Originally composed in Latin under the tile Enchiridion militis Christiani, this instructional manual was written in 1501 and first published in English in 1533 by William Tyndale. During a stay in Tournehem, a castle near Saint-Omer in the north of modern-day France, Erasmus encountered an uncivilised, yet friendly soldier who was an acquaintance of his close friend, Battus.