JOHN COLET, ERASMUS, AND THOMAS MORE.
_By the same Author._
THE ENGLISH VILLAGE COMMUNITY Examined in its Relations to the Manorial
and Tribal Systems, &c. With 13 Maps and Plates. 8vo. 16_s._
THE TRIBAL SYSTEM IN WALES: Being Part of an Inquiry into the Structure
and Methods of Tribal Society. With 3 Maps. 8vo. 12_s._
THE ERA OF THE PROTESTANT REVOLUTION (_Epochs of Modern History_). With 4
Maps and 12 Diagrams. Fcp. 8vo. 2_s._ 6_d._
LONGMANS, GREEN, & CO.
London, New York, and Bombay.
THE OXFORD REFORMERS
JOHN COLET, ERASMUS, AND THOMAS MORE.
_BEING A HISTORY OF THEIR FELLOW-WORK._
BY FREDERIC SEEBOHM.
‘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.
Some portions of this History were published in a somewhat condensed form
in the course of last year in the ‘Fortnightly Review,’ and I have to
thank the Editor for the permission to withdraw further portions, although
already in type, in order that the publication of this volume might not be
delayed.[2]
Having regard to the extreme inaccuracy of the dates of the letters of
Erasmus,[3] the conflicting nature of the evidence relating to the
chronology of More’s early life,[4] and the scantiness of the materials
for anything like a continuous biography of Colet, I should have
undertaken a difficult task had I attempted in this volume, even so far as
it goes, to give anything approaching to an exhaustive biography of Colet,
Erasmus, and More. But my object has not been to write the biography of
any one of them. I have rather endeavoured to trace their _joint_-history
and to point out the character of their _fellow-work_. And with regard to
the latter the evidence is so full, so various, and so consistent as to
leave, I think, little room for misapprehension, either as to whether
their work was indeed _fellow-work_, or as to the general spirit and scope
of the work itself.
I gladly take this opportunity of tendering my best thanks to those who
have aided me in this undertaking.
My warmest thanks are due to the Rev. J. S. Brewer, M.A., as well for the
invaluable aid afforded by his Calendars of the Letters, &c. of Henry
VIII., and for the loan of the proof-sheets of the forthcoming volume, as
for _the revision of the greater part of my translations_; also to Mr.
Gairdner for his ever ready assistance at the Public Record Office; to Dr.
Edward Boehmer, of the University of Halle, for his aid in the collection
of many of the early editions of works of Erasmus quoted in this volume;
to the Senate and the late Librarian of the Cambridge University Library
for the loan of the volume of MSS. marked Gg. 4, 26; and to Mr. Henry
Bradshaw, of King’s College, Cambridge, for much valuable assistance, most
courteously rendered, in the examination of this and other manuscripts at
Cambridge. I have also to thank the Rev. J. H. Lupton, of St. Paul’s
School, for the description given in Appendix C.[5] of a manuscript of
Colet’s in the Library of St. Paul’s School which I had overlooked, and
which I am happy to find is likely soon to be printed by him.
In conclusion, I cannot refrain from adding a tribute of affectionate
regard for the memory of two of my friends--the late Mr. William Tanner of
Bristol, and the late Mr. B. B. Wiffen of Woburn--of whose interest in the
progress of this work I have received many proofs, and of whose kindly
criticism I have gratefully availed myself.
HITCHIN: _March 30, 1867_.
CONTENTS.
PAGE
CHAPTER I.
1. John Colet returns from Italy to Oxford (1496) 1
2. The Rise of the New Learning (1453-92) 5
3. Colet’s previous History (1496) 14
4. Thomas More, another Oxford Student (1492-6) 23
5. Colet first hears of Erasmus (1496) 27
CHAPTER II.
1. Colet’s lectures on St. Paul’s Epistle to the Romans (1496-7?) 29
2. Visit from a Priest during the Winter Vacation (1496-7?) 42
3. Colet on the Mosaic Account of the Creation (1497?) 46
4. Colet studies afresh the Pseudo-Dionysian Writings (1497?) 60
5. Colet lectures on ‘I. Corinthians’ (1497?) 78
6. Grocyn’s Discovery (1498?) 90
CHAPTER III.
1. Erasmus comes to Oxford (1498) 94
2. Table-talk on the Sacrifice of Cain and Abel (1498?) 97
3. Conversation between Colet and Erasmus on the Schoolmen
(1498 or 1499) 102
4. Erasmus falls in love with Thomas More (1498) 113
5. Discussion between Erasmus and Colet on ‘The Agony in the
Garden,’ and on the Inspiration of the Scriptures (1499) 116
6. Correspondence between Colet and Erasmus on the
Intention of Erasmus to leave Oxford (1499-1500) 126
7. Erasmus leaves Oxford and England (1500) 133
CHAPTER IV.
1. Colet made Doctor and Dean of St. Paul’s (1500-5) 137
2. More called to the Bar--In Parliament--Offends Henry
VII.--The Consequences (1500-1504) 142
3. Thomas More in Seclusion from Public Life (1504-5) 146
4. More studies Pico’s Life and Works--His Marriage (1505) 151
5. How it had fared with Erasmus (1500-5) 160
6. The ‘Enchiridion,’ &c. of Erasmus (1501-5) 173
CHAPTER V.
1. Second Visit of Erasmus to England (1505-6) 180
2. Erasmus again leaves England for Italy (1506) 183
3. Erasmus visits Italy and returns to England (1507-10) 186
4. More returns to Public Life on the Accession of Henry VIII.
(1509-10) 189
5. Erasmus writes the ‘Praise of Folly’ while resting at More’s
House (1510 or 1511) 193
CHAPTER VI.
1. Colet founds St. Paul’s School (1510) 206
2. His Choice of Schoolbooks and Schoolmasters (1511) 215
CHAPTER VII.
1. Convocation for the Extirpation of Heresy (1512) 222
2. Colet is charged with Heresy (1512) 249
3. More in trouble again (1512) 255
CHAPTER VIII.
1. Colet preaches against the Continental Wars--The First
Campaign (1512-13) 258
2. Colet’s Sermon to Henry VIII. (1513) 262
3. The Second Campaign of Henry VIII. (1513) 267
4. Erasmus visits the Shrine of our Lady of Walsingham (1513) 273
CHAPTER IX.
1. Erasmus leaves Cambridge, and meditates leaving England
(1513-14) 276
2. Erasmus and the Papal Ambassador (1514) 282
3. Parting Intercourse between Erasmus and Colet (1514) 284
CHAPTER X.
1. Erasmus goes to Basle to print his New Testament (1514) 294
2. Erasmus returns to England--His Satire upon Kings (1515) 306
3. Returns to Basle to finish his Works--Fears of the Orthodox
Party (1515) 312
CHAPTER XI.
1. The ‘Novum Instrumentum’ completed--What it really was
(1516) 320
CHAPTER XII.
1. More immersed in Public Business (1515) 337
2. Colet’s Sermon on the Installation of Cardinal Wolsey
(1515) 343
3. More’s ‘Utopia’ (1515) 346
4. The ‘Institutio Principis Christiani’ of Erasmus (1516) 365
5. More completes his ‘Utopia’--the Introductory Book (1516) 378
CHAPTER XIII.
1. What Colet thought of the ‘Novum Instrumentum’ (1516) 391
2. Reception of the ‘Novum Instrumentum’ in other Quarters
(1516) 398
3. Martin Luther reads the ‘Novum Instrumentum’ (1516) 402
4. The ‘Epistolæ Obscurorum Virorum’ (1516-17) 407
5. The ‘Pythagorica’ and ‘Cabalistica’ of Reuchlin (1517) 411
6. More pays a Visit to Coventry (1517?) 414
CHAPTER XIV.
1. The Sale of Indulgences (1517-18) 419
2. More drawn into the Service of Henry VIII.--Erasmus leaves
Germany for Basle (1518) 427
CHAPTER XV.
1. Erasmus arrives at Basle--His Labours there (1518) 434
2. The Second Edition of the New Testament (1518-19) 442
3. Erasmus’s Health gives way (1518) 455
CHAPTER XVI.
1. Erasmus does not die (1518) 457
2. More at the Court of Henry VIII. (1518) 458
3. The Evening of Colet’s Life (1518-19) 461
4. More’s Conversion attempted by the Monks (1519) 470
5. Erasmus and the Reformers of Wittemberg (1519) 476
6. Election of Charles V. to the Empire (1519) 482
7. The Hussites of Bohemia (1519) 484
8. More’s Domestic Life (1519) 497
9. Death of Colet (1519) 503
10. Conclusion 505
APPENDICES.
A. Extracts from MS. Gg. 4, 26, in the Cambridge University
Library, Translations of which are given at pp. 37, 38 of
this Work 511
B. Extracts from MS. on ‘I. Corinthians.’--Emmanuel College
MS. 3. 3. 12 513
C. On the Date of More’s Birth 521
D. Ecclesiastical Titles and Preferments of Dean Colet, in
Order of Time 529
E. Catalogue of early Editions of the Works of Erasmus in my
possession 530
F. Editions of Works of Sir Thomas More in my Possession 542
INDEX 545
THE OXFORD REFORMERS: COLET, ERASMUS, AND MORE.
CHAPTER I.
I. JOHN COLET RETURNS FROM ITALY TO OXFORD (1496).
[Sidenote: John Colet announces lectures on St. Paul’s Epistles.]
It was probably in Michaelmas Term of 1496[6] that the announcement was
made to doctors and students of the University of Oxford that John Colet,
a late student, recently returned from Italy, was about to deliver a
course of public and gratuitous lectures in exposition of St. Paul’s
Epistles.
[Sidenote: Only graduates in Theology might lecture on the Bible.]
This was an event of no small significance and perhaps of novelty in the
closing years of that last of the Middle Ages; not only because the
Scriptures for some generations had been practically ignored at the
Universities, but still more so because the would-be lecturer had not as
yet entered deacon’s orders,[7] nor had obtained, or even tried to obtain,
any theological degree.[8] It is true that he had passed through the
regular academical course at Oxford, and was entitled, as a Master of
Arts, to lecture upon any other subject.[9] But a degree in Arts did not,
it would seem, entitle the graduate to lecture upon the Bible.[10]
It does not perhaps follow from this, that Colet was guilty of any
flagrant breach of university statutes, which, as a graduate in Arts, he
must have sworn to obey. The very extent to which real study of the
Scriptures had become obsolete at Oxford, may possibly suggest that even
the statutory restrictions on Scripture lectures may have become obsolete
also.[11]
Before the days of Wiclif, the Bible had been free, and Bishop
Grosseteste could urge Oxford students to devote their _best morning
hours_ to Scripture lectures.[12] But an unsuccessful revolution ends in
tightening the chains which it ought to have broken. During the fifteenth
century the Bible was _not_ free. And Scripture lectures, though still
retaining a nominal place in the academical course of theological study,
were thrown into the background by the much greater relative importance of
the lectures on ‘the Sentences.’ What Biblical lectures were given were
probably of a very formal character.[13]
[Sidenote: Commencement of a new movement at Oxford.]
The announcement by Colet of this course of lectures on St. Paul’s
Epistles was in truth, so far as can be traced, the first overt act in a
movement commenced at Oxford in the direction of practical Christian
reform--a movement, some of the results of which, had they been gifted
with prescience, might well have filled the minds of the Oxford doctors
with dismay.
They could not indeed foresee that those very books of ‘the Sentences,’
over which they had pored so intently for so many years, in order to
obtain the degree of Master in Theology, and at which students were still
patiently toiling with the same object in view--they could not foresee
that, within forty years, these very books would ‘be utterly banished from
Oxford,’ ignominiously ‘nailed up upon posts’ as waste paper, their loose
leaves strewn about the quadrangles until some sportsman should gather
them up and thread them on a line to keep the deer within the neighbouring
woods.[14] They could not, indeed, foresee the end of the movement then
only beginning, but still, the announcement of Colet’s lectures was likely
to cause them some uneasiness. They may well have asked, whether, if the
exposition of the Scriptures were to be really revived at Oxford, so
dangerous a duty should not be restricted to those duly authorised to
discharge it? Was every stripling who might travel as far as Italy and
return infected with the ‘new learning’ to be allowed to set up himself as
a theological teacher, without graduating in divinity, and without waiting
for decency’s sake for the bishop’s ordination?
On the other hand, any Oxford graduate choosing to adopt so irregular a
course, must have been perfectly aware that it would be one likely to stir
up opposition, and even ill-will,[15] amongst the older divines; and it
maybe presumed that he hardly would have ventured upon such a step without
knowing that there were at the university others ready to support him.
II. THE RISE OF THE NEW LEARNING (1453-92).
[Sidenote: The old and new school of thought.]
In all ages, more or less, there is a new school of thought rising up
under the eyes of an older school of thought. And probably in all ages the
men of the old school regard with some little anxiety the ways of the men
of the new school. Never is it more likely to be so than at an epoch of
sharp transition, like that on which the lot of these Oxford doctors had
been cast.
[Sidenote: An age of progress and transition.]
[Sidenote: Advance of Infidel arms in Europe.]
We sometimes speak as though our age were _par excellence_ the age of
progress. _Theirs_ was much more so if we duly consider it. The youth and
manhood of some of them had been spent in days which may well have seemed
to be the latter days of Christendom. They had seen Constantinople taken
by the Turks. The final conquest of Christendom by the infidel was a
possibility which had haunted all their visions of the future. Were not
Christian nations driven up into the north-western extremity of the known
world, a wide pathless ocean lying beyond? Had not the warlike creed of
Mahomet steadily encroached upon Christendom, century by century,
stripping her first of her African churches, from thence fighting its way
northward into Spain? Had it not maintained its foothold in Spain’s
fairest provinces for seven hundred years? And from the East was it not
steadily creeping over Europe, nearer and nearer to Venice and Rome, in
spite of all that crusades could do to stop its progress? If, though
little more than half the age of Christianity, it had already, as they
reckoned it had, drawn into its communion five times[16] as many votaries
as there were Christians left, was it a groundless fear that now in these
latter days it might devour the remaining sixth? What could hinder it?
[Sidenote: Internal weakness of the Church.]
A Spartan resistance on the part of united Christendom perhaps might. But
Christendom was not united, nor capable of Spartan discipline. Her
internal condition seemed to show signs almost of approaching dissolution.
The shadow of the great Papal schism still brooded over the destinies of
the Church. That schism had been ended only by a revolution which, under
the guidance of Gerson, had left the Pope the constitutional instead of
the absolute monarch of the Church. The great heresies of the preceding
century had, moreover, not yet been extinguished. The very names of Wiclif
and Huss were still names of terror. Lollardy had been crushed, but it was
not dead. Everywhere the embers of schism and revolution were still
smouldering underneath, ready to break out again, in new fury, who could
tell how soon?
* * * * *
[Sidenote: Defeat of the Moors in Spain, and discovery of America.]
It was in the ears of this apparently doomed generation that the double
tidings came of the discovery of the Terra Nova in the West, and of the
expulsion of the infidel out of Spain.
The ice of centuries suddenly was broken. The universal despondency at
once gave way before a spirit of enterprise and hope; and it has been well
observed, men began to congratulate each other that their lot had been
cast upon an age in which such wonders were achieved.
Even the men of the old school could appreciate these facts in a fashion.
The defeat of the Moors was to them a victory to the Church. The discovery
of the New World extended her dominion. They gloried over both.
But these outward facts were but the index to an internal upheaving of the
mind of Christendom, to which they were blind. The men who were guiding
the great external revolution--reformers in their way--were blindly
stamping out the first symptoms of this silent upheaving. Gerson, while
carrying reform over the heads of Popes, and deposing them to end the
schism or to preserve the unity of the Church, was at the same moment
using all his influence to crush Huss and Jerome of Prague. Queen Isabella
and Ximenes, Henry VII. and Morton, while sufficiently enlightened to
pursue maritime discovery, to reform after a fashion the monasteries under
their rule, and ready even to combine to reform the morals of the Pope
himself in order to avert the dreaded recurrence of a schism,[17] were not
eager to pursue these purposes without the sanction of Papal bulls, and
without showing their zeal for the Papacy by crushing out free thought
with an iron heel and zealously persecuting heretics, whether their faith
were that of the Moor, the Lollard, or the Jew.
[Sidenote: The revival of learning.]
The fall of Constantinople, which had sounded almost like the death-knell
of Christendom, had proved itself in truth the chief cause of her revival.
The advance of the Saracens upon Europe had already told upon the European
mind. The West has always had much to learn from the East. It was, for
instance, by translation from Arabic versions that Aristotle had gained
such influence over those very same scholastic minds to which his native
Greek was an abomination.
This further triumph of infidel arms also influenced Christian thought.
Eastern languages and Eastern philosophies began to be studied afresh in
the West. Exiles who had fled into Italy had brought with them their
Eastern lore. The invention of printing had come just in time to aid the
revival of learning. The printing press was pouring out in clear and
beautiful type new editions of the Greek and Latin classics. Art and
science with literature sprang up once more into life in Italy; and to
Italy, and especially to Florence, which, under the patronage of the
splendid court of Lorenzo de’ Medici, seemed to form the most attractive
centre, students from all nations eagerly thronged.
[Sidenote: Its effect on religion. Revival of Neo-Platonism.]
It was of necessity that the sudden reproduction of the Greek philosophy
and the works of the older Neo-Platonists in Italy should sooner or later
produce a new crisis in religion. A thousand years before, Christianity
and Neo-Platonism had been brought into the closest contact. Christianity
was then in its youth--comparatively pure--and in the struggle for mastery
had easily prevailed. Not that Neo-Platonism was indeed a mere phantom
which vanished and left no trace behind it. By no means. Through the
pseudo-Dionysian writings it not only influenced profoundly the theology
of mediæval mystics, but also entered largely even into the Scholastic
system. It was thus absorbed into Christian theology though lost as a
philosophy.
[Sidenote: The Platonic Academy, Ficino.]
Now, after the lapse of a thousand years, the same battle had to be fought
again. But with this terrible difference; that now Christianity, in the
impurest form it had ever assumed--a grotesque perversion of
Christianity--had to cope with the purest and noblest of the Greek
philosophies. It was, therefore, almost a matter of course that, under the
patronage of Lorenzo de’ Medici, the Platonic Academy under Marsilio
Ficino should carry everything before it. Whether the story were literally
true of Ficino himself or not, that he kept a lamp burning in his chamber
before a bust of Plato, as well as before that of the Virgin, it was at
least symbolically true of the most accomplished minds of Florence.
[Sidenote: Plato and Christianity.]
Questions which had slept since the days of Julian and his successors were
discussed again under Sixtus IV. and Innocent VIII. The leading minds of
Italy were once more seeking for a reconciliation between Plato and
Christianity in the works of the pseudo-Dionysius, Macrobius, Plotinus,
Proclus, and other Neo-Platonists. There was the same anxious endeavour,
as a thousand years earlier, to fuse all philosophies into one. Plato and
Aristotle must be reconciled, as well as Christianity and Plato. The old
world was becoming once more the possession of the new. It was felt to be
the recovery of a lost inheritance, and everything of antiquity, whether
Greek, Roman, Jewish, Persian, or Arabian, was regarded as a treasure. It
was the fault of the Christian Church if the grotesque form of
Christianity held up by her to a reawakening world seemed less pure and
holy than the aspirations of Pagan philosophers. It would be by no merit
of hers, but solely by its own intrinsic power, if Christianity should
retain its hold upon the mind of Europe, in spite of its ecclesiastical
defenders.
Christianity brought into disrepute by the conduct of professed
Christians, was compelled to rest as of old upon its own intrinsic merits,
to stand the test of the most searching scientific criticisms which
Florentine philosophers were able to apply to it. Men versed in Plato and
Aristotle were not without some notion of the value of intrinsic evidence,
and the methods of inductive enquiry. Ficino himself thought it well,
discarding the accustomed scholastic interpreters, to turn the light of
his Platonic lamp upon the Christian religion. From his work, ‘_De
Religione Christianâ_,’ dedicated to Lorenzo de’ Medici, and written in
1474, some notion may be gained of the method and results of his
criticism. That its nature should be rightly understood is important in
connection with the history of the Oxford Reformers.
[Sidenote: The _De Religione Christianâ_ of Ficino.]
Ficino commences his argument by demonstrating that _religion_ is natural
to man; and having, on Platonic authority, pointed out the truth of the
one common religion, and that all religions have something of good in
them, he turns to the Christian religion in particular. Its truth he tries
to prove by a chain of reasoning of which the following are some of the
links.
[Sidenote: Argument of Ficino in support of Christianity.]
He first shows that ‘the disciples of Jesus were not deceivers;’[18] and
he supports this by examining, in a separate chapter, ‘in what spirit the
disciples of Christ laboured;’[19] concluding, after a careful analysis of
the Acts of the Apostles and the Epistles, that they did not seek their
_own_ advantage or honour but ‘the glory of _Christ_ alone.’ Then he shows
that ‘the disciples of Christ were not _deceived_ by anyone,’[20] and that
the Christian religion was founded, not in human wisdom, but ‘in the
wisdom and power of God;’[21] that Christ was ‘no astrologer,’ but
‘derived his authority from God.’[22] He adduced further the evidence of
miracles, in which he had no difficulty in believing, for he gave two
instances of miracles which had occurred in Florence only four years
previously, and in which he declared to Lorenzo de’ Medici, that,
philosopher as he was, he believed.[23] After citing the testimony of some
Gentile writers, and of the Coran of the Mahometans, and discussing in the
light of Plato, Zoroaster, and Dionysius, the doctrine of the ‘logos,’ and
the fitness of the incarnation, he showed that the result of the coming of
Christ was that men are drawn to love with their whole heart a God who in
his immense love had himself become man.[24] After dwelling on the way in
which Christ lightened the burden of sin,[25] on the errors he dispelled,
the truths he taught,[26] and the example he set,[27] Ficino proceeds in
two short chapters to adduce the testimony of the ‘Sibyls.’[28] This was
natural to a writer whose bias it was to regard as genuine whatever could
be proved to be ancient. But it is only fair to state that he relies much
more fully and discusses at far greater length the prophecies of the
Ancient Hebrew prophets,[29] vindicating the Christian rendering of
certain passages in the old Testament against the Jews, who accused the
Christians of having perverted and depraved them.[30] He concludes by
asserting, that if there be much in Christianity which surpasses human
comprehension, this is a proof of its divine character rather than
otherwise. These are his final words. ‘If these things be divine, they
must exceed the capacity of any human mind. Faith (as Aristotle has it) is
the foundation of knowledge. By faith alone (as the Platonists prove) we
ascend to God. “I believed (said David) and therefore have I spoken.”
Believing, therefore, and approaching the fountain of truth and goodness
we shall drink in a wise and blessed life.’[31]
[Sidenote: Christianity a thing of the heart.]
Thus was the head of the Platonic Academy at Florence turning a critical
eye upon Christianity, viewing it very possibly too much in the light of
the lamp kept continually burning before the bust of Plato, but still, I
think, honestly endeavouring, upon its own intrinsic evidence and by
inductive methods, to establish a reasonable belief in its divine
character in minds sceptical of ecclesiastical authority, and over whom
the dogmatic methods of the Schoolmen had lost their power.[32]
Nevertheless Ficino, as yet, was probably more of an intellectual than of
a practical Christian, and Christianity was not likely to take hold of the
mind of Italy--of re-awakening Europe--through any merely philosophical
disquisitions. The lamp of Plato might throw light on Christianity, but it
would not light up Christian fire in other souls. For Christianity is a
thing of the heart, not only of the head. Soul is kindled only by soul,
says Carlyle; and to teach religion the one thing needful is to find a man
who _has_ religion.[33] Should such a man arise, a man himself on fire
with Christian love and zeal, his torch might light up other torches, and
the fire be spread from torch to torch. But, until such a man should
arise, the lamp of philosophy must burn alone in Florence. Men might come
from far and near to listen to Marsilio Ficino--to share the patronage of
Lorenzo de’ Medici, to study Plato and Plotinus,--to learn how to
harmonise Plato and Aristotle, to master the Greek language and
philosophies,--to drink in the spirit of reviving learning--but, of true
Christian _religion_, the lamp had not yet been lit at Florence, or if lit
it was under a bushel.
[Sidenote: Oxford students in Italy.]
Already Oxford students had been to Italy, and returned full of the new
learning. Grocyn, one of them, had for some time been publicly teaching
Greek at Oxford, not altogether to the satisfaction of the old divines,
for the Latin of the Vulgate was, in their eye, the orthodox language, and
Greek a Pagan and heretical tongue. Linacre, too, had been to Italy and
returned, after sharing with the children of Lorenzo de’ Medici the
tuition of Politian and Chalcondyles.[34]
These men had been to Italy and had returned, to all appearances, mere
humanists. Now five years later Colet had been to Italy and had returned,
_not_ a mere humanist, but an earnest Christian reformer, bent upon giving
lectures, not upon Plato or Plotinus, but upon St. Paul’s Epistles. What
had happened during these four years to account for the change?
III. COLET’S PREVIOUS HISTORY (1496).
[Sidenote: Colet’s return from Italy.]
John Colet was the eldest[35] son of Sir Henry Colet, a wealthy merchant,
who had been more than once Lord Mayor of London,[36] and was in favour at
the court of Henry VII. His father’s position held out to him the
prospect of a brilliant career. He had early been sent to Oxford, and
there, having passed through the regular course of study in all branches
of scholastic philosophy, he had taken his degree of Master of Arts.
[Sidenote: His studies at Oxford.]
On the return of Grocyn and Linacre from Italy full of the new learning,
Colet had apparently caught the contagion. For we are told he ‘eagerly
devoured Cicero, and carefully examined the works of Plato and
Plotinus.’[37]
When the time had come for him to choose a profession, instead of deciding
to follow up the chances of commercial life, or of royal favour, he had
resolved to take Orders.
[Sidenote: Sets out on his travels.]
The death of twenty-one[38] brothers and sisters, leaving him the sole
survivor of so large a family, may well have given a serious turn to his
thoughts. But inasmuch as family influence was ready to procure him
immediate preferment, the path he had chosen need not be construed into
one of great self-denial. It was not until long after he had been
presented to a living in Suffolk and a prebend in Yorkshire, that he left
Oxford, probably in or about 1494, for some years of foreign travel.[39]
The little information which remains to us of what Colet did on his
continental journey, is very soon told.
[Sidenote: Colet studies the Scriptures in Italy.]
He went first into France and then into Italy.[40] On his way there, or
on his return journey, he met with some German monks, of whose primitive
piety and purity he retained a vivid recollection.[41] In Italy he
ardently pursued his studies. But he no longer devoted himself to the
works of Plato and Plotinus. In Italy, the hotbed of the Neo-Platonists,
he ‘_gave himself up_’ (we are told) ‘_to the study of the Holy
Scriptures_,’ after having, however, first made himself acquainted with
the works of the Fathers, including amongst them the mystic writings then
attributed to Dionysius the Areopagite. He acquired a decided preference
for the works of Dionysius, Origen, Ambrose, Cyprian, and Jerome over
those of Augustine. Scotus, Aquinas, and other Schoolmen had each shared
his attention in due course. He is said also to have diligently studied
during this period Civil and Canon Law, and especially what Chronicles and
English classics he could lay his hands on; and his reason for doing so is
remarkable--that he might, by familiarity with them, polish his style, and
so prepare himself for the great work of preaching the Gospel in
England.[42]
What it was that had turned his thoughts in this direction no record
remains to tell. Yet the knowledge of what was passing in Italy, while
Colet was there, surely may give a clue, not likely to mislead, to the
explanation of what otherwise might remain wholly unexplained. To have
been in Italy when Grocyn and Linacre were in Italy--between the years
1485 and 1491--was, as we have said, to have drunk at the fountain-head of
reviving learning, and to have fallen under the fascinating influence of
Lorenzo de’ Medici and the Platonic Academy--an influence more likely to
foster the selfish coldness of a semi-pagan philosophy than to inspire
such feelings as those with which Colet seems to have returned from _his_
visit to Italy.[43]
But in the meantime Lorenzo had died, the tiara had changed hands, and
events were occurring during _Colet’s_ stay in Italy--probably in
1495--which may well have stirred in his breast the earnest resolution to
devote his life to the work of religious and political reform.
[Sidenote: Ecclesiastical scandals.]
For to have been in Italy while Colet was in Italy was to have come face
to face with Rome at the time when the scandals of Alexander VI. and Cæsar
Borgia were in everyone’s mouth; to have been brought into contact with
the very worst scandals which had ever blackened the ecclesiastical system
of Europe, at the very moment when they reached their culminating point.
On the other hand, to have been in Italy when Colet was in Italy was to
have come into contact with the first rising efforts at Reform.
[Sidenote: Savonarola.]
If Colet visited Florence as Grocyn and Linacre had done before him, he
must have come into direct contact with Savonarola while as yet his fire
was holy and his star had not entered the mists in which it set in later
years.
[Sidenote: Savonarola’s preaching.]
Recollecting what the great Prior of San Marco was--what his fiery and all
but prophetic preaching was--how day after day his burning words went
forth against the sins of high and low; against tyranny in Church or
State; against idolatry of philosophy and neglect of the Bible in the
pulpit; recollecting how they told their tale upon the conscience of
Lorenzo de’ Medici, and of his courtiers as well as upon the crowds of
Florence;--can the English student, it may well be asked, have passed
through all this uninfluenced? If he visited Florence at all he must have
heard the story of Savonarola’s interview with the dying Lorenzo; he must
have heard the common talk of the people, how Politian and Pico, bosom
friends of Lorenzo, had died with the request that they might be buried in
the habit of the order, and under the shadow of the convent of San
Marco;[44] above all, he must again and again have joined, one would
think, with the crowd daily pressing to hear the wonderful preacher.
Lorenzo de’ Medici had died before Colet set foot upon Italian soil:
probably also Pico and Politian.[45] And the death of these men had added
to the grandeur of Savonarola’s position. He was still preaching those
wonderful sermons, all of them in exposition of Scripture, to which
allusion has been made, and exerting that influence upon his hearers to
which so many great minds had yielded.
[Sidenote: Savonarola’s influence on Pico and Ficino.]
The man who _had_ religion--the one requisite for teaching it--had arisen.
And at the touch of his torch other hearts had caught fire. The influence
of Savonarola had made itself felt even within the circle of the Platonic
Academy. Pico had become a devoted student of the Scriptures and had died
an earnest Christian. Ficino himself, without ceasing to be a Neo-Platonic
philosopher, had also, it would seem, been profoundly influenced for a
time by the enthusiasm the great reformer.[46] And in the light of
Colet’s return to Oxford from Italy, a lover of Dionysius and to lecture
on St. Paul’s Epistles, it is curious to observe that, shortly before
Colet’s visit to Italy, Ficino himself had published translations of some
of the Dionysian writings,[47] and that apparently about the time of
Colet’s visit he was himself lecturing on St. Paul.[48]
[Sidenote: Their influence on Colet.]
If therefore Colet visited Florence, it may well be believed that he came
into direct contact with Savonarola and Ficino. Whilst even if he did not
visit Florence at all (and there appears to be no direct evidence that he
did),[49] there remains abundant evidence, which will turn up in future
chapters, that Colet had studied the writings of Pico,[50] of Ficino,[51]
and of the authors most often quoted in their pages. He thus at least came
directly under _Florentine_ influence, at a time when the fire of
religious zeal, kindled into a flame by the enthusiasm of the great
Florentine Reformer, and fed by the scandals of Rome, was scattering its
sparks abroad.
[Sidenote: Spirit in which Colet returned to Oxford.]
Be this as it may, whatever amount of obscurity may rest upon the history
of the mental struggles through which Colet had passed before that result
was attained, certain it is that he had returned to England with his mind
fully made up, and with a character already formed and bent in a direction
from which it never afterwards swerved. He had returned to England, not to
enjoy the pleasures of fashionable life in London, not to pursue the
chances of Court favour, not to follow his father’s mercantile calling,
not even to press on at once towards the completion of his clerical
course; but, unordained as he was, and without doctor’s degree, in all
simplicity to begin the work which had now become the settled purpose of
his life, by returning to Oxford and announcing this course of lectures on
St. Paul’s Epistles.
IV. THOMAS MORE, ANOTHER OXFORD STUDENT (1492-6).
When Colet, catching the spirit of the new learning from Grocyn and
Linacre, left Oxford for his visit to Paris and Italy, he left behind him
at the university a boy of fifteen, no less devoted than himself to the
study of the Greek language and philosophy.
This boy was _Thomas More_. He was the son of a successful lawyer, living
in Milk Street, Cheapside.
[Sidenote: His early history.]
[Sidenote: Cardinal Morton.]
[Sidenote: More’s genius.]
Brought up in the very centre of London life, he had early entered into
the spirit of the stirring times on which his young life was cast. He was
but five years old when in April 1483 the news of Edward IV.’s death was
told through London. But he was old enough to hear an eyewitness tell his
father, that ‘one Pottyer, dwelling in Redcross Street, without
Cripplegate,’ within half a mile of his father’s door, ‘on the very night
of King Edward’s death, had exclaimed, “By my troth, man, then will my
master the Duke of Glo’ster be king.”’[52] And followed as this was by
Richard’s murder of the young Princes, he never forgot the incident. After
some years’ study at St. Anthony’s School in Threadneedle Street, his
father placed him in domestic service (as was usual in those times) with
the Archbishop and Lord Chancellor Morton,[53] a man than whom no one knew
the world better or was of greater influence in public affairs--the
faithful friend of Edward IV., the feared but cautious enemy of Richard,
the man to whose wisdom Henry VII. in great measure owed his crown. Morton
was the Gamaliel at whose feet young More was brought up, drinking in his
wisdom, storing up in memory his rich historic knowledge, learning the
world’s ways and even something of the ways of kings, till a naturally
sharp wit became unnaturally sharpened, and Morton recognised in the youth
the promise of the future greatness of the man. He was but thirteen or
fourteen at most, yet he would ‘at Christmas time suddenly sometimes step
in among the players, making up an extempore part of his own;’ ... and the
Lord Chancellor ‘would often say unto the nobles that divers times dined
with him, “This child here waiting at table, whosoever shall live to see
it, will prove a marvellous man.”’[54] It was Morton who had sent him to
Oxford ‘for his better furtherance in learning.’[55]
Colet probably had known More from childhood. Their fathers were both too
much of public men to be unknown to each other, and though Colet was
twelve years older than young More when they most likely met at Oxford in
1492-3, their common studies under Grocyn and Linacre were likely to bring
them into contact.[56] More’s ready wit, added to great natural power and
versatility of mind, were such as to enable him to keep pace with others
much older than himself, and to devote himself with equal zeal to the new
learning.
[Sidenote: His fascinating character.]
Whether it was thus at Oxford that Colet had first formed his high opinion
of More’s character and powers, we know not, but certain it is that he was
long after wont to speak of him as the _one genius_ of whom England could
boast.[57] Moreover, along with great intellectual gifts was combined in
the young student a gentle and loving disposition, which threw itself into
the bosom of a friend with so guileless and pure an affection, that when
men came under the power of its unconscious enchantment they literally
_fell in love_ with More. If Colet’s friendship with More dated back to
this period, he must have found in his young acquaintance the germs of a
character somewhat akin to his own. Along with so much of life and
generous loveliness, there was a natural independence of mind which formed
convictions for itself, and a strength and promptness of will whereby
action was made as a matter of course to follow conviction. There was, in
truth, in More’s character a singular union of conservative and radical
tendencies of heart and thought.
But the intercourse between them at Oxford did not last long, for Colet,
as already said, went off on his travels, leaving More buried in his
Oxford studies under Linacre’s tuition.
[Sidenote: More already destined for the Bar.]
It was the father’s purpose that the son at Oxford should be preparing for
his future profession. Jealous lest the temptations of college life should
disqualify him for the severe discipline involved in those legal studies
to which it was to be the preparatory step, he kept him in leading-strings
as far as he possibly could, cutting down his pecuniary allowance to the
smallest amount which would enable him to pay his way, even compelling him
to refer to himself before purchasing the most necessary articles of
clothing as his old ones wore out. He judged that by these means he should
keep his son more closely to his books, and prevent his being allured from
the rigid course of study which in his utilitarian view was best adapted
to fit him for the bar.[58]
[Sidenote: More leaves Oxford.]
[Sidenote: More enters Lincoln’s Inn.]
So far as can be traced, this stern discipline did not fail of its
end;[59] he worked on at Oxford, without getting into mischief, and
certainly without neglecting his books. But there was another snare from
which parental anxiety was not able wholly to preserve him. Before he had
been two years at Oxford, the father found out that he had begun to show
symptoms of fondness for the study of the Greek language and
literature,[60] and might even be guilty of preferring the philosophy of
the Greeks to that of the Schoolmen. This was treading on dangerous
ground, and it seemed to the anxious parent high time that a stop should
be put to new-fangled and fascinating studies, the use of which to a
lawyer he could not discern. So, somewhat abruptly, he took young More
away from the University, and had him at once entered as a student at New
Inn.[61] After the usual course of legal studies at New Inn, he was
admitted in February 1496,[62] just as Colet was returning from Italy, as
a student of Lincoln’s Inn, for a few more years of hard legal study,
preparatory to his call to the Bar.
V. COLET FIRST HEARS OF ERASMUS (1496).
One other circumstance must be mentioned in this chapter.
Whilst Colet was passing through Paris, on his return journey from Italy,
he became acquainted with the French historian Gaguinus, whose work ‘_De
Origine et Gestis Francorum_,’ had been published shortly before.[63]
Colet was in the habit of reading every book of history which came in his
way,[64] and no doubt this history of Gaguinus was no exception to the
rule. Whilst he was at Paris, a letter was shown to him which the
historian had received from a scholar and acquaintance of rising celebrity
in Paris, in which the new history was reviewed and praised.[65] From the
perusal of this letter, Colet formed a high estimate of the learning and
wide range of knowledge of its accomplished writer.[66] But scholars were
plentiful in Paris, and he was not personally introduced to this one in
particular. He was not then, like Gaguinus, one of the lions of Paris,
though he was destined to become one of the lions of History. Colet after
reading his letter did not forget his name. Nor was it a name likely to be
soon forgotten by posterity.
It was, ‘_Erasmus_.’