Abstract
In 1506, after years of expectation and disappointment, Erasmus finally put into effect his plan to visit Italy. His sojourn in the ancient centre of culture and religion was of great significance for his development both as humanist and reformer, and is therefore an important event in the history of Christian humanism in Northern Europe 1). There he perfected his command of Greek, read through ancient manuscripts unobtainable in the North, and mingled freely with the most distinguished scholars of the Italian Renaissance. There, too, he had his first opportunity to view the papacy at close range. Rome in the first years of the sixteenth century might prove very enlightening to a spiritually-minded Christian, gifted, as was Erasmus, with the piercing vision of the born satirist. For three years he regarded the turbulent Italian scene from one point of vantage after another, but always with an interested eye on the papal comedy. The first fruit of these years of thoughtful observation was the Moriae Encomium, the second, less famous but scarcely less significant, the dialogue Iulius exclusus e coelis.
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Literatur
Cf. P. de Nolhac: Érasme en Italie, 1888, p. 94 f. „L’Italie a été pour Érasme l’école où s’est achevée sa formation intellectuelle. C’est là qu’il a mûri ce talent d’écrivain qui va remuer les idées de toute une génération, la plus féconde du siècle; c’est là aussi qu’il a pris pleine conscience de l’esprit nouveau, dont il sera dans les pays du Nord le grand propagateur. A ce double titre, le séjour que nous avons raconté peut être considéré comme l’un des faits les plus importants de la Renaissance.”
For full account of Erasmus’ stay in Italy, see Smith, pp. 101— 16; de Nolhac; and the correspondence for 1506–9.
From Florence he wrote to Servatius, 4 Nov. 1506: „Italiam multis de causis adiuimus, quanquam hanc magnis bellorum tumultibus agitatam offendimus.” Ep. 200, 1–2.
Cf. IE 358 n.
Cf. de Nolhac, p. 45 ff.
Cf. Ep. 213, 1–2, to Aldus, Dec. 1508: „Male precor bellis istis, per quos non licet nobis ea Italiae parte frui quae mihi in dies magis ac magis arridet ”
Cf. Catalogus Lucubrationum, Allen, I, 37, 7–12; de Nolhac, p. 82; E. C. Bagdat: La „Querela Pacis” d’Érasme, 1924, p. 61 f. In the Dulce bellum he refers to the argument against the war under the title Antipolemus. LB, II, 968, C. Both memoirs have been lost.
Anticiceronianus, LB, I, 1017, B.
Ibid. LB, I, 993, B; cf. Smith, p. 114; C. Cantu: Les Hérétiques ’dItalie, 1869–70, I, 524; IE 1196–9.
LB, X, 1754; cf. Smith, p. 113.
Cf. Ep. 215.
Cf. Ep. 218 Introd.
Epp. 232, 10–13; 233, 5; 262, 1–4.
Epp. 236; 239; 247; and there were probably other letters which have been lost.
Cf. Epp. 218 Introd.; 243, 25–32.
Ep. 251.
Cf. Ep. 961, 38.
Cf. Epp. 532, 23; 543, 9–10.
See note on editions; cf. list in E. Böcking: Ulrichs von Hutten Schriften, 1859–69, IV, 422 ff.
Nesen to Bruno Amerbach, June 1518, Basle MS. G. II. 30, fo. 83; quoted by L. Geiger in Vierteljahrsschrift für Kultur und Litteratur der Renaissance, I, 1886, p. 18.
Die Vadianische Briefsammlung der Stadtbibliothek St. Gallen, ed. by E. Arbenz and H. Wartmann, 1890–1908, Ep. 136.
Christoph Scheurl’s Briefbuch, ed. by F. von Soden and J. K. F. Knaake, 1867–72, Epp. 137, 30 Sept. 1517; 158, 5 Jan. 1518.
Luther’s Briefwechsel, ed. by E. L. Enders and others, 1884–1923, Ep. 50, 11 Nov. 1517.
J. Heumann: Documenta literaria, 1758, p. 117; cf. Allen, III, p. XXVI.
Vadianische Briefsammlung, Ep. 136, 26 Oct. 1518.
Ep. 532, 23–6, 18 Feb. 1517.
Cf. Epp. 622, 20; 636, 12–13.
J. Jortin: The Life of Erasmus, 1808, III, 280 ff; L. Geiger in Vierteljahrsschrift für Kultur und Litteratur der Renaissance, I, 1886, p. 17 ff; H. Durand de Laur: Érasme, 1872, II, 589 ff; F. M. Nichols: The Epistles of Erasmus, 1901–18, II, 446 ff.
Ep. 502 Introd.; cf. his The Age of Erasmus, 1914, pp. 184–9.
Érasme et la Papauté, 1924;and „Érasme est il l’auteur du Julius,” in Revue de Littérature comparée, V, 1925, pp. 385–415.
See for example Smith, p. 127; J. Huizinga: Erasmus, 1924, p. 107; Bagdat, op. cit. p. 61; J. J. Mangan: Erasmus of Rotterdam, 1928, II, 68.
Ep. 270, 60 and n; cf. J. A. Gee: The Life and Works of Thomas Lupset, 1928.
Ep. 431, 6–11 ; cf. Gee, p. 53 ff.
Ep. 502, 9–12.
Cf. Allen: Age of Erasmus, p. 185.
Cf. Ep. 502 Introd. ; quotation from a letter of Erasmus to Bucer, 2 March 1532, in Copenhagen MS.
Ep. 664, 3–6.
Ep. 690.
To Campegio, 1 May 1519, Ep. 961, 43–4.
„Primum hoc erat imputandum iis, qui librum suo tempore scriptum, tempore non suo vulgauerunt.” Epistolae aliquot eruditorum virorum, ex quibus perspicuum quanta sit Eduardi Lei virulentia, Basle, 1520, p. 118.
Cf. CND, AQR and AAL Introds.
Epp. 622, 12–30; 636, 12–26; they were probably intended for circulation and began with righteously indignant expressions of disapproval of the Epistolae obscurorum virorum; cf. Epp. 967, 168; 637, 13–14.
Epp. 961, 34–65; 967, 158–92. Campegio, always favorable to Erasmus, allowed himself to be convinced. Cf. Ep. 995, 54–6.
Epp. 785, 5 March 1518; 908, 1 Jan. 1519. Again much later, 30 March 1527, he wrote to More in the same strain, insisting that he was not responsible for the publication.
Epistolae eruditorum virorum, p. 118; cf. translation by Pineau in Revue de Littérature comparée, V, 396 ff.
Ep. 543, 9–10.
Ep, 877, 10–11, 19 Oct. 1518.
See notes.
Cf. Epigramma and notes.
Ep. 961, 44–8.
Cf. Durand de Laur, II, 302: „A l’Éloge de la Folie, nous rattachons le dialogue de Jules II. C’est le même esprit, le même fonds de pensées, la même ironie, le même style, le même langage avec une allure plus simple, plus dégagée, plus vive, qui annonce déjà la manière des Colloques.”
Ep. 961, 39–42.
Böcking, IV, 422; R. Förster in Archiv für Litteraturgeschichte, XIV, 1882, p. 344; L. von Pastor: Geschichte der Päpste im Zeitalter der Renaissance, III, new and enlarged edition. 1924. p. 772.
H. Hauser: „Le ,Julius’ est-il d’Érasme?” in Revue de Littérature comparée, VII, 1927, pp. 605–18. The article is chiefly an attack on M. Pineau and his thesis, but presents no new material nor cogent arguments. M. Hauser complains of the prevailing ignorance of the early editions, apparently unaware that four of the earliest are to be found in the Bibliothèque Nationale, nor that the one edition he found there is almost certainly of 1612. The note on editions below, and the comparison of texts will answer many of his questions.
L. Geiger in Vierteljahrsschrif t für Kultur und Litteratur der Renaissance, I, 1886, pp. 2–48.
Cf. J. C. Brunet: Manuel du Libraire, 1860–65; Thion’s edition of the Iulius (ed. 25).
D. F. Strauss: Ulrich von Hutten, his life and times, trans. by G. Sturge, 1874, p. 53.
Cf. Böcking, III, 207 ff.
Cf. IE 1041–2.
„Cupio quam maxime, diuites esse Pontifices, sed Euangelico margarito, sed coelestibus opibus.... Volo quam munitissimos esse, sed armis Apostolicis; nempe, scuto fidei, lorica iustitiae, gladio salutis, quod est verbum Dei. Volo bellacissimos esse, sed aduersus veros illos Ecclesiae hostes, simoniam, superbiam, libidinem, ambitionem, iracundiam, impietatem.” Sileni Alcibiadis, LB, II, 778, B.
See the discussion of the doctrine of the Iulius in Pineau: Érasme et la Papauté, p. 29 ff.
„Ist es doch einer der schönsten Ruhmestitel Julius’ II, dass er in der Kunst wie in der Politik die allgemeinen Interessen der Kirche und des Staates stets den persönlichen vorgezogen hat.” Pastor, III, 917; „Julius II stands high above Alexander VI because his policy was disinterested and intelligible. Men could forgive much to a Pope who fought for the Church. ...” M. Creighton: A History of the Papacy during the Period of the Reformation, 1882–94, IV, 168.
Cf. J. Klaczko: Rome and the Renaissance, 1903; Creighton, IV, 169 ff; Pastor, III, 869–1041.
Cf. N. Macchiavelli: Il Principe, 11.
L. Madelin: „Le Journal d’un habitant Français de Rome,” in Mélanges d’Arrchéologie et d’Histoire, XXII, 1902, p. 266.
Böcking, III, 260 ff.
C. Guasti: Le Rime di Michelangelo Buonarroti, 1863, p. 157; cf. Klaczko, p. 52.
Cf. Pasquillorum Tomi Duo, Basle, 1544, I, 91 ff; M. Lafond: Pasquino et Marforio, 1877, p. 33 ff. For other epigrams on Julius, see M. Brosch: Papst Julius II, 1878, p. 298 f.
M. Sanuto: Diarii, 1879–1903, IX, 567f.
Ep. 532, 23–6.
Epp. 849, 31–7; 852, 50–3.
„Mitto ad te libellum de obitu Iulii M.Φ., quem tu dudum arbitratus es paucissimis visum, Amorbacchio scilicet et amiculis Erasmi aliquot, sed res iam tota, vt vides, in aperto est.” Brief w echsel der Brüder Ambrosius und Thomas Blaurer, ed. by T. Schiess, 1908–12, Ep. 20.
Basle MSS. C. VI.a.73.fo.92; fo. 367 v°. ; G. II. 14. fo. 63.
To Scheurl, 20 Feb. 1519, Enders, Ep. 155; cf. P. Smith: Luther’s Correspondence, 1913–18, I, 165.
Cf. Luthers Tischreden, Weimar, IV, no. 4902; cf. Smith, p. 128.
Cf. P. Smith: The Life and Letters of Martin Luther, 1914, p. 79.
It is twice mentioned in an Index librorum prohibitorum published by Clement VIII, and apparently consisting of a reëdition of former lists published by Pius IV and Sixtus V. Opere di F. Paolo Sarpi, 1763, IV, 431 ff.
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Ferguson, W.K. (1933). Dialogvs, Ivlivs Exclvsvs e Coelis. In: Erasmi Opuscula. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-6218-2_6
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