The Fortunes of the Courtier (Magill’s Literary Annual 1991-2005)
At a glance:
- Author: Peter Burke
- First Published: 1995
- Type of Work: Literary history
- Time of Work: 1528-c.1900
- Setting: Europe
- Principal Characters: Baldasar Castiglione, Roger Ascham, Pietro Bembo, Count Lodovico da Canossa, Elisabetta Gonzaga, Lukasz Górnicki, Thomas Hoby
- Genres: Criticism, Nonfiction
- Subjects: Culture, History, Literature, Books, Publishing or publishers, Italy or Italians, Renaissance, Nobility, Royal courts or courtiers
- Locales: Europe
The son of a courtier, Baldasar Castiglione was born in 1487 at Casatico, Italy. On his mother’s side he was related to the Gonzagas who ruled Mantua. Following his father’s profession, Castiglione served his kinsman Francesco Gonzaga (1499-1503); then, from 1504 to 1513 he was at the court of Urbino, the setting for his treatise on the ideal courtier. In 1524, he became papal nuncio to Emperor Charles V of Spain, who sacked Rome in 1527. Although Castiglione claimed that The Courtier was the product of a few days’ effort, he may have begun writing it as early as 1508,...
[The entire page is 2186 words long]
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