dear friend Thomas More, in 1535, when Henry VIII had More executed for refusing to take the Oath of Supremacy. Erasmus himself died a year later, embattled and embittered.

Minnich and Meissner portray Erasmus as brilliant, witty, clever, and urbane as well as narcissistic, self-pitying, sickly, gloomy, and a few other not-so-flattering adjectives. I say, cut the guy some slack. Considering the obstacles Erasmus faced from birth, I think he accomplished a great deal more than would have been expected. And maybe some of his complaints were justified; perhaps he was underappreciated in his own time. Perhaps he and his Folly were misunderstood. What’s wrong with a little satirical whistle-blowing if it helps weaken corruption and inspire reform? Perhaps a sixteenth-century writer wasn't supposed to “tell it like it is.”

* * * * * * * *

(Note: The Praise of Folly, with an introductory note from Erasmus to Thomas More, can be found online at , provided by Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, Oxford, Mississippi.)

Work cited

Minnich, Nelson H., and W. W. Meissner. “The Character of Erasmus.” The American Historical Review 83, 3 (1978): 598-624.