Tuesday, January 22, 2013

The Courtier

Defining the role of gentlefolk. To quote:
Here I wish to discuss the way the figures of the gentleman and the gentlewoman developed in European culture during the Renaissance. To define these roles I will start from a very important text of Italian literature, The Courtier by Baldassar Castiglione. This book, written as a dialogue, gradually came to exert great influence on court society. It contributed unquestionably to the building of the way of life in court society during the period of modern state formation. The Courtier provided the basic grammar of European court society until the French Revolution. Why? There are four reasons which give a particular authority to this book in defining the figures of the gentleman and the gentlewoman. (Read entire article.)
Share

No comments: