{"id":80390,"date":"2017-09-13T11:00:27","date_gmt":"2017-09-13T09:00:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/?p=80390"},"modified":"2025-12-19T11:22:51","modified_gmt":"2025-12-19T10:22:51","slug":"erasmus-dummies-lecture-enlightens-students-famous-rotterdam-theologian","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/2017\/09\/13\/erasmus-dummies-lecture-enlightens-students-famous-rotterdam-theologian\/","title":{"rendered":"Erasmus for dummies: ‘I know he wrote some books’"},"content":{"rendered":"
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This sculpture of Erasmus stands outside the Lawrence Church, not far from his birthplace.<\/span><\/p>

\n\t\n\n<\/svg>\n<\/span>\n\tImage by:<\/span>\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tFeico Houweling<\/a>\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>

The Godfather of Erasmus University, Desiderius himself, has his name all over the city. There\u2019s a Hotel Erasmus, an Erasmus Funeral Home, an Erasmus Law Firm, and of course, the Erasmus Bridge. There was even an Erasmus metro line in Rotterdam for many years until his birth city decided to reduce the name of it to simply Line E.<\/p>\n

The point is that the Erasmus name is referenced daily by most everyone in the city, but seeing that he was living more than half a millennium ago, how much do people really know about the guy? Before the start of a lecture titled Erasmus For Dummies, delivered by Professor Han Van Ruler, EM took a trip around campus to see what students knew about one of Rotterdam\u2019s most iconic figures.<\/p>\n

Who is Erasmus?<\/h3>

\u201cI know nothing about Erasmus,\u201d said International Business student Thomas Carrillo, before Gemma Huins chimed in.<\/p>\n\n\t

\n\t\t
\n\t\t\t
\n\t
\n\t\t\u201cMany people think his birthname was Gerhard Gerhards, but that\u2019s not true\u201d\n\t<\/blockquote>\n\n\t<\/figure>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n

\u201cErasmus was a humanist,\u201d mentioned Huins, who studies Media and Communication. \u201cI also know he wrote some books.\u201d<\/p>\n

True, Adagia<\/em> and In Praise of Folly<\/em> to name a couple, but what else did he do?<\/p>\n

\u201cOther than that he didn\u2019t live in Rotterdam very long, I don\u2019t know much,\u201d said Kim Kuijpers, who studies History. \u201cSince I\u2019m a history student, that sounds pretty bad. But that\u2019s also why I\u2019m going to this lecture.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kuijpers did get one thing right. Other than being born in the city of Rotterdam to an unmarried priest, which means he was an illegitimate child at that time in more than one way, Erasmus only lived in Rotterdam for the first four years of his life. Could anyone name something specific about him though?<\/p>\n

\u201cI know he didn\u2019t build the Erasmus Bridge,\u201d added Luis Artavia, a Masters student in Economics.<\/p>\n

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Honorary Professor Han Van Ruler knows every detail out there about the life of Erasmus.<\/span><\/p>

\n\t\n\n<\/svg>\n<\/span>\n\tImage by:<\/span>\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tIvar Laanen<\/a>\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>

Queer<\/span><\/p>\n

Erasmus preached the importance of education, so he probably would have been disappointed to find out how little students know about him. Without any new findings about Erasmus, EM stopped by the lecture to pick up some knowledge, but since everything you need to enlighten yourself about the famous theologian can be found on Wikipedia, we decided to include some of the lesser-known facts revealed by Van Ruler, like that Erasmus was most likely queer. <\/p>\n

Indeed, the famous humanist loved more than just Plato and Latin proverbs, he loved a monk whom he sent a series of passionate love letters to. Seeing that the University will be flying the rainbow flag<\/a> from the 21 to the 24 of September, it\u2019s actually quite fitting.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt always makes me mad that people try to prove that Erasmus\u2019s love letters were not real but were merely writing exercises,\u201d said Van Ruler, who recently authored a book on Erasmus. \u201cJust because they were male-male love letters doesn\u2019t mean they weren\u2019t real. What does it matter anyway.\u201d<\/p>\n

The one who is desired<\/h3>

Another unbeknownst fact to many is that Erasmus wasn\u2019t born with the name Desiderius. He gave it to himself later in life, and it translates to \u201cthe one who is desired\u201d in Latin.<\/p>\n

\u201cMany people think his birthname was Gerhard Gerhards, but that\u2019s not true,\u201d said Van Ruler. \u201cIt\u2019s a good thing too, Desiderius sounds better.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more about Erasmus<\/h2>