n of
his prince. How would such a congress of princes--where in peaceful
conclave the interests of France, England, Spain, the German Empire, and
a considerable part of Italy, were represented together--have affected
Erasmus's imagination, if his ideal had remained unshaken! But there are
no traces of this. Erasmus was at Calais in July 1520, had some
conversation with Henry VIII there, and greeted More, but it does not
appear that he attached any other importance to the journey than that of
an opportunity, for the last time, to greet his English friends.

It was awkward for Erasmus that just at this time, when the cause of
faith took so much harsher forms, his duties as counsellor to the
youthful Charles, now back from Spain to be crowned as emperor,
circumscribed his liberty more than before. In the summer of 1520
appeared, based on the incriminating material furnished by the Louvain
faculty, the papal bull declaring Luther to be a heretic, and, unless he
should speedily recant, excommunicating him. 'I fear the worst for the
unfortunate Luther,' Erasmus writes, 9 September 1520, 'so does
conspiracy rage everywhere, so are princes incensed with him on all
sides, and, most of all, Pope Leo. Would Luther had followed my advice
and abstained from those hostile and seditious actions!... They will not
rest until they have quite subverted the study of languages and the good
learning.... Out of the hatred against these and the stupidity of monks
did this tragedy first arise.... I do not meddle with it. For the rest,
a bishopric is waiting for me if I choose to write against Luther.'

Indeed, Erasmus had become, by virtue of his enormous celebrity, as
circumstances would have it, more and more a valuable asset in the great
policy of emperor and pope. People wanted to use his name and make him
choose sides. And that he would not do for any consideration. He wrote
evasively to the Pope about his relations with Luther without altogether
disavowing him. How zealously he defends himself from the suspicion of
being on Luther's side as noisy monks make out in their sermons, who
summarily link the two in their scoffing disparagement.

But by the other side also he is pressed to choose sides and to speak
out. Towards the end of October 1520 the coronation of the emperor took
place at Aix-la-Chapelle. Erasmus was perhaps present; in any case he
accompanied the Emperor to Cologne. There, on 5 November, he had an
interview about Luther