, one of the most illustrious of the revivers of learning, was born
, one of the most illustrious of
the revivers of learning, was born at Rotterdam, October
28, 1467. His father Gerard, who was of Tergou, in that
neighbourhood, fell in love with Margaret, the daughter
of one Peter, a physician of Sevenbergen; and after promises of marriage, as Erasmus himself suggests, connected
himself with her, though the nuptial ceremonies were not
performed. From this intercourse Gerard had a son, whom
Erasmus calls Anthony, in a letter to Lambert Grunnius,
secretary to pope Julius II. and whose death, in another letter
he tells us, he bore better than he did the death of his friend
Frobenius. About two years after, Margaret proved with
child again; and then Gerard’s father and brethren (for he was the youngest of ten children) beginning to be uneasy at this attachment, resolved to make him an ecclesiastic. Gerard, aware of this, secretly withdrew into Italy,
and went to Rome; he left, however, a letter behind him,
in which he bade his relations a final farewell; and assured
them that they should never see his face more while they
continued in those resolutions. At Rome he maintained
himself decently by transcribing ancient authors, which,
printing being not yet commonly used, was no unprofitable
employment. In the mean time, Margaret, far advanced
in her pregnancy, was conveyed to Rotterdam to lie in,
privately; and was there delivered of Erasmus. He took
his name from this city, and always called himself Roterodamus, though, as Dr. Jortin, the writer of his life, intimates, he should rather have said Roterodamius, or Roterodamensis. The city, however, was not in the least
offended at the inaccuracy, but made proper returns of
gratitude to a name by which she was so much ennobled;
and perpetuated her acknowledgments by inscriptions,
and medals, and by a statue erected and placed at first
near the principal church, but afterwards removed to a
Station on one of the bridges.
Gerard’s relations, long ignorant what was become of
him, at last discovered that he was at Rome and now resolved to attempt by stratagem what they could not effect
by solicitation and importunity. They sent him word,
therefore, that his beloved Margaret was dead; and he
lamented the supposed misfortune with such extremity of
grief, as to determine to leave the world, and become a
priest. And even when upon his return to Tergou, which
happened soon after, he found Margaret alive, he adhered
to his ecclesiastical engagements; and though he always
retained the tenderest affection for her, never more lived
with her in any other manner than what was allowable by
the laws of his profession. She also observed on her part
the strictest celibacy ever after. During the absence of
his father, Erasmus was under the care and management
of his grandmother, Gerard’s mother, Catharine. He was
called Gerard, after his father, and afterwards took the
name of Desiderius, which in Latin, and the surname of
Erasmus, which in Greek, signify much the same as Gerard
among the Hollanders, that is, “amabilis,
” or amiable.
Afterwards he was sensible that he should in grammatical
propriety have called himself Erasmius, and in fact, he
gave this name to his godson, Joannes Erasmius Frobenius.
As soon as Gerard was settled in his own country again,
he applied himself with all imaginable care to the education of Erasmus, whom he was determined to bring up to
letters, though in low repute at that time, because he discovered in him early a very uncommon capacity. There
prevails indeed a notion in Holland, that Erasmus was at
first of so heavy and sl9w an understanding, that it was
many years before they could make him learn any thing;
and this, they think, appears from a passage in the life
written by himself, where he says, that “in his first years
he made but little progress in those unpleasant studies, for
which he was not born; in literis ill is inamoenis, quibus
non natus erat.
” When he was nine years old, he was
sent to Dav enter, in Guelderland, at that time one of the
best schools in the Netherlands, and the most free from
the barbarism of the age; and here his parts very soon
shone 'out. He apprehended in an instant whatever was
taught him, and retained it so perfectly, that he infinitely
surpassed all his companions. Rhenanus tells us that Zinthius, one of the best masters in the college of Daventer,
was so well satisfied with Erasmus’s progress, and so
thoroughly convinced of his great abilities, as to have foretold
what afterwards came to pa>s, that “he would some time
prove the envy and wonder of all Germany.
” His memory
is said to have b~?en so prodigious, that he was able to repeat all Terence and Horace by heart. We must nojt
forget to observe, that pope Adrian VI. was his schoolfellow, and ever after his friend, and the encourager of his
studies.