Peter G. Bietenholz is a professor emeritus in the Department of
History at the University of Saskatchewan.
Thomas B. Deutscher is a professor in the Department of History at
St Thomas More College, University of Saskatchewan.
'If the editors of Contemporaries of Erasmus had done no more than
track down the proper names found in the Collected Works of
Erasmus, the Leiden Opera omnia, and the correspondence edited by
P.S. Allen, that in itself would have been a tremendous work and a
welcome volume to Renaissance scholars. How much more welcome is
this scholarly work in which evey name having Erasmian connections
is identified, subjected to intense and competent research, and
presented, not only with clarity, but with a measure of grace and
distinction? Most biographical dictionaries list and identify only
men and women who have distinguished themselves in some way, or who
have by birth merited a place in the book. Contemporaries of
Erasmus does not shrug aside anyone whom Erasmus has met or
mentioned in his works or letters. Adrian, an obscure messenger,
Carolus, a non-clerical steward in a monastery, Margareta, the
daughter of an acquaintance -- all these and many of their kind are
given place along with the more important friends and patrons of
the great humanist -- popes, kings, scholars, emperors.
*Letters in Canada*
'Contemporaries of Erasmus is not only an excellent companion for
any edition of Erasmus' writings and of utmost use to students of
the period, but -- and one can pay it no higher compliment --
because of the high standard of the entries and the learning
invested in them, Erasmus himself would have thoroughly enjoyed
it.
*Times Literarty Supplement*
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