Erasmian Keywords

Erasmus of Rotterdam took meticulous care of his image, both in his writings and in fashionable means of self-expression, which included numerous portraits, a medal and a personal device. Nevertheless, he remains an elusive figure. In an effort to shed new light on his style, key concepts and popularity, this book takes four words as starting points for essays about some of Erasmus’ most distinctive ideas: lucubratio, festivitas, persona, and copia. They all capture convictions, projects and practices that inform and characterise his works. In the sense proposed by Raymond Williams, they are keywords that encapsulate intellectual and social change beyond pure ideas, thus keys to the dynamic Latin humanist literature of the early sixteenth century in general.