Childhood and youth; a humanist in the monastery; the hard apprenticeship of freedom; Paris, the attractions and burdens of a tutorship; England, a second homeland; Paris and Louvain, from the adages to the panegyric; an introduction to the devout life - the handbook of the Christian soldier; Italy and the return to the sources; a religious pamphlet - the Praise of folly; from the Foundations of the abundant style to The education of the Christian prince; the New testament; the age of gold; from Louvain to Antwerp via Basel and Cologne; polemics at Louvain and relaxation at Anderlecht; Erasmus and Luther - the clash of two reforms; settled in Basel; Basel - the daily round of work; the colloquies - chronicle of an era; from The institution of marriage to the Ciceronian; Christ served first; Freiburg - a voluntary exile; Freiburg - the final harvest; return to Basel - farewells; the personality of Erasmus; appraisal of a life's work - literature, peace, philosophy of Christ; the Erasmian message - from the critique of Christianity to critical Christianity.