Stultitiae Laus

Also known as: Moriae Encomium

Author

Erasmus

Language

Neo-Latin

Year

1511

First Pub.

France

Genre

Nonfiction Book (Treatise, History, Biography, or Book-Length Essay)

christianitymedieval europerenaissance

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In Praise of Folly, also translated as The Praise of Folly, is an oration written in Latin in 1509 by Desiderius Erasmus of Rotterdam and first printed in June 1511. Inspired by previous works of the Italian humanist Faustino Perisauli's De Triumpho Stultitiae, it is a spiralling satirical attack on all aspects of human life, not ignoring superstitions and religious corruption, but with a pivot into an orthodox religious purpose.