I-8 Ordinis primi tomus octavus

This study of the dialogue "Iulius" aims to put an end to the centuries-long controversy on the work's paternity; to open a new phase of reflection on how it got into print; and to promote a revised image of Erasmus, removing the slur of complacency and dullness that has become attached to him. The volume also contains Conflictus and De civlitate.

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The dialogue Iulius exclusus e coelis – a violent attack on Pope Julius II (1503-1513) and a lucid analysis of papal power regarded as an anti-apostolic institution – has been the object of a centuries-long debate. Applying the methods of philology and bibliology, which the scholarly debate has hitherto overlooked, this edition reconstructs for the first time in documented and verifiable fashion the pamphlet's origin and early circulation. Erasmus emerges from this study not only as the dialogue's author, but also as responsible for its first circulation in print. The portrait of the humanist sketched in the introductory essay – that of an impassioned political observer and an intransigent critic of both ecclesiastical and secular power – is a radical revision of the saccharine and hagiographical image of Erasmus that has been systematically built up by 20th-century historiography. The volume also contains the short dialogue Conflictus Thaliae et Barbariei, making fun of bad Latin, and De civilitate morum puerilium, an essential treatise in Erasmus’ pedagogical œuvre as well as in the history of education in general.