Desiderius Erasmus
Desiderius Erasmus (1466-1536), Dutch Humanist scholar, the illegitimate son of die priest Rogerius Gerardus. Erasmus himself adopted his Latin-Greek Christian name Desiderius which means ‘beloved’. Ordained in 1492, he found monastic life irksome and spent much of his life travelling and studying. His satirical work The Praise of Folly (1509) was written in England for his friend Sir Thomas More He is known for his Latin correspondence and for his edition of the Greek version of the New Testament (1516).
