The Book of the Courtier
Recommended by Kenneth Bartlett, and 1 others. See all reviewsRanked #18 in Etiquette, Ranked #43 in Renaissance
In The Book of the Courtier (1528), Baldesar Castiglione, a diplomat and Papal Nuncio to Rome, sets out to define the essential virtues for those at Court. In a lively series of imaginary conversations between the real-life courtiers to the Duke of Urbino, his speakers discuss qualities of noble behaviour - chiefly discretion, decorum, nonchalance and gracefulness - as well as wider questions such as the duties of a good government and the true nature of love. Castiglione's narrative power and psychological perception make this guide both an entertaining comedy of manners and a revealing... more
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Kenneth Bartlett This is really a humanist neoplatonic study of the perfectibility of men and women. (Source)
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