Dutch humanist who, basing his philosophy on Renaissance ideas, placed special emphasis on the freedom of the individual and the complete development of the self, from both an intellectual and a physical standpoint. His ideas influenced Desiderius Erasmus (Erasmus, Desiderius), another Dutch humanist.

Agricola studied in Groningen, Erfurt, Cologne, and Leuven (Louvain), graduating from Leuven in 1465. While in his early 30s, he started to write, producing an oration in praise of philosophy (1476) and a biography of Petrarch (1477), the Italian poet and scholar. During the following five years, he traveled between universities in northwestern Germany and the Netherlands. In 1484 he accepted an invitation from the bishop of Worms, Johann von Dalberg, to lecture on classical literature in Heidelberg. In the same year he wrote De formando studio, a book on education.