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THE OXFORD REFORMERS:JOHN COLET, ERASMUS, AND THOMAS MORE.
THE OXFORD REFORMERS:JOHN COLET, ERASMUS, AND THOMAS MORE.
By the same Author. THE ENGLISH VILLAGE COMMUNITY Examined in its Relations to the Manorial and Tribal Systems, &c. With 13 Maps and Plates. 8vo. 16 s. THE TRIBAL SYSTEM IN WALES: Being Part of an Inquiry into the Structure and Methods of Tribal Society. With 3 Maps. 8vo. 12 s. THE ERA OF THE PROTESTANT REVOLUTION ( Epochs of Modern History ). With 4 Maps and 12 Diagrams. Fcp. 8vo. 2 s. 6 d. LONGMANS, GREEN, & CO. London, New York, and Bombay. THE OXFORD REFORMERS JOHN COLET, E
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PREFACE TO THE THIRD EDITION.
PREFACE TO THE THIRD EDITION.
Since this book was written, years ago, the works of Dean Colet have one after another been placed within reach of the public, ably edited by my friend Mr. Lupton, and now I understand that a biography by the same competent hand is also in the press. Under these circumstances I have had some hesitation in allowing a Third Edition to be printed. I have yielded, however, to Mr. Lupton’s pleading that this history of the fellow-work of the three friends, imperfect as it always was, and antiquated a
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PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION.
PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION.
Two circumstances have enabled me to make this Second Edition more complete, and I trust more correct, than its predecessor. First: the remarkable discovery by Mr. W. Aldis Wright, on the blank leaves of a MS. in the library of Trinity College, Cambridge, of an apparently contemporary family register recording, inter alia , the date of the marriage of Sir Thomas More’s parents, and of the birth of Sir Thomas More himself (see Appendix C), has given the clue, so long sought for in vain, to the ch
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PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION.
PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION.
Some portions of this History were published in a somewhat condensed form in the course of last year in the ‘Fortnightly Review,’ and I have to thank the Editor for the permission to withdraw further portions, although already in type, in order that the publication of this volume might not be delayed. [2] Having regard to the extreme inaccuracy of the dates of the letters of Erasmus, [3] the conflicting nature of the evidence relating to the chronology of More’s early life, [4] and the scantines
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CHAPTER I.
CHAPTER I.
I. JOHN COLET RETURNS FROM ITALY TO OXFORD (1496). It was probably in Michaelmas Term of 1496 [6] that the announcement was made to doctors and students of the University of Oxford that John Colet, a late student, recently returned from Italy, was about to deliver a course of public and gratuitous lectures in exposition of St. Paul’s Epistles. This was an event of no small significance and perhaps of novelty in the closing years of that last of the Middle Ages; not only because the Scriptures fo
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CHAPTER II.
CHAPTER II.
I. COLET’S LECTURES ON ST. PAUL’S EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS (1496-7?). To appreciate the full significance of Colet’s lectures, it is needful to bear in mind what was the current opinion of the scholastic divines of the period concerning the Scriptures, and what the practical mode of exposition pursued by them at the Universities. The scholastic divines, holding to a traditional belief in the plenary and verbal inspiration of the whole Bible, and remorselessly pursuing this belief to its logical res
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CHAPTER III.
CHAPTER III.
I. ERASMUS COMES TO OXFORD (1498). In the spring or summer of 1498, the foreign scholar—Erasmus of Rotterdam—arrived at Oxford, brought over to England by Lord Mountjoy from Paris. [181] Erasmus was an entire stranger in England; he did not know a word of English, but was at once most hospitably received into the College of St. Mary the Virgin, by the prior Richard Charnock. Colet had indeed, as already mentioned, heard Erasmus spoken of at Paris as a learned scholar, [182] but as yet no work of
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CHAPTER IV.
CHAPTER IV.
I. COLET MADE DOCTOR AND DEAN OF ST. PAUL’S (1500-5.) Colet, left alone to pursue the even tenor of his way at Oxford, worked steadily at his post. It mattered little to him that for years he toiled on without any official recognition on the part of the University authorities of the value of his work. What if a Doctor’s degree had never during these years been conferred upon him? The want of it had never stopped his teaching. Its possession would have been to him no triumph. That young theologic
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CHAPTER V.
CHAPTER V.
I. SECOND VISIT OF ERASMUS TO ENGLAND (1505-6). Towards the close of 1505, Erasmus arrived in England, to renew his intimacy with his English friends. [310] He had not this time to visit Oxford in order to meet them. Colet, Grocyn, Linacre, More, and his friend Lilly, all were ready to receive him with open arms in London. He seems, for a time at least, to have been More’s guest. [311] Since Erasmus had last seen him, the youth had matured into the man. He had passed through much discipline and
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CHAPTER VI.
CHAPTER VI.
I. COLET FOUNDS ST. PAUL’S SCHOOL (1510). Fully as Colet joined his friends in rejoicing at the accession to the throne of a king known to be favourable to himself and his party, he had drunk by far too deeply of the spirit of self-sacrifice to admit of his rejoicing with a mere courtier’s joy. Fortune had indeed been lavish to him. His elevation unasked to the dignity of Doctor and Dean; the popular success of his preaching; the accession of a friendly king, from whom probably further promotion
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CHAPTER VII.
CHAPTER VII.
I. CONVOCATION FOR THE EXTIRPATION OF HERESY (1512). Colet’s labours in connection with his school did not interfere with his ordinary duties. He was still, Sunday after Sunday, preaching those courses of sermons on ‘the Gospels, the Apostles’ Creed, and the Lord’s Prayer,’ which attracted by their novelty and unwonted earnestness so many listeners. The Dean was no Lollard himself, yet those whose leanings were toward Lollard views naturally found, in Colet’s simple Scripture teaching from his p
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CHAPTER VIII.
CHAPTER VIII.
I. COLET PREACHES AGAINST THE CONTINENTAL WARS—THE FIRST CAMPAIGN (1512-13). If Colet returned to his pulpit after a narrow escape of being burned for heresy, it was to continue to do his duty, and not to preach in future only such sermons as might escape the censure of his bishop. His honesty and boldness were soon again put to the test. It was in the summer of 1512 that Henry VIII. for the first time mingled the blood of English soldiers in those Continental wars which now for some years becam
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CHAPTER IX.
CHAPTER IX.
I. ERASMUS LEAVES CAMBRIDGE, AND MEDITATES LEAVING ENGLAND (1513-14). During the autumn of 1513 Erasmus made up his mind to leave Cambridge. He had come to England on the accession of Henry VIII. with full purpose to make it his permanent home. [456] That his friends would try to bring this about had been his last entreaty on leaving England for his visit to Italy. They had done their best for him. They had found all who cared for the advance of learning anxious to secure the residence of so gre
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CHAPTER X.
CHAPTER X.
I. ERASMUS GOES TO BASLE TO PRINT HIS NEW TESTAMENT (1514). It was on a July morning in the year 1514 that Erasmus again crossed the Channel. The wind was fair, the sea calm, the sky bright and sunny; but during the easy passage Erasmus had a heavy heart. He had once more left his English friends behind him, bent upon a solitary pilgrimage to Basle, in order that his edition of the letters of St. Jerome and his Greek New Testament might be printed at the press of Froben the printer. But, always
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CHAPTER XI.
CHAPTER XI.
THE ‘NOVUM INSTRUMENTUM’ COMPLETED.—WHAT IT REALLY WAS (1516). The New Testament of Erasmus ought not to be regarded by any means as a mere reproduction of the Greek text, or criticised even chiefly as such. The labour which falls to the lot of a pioneer in such a work, the multiplied chances of error in the collation by a single hand, and that of a novice in the art of deciphering difficult manuscripts, the want of experience on the part of the printers in the use of Greek type, the inadequate
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CHAPTER XII.
CHAPTER XII.
I. MORE IMMERSED IN PUBLIC BUSINESS (1515). While the work of Erasmus had for some years past lain chiefly in the direction of laborious literary study, it had been far otherwise with More. His lines had fallen among the busy scenes and cares of practical life. His capacity for public business, and the diligence and impartiality with which he had now for some years discharged his judicial duties as under-sheriff, had given him a position of great popularity and influence in the city. He had been
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CHAPTER XIII.
CHAPTER XIII.
I. WHAT COLET THOUGHT OF THE ‘NOVUM INSTRUMENTUM’ (1516). Having traced the progress and final publication of these works by Erasmus and More, the enquiry suggests itself, how were they received? And first it may naturally be asked, What did Colet think of them, especially of the ‘Novum Instrumentum’? An early copy had doubtless been sent to him, and with the volume itself, it would seem, came a letter from Erasmus, probably from Antwerp, by the hand of Peter Meghen—‘Unoculus,’ as his friends ca
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CHAPTER XIV.
CHAPTER XIV.
I. THE SALE OF INDULGENCES (1517-18). While Erasmus in 1517 was hard at work at the revision of his New Testament, publishing the first instalment of his Paraphrases, [652] recommending the ‘Utopia’ and the ‘Christian Prince’ to the perusal of princes and their courtiers, [653] expressing to his friends at the Papal Court his trust that under Leo X. Rome herself might become the centre of peace and religion, [654] —while Erasmus was thus working on hopefully, preparing the way, as he thought, fo
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CHAPTER XV.
CHAPTER XV.
I. ERASMUS ARRIVES AT BASLE—HIS LABOURS THERE (1518). Erasmus arrived at Basle on Ascension Day, May 13, 1518. [686] But though he had escaped the robbers, and survived the toils of the journey, he reached Basle in a state of health so susceptible of infection, that, in the course of a day or two, he found himself laid up with that very disease which he had mentioned in his letter to Colet as prevalent at Basle, and as one great reason why he had shrunk from going there. [687] But even an attack
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CHAPTER XVI.
CHAPTER XVI.
I. ERASMUS DOES NOT DIE (1518). The monks of Cologne were disappointed. Erasmus did not die. His illness turned out not to be the plague. After four weeks’ nursing at the good printer’s house, he was well enough to be removed to his own lodgings within the precincts of the college. Thence he wrote to Beatus Rhenanus in these words:— Erasmus to Beatus Rhenanus. [718] · · · · · · · · · · ‘My dear Beatus,—Who would have believed that this frail delicate body, now weaker from increasing age, after t
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APPENDIX A.
APPENDIX A.
EXTRACTS FROM MS. Gg. 4, 26, IN THE CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY, TRANSLATIONS OF WHICH ARE GIVEN AT PAGES 37, 38 OF THIS WORK. Fol. 4 b. ‘Quapropter concludit Paulus justificatos ex fide, et soli deo confidentes per Jesum reconciliatos esse deo, restitutosque ad gratiam; ut apud deum stent et maneant ipsi filii dei, et filiorum dei certam gloriam expectent. Pro qua adipiscenda interim ferenda sunt omnia patienter: ut firmitas spei declaretur. Quæ quidem non falletur. Siquidem ex dei amore et gr
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APPENDIX B.
APPENDIX B.
EXTRACTS FROM MS. ON I. CORINTHIANS. EMMANUEL COLLEGE MS. 3. 3. 12. ( a ) ‘Deus autem ipse animi instar totus in toto est, et totus in qualibet parte: verumtamen non omnes partes similiter deificat (dei enim animare deificare est), sed varie, videlicet, ut convenit ad constructionem ejus, quod est in eo unum, ex pluribus. Hoc compositum eciam ex deo et hominibus, modo templum dei, modo ecclesia, modo domus, modo civitas, modo regnum, a dei prophetis appellatur.... In quo quum Corinthei erant, ut
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APPENDIX C.
APPENDIX C.
ON THE DATE OF MORE’S BIRTH. The following correspondence in ‘Notes and Queries’ (Oct. 1868) may be considered, I think, to set at rest the date of Sir Thomas More’s birth. No. 1 (Oct. 17, 1868). ‘Some months ago I found the following entries, relating to a family of the name of More, on two blank leaves of a MS. in the Gale collection, in the library of Trinity College, Cambridge. The class mark of the volume is “O. 2. 21.” Its contents are very miscellaneous. Among other things is a copy of th
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APPENDIX E.
APPENDIX E.
CATALOGUE OF EARLY EDITIONS OF THE WORKS OF ERASMUS IN MY POSSESSION. A.D. 1506. D. Erasmi &c. Adagiorum Collectanea, Rursus ab eodem recognita atque aucta ... [also] Erasmi varia epigrammata. In ædibus Joannis Barbier xviii. Martij M.DVI. 1506. D. Erasmi &c. Adagiorum Collectanea, Rursus ab eodem recognita atque aucta ... [but without the epigrams]. Ex ædibus Ascensianis pridie natalis dominici M.DVI. 1508. Erasmi Rot. Adagiorum chiliades tres, ac centuriæ fere todidem. Venetiis
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APPENDIX F.
APPENDIX F.
EDITIONS OF WORKS OF SIR THOMAS MORE IN MY POSSESSION. A.D. 1516. (Dec.) Utopia (First edition).—‘Libellus vere aureus nec minus salutaris quam festivus de optimo reip. statu, deque nova Insula Vtopia authore clarissimo viro Thoma Moro inclytæ Civitatis Londinensis cive et Vicecomite, cura M. Petri Aegidii Antuerpiensis, et arte Theodorici Martini Alustensis, Typographi almæ Louaniensium Academiæ, nunc primum accuratissime editus.’ Without date, but containing a Prefatory Letter from Petrus Aegi
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