The Erasmus Center for Early Modern Studies is a center of excellence based on the collaboration of the three chairs of Early Modern History (Faculty of History and Arts Studies), History of Philosophy (Faculty of Philosophy), and History of Law (Faculty of Law). A considerable part of its current research is funded by the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO) and by NIAS.

Individual, Community and Government in the Early Modern Period: Morals, Politics and Administration from Erasmus to Bayle:
The research focus of the Erasmus Center is related to the expertise of the collaborating scholars and based on taking the findings of each of the collaborating disciplines vital for research in the other ones. The Center thus runs a common, monthly research seminar (see seminar program). It is also related to the considerable collection of early modern books at the Public Library. The Library harbors a famous Erasmus Collection as well as other collections of early printed books and pamphlets. These collections amount to a total of some 30,000 items. Digitalization of the catalogue of these sources and research on issues related to the topics covered in these sources is the main commitment of the Center. In time, it will provide worldwide access to this database. For these aims, the Erasmus University Rotterdam and the Rotterdam City Library have collaboratively funded the Erasmus Center and an extra specialist on early-modern books.

Conal Condren
Emeritus Scientia Professor, University of New South Wales
Political Philosophy and Intellectual History from the 14th to 18th Centuries

Mark Greengrass
Professor of Early Modern History, University of Sheffield
France in the 16th and 17th Centuries • History of Ideas in the 17th Century

Highly research active faculty who devote most of their time to the theme of individual, community and government in the early-modern period from Erasmus to Bayle (1450–1750). These individuals run most of the Center’s scholarly activities:

History

Henk Nellen
17th–Century Scholarly World • Political Theory • Hugo Grotius (1583-1650)

Pieter Spierenburg
Socio-Cultural History and Historical Criminology • Violence in European and American Societies over the Long Term

Hans Trapman
Humanism and Reformation in the Low Countries • Erasmus (1466-1536) and his Influence, 16th-20th Centuries • Cultural History of the Middle Ages and Renaissance

Jan van Herwaarden
Erasmus • Late Medieval and Early Modern Piety, Religious Life, Devotions, and Pilgrimages in the Netherlands

Robert von Friedeburg
Early Modern and Modern History

Michel Reinders
Popular Political Culture in Early Modern History • Pamphlets in the Dutch Republic in 1672

Paul Schulten
War and Warfare in the Greek and Roman world • Humor in the Ancient World

Adrie van der Laan
Erasmus Online • Rodolphus Agricola (1444–85)

Jan Waszink
The political thought of Justus Lipsius (1547-1606) and Hugo Grotius • 16th- and 17th-century Tacitism

Rolf Dreier
Social and Cultural History of the Early Modern Period • History of Science • History of Medicine (especially the plague) • History of the European Expansion

Jan Hartman
Inventing Governance in the Dutch Golden Age • Johan (1622-1660) and Pieter de la Court (1618-1685)

Jaap Nieuwstraten
Marcus Zuerius Boxhorn (1612-1653)

Theo Pronk
The Communal Order of Jerusalem under Threat. The Political Use of Religious Self-Images in German Imperial Cities during the Thirty Years War

Ingmar Vroomen
Patriotism in Pamphlets in the Dutch Republic, 1618-1690

Law

Laurens Winkel
Legal History • Hugo Grotius (1583-1645)

Tammo Wallinga
History of European Law • Wilhelmus de Cabriano (12th century)

Philosophy

Piet Steenbakkers
Benedictus de Spinoza (1632-1677)

Wiep van Bunge
Spinoza • Pierre Bayle (1647-1706) • The Early Enlightenment in the Dutch Republic

Aza Goudriaan
Gerardus Vossius (1577-1649) • Remonstrantism

Henri Krop
History of Philosophy in the Netherlands • Spinoza (Ethica)

Paul Schuurman
Early-Modern Epistemology, Philosophy of Science, and Logic, in particular in Locke and Descartes • Philosophy of War

Han van Ruler
Classical and Christian Notions of the Self in Early Modern Dutch Philosophy, Theology, and Letters (from Erasmus to Spinoza)