The Ages of Erasmus and the Year of His Birth
on the year of his birth and the chronology of his youth. We do not know with certainty, for example, how old Erasmus was when he entered Steyn monastery. If he were born in 1466, as he indicates at times, and became a postulant in the middle of 1487, as other information suggests, he would then have been twenty years of age. Yet in an appeal to Pope Leo X for a release from some of his monastic obligations in August I I6 Erasmus asserts that he was just sixteen when he was prevailed upon to enter the monastery. On the strength of this and other evidence R. L. DeMolen has argued with equal logic that Erasmus must have been born in 1469 and entered Steyn in 1485-86. Which of his conflicting utterances, then, are we *I wish to express my warmest thanks to Nicolaas van der Blom and Clarence H. Miller, who kindly read over a draft of this article and suggested numerous improvements. My title is adapted from a chapter heading in Koch, 39: "Erasmus' Year of Birth and Erasmus' Ages." In rendering Erasmus into English, I have greatly profited by the translations in CWE.