The Miller’s Tale

J.B. Trapp

• Erasmus: His Life, Work and Influence by Cornelis Augustijn, translated by J.C. Grayson
  Toronto, 239 pp, £16.25, February 1991, ISBN 0 8020 5864 7
• Erasmus: A Critical Biography by Léon-E. Halkin, translated by John Tonkin
  Blackwell, 360 pp, £45.00, December 1992, ISBN 0 631 16929 6
• Erasmus, Man of Letters: The Construction of Charisma in Print by Lisa Jardine
  Princeton, 278 pp, £19.95, June 1993, ISBN 0 691 05700 1

A Swiss Reformation woodcut shows a mill being brought back into use under the eye of God the Father. Christ is emptying St John’s eagle out of a sack into a hopper to join St Matthew’s angel, St Mark’s lion, St Luke’s ox and St Paul with his sword. They are ground into the pure flour of hope, faith and love, scooped up and bagged by Erasmus the miller under the supervision of the dove of the Holy Ghost and handed on to Luther the baker, bent over his kneading tub. The Church hierarchy refuse the product. Behind looms a peasant with his flail, while a dragon shrieks excommunication.