Erasmus from Rotterdam (“Prince of the Humanists”) was born in the 1460s in Rotterdam and died in 1536 in Basel, Switzerland. He was a Dutch polymath and the most famous and influential humanist of the modern era. (Humanists was a term for various, partly contradictory intellectual movements of the Renaissance. They had an optimistic view of humanity’s ability to find a better form of existence.)
As a critical thinker of his time Erasmus was one of the companions of the European Enlightenment. (His impact reaches back to the present day). He was also a priest, theologian, philosopher, philologist, author and editor of over 150 books and 3000 letters. He wrote about 1000 words every day. Due to his fine way of expressing himself, his letters were held in high esteem in Europe. He also wrote poetry and satire, his best-known work is the satire “In Praise of Folly” from 1509, in which he advocated a rational outlook with mockery, seriousness and irony.
His most important contribution to church reform was the production of a revised text of the New Testament in Greek and Latin. He saw himself as a facilitator of education. “People are not born as human beings, but educated as such”. Also he was responsible for the pronunciation common in western countries today, especially the emphasis on ancient Greek.
For Erasmus, it was important that the different Christian faiths get along, because they agreed on the basic beliefs. But he not only wanted to achieve acceptance between the Christian denominations, he also tried to improve tolerance between Jews, Christians and Muslims.
One of his most revolutionary attempted changes was women’s education. He wanted girls to have the same education as boys. He hoped that women could contribute to a Europe oriented towards humanistic values, also through study.