Erasmus Publishes In Praise of Folly
A Dutch humanist uses satire, and the new printing press, to needle the Church
Quick facts
- Author
- Desiderius Erasmus, c. 1469-1536
- Work
- In Praise of Folly (Moriae Encomium)
- Written at
- Thomas More's house, London
- Printed
- 1511
What happened
The Dutch scholar Desiderius Erasmus, a leading figure of Renaissance humanism outside Italy, wrote his satire Moriae Encomium, known in English as In Praise of Folly, while staying in London with Thomas More, and had it printed in 1511. In it Folly herself speaks, mocking the absurdities and, as Erasmus saw them, the corruption and theatrical excess of contemporary Catholic practice, while Erasmus elsewhere used the printing press to produce editions of classical authors and a fresh Greek and Latin edition of the New Testament.
Why it matters
Erasmus carried humanist scholarship north of the Alps and made it a pan-European movement, and his printed calls for reform, delivered as satire rather than heresy, helped prepare the intellectual ground for the Protestant Reformation even though he remained within the Catholic Church throughout his life.
How we know
Printed editions of Moriae Encomium from 1511 survive in multiple library collections, and the World History Encyclopedia and Encyclopedia Britannica both date and describe the work and its satirical target from that printed text.
Sources
- Erasmus exhibition, KU Leuven University Libraries. Praise of Folly · General sourceexpo.bib.kuleuven.be · Cited as a "reference" source (no stronger domain match). · Link is live and its text matches the event's key terms (Jul 2026)
- Leiden University Libraries, Special Collections Blog. Praise of Folly · General sourceleidenspecialcollectionsblog.nl · Cited as a "reference" source (no stronger domain match). · Link is live and its text matches the event's key terms (Jul 2026)
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