Erasmus in English, 1523-1584

The translation of Erasmus's Manual of the Christian Soldier, thought to be by William Tyndale, is one of the foundational texts of the English Reformation. The present edition is based for the first time on the recently-discovered manuscript dating from 1523. It is accompanied by translations of other key religious works, Erasmus's treatise on the Lord's Prayer and the introduction to the New Testament; by the anti-papal satire, Julius Exclusus; and by the Epistle in Praise of Matrimony and the Proverbs, both translated by the English Erasmian, Richard Taverner, in support of Thomas Cromwell's reformist agenda.