Ramus and Reform

Educator and reformer Peter Ramus (1515-72) was known for his rash assaults on the most esteemed and cherished foundations of religion and learning in France. As a leading figure in both the French Reform and the University of Paris, and author of the pedagogical system known as "Ramism," he consistently promoted an ideology which would make status, influence, and authority dependent on talent and achievement, instead of on birth or wealth. His social ideal attracted a sizeable following and achieved some practical results during his lifetime, but after his death his reforms collapsed. In their place arose the hierarchical, oligarchic, and authoritarian society of Old Regime France. Skalnik presents fresh and solid research in this well-written volume.

“Among the many merits of this fine book is the author’s success in rescuing Peter Ramus from his past interpreters who have tended to see in him only a Protestant martyr and the inventor of an all-purpose pedagogical method.… Skalnik draws attention both to the variety of Ramus’s interests and to the common denominator at the core of his thought: he was a passionate reformer and an outspoken rebel.”—Sixteenth Century Journal

“The most notable quality of James Veazie Skalnik’s study of Peter Ramus is how the author manages to portray this “difficult man” in a style that is intriguing and anything but difficult.”—Calvin Theological Journal

Acknowledgements

Introduction

Labor Omnia Vincit

Praeceptor Galliae

Professor Regius

Deligere Aureum Saeculum

Nemo Nisi Vocatus

Republica Timocratia

Appendix A

Royal Professors, 1530–1610

Appendix B

Editions of Ramus’s Works, 1540–1640

Bibliography

Index