Desiderius Erasmus of Rotterdam, 1466--1536

If this wasn't Yet Another Inadequate Placeholder, I would say something about the pivotal role of Erasmus in many of the developments that shaped the modern world: the Renaissance "revival" (really, transmutation) of classical learning in northern and western Europe; the Reformation; the beginnings of ideals of toleration; independent intellectuals reaching an audience through mass media such as printed books; and advanced textual scholarship. (Indeed, I could devote pages to the importance of textual scholarship alone.) But this is just an inadequate placeholder, so I won't.

Notebooks

Desiderius Erasmus of Rotterdam, 1466--1536