THE OXFORD REFORMERS:
JOHN COLET, ERASMUS, AND THOMAS MORE.
By the same Author.
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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 quisignis excutiatur, eum avide apprehendamus. Veritatem enim quærimus, nonopinionis 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 oneafter another been placed within reach of the public, ably edited by myfriend Mr. Lupton, and now I understand that a biography by the samecompetent hand is also in the press.
Under these circumstances I have had some hesitation in allowing a ThirdEdition to be printed. I have yielded, however, to Mr. Lupton’s pleadingthat this history of the fellow-work of the three friends, imperfect as italways 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 morecomplete, and I trust more correct, than its predecessor.
First: the remarkable discovery by Mr. W. Aldis Wright, on the blankleaves of a MS. in the library of Trinity College, Cambridge, of anapparently contemporary family register recording, inter alia, the dateof the marriage of Sir Thomas More’s parents, and of the birth of SirThomas More himself (see Appendix C), has given the clue, so long soughtfor in vain, to the chronology of More’s early life. It has also made itneedful to alter slightly the title of this work.
Secondly: the interesting MSS. of Co