Desiderius Erasmus was born in Rotterdam in 1467, the natural son of a priest. At the age of 18, he professed at the monastery of the Canons Regular of Saint Augustine. However, he did not adapt to monastic life and, thanks to the Bishop of Cambrai, he obtained a scholarship to study theology at the University of Paris. From then on, Erasmus began a truly autonomous path, without depending on institutions or patrons. He traveled around Europe, corresponded with the main philosophers and theologians of the time, such as Thomas Moore and Martin Luther, and developed his own thinking, based on knowledge of the classics and scriptures, and based on the ideas of concord and tolerance.
His stay in Italy and his contact with the Roman curia motivated him to write “The Praise of Madness”, a satire that finds, with erudition, bitterness and realism, that stupidity tends to prevail over common sense.
Until his death in 1536, Erasmus, who never broke with Catholicism, remained equidistant in the conflict between the Roman Curia and Martin Luther, which earned him criticism and misunderstanding on both sides. However, Erasmus sought to build bridges between Catholics and Lutherans. In his house, there was always room for students and humanists, and for free and tolerant debates. He died in 1536 in Basel, a city that had joined the Protestant Reformation. Shortly before he died, he published “The Kind Concord of the Churches”, a last attempt to reconcile Catholics and Protestants.
A relaxed dialogue around History, its greatest characters and events. ‘History repeats itself’ is not a class, but it aims to arouse curiosity about the past and build bridges with the present. Every week Henrique Monteiro and Lourenço Pereira Coutinho start from a point that can lead to many others… That’s what good conversations are like. Listen to other episodes here:
Source: expresso.pt
