The Oxford Reformers: John Colet, Erasmus, and Thomas More

‘Tu interea patienter audi; ac nos ambo, collidentibus inter se silicibus, si quis ignis excutiatur, eum avide apprehendamus. Veritatem enim quærimus, non opinionis offensionem....’ (Colet, Eras. Op. v. p. 1292).

‘Take no heed what thing many men do, but what thing the very law of nature, what thing very reason, what thing Our Lord himself showeth thee to be done’ (Pico della Mirandola, translated by More: More’s English Works, p. 13).

‘Cur sic arctamus Christi professionem quam Ille latissime volnit patere?’ (Erasmus, Letter to Volzius, prefixed to the ‘Enchiridion’).

REPRINTED FROM THE THIRD EDITION.

LONGMANS, GREEN, AND CO. LONDON, NEW YORK, AND BOMBAY. 1896.

All rights reserved.

PREFACE TO THE THIRD EDITION.

Since this book was written, years ago, the works of Dean Colet have one after another been placed within reach of the public, ably edited by my friend Mr. Lupton, and now I understand that a biography by the same competent hand is also in the press.

Under these circumstances I have had some hesitation in allowing a Third Edition to be printed. I have yielded, however, to Mr. Lupton’s pleading that this history of the fellow-work of the three friends, imperfect as it always was, and antiquated as it has now become, may live a little longer.

F. S.

THE HERMITAGE, HITCHIN: March 8, 1887.

PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION.

Two circumstances have enabled me to make this Second Edition more complete, and I trust more correct, than its predecessor.

First: the remarkable discovery by Mr. W. Aldis Wright, on the blank leaves of a MS. in the library of Trinity College, Cambridge, of an apparently contemporary family register recording, inter alia, the date of the marriage of Sir Thomas More’s parents, and of the birth of Sir Thomas More himself (see Appendix C), has given the clue, so long sought for in vain, to the chronology of More’s early life. It has also made it needful to alter slightly the title of this work.

Secondly: the interesting MSS. of Colet’s, on the ‘Hierarchies of Dionysius,’ found by Mr. Lupton in the library of St. Paul’s School, and recently published by him with a translation and valuable introduction,[1] have supplied a missing link in the chain of Colet’s mental history, which has thrown much fresh light, as well upon his connection with the Neo-Platonists of Florence, as upon the position already taken by him at Oxford, before the arrival of Erasmus.

The greater part of the First Edition was already in the hands of the public, when I became aware of the importance of this newly discovered information; but, in October last, I withdrew the remaining copies from sale, as it seemed to me that it would hardly be fair, under the circumstances, to allow them to pass out of my hands. They have since been destroyed.

In publishing this revised and enlarged edition, I wish especially to tender my thanks to Mr. Lupton for his invaluable assistance in its revision, and for the free use he has throughout allowed me to make of the results of his own researches.

I have also to thank the Librarian of Emmanuel College, Cambridge, for the loan of a beautiful copy of Colet’s MS. on ‘I. Corinthians;’ and Mr. Bradshaw, for kindly obtaining for me a transcript of the MS. on ‘Romans’ in the University Library.

At Mr. Bradshaw’s suggestion I have added, in the Appendix, a catalogue of the early editions of the works of Erasmus in my collection. It will at least serve as evidence of the wide circulation obtained by these works during the lifetime of their author.

HITCHIN: May 10, 1869.

PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION.