This is an excerpt from Broken Bonds: A Novel of the Reformation by Amy Mantravadi (1517 Publishing, 2024), pgs. 24-27
“Perhaps you should get some sleep,” Froben offers.
Erasmus ignores this suggestion and laments, “They say I laid the egg that hatched all of this—Luther, Zwingli, Œcolampadius, Pellicanus. [13] They would even blame me for Farel!”
Froben laughs softly. “I’ve heard of geese laying golden eggs, but you, my friend, are a rare bird indeed.”
“Everyone credits me with far more influence than I possess. If men were truly heeding my words, we would all be sitting at the table of fellowship, feasting upon pearls of divine wisdom. Instead, they bite and devour one another, and soon we will all be consumed.”
“I’m afraid the list of guests at that table grows smaller by the day: you, me, Pirckheimer, your English friends. [14] Who else?”
He shakes his head sadly. “I wish I could say Philipp Melanchthon, but he is too much in the clutches of the boar if his writings are any indication.” [15]
“The boar? You mean Luther?”
“Yes, although in truth there is something of the mule about him. He’s far more stubborn than the Pope—though they say Luther has moderated of late. That explains why all the radicals are flocking down here.”
Silence falls. Soon the fire will be naught but embers. Froben asks the question that is on both their minds.
“Have you decided yet whether you will write against him?”
This is the matter that has consumed Erasmus’ thoughts for at least a year. As long as the Elector Friedrich of Saxony continues to protect Luther within his territory, neither papal bull nor imperial edict can bring an end to him or his movement. There is always someone willing to print Luther’s pamphlets, and always a legion of Germans happy to buy them. Therefore, the pressure has long been placed on Erasmus’ shoulders, as the most respected scholar still loyal to Rome, to oppose Luther publicly and refute his arguments. The English king was among the first to admonish him in this regard, and the late Pope Adrian joined the chorus. Given that scholars of biblical languages and readers of ancient poems tend to be condemned along with Luther, there is good reason to fear that the destruction of the troublesome Saxon could lead to the persecution of the New Learning itself. And if I attack Luther, Melanchthon may turn against me, and any hope of preserving my work will be lost. Erasmus’ spirit is torn asunder, for he fears the consequences of any choice he might make. Day and night, they implore him—“Make the breach!”—but must the bridge be burnt? Can nothing escape the purgation of the hour?“
No final decision,” he answers. “I implied that I would write against him to King Henry, but as I am no Englishman, he cannot set my head on a spike like Buckingham’s.” [16]
Froben smiles weakly. “You know I am happy to publish anything from your pen, but you may accomplish nothing more than angering everyone involved.”
“Oh, that is a certainty, or as certain as anything can be in this life. But this much I have learned from Luther: whether in success or failure, living or dying, I shall be myself. I shall do things my way.”
“If that were true, you wouldn’t be writing.”
“Wouldn’t I?” Erasmus retorts, his tone grasping. “In the end, every man does what he desires. I desire not to meet my end at the whim of fools. Therefore, I write: I survive. That is my choice—I have very nearly made it. And when I write, I shall not do it to please the king of England, or the pope of Rome, or the devils of Louvain, for I cannot. Nor will I attempt to please Luther, or Œcolampadius, or Pellicanus and all the rest. Their disdain for me was sealed long ago. I shall do it according to my temper, in line with my usual manner, although there is nothing usual about it. I know well enough that Luther will be himself, and I envy him that freedom even as I despise his use of it. But perhaps if I too am myself, if I appeal to whatever good may exist in him, then perhaps he will be the best version of himself, whatever that might be.”
“Ha!” Froben cries. “It would still be crude—that’s for sure.”
“Yes, it is his singular talent to mock and disparage,” Erasmus acknowledges, nodding sadly. “He has no regard for my self-control. Before one God do we stand or fall. He will take his stand on his vision, and I on mine. We will see whose spirit is true, if indeed we are not both sons of perdition. Terminus did not yield to Jupiter. [17] I yield to no one.”
They fall silent again, both staring ahead, the weight of the moment a crushing burden upon them. In this quiet, he thinks, You are not being yourself. You have never been yourself, for if you showed the world who you truly are, then you would learn what it is to be marked as a son of perdition. And to himself he replies, bitter and defiant, Only God knows what I truly am.
[13] Johannes Œcolampadius was vicar of St. Martin’s Church in Basel and reader of holy scripture at the university there. He assisted on Erasmus’ translation of the New Testament before adopting Reformation ideas. Conrad Pellicanus was a Franciscan friar and scholar of biblical languages who assisted on many of Froben’s translations before coming to sympathize with Luther’s ideas.
[14] Williband Pirckheimer, a lawyer and humanist scholar living in Nuremberg. He frequently corresponded with Erasmus.
[15] In the papal bull Exsurge Domine, Leo X famously referred to Martin Luther as the “wild boar from the forest” trampling the vineyard of the Church.
[16] King Henry VIII of England, who had Edward Stafford, 3rd Duke of Buckingham, executed for treason on 17 May 1521.
[17] There is a common tale that the Capitoline Hill in ancient Rome was home to a temple to the god Terminus, and when the Romans sought to replace it with a temple to Jupiter, Terminus would not be moved.
