Page 626 [626]
590
APPENDIX V
may also have received instruction from Michael of Pavia # In the
scantiness of information for this period the following passage also
may be quoted”, in which Erasmus is speaking of possession by evil
spirits: ‘ Mirum est autem quod hic de vna virgine narrat Hierony¬
mus; sed aetate nostra rem vidimus multo prodigiosiorem in fre¬
quenti virginum monasterio, quod est in Hannonia, vulgo dictum
Keynout®. Ea res non mediocriter torquebat humanissimum prae¬
sulem et vere patrem, episcopum Cameracensem Henricum, inter
inelytos illos Berganae stirpis heroas tum natu maximum. Nam
apud hunc id temporis admodum iuuenis viuebam. Quae gymnasia
vir ille super hac re non consuluit? Quos non adduxit quos existi¬
masset vel eruditione pollere vel sanctimonia? Nemo non stupefactus
discessit. Nec prius extinctum est hoc malum quam extinctis ad vnam
virginibus, quae fuerant a daemone correptae.’ A full narrative of
this ‘diabolical pestilence’ which broke out at Easter r491, and
lasted for six or seven years, is given by Molinet”. The Bishop
visited the convent on 17 April 1491 to inquire into the trouble.
Another glimpse of this period is given in a letter from a certain
| William of Louvain, an inmate of the Augustinian priory of Groe¬
nendael? in the forest of Zonia near Brussels, written to Martin
Lypsius in 1522 or 3, which substantiates the early interest in
Augustine of which Erasmus speaks in 1518”. ‘His libris (Augus¬
tini) Erasmus noster olim summe delectatus est, cum aetate adhuc
iuuenis Bruxella venisset nostram inuisere vallem, et potissimum,
vti reor, bibliothecam. Qua perlustrata istos ex omnibus elegit
libros, quibus tanto inhaerebat studio vt noctibus quoque eos ad
cubiculum sibi pro quiete deputatum ferret. Mirabantur nostri, vt
a senioribus audiui, et paene ridebant hominem, quod illos ferme
solos amplecteretur codices caeterisque praeferret omnibus, nempe
ignari quid ipsum in illis tantopere delectaret ®’ It may be noted
that the Bishop of Cambray was one of the benefactors of Groenen¬
dael. It is possible also that Erasmus was drawn thither by a monk
of Bergen, Daniel Petri, who afterwards became prior, 1523-1534,
and in that position showed himself a patron of learning and con¬
siderably enlarged the library. For fuller details about this period
Mr. Nichols’ vol. i. chap. 3 may be consulted. I do not agree with
his conjecture that Erasmus had met Batt before going to Bergen.
APPENDIX VI
ERASMUS AT CAMBRIDGE IN 1506
Tue records of Cambridge show that Erasmus paid a visit to that
University in the year 1505-6, but of his stay there not much is
the Auctarium (D) was printed. For See GO. iii. 167.
Bollart see GC. iii. 267. ? 234 ; see also Massaeus’ Chronica,
2 Ep. 85. Ion. 1540, p. 268.
* From the Scholia on Jerome, Opera, 28 See Sanderus, Chorographia Sacra
1516, vol. i, f. 110 v°. Brabantiae, ii. 16-40.
* Quesnoi (Quercetum), an Augus- *” Cf. Lond. ii. 26, LB. 376.
tinian convent dedicated to St. Eliza- °° Horawitz, Hrasmus uv. Mart. Lypsius,
beth. Itlay tothe SE. of Valenciennes. p- 114.