40. CONVENTUM] This took place in July 1520, shortly after Henry's meeting with Francis I at Ardres, known as the 'Field of the Cloth of Gold '.
41. UNDECIM] Erasmus' memory for dates was uncertain.
42. EBORACENSIS] Wolsey.
XXIV
[A letter written in 1521 from Anderlecht, a suburb of Brussels, to Jodocus Jonas, a member of the University of Erfurt, and afterwards one of the followers of Luther. Jonas had asked for a sketch of the life of Colet, who had died on 16 Sept. 1519; and Erasmus in reply sent this letter, to convey some impression of the man to whom he felt himself to owe so much. With it he coupled a slighter sketch of another friend, also dead, in whose character he traced much the same features as he had admired in Colet. Very little is known of Vitrarius beyond the information contained in this letter; without which our knowledge of Colet and also of Henry VIII—the 'divine young king', as he was often called in these early years—would not be so full as it is.]
2. PAUCIS] sc. verbis.
17. ORDINIS FRANCISCANI] The order of friars founded by St. Francis of Assisi (1182-1226).
18. ADOLESCENS INCIDERAT] Here and in l. 38 Erasmus is clearly thinking of the circumstances under which he himself had embraced the monastic life (see p. 8[*]). His strong bias against monasticism, which is very evident throughout this piece, often makes him unjust in his representations of it.
[* At the beginning of LIFE OF ERASMUS. Transcriptor.]
27. SCOTICAS ARGUTIAS] An unflattering allusion to the philosophy of John Duns Scotus (the Scot), who was one of the leaders of mediaeval thought; fl. 1300.