The letters in this volume reflect Erasmus’ anxiety about the endemic warfare in Western Europe, the advance of the Ottoman Turks into Europe, and the increasing threat of armed conflict between Catholics and Protestants in Germany. Unable and unwilling to attend the Diet of Augsburg (June–November 1530), summoned by Emperor Charles V in the attempt to mediate a religious settlement, Erasmus corresponded with those in attendance, urging them (in vain) to preserve peace at all costs. The letters also shed light on Erasmus’ controversies with Catholic critics (Luis de Carvajal and Frans Titelmans) who accused him of Lutheran sympathies, and former friends among the Protestant reformers (Gerard Geldenhouwer and others in Strasbourg), who embarrassed him by citing him in support of their views. Because of a mysterious and debilitating illness (identified in an appendix to the volume) the twelve months covered were less productive of scholarship than was usual for Erasmus, but it did see the publication of the five-volume Froben edition of St. John Chrysostom in Latin. Volume 16 of the Collected Works of Erasmus series.

The letters in this volume reflect Erasmus' anxiety about the endemic warfare in Western Europe, the advance of the Ottoman Turks into Europe, and the increasing threat of armed conflict between Catholics and Protestants in Germany. Unable and unwilling to attend the Diet of Augsburg (June-November 1530), summoned by Emperor Charles V in the attempt to mediate a religious settlement, Erasmus corresponded with those in attendance, urging them (in vain) to preserve peace at all costs. The letters also shed light on Erasmus' controversies with Catholic critics (Luis de Carvajal and Frans Titelmans) who accused him of Lutheran sympathies, and former friends among the Protestant reformers (Gerard Geldenhouwer and others in Strasbourg), who embarrassed him by citing him in support of their views. Because of a mysterious and debilitating illness (identified in an appendix to the volume) the twelve months covered were less productive of scholarship than was usual for Erasmus, but it did see the publication of the five-volume Froben edition of St. John Chrysostom in Latin. Volume 16 of the Collected Works of Erasmus series.

Late at night, Robert goes to the circus and finds a fabulous balloon machine, with which he creates unusual balloons.

This volume covers a number of significant events and issues in Erasmus' life and in the history of his times. He travels on horseback from Louvain to Basel to assist his publisher and friend Johann Froben during the crucial phases in the production of his revised New Testament, the edition that he feels will be his lasting contribution to the scholarly foundations of the Christian faith. Once it is in the hands of the public he feels he will be able to face the approach of old age more calmly. On the return journey to Louvain he falls gravely ill from what is diagnosed as bubonic plague, but recovers in a month and convalesces in the home of another publisher-friend, Dirk Martens. International politics continue to capture his attention. Requests for funds in support of a papal crusade against the Turks arouse the flames of German national sentiment. With the death of Maximilian I, friends of Erasmus such as Richard Pace, Ulrich von Hutten, and Guillaume Budé are involved in diplomatic negotiations concerning the imperial succession. When Prince Ferdinand arrives from Spain and requires a tutor, the question of Eramus' own return to active court duties is raised. After the appearance of Luther's Ninety-five Theses on indulgences, purgatory, and papal authority, the question arises among conservatives whether Erasmus' work too is a threat to the traditional ways of the church and society. For the time being, Erasmus is prepared to commend Luther and defend the latter's right to be critical of the church. Erasmus' overriding conviction at this point is that he and Luther are both part of the great intellectual and spiritual renewal that is taking place in so many parts of Europe. As Luther's appearance lends a new kind if spiritual and patriotic vigour to German humanism, the cult of Erasmus–Erasmus the fellow German–becomes an integral part of that new enthusiasm, with Saxony and its elector, Frederick the Wise, at its center.

Many of the letters in this volume, which covers the period August 1530 to March 1531, reflect Erasmus' anxieties over events at the Diet of Augsburg (June-November 1530), at which the first of many attempts to achieve a negotiated settlement of the religious division in Germany came to a rancorous conclusion, thus fostering the fear that religious controversy would eventually lead to war. His other chief concerns were the continued attacks on him by Catholic critics who regarded him as a clandestine Lutheran, and the insistence of many evangelical reformers that he was their spiritual father. The literary output of the period covered includes major works aimed at members of both groups. Volume 17 of the Collected Works of Erasmus series.

In the letters 1523-4, Erasmus' mounting anger at the authors of these attacks goes hand in hand with his slowly formed decision to publish a book against Luther on free will.

This volume contains the surviving correspondence of Erasmus for the first seven months of 1529. For nearly eight years he had lived happily and productively in Basel. In the winter of 1528-9, however, the Swiss version of the Lutheran Reformation triumphed in the city, destroying the liberal-reformist atmosphere Erasmus had found so congenial. Unwilling to live in a place where Catholic doctrine and practice were officially proscribed, Erasmus resettled in the quiet, reliably Catholic university town of Freiburg im Breisgau, Despite the turmoil of moving, Erasmus managed to complete the new Froben editions of Seneca and St Augustine, both monumental projects that had been underway for years. He also found time to engage in controversy with his conservative Catholic critics, as well as to write a long letter lamenting the execution for heresy of his friend Louis de Berquin at Paris. Volume 15 of the Collected Works of Erasmus series.