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ERASMUS’ EARLY LIFE 583 Brethren of the Common Life. Here they remained for between two and three years‘, and then returned“ to Gouda. The letter to Rome in two passages “ represents Erasmus as being just fifteen at the time; the figure cannot possibly be right, but the double reference to his birthday probably indicates correctly the season of the year. When the boys returned the guardians renewed their efforts to persuade them to the monastic life. Peter soon gave way, but Erasmus held out for a while longer. Then followed the period of dejection, the chance meeting with Cornelius of Woerden, the first acquaintance with Steyn and the decision to enter it on trial. The probation lasted one year or perhaps two“, and at the end of that time Erasmus took on himself the vows of an Augustinian canon in the priory of Steyn. This house had been founded in 1419 by James, son of Gyrard who became its first prior, on lands in the district of Steyn given by John, Bastard of Blois. It was situated in the parish of Haastrecht. but on the other side of the Yssel, and within a mile of Gouda; and thus though dedicated to St. Gregory, from its nearness to Gouda it was known as Emmaus. Its statutes were modelled on those of the Chapter of Windesheim, a congregation which, headed by the Augustinian convent of Windesheim near Zwolle and comprising nearly a hundred houses of both sexes, had adopted a uniform and more rigorous rule than was observed in most Augustinian monasteries. But it did not belong to that congregation, for in 1444 it united with the Priories of St. Mary the Virgin at Sion near Delft and St. Michael at Hem near Schoonhoven, in forming a separate Chapter with Sion at its head, into which other neighbouring convents of both sexes were afterwards received. At the time of Erasmus’ entry Steyn was under the direction of John, son of Christian, its fifth prior. On 16 July 1549 the monastery was burned to the ground and the monks were shortly afterwards located in Gouda by the Town Council, which had acquired the lordship of the lands of Steyn. The site of the priory is now occupied by a farmhouse known as ‘het Klooster™.’ The date of the entry into Steyn must be placed as early as possible to accommodate Reyner Snoy’s statement © that Erasmus and Wm. Herman were nearly ten years together there. If Erasmus left Deventer in 1484, he cannot have entered Steyn before 1487—a date © Cannos ferme tres’ ii. 52: ‘biennium et eo amplius,’ Lond. xxiy. 5, LB. App. 442. * For an incident which occurred on one of his journeys by barge during these years see the Apologia referred to RASO LO I ‘8 ‘vixdum egressusannum decimumquintum’ and ‘vixdum aetatis annum ingressus decimum sextum.’ 4° The letter to Rome seems to imply two periods of a year and two ceremonies of initiation. For the requirements of the Augustinian Constitutions see Ep. 296. 33 n, S One of Erasmus’ Carmina Varia in Scriverius’ manuscript, LB. viii. 570 F —571 3, is addressed to St. Gregory. 5 See van Heussen, i. 193-5, 327-8, 415-6, ii. 125-6, and Ruelens’ reproduction (Brussels, 1864, pp. i-iv) of Herasmi Silua Carminum, Gouda, 1513, giving a section of a sixteenth-century map, in which Gouda, Steyn, and Hem are shown; and containing an introduction in which Erasmus’ early life and companions are discussed with great care and detail. In the Preface to Herasmi Silua Carminum, Gouda, 1513.
