THE COMPLAINT OF PEACE - Translated from the Latin of Erasmus - A.D.1559 - Edited by Alexander Grieve

Oct 13, 2026

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A.D.1559 edition of Erasmus’s Peace treatise, translated from the Latin and dedicated in the preface to Lord Antony Viscount Montague. The work frames peace as exiled from princes and clerical ranks and portrays a world increasingly seized by debate, uproars, and violence. It explains how war-driven disorder harms merchants, farmers, kingdoms, families, and public morals, and calls for Christ-centered unity, humility, and reconciliation that outlasts worldly discord.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryLiterature

FormatPDF

Pages128

Reading Time3 h 17 min

AccessFree to download

Contents

Preface to Paynell's Translation

Foreword by Editor

Peace Banished by Man

The Scriptures and Peace

Christian Concord

The Clergy and War

How to Avoid War

Steps Towards Peace

The Real Causes of War

A Final Appeal

Notes

# 100 THE COMPLAINT OF PEACE | THE
COMPLAINT
OF
PEACE
TRANSLATED FROM THE LATIN
OF ERASMUS
A.D.1559
EDITED BY
ALEXANDER GRIEVE,M.A.,D.D.
UNITED CoLLEGE,BRADFORD,
LONDON:
HEADLEY BROS.PUBLISHERS,LTD
KINGSWAY HoUSE,KINGSWAY,W.C. | | --- | Originally published,A.D.1517. First published in English,A.D.1559 Republished in English,A.D.1802. Present I88ue,Quadricentennial Edition,A.D.1917. CONTENTS PAGE PREFACE TO PAYNELL's TRANSLATION(1559) ix. FoREWORD BY EDITOR……………………………………………xi. PEACE BANISHED BY MAN……………………………………I THE ScRIPTURES AND PEACE …………………………19 CHRISTIAN CoNCORD…………………………………………33 THE CLERGY AND WAR ……………………………………4I How TO AvoID WAR …………………………………………57 STEPS TOWARDS PEACE………………………………………71 THE REAL CAUSES OF WAR………………………………88 A FINAL APPEAL……………………………………………97 NoTES ………………………………………………………………………………IO3 # PREFACE TO PAYNELL'STRANSLATION (A.D.1559). To the Right Hon.Lord Antony ViscountMontague,Knight of the Rt.Hon.Order ofthe Garter. Erasimus Roterodamus,one of the excellentestclerks of our time,perceiving and seeing the2world to be wavering,troublesome,unquiet,andeverywhere bent and inclined to war and mis-chief,could not temper himself nor yet his pen,but needs he must zwrite unto the world this trueand eloquent complaint,the zwhich I have trans-lated and dedicated unto your Lordship,as untoa father and a supporter of peace and quietness,entitled"The Complaint of Peace." Andsearching very narrozwly for a place for peace torest herself in,he in his time could nowheres—no,not among princes(as he saith),nor cardi-nals,bishops,priests,lawyers,married men,noramong schoolmen nor divines,nor yet amongreligious men—find where to bestow her quietly:such tempests and surges of controversy arose inevery city and region throughout all Christen-dom that peace zvas and is exiled even fromthose that,to the example of all others,shouldhave embraced her,the zwhich truly if Christ'strue religion had been among them would mostlovingly and quietly have received her and mosttenderly retained her. And even now everyman's head,as I conjecture and perceive,is busyand unquiet,given all to newfanglings,the very # PREFACE mother of all commotions,uproars,debates,battle,and murder:the mother of all riotous andlicentious living,and of lewd liberty,sedition andtreason,the very root and beginning. Everyman is now ready to invade other,to spoil,torob,to deface cities,towns,and boroughs.Thusthrough Mars and Bellona and for lack of unityand peace,cities are spoiled,and civil lazs,thepresent aid and maintenance of the commonzwealput to silence. Thus merchants are robbed both by sea and byland,thus the innocent husbandman is utterlyundone,thus kingdoms are impoverished,honestmatrons defiled,virgins deflozwered,incense andsacrilege supported,and the world on every sideready to decay,and all this(as I have said)forlack of true peace in Christ,the which causethmen to be of one accord in faith,confirmable inpurpose,and like in humility and diliction.Godof His Goodness send us this peace.For whythe peace of this zeorld is rather a discord than apeace:of the zehich and the commodities thereof,with the incommodities of zwar,anyhow peace isturmoiled and tossed from post to pillar.Erasmus in this complaint most sincerely andeudeniye [?]doth teach us,the which,as it ismost eloquently and pleasantly zwritten,so it is tothose that favour and receive the truth,mosttrue and pleasant. Thus our Lord preserve your Lordship everand ever and send us the peace that passeth allunderstanding and that never shall have end. Amen.

FAQs

Who is the preface addressed to in the A.D.1559 translation?

The preface is addressed to the Right Hon. Lord Antony Viscount Montague.

According to the preface, where does peace fail to rest in Erasmus’s time?

Peace cannot rest among princes, cardinals, bishops, priests, lawyers, married men, scholars, divines, or religious men, and controversy keeps exiling peace from cities and regions.

What harms are attributed to the absence of true peace?

Without true peace in Christ, people fall into unrest and violence: merchants are robbed by sea and land, farmers are ruined, kingdoms impoverished, and moral disorder spreads through defilement and sacrilege.

Oct 13, 2026

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