These new institutions encouraged a broader range of studies, and in Henry VI’s time particular attention was given to the Latin classics, hitherto but little known.  The geographical discoveries of Henry VII’s reign, made by Columbus, Cabot, and others (S335), began to stimulate scientific thought.  It was evident that the day was not far distant when questions about the earth and the stars would no longer be settled by a text from Scripture which forbade further inquiry.

With the accession of Henry VIII education received a still further impulse.  A few zealous English scholars had just returned from Italy to Oxford, full of ardor for a new study,—­that of Greek.  Among them was a young clergyman named John Colet.  He saw that by means of that language, of which the alphabet was as yet hardly known in England, men might put themselves in direct communication with the greatest thinkers and writers of the past.

Better still, they might acquire the power of reading the Gospels and the writings of St. Paul in the original, and thus reach their true meaning and feel their full influence.  Colet’s intimate friend and fellow worker, the Dutch scholar Erasmus, had the same enthusiasm.  When in sore need of everything, he wrote in one of his letters, “As soon as I get some money I shall buy Greek books, and then I may buy some clothes.”  The third young man, who, with Erasmus and Colet, devoted himself to the study of Greek and to the advancement of learning, was Thomas More, who later became Lord Chancellor (SS145, 351).

The three looked to King Henry for encouragement in the work they had undertaken; nor did they look in vain.  Colet, who had become a doctor of divinity and a dean of St. Paul’s Cathedral, London, encountered a furious storm of opposition on account of his devotion to the “New Learning,” as it was sneeringly called.  His attempts at educational reform met the same resistance.

But Henry liked the man’s resolute spirit, and said, “Let others have what doctors they will; this is the doctor for me.”  The King also took a lively interest in Erasmus, who was appointed professor of Greek at Cambridge, where he began his great work of preparing an edition of the Greek Testament with a Latin translation in parallel columns.

Up to this time the Greek Testament had existed in scattered manuscripts only.  The publication of the work in printed form gave an additional impetus to the study of the Scriptures, helped forward the Reformation, and in a measure laid the foundation for a revised English translation of the Bible far superior to Wycliffe’s (S254).  In the same spirit of genuine love of learning Henry founded Trinity College, Cambridge, and at a later date confirmed and extended Cardinal Wolsey’s endowment of Christ Church College, Oxford.

340.  Henry against Luther.