This website is named after Erasmus for his lifelong dedication to reading and writing influential works. The developers of this site find furthermore inspiration in his independent and critical attitude in life, his international friendships, and obviously his Dutch roots. Below you can read more, mostly taken from Wikipedia.

Desiderius Erasmus Roterodamus was an influential Dutch humanist and theologian. He was born on 27 October 1469 in Gouda or Rotterdam as an illegitimate son of a priest. Despite being illegitimate, Erasmus was cared for by his parents and his guardians, who gave him the best education available to a young man of his day, in a series of monastic or semi-monastic schools. Erasmus preferred to live the life of an independent scholar and made a conscious effort to avoid any actions or formal ties that might inhibit his freedom of intellect and literary expression. He travelled, studied and lectured all over Europe (Paris, Torino, Cambridge, Louvain, Basel, and more). He corresponded with more than five hundred men of the highest importance in the world of politics and of thought, and his advice on all kinds of subjects was eagerly sought. Throughout his life, he was offered many positions of honor and profit throughout the academic world but declined them all, preferring the uncertain but sufficient rewards of independent literary activity.  

Although he remained a Roman Catholic throughout his lifetime, he was critical of what he considered the excesses of the Catholic Church. Using humanist techniques he prepared important new Latin and Greek editions of the New Testament which raised questions that would be influential in the Reformation. His revolt against the forms of church life did not result from doubts about the truth of the traditional doctrine nor from any hostility to the organization of the Church itself. Rather, he felt called upon to use his learning in a purification of the doctrine and in a liberalizing of the institutions of Christianity. It was this lifelong conviction that guided Erasmus as he regenerated Europe through sound criticism applied frankly and without fear to the Catholic Church.

Erasmus wrote both on ecclesiastic subjects and those of general human interest. He seems to have regarded the latter as trifling, a leisure activity, and is credited with coining the adage, "In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king." Erasmus's best-known work was The Praise of Folly, a satirical attack on the traditions of the Catholic Church and popular superstitions, written in 1509, published in 1511 and dedicated to his friend, Sir Thomas More.