A Quantitative Study of the Paratexts in Erasmus-Froben Imprints

We study the paratexts in Erasmus’ imprints with Johann then Hieronymus Froben of Basel between 1514 and 1536. From Valentina Sebastiani’s bibliography of Johann Froben we observe that Erasmus was a more abundant paratexter than other authors who published with Johann Froben. We supplement that work with a bibliography of Erasmus’ imprints with Hieronymus Froben. We note trends across the Erasmus-Froben corpus, including: a remarkable number of imprints, equally balanced between new editions and re-editions, abundant dedications without correlation to format, indexes in folio volumes especially, a growing attention to errata lists over time. These patterns shed light on one author-printer partnership but also on more general trends in learned publishing in the early 16th century.

Portraying Friendship by the Book

This article responds to the philosopher Alexander Nehamas’ argument that “no gesture, look, or bodily disposition, no attitude, feeling, or emotion, no action and no situation is associated with friendship firmly enough to make its representation a matter for the eye.” The article proposes a “humanist exception” to Nehamas’ general rule. Building on Lorna Hutson’s argument that humanism “textualized” friendship, I contend that in the early modern period scholars and artists associated with humanism were engaged in the development of a set of recognizable signs of friendship connected to the distinctive humanist culture of the book and associated activities of reading, writing, and circulating texts. The article offers a case study of Quentin Metsys’ diptych of Erasmus and Pieter Gillis (1517) and then applies the lessons gleaned from that work to a picture that Nehamas cites as evidence of his claim, Jacopo Pontormo’s Two Men with a Passage from Cicero’s “On Friendship” (ca. 1522). Both pictures, I contend, not only depict friendship but also promote humanist ideals of friendship to the viewer.

Theologians and Their Bellies

An analysis of the role and meaning of the epithet “theologaster,” coined by Erasmus of Rotterdam in his letter from Paris in 1497, can reward us with insights into the interplay of Reformation, scholastic, and humanist forces in the sixteenth century. Although Erasmus rarely used the term in his later correspondence or in his works, the epithet gained some popularity among the humanists and the reformers. During the confessional debates, both sides, the Catholics and the Protestants in the Holy Roman Empire and in France, reached for this same epithet as an argument and a weapon with which to demonstrate the incompetence of their opponents. The term, however, can rarely be found in the confessional polemics in Poland, despite the enormous popularity of Erasmus in the region. The history of the epithet sheds light on the importance of the humanist legacy for the confessional era.

Heresy and Humanity

Something new is afoot in Erasmus’ thinking about heresy and heretics. This essay explores some fundamental shifts in the way Erasmus understands religious life that serve to alter how heresy is conceived and heretics are to be handled—including a change in emphasis from doctrine to ethics for the sake of human flourishing; an embrace of fallibility in lieu of certitude to make way for fruitful conversation between adversaries; a surprisingly strong appreciation of the historicity of everything ecclesial; and too a cautious yet ultimately ironic concession for public authorities to use force in the persecution of heretics. With these underlying moves, Erasmus’ thinking about heresy represents a significant overture to a modern and pluralistic policy toward difference and dissidence framed by a humanistic ethic retrieved from biblical sources. In the end, Erasmus leaves no room for the persecution of those deemed heretics.

Erasmus’ Uncollected Adages

Erasmus numbered 4151 adages in his last and largest Adagiorum Chiliades (1536). More adages appear in his Prolegomena (e.g., “light as a feather,” “bright as the sun”) and hundreds more are cited in his commentaries and dedicatory epistles (e.g., “Time shows who truly loves,” “Never think friendly what is said by foe”). All his life Erasmus liberally seasoned his writings with adages, almost all of which were gathered in the final Chiliades. But there are adages in his correspondence and Opera Omnia not in his great collection, and there are adages dropped from one edition to another. A search for uncollected adages and comparison of these with adages later deleted offer evidence of Erasmus’ effort and of his criteria for gathering and selection.