Chapter XXIII

ENGLISH SCHOLARS OF THE RENAISSANCE.--A.D. 1473 TO 1550.

Scholars of Magdalen College. Visit of Erasmus to England. His
opinion of Oxford. Dean Colet. His character and his friends. His
friendship with Erasmus. Foundation of St. Paul’s School. Court
of Henry VIII. Its brilliancy and learned character. Reginald
Pole. Progress of the Reformation. Controversy between Erasmus and
Luther. The divorce. The king consults the foreign universities.
The Humanist professors espouse his cause. Pole retires from
England. His life in Italy. Effect of the Reformation on the
English universities. Utter decay of Oxford under Edward VI. 672