An edition of Erasmus’s Opera omnia, edited by J. Le
Clerc, in ten volumes (London, 1962), has an 11th vol-
ume containing a facsimile of the 1703–06 Leyden edi-
tion. Since 1974 the University of Toronto Press has been
issuing a new English translation of all Erasmus’s writings
under the title The Collected Works of Erasmus; the earliest
volumes to appear contain his highly readable letters, and
the Adages and Colloquia occupy respectively vols 37–38
and 41–60. The Encomium Moriae was translated into
English by Sir Thomas Chaloner in 1549, and this trans-
lation was reissued as vol. 257 in the Early English Text
Society publications (Oxford, U.K., 1965). Betty Radice’s
modern English version, with introduction and notes by
A. H. T. Levi, is in the Penguin Classics series (Har-
mondsworth, U.K., 1971). A convenient introduction to
the Adagia is M. M. Phillips’s Erasmus on his Times (Cam-
bridge, U.K., 1968); there is a selection by William Barker
in The Adages of Erasmus (Toronto, 2001).
Further reading: Arthur G. Dickens and Whitney R.
D. Jones, Erasmus the Reformer (London: Methuen, 1994);
James McConica, Erasmus (Oxford, U.K.: Oxford Univer-
sity Press, 1991); John Joseph Mangan, The Life, Charac-
ter, and Influence of Erasmus Derived from a Study of His
Works (Whitefish, Mont.: Kessinger, 2003).
Erastianism Secular control of the Church, even in ec-
clesiastical affairs. Erastianism is named after a Swiss
theologian, Thomas Lüber (c. 1524–83), better known by
his humanist pseudonym of Erastus. Erastus’s Explicatio
gravissimae quaestionis was published in London in 1589.
This was a collection of theses circulated by Erastus after
coming to Heidelberg in 1558 to serve as physician to the
elector palatine. Initially written in defiance of attempts to
impose Calvinist consistories and discipline upon the
Palatinate, the Explicatio was employed to justify demands
for greater state control of the Church during the late 16th
and 17th centuries. The term is frequently but erroneously
used to describe the Tudor view of ecclesiastical govern-
ment, particularly under Henry VIII.
Ercilla y Zúñiga, Alonso de (1533–1594) Spanish poet
Belonging to a noble family, Ercilla was born in Madrid
and served Philip II as a page. He later spent seven years
(1556–63) in America, serving as a captain with forces in
Chile. On his return to Spain he married well and lived at
court as a favorite of Philip II. His poem, La Araucana
(Part I, 1569; Part II, 1578; complete edition, 1589), is the
first important literary work to emerge from America and
the greatest Spanish epic of the Golden Age. Its 37 cantos,
written in octava real (hendecasyllabic eight-line stanzas,
rhyming abababcc, a form introduced by BOSCÁNin imita-
tion of ARIOSTO’s ottava rima), are concerned with the
Spanish capture of the Arauco valley in Chile. In itself a
minor battle, in which Ercilla himself took part, the con-
flict is raised to epic grandeur, however, by striking de-
scriptive passages. The Araucanian Indians and their lead-
ers are sympathetically portrayed, courageous even in de-
feat. A section of the poem contains a “prophetic” passage
on the battle of Lepanto.Ercole de’ Roberti (Ercole de Ferrara) (c. 1450–1496)
Italian painter
A native of Ferrara often confused with the Bolognese
painter Ercole di Giulio Cesare de’ Grandi, Ercole de’
Roberti was influenced by Giovanni BELLINIand was prob-
ably a pupil of Francesco del COSSA. After assisting Cossa
on the frescoes of the Palazzo Schifanoia and on the altar-
piece of San Lazzaro (now destroyed) in Ferrara and the
Griffoni altarpiece at Bologna (c. 1476), Ercole de’ Roberti
established his reputation with a large altarpiece, Madonna
Enthroned with Saints (1480/81; Brera, Milan), painted for
Sta. Maria in Porto at Ravenna. He then became court
painter to the BENTIVOGLIOrulers of Bologna, in which
post he executed portraits of Giovanni II and his wife
Ginevra (National Gallery, Washington) before returning
to Ferrara in 1486, where he succeeded Cosimo TURAas
court painter to the Este family. Paintings from this last
period included the Harvest of the Manna (National
Gallery, London), a Pietà (Liverpool), and The Way of the
Cross (Dresden).Eros See CUPIDEscorial A royal palace, mausoleum, and Jeronymite
monastery in central Spain. Sited northwest of Madrid, in
the Guadarrama mountains, this massive complex, which
constitutes the most important work of architecture of the
Spanish Renaissance, was commissioned as a mausoleum
for Emperor Charles V by Charles’s son PHILIP II. Built be-
tween 1562 and 1584, the Escorial was originally designed
by Juan Bautista de Toledo (died 1567) and completed by
Juan de HERRERA. Philip himself, according to Fray José de
SIGÜENZA, took a close interest in his “royal foundation of
San Lorenzo del Escorial” and was responsible for many
details. Juan de Herrera revised the plan under the influ-
ence of works by Serlio, Vignola, and Michelangelo—no-
tably St. Peter’s in Rome—and also redesigned the great
church (1572) that stands at the center of the grid pattern
of buildings. A library was added in 1592 and contains
nearly 5000 manuscripts and 40,000 printed books. Paint-
ings for the interior of the Escorial were commissioned
from many notable artists, including TITIAN, TIBALDI, Fed-
erico ZUCCARO, FERNÁNDEZ DE NAVARRETE, and El GRECO.
The principal sculptors employed were Leone and Pom-
peo LEONI. All Spanish monarchs since Charles V have
been buried in the mausoleum here, with the exception of
Alfonso XII.
Further reading: Mary Cable, El Escorial (New York:
Newsweek Books, 1985); George Kubler, Building the Es-
corial (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1982;EEssccoorriiaall 1 16677