Under the patronage of the Bishop of Cambrai he was enabled to continue his studies at Paris.

[Sidenote: 1499-1509] For the next ten years he wandered to England, to various places in Northern France and Flanders, and Italy, learning to know many of the intellectual leaders of the time.

From 1509-14 he was in England, part of the time lecturing at Cambridge.

He then spent some {57} years at Louvain, seven years at Basle and six years at Freiburg in the Breisgau, returning to Basle for the last year of his life.
Until he was over thirty Erasmus's dominant interest was classical literature.

Under the influence of Colet and of a French Franciscan, John Vitrier, he turned his attention to liberalizing religion.