Érasme de Rotterdam
In Praise of Folly: learning against fanaticism.
Adages (Adagia) essential
A collection of ancient proverbs with commentary, constantly enlarged (800 in 1500, over 4,000 in the end). The 1515 edition includes real essays, among them "War is sweet to those who have not tried it". Our corpus has only that essay, in an English translation of 1533.
Handbook of the Christian Soldier (Enchiridion)
Inward piety rather than rites. Not yet in our corpus.
The Praise of Folly essential
Written in 1509 in Thomas More's house in London, printed around 1511, revised until 1532. Folly is the speaker: she praises herself, mocks everyone, then ends with Christian "folly". Only the prefatory letter to More is in Erasmus's own voice.
Julius Excluded from Heaven
A satirical dialogue against the warrior pope Julius II, written around 1514 and printed anonymously around 1517. Erasmus always denied writing it; most scholars attribute it to him. Not in our corpus.
Greek and Latin New Testament (Novum Instrumentum)
The first printed and published Greek text, with a new Latin translation. A revolution for theologians. Not in our corpus.
The Education of a Christian Prince essential
Dedicated to the future Charles V, then 16. The prince must be a philosopher, loved rather than feared, and do everything for peace. Our corpus has only chapter 1, in Latin.
The Complaint of Peace essential
Peace in person complains of being driven out everywhere, even by Christians. Written for a planned peace congress (Cambrai). Latin and an English translation of 1802.
Colloquies
Short dialogues for learning Latin, full of satire. Censured by the Paris faculty of theology. Not yet in our corpus.
On Free Will (Diatribe on Free Will) essential
His stand against Luther: a modest free will, with by far the greater part left to grace. Luther answered in 1525 with The Bondage of the Will. Our Latin text is an unproofread automatic reading (OCR) of Walter's edition (1910); we have no translation in our corpus: the translations given in the notes are our own.
Hyperaspistes I and II
His long reply to Luther's Bondage of the Will. Not in our corpus.