Page 616 [616]
580 APPENDIX II
accord ; and even the calculation suggested, that he was at Deventer
for about five years, is quite at variance with the facts.
As Erasmus was a pupil of Hegius, his departure from Deventer
cannot be placed earlier than Hegius’ advent as headmaster in 1483,
The date of this event has been the subject of much controversy
and is usually set much further back; but the year here assigned
may be accepted as correct. It is found in an anonymous life of
Agricola * written in form of a letter to Melanchthon, by some one
who was present when with great emotion Hegius read out before
the school the letter announcing Agricola’s death. Confirmation
for it is supplied by a letter of Agricola, in which he sends his
good wishes to Hegius for his projected opening of the school” at
Deventer, but warns him that after the ravages of the plague by
which the town has been devastated he will find the school thinly
attended. The letter has no date of month or year, but can be
placed with reasonable certainty in the autumn of 1483”. There
is also evidence to show that a few years earlier Hegius was still
See Dillenburger (in Zs. f. das Henricus frater missus a domino
Gymnasialwesen, N. F. 4, 1870, pp. 481¬
502), who is misled by accepting Eras¬
mus’ statements as to his own age
without question ; also Reichling in
Pick’s Monatsschrift, 1877, pp. 286-303.
19 Printed by Dr. Kan in Erasmiani
Gymnasii Programma, Rotterdam, 1894,
from a MS. in the Imperial Library at
Vienna (No. 9058).
2 The date given for this scene in the
MS. as printed is 1486; but Agricola
died on 27 or 28 Oct. 1485, and the
news can hardly have taken over two
months to reach Deventer.
21 The name of his predecessor is not
known. Egbert ter Beek, Rector of
the house of the Brethren of the Com¬
mon Life at Deventer died on 13
Apr. 1483 (Deventer MS. 12); and
from the connexion of the Brethren
with the school of St. Lebuin he may
have been Rector of this also. See
Dumbar, Analecta, i. 162-178, where
his death is dated 16 Apr.
2 ‘Quod aperire ludum literarium
Dauentriae auspicatus es, vt felix id
faustumque tibi eueniat opto. Quan¬
quam non ignorem hanc primam huius
negotii frontem parum blande tibi
respondere, et locus ipse pestilentia
vastatus et proinde horridus et velut
abominandus tibi videtur, quodque
hinc sequitur, necesse est auditorium
tibi infrequens et pene desertum,
nedum non celebre et expectatione
tua dignum contingere, Agric.? p. 181.
Faber of Deventer (Ep. 174) mentions
a ‘grassatio pestis’ there, ‘que scuic¬
bat Anno domini 1483.’ Revius, Daren¬
tria illustrata, p. 141.
23 Cf. EHR. Apr. 1906. In the same
letter Agricola writes: ‘Fuit ad me
Bartomagensi ; dedi illi libros meos
portandos Heidelbergam, per quem
scire velim fueritne allocutus te ex
itinere.’ The ‘dominus Bartomagen¬
sis’ is clearly John of Dalberg, Agri¬
cola’s friend and patron, who had been
elected Bp. of Worms in Aug. 1482,
and who, in the autumn of that year,
had persuaded Agricola to come and
teach at Heidelberg (see p. 106). With
this may be compared à passage from
a letter of Agricola to Theodoric of
Plenningen, a member of Dalberg’s
household, dated from Groningen,
6 Feb. 1483 : ‘ Venirem ad vos vel inter
proximos dies, nisi transportandorum
librorum mihi molestia esset’ (Agrie.*
15). We may note also that in the
spring of 1483 Henry had by false
representations insinuated himself
into Dalberg’s confidence, and might
well have been sent on the mission
here mentioned ; see Morneweg, Johann
von Dalberg, 1887, p. 79. Further con¬
firmation may be found in the mention
of Agricola as in the service of the
town of Groningen (see p. 106). The
familiar way in which Henry is spoken
of may be contrasted with the passage
in which he is introduced to Hegius
in the letter of 20 Sept. 1480, and
plainly implies a later date. The
denial of the rumour that Agricola
had been seen at Antwerp perhaps
alludes to the proposals made by the
town council of Antwerp to Agricola
in the autumn of 1482, that he should
come and preside over the town-school ;
ef. Agricola’s letter to J. Barbiriau
(Agric.1 f°. ¢ v°.) dated 1 Nov. (1482).
Again Agricola writes on 7 Apr. 1484
to an intimate friend, Antony Liber of