Greetings. As terrible as was my fear that Spain might swallow you up,¹ so keen is my joy that you have returned to us, not only safe and sound but even in more prosperous health. This is what I have been told, although the incident at Calais, if it actually happened, is a great annoyance.²

Your little book,³ which I read carefully, has been returned to you, I presume, together with my letter. You had already started out on your journey, but your servant said that he would overtake you. I have no doubt that you learned of the tragic...

The infamy of Henry VIII’s Great Debasement, which began in 1542 and was continued by his successors for another six years after his death, until 1553, has obscured the previous monetary changes of his reign, especially the two linked debasements of 1526. Certainly the Great Debasement was by far the most severe ever experienced in English monetary history and was one of the worst experienced in early-modern Europe.¹ The 1526 debasements and related monetary changes are of interest not only to economic historians but also to readers of theCorrespondence of Erasmus,since many of the letters discuss financial transactions...