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68 LETTERS OF ERASMUS [rory mereberis. Bene vale, et perge Erasmum obscurare tua industria, mi charissime Barlande. 647. FROM ADRIAN BARLAND. Deventer MS. 91, f. 224 (a). (Louvain. ) LB. App. 99. (August ? 1517.) [By Hand B in the MS., and therefore probably between April and October 1517. As in Ep. 611, the siglum is sometimes divided. From Barland’s apologies for the rarity of his visits it may be placed at some time after Erasmus’ settlement at Louvain. Confirmation for this date may be obtained from the movements of the Cardinal mentioned, the young William Croy (c. 1498 —6 Jan. 1521). Hewas the second son of Henry Croy, Count of Porcian, younger brother of Chièvres (Ep. 582. 27 n.). This powerful minister, having no children of his own, advanced his nephew with amazing pertinacity. In Feb. 1516 he tried to obtain for him the Abbey of St. Martin’s at Tournay ; but failed in competition with Wolsey and the Pope. Later in 1516 the young man received the Abbey of Afflighem, near Alost (GC. v. 40), and in succession to his kinsman (Ep. 497) the bishopric of Cambray. In March 1517 it was proposed that he should be coadjutor to Philip of Burgundy (Ep.. 603) in the see of Utrecht; on 2 April he was created Cardinal; in August he was mentioned as a likely Abp. of Seville ; in December Chiévres secured for him the archbishopric of Toledo, the richest see in Spain, in succession to Ximenes; and in April 1519 it was expected that he would be legatus de latere. See Brewer. At some time also he succeeded Briselot (Ep. 597. 4 n.) at Hautmont (GC. iii. 118). After severe illness in May 1517 (Brown ii. 894) he was invested with the cardinalate at Middelburg on 12 July 1517, and then returned to Brabant (Brewer ii. 3472: ef. Gachard iii. 34-6). He settled at Louvain to resume his studies, and was at first a pupil of Barland. By Lent (1518), which he spent at Cambray (cf. Ep. 794. 17, 8), he had secured Vives as his tutor ; but four months of the summer were spent in the reformation of Afflighem (Vives’ Opuscula varia, Louvain, Th. Martens, s. æ., ff. hv° and a? v°: the latter reference being a letter from him to Vives). He continued his studies at Louvain under the care of Vives through 1519 and part of 1520, and exchanged some letters with Erasmus (see Epp. 917, 945, 951, 957-9); and he was probably still there when John Thierry delivered an oration in his honour, 16 Jan. 1520 (van Iseghem, No. 165). On Charles’ return from Spain he joined him at Brussels, 27 June 1520 (Brewer iii. 883), and thereafter was with him, at Calais in July (Brown iii. 106), Cologne in Nov. (Brewer iii. 1044), and Worms, where he died from a fall from his horse whilst hunting (see Ciaconius iii, 346). Cornelius Grapheus’ poem on St. William of Aquitaine, Paris, J. Badius, Easter 1518 (see Renouard, Badius, ii, 476), and Latomus’ dialogue De trium linguarum et studii theologici ratione, Antwerp, M. Hillen, (c. March) 1519, are addressed to him.] Qvop sic me indoctissimum amas, Erasme praeceptor doctissime, ingentes ago g(r)atias. Quantum te redamem, vtinam id ost(end)endi nobis daretur occasio! dabitur autem, si tu voles, vt potes, Barlando precipere: qui nullum sit vnquam pro Erasmo laborem grauate 5 suscepturus. Verum satis prooemii ; yeniam ad id quod te volebam. Apud reuerendissimum Cardmalem disputatio de Senectute producta est mihi vsque ad vltimam eius etatis vituperationem ; quo loco 647. 5. a? : prohemii al. 7. etatis a? : otatem al. 647. 7. yltimam] capp. 19-23.
