Erasmus and the Age of Reformation

Desiderius Erasmus (ca. 1466-1536), the illegitimate child of a Rotterdam priest and a physician's daughter, grew up to become the greatest figure in the northern Renaissance and one of the most celebrated men in Europe-a scholar of such vast learning, sacred and secular, that both royalty and universities petitioned for his services. In this painstakingly researched and well-written biography, a noted scholar traces the life and works of Erasmus from the depths of monastic obscurity to his...