Born in Rotterdam in 1465, died in Switzerland in 1536; an
illegitimate son, left an orphan at thirteen and deprived of
his inheritance by guardians, who compelled him to enter a
monastery; entered in 1491 the services of the Bishop of
Cambray, who enabled him to study at the University of
Paris; visited England in 1498-99, and again in 1510-14;
settled at Basel in 1521; removed to Freiburg in 1529;
refused offers of ecclesiastical preferment; endeavored to
reform the Church without dismembering it; at first favored,
but afterward opposed Luther; published a Latin translation
of the New Testament in 1516.