Erasmus of Rotterdam was a Dutch philosopher, humanist, and theologian born in 1466 in Rotterdam and died in 1536 in Basel. He studied philology and theology and was an important author who wrote in Latin and travelled extensively. Some of his most notable works included The Manual of the Christian Knight in 1503, In Praise of Folly in 1511, and On Free Will in 1526. He was an important figure of the Renaissance period who advocated for reform of the Catholic Church and greater morality of the clergy through more personal and intimate religious practices.

1. Erasmus de
Rotterdam

2. Who was him?
Erasmo de Rotterdam was born on the
28th October of 1466 in Rotterdam. He
died in the year 1536 in Basilea
His full name was Geert Geertsen.
He was Dutch.
He was an important humanist (vision
of the world is focused on the human
being) and philosopher (a movement
that tries to answer questions without
having a scientific answer.)

3. Who was him?
He studied philology (discipline that
studies the structure and the
evolution of a language for
interpretation) and theology
(discipline that examines the
doctrine about god)
-He was the author of important
works written in Latin.
-He travelled a lot.

4. Literary begginings
- His popularity and the appearance of the
Lutheranism, starts to have many conflicts
because of its ambiguous attitude towards the
arguments between the Orthodox and
Reformers.
- He started writing because he considered that
if someone doesn’t write well, is always wrong
expressing himself or transmiting a message.

5. Some of his works
Manual del
caballero cristiano
(1503)
Elogio de
la locura
(1511)

6. Some of his works
Escritos
(1516)
Sobre el
libre
albedrío
(1526)

7. Why was he important?
He was important because he defended the need
to increase the morality of the clergy and
pleaded for an intimate and personal
religiousness. He was a great promoter of
historical and phisiological studies.

8. Why was he important?
- He was considered the representative of the
humanist thinking during the Renaissance.
-He was looking to reform the church and
society in terms of searching the cultural
progress of mankind.

9. Curiosities
-He was a very honored man, there is even a
University with his name.

10. Curiosities
-In 1543 his books
were prohibited and
publicly burnt by
order of the Church.
Text of
Erasmus
appraised
by the
Inquisition.

11. Phrases
“Prevention is better than cure”
(Más vale prevenir que curar.)
"He has one foot in the grave."
(Tiene un pie en la tumba)
"Having eyes in the nape of the neck".
(Tener ojos en la nuca)