Harry Vredeveld – författare

The final two volumes in the CWE contain an edition and translation of Erasmus's poetry. For Erasmus scholars this work affords the first opportunity to evaluate and analyse Erasmus' poems in English. And for those interested in Renaissance and Reformation poetry in general, these offer an intriguing look at the work of one of the towering figures of the period writing in a genre that was, for him, unusual.The annotations include a path-breaking commentary piece by Harry Vredeveld on Erasmus' most famous poem, `Poem on the Trouble of Old Age.' Another important feature is the appearance of the original Latin of each poem alongside the English translation.Volumes 85 and 86 of the Collected Works of Erasmus series – Two-volume set.

Hailed as “King of Poets” by Johann Reuchlin in 1514, Eobanus Hessus (1488–1540) was eager to build on his fame with a stream of new works: “Easter Hymn,” “On True Nobility,” “On the Avoidance of Drunkenness,” “Response from His Majesty Maximilian” (answering Hutten’s “Letter from Italia”), and the short epic “Christ’s Victory over the Underworld,” as well as a hitherto unknown “Inaugural Lecture” on Cicero and Plautus. In 1515 he anonymously published a mock-quodlibetical speech that applies the scholastic method of argumentation to “The Species of Drunkards.” Eobanus’ first bestseller, this brilliant satire was reprinted well into the eighteenth century. All of these texts are included in the present volume, along with annotated translations, ground-breaking introductions, and commentary.

In this volume, Eobanus Hessus turns from passionate Erasmian into staunch defender of Luther, only to find himself caught in the no-man’s-land between the two titans. Under Erasmus’ spell, he writes "Itinerary of My Journey to Erasmus," "On the Restoration of Studies at Erfurt," epigrams against Edward Lee, and "Short Preface to the 'Enchiridion.'" Changing course in 1521, he publishes "Elegies in Praise and Defense of Luther" and "Letter of the Afflicted Church to Luther." Thereafter, amid tumults and academic collapse, he battles the radical preachers in "Some Letters of Illustrious Men Concerning the More Humane Studies" and "Three Dialogues." Two elegies serve as intermezzos: a "Consolation" to the imprisoned William of Brunswick and a patriotic "Invective" against Johannes Dantiscus.

As the University of Erfurt collapsed in the early 1520s, Hessus faced losing his livelihood. To cope, he imagined himself a shape-changing Proteus. Transforming first into a lawyer, then a physician, he finally became a teacher at the Nuremberg academy organized by Philip Melanchthon. Volume 5 traces this story via Hessus's poems of 1524-1528: "Some Rules for Preserving Good Health" (1524; 1531), with attached "Praise of Medicine" and two sets of epigrams; "Three Elegies" (1526), two praising the Nuremberg school and one attacking a criticaster; "Venus Triumphant" (1527), with poems on Joachim Camerarius’s wedding; "Against the Hypocrisy of the Monastic Habit" (1527), with four Psalm paraphrases; and "Seventeen Bucolic Idyls" (1528), updating the "Bucolicon" of 1509 and adding five idyls.

This cornucopia of poetic fruits from Hessus’s autumn opens with "On the Tumults of These Times" (1528), meditating on the Peasant War and the Sack of Rome, and exhortations to Emperor Charles V to heal Germany’s traumas and defeat the Turks (1530). Next are the masterpieces, "Epicedia" (1531), mourning famous contemporaries; the urban praise "Nuremberg Illuminated" (1532); and three books of Christian "Heroides" (1532), updated to reflect Lutheran teaching. The collection concludes with three dirges, a panegyric of Landgrave Philip’s victory in Württemberg (1534), an "Elegy on Slander" for Melanchthon (1538), and an "Epithalamion" for the Marburg jurist Justus Studaeus (1539).