The Louvain Collegium Trilingue: an appealing story of courageous vision and an unseen international success. Thanks to the legacy of Hieronymus Busleyden, counsellor at the Great Council in Mechelen, Erasmus launched the foundation of a new college where international experts would teach Latin, Greek and Hebrew for free, and where bursaries would live together with their professors.

The foundation at the Louvain Fish Market, however, met with strong opposition in a dramatic period of political and religious tensions. At the same time, it conquered the whole of Europe alike. Hundreds of students from various countries travelled to the Three-Language College, renowned professors worked and taught there until the institute was closed down during the French Revolution.

In this book the secret ‘Erasmian’ recipe used in this humanist language education is analyzed and contextualized by specialists in the field. Moreover, it appears that these new didactics in language and literature also initiated an inspiring new scientific method.