The Book of the Courtier

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The Book of the Courtier

As a ship is without a sail or a king with no castle, so too is a courtier without a Court lady. In "The Book of the Courtier" Baldesar Castiglione not only included a perfect courtier, he also molded his female equivalent, a Court lady. "The Courtier" itself was a step by step guide intended to instruct the young, affluent and upwardly mobile in areas of manners, learning, sport and conduct. It was published in 1528, at a high point of humanistic thought and antiquarian chivalric interest in Renaissance Italy. Often overlooked or undervalued is the discussion of the ideal Court lady, described in eloquent and perfect detail by the characters of Caesar and Magnifico, who was assigned by the Duchess to create "such a woman that these adversaries of ours [Gaspare and Ottaviano] will be ashamed to deny that she is equal in worth to the courtier."

The discussion on the Court lady began from an argument over the proper way to tell a joke to a woman. Ottaviano and Gaspare took the position that women are morally weak and less virtuous than men, setting off a heated exchange that ended with the Duchess's request of Magnifico.

Magnifico set out to construct the Court lady in a very similar way to the courtier, "with all the perfections proper to women and virtues of the recently created courtier." Most similar between the two were their mental and personality qualities and attributes. Maginifico wanted her to have prudence, continence, and magnanimity, to "shun affectation," be graceful and well mannered, modest, clever, never jealous or slanderous, loyal and in good repute with her mistress and skilled at activities becoming of a women. For her more than for the courtier it was important to h...

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...He advises that she should hold out for a courtier of similar grace and virtue to herself, with whom she could be sure to have an honest and fulfilling love. Interestingly, Castiglione does not go to the trouble of teaching the courtier how to love as he has the Court lady.

The discussion on the Court lady in "The Courtier" is important because it gives valuable insight into Renaissance views and expectations of women. It also gives some very interesting insight into Castiglione himself, who emerges from it as a fierce defender and liberator of women in an age rife with chauvinism. Through "The Courtier" Castiglione intelligently and logically attempted to bring real change to the status quo of women, but unfortunately it was impossible for his message to be widely circulated and as a result probably had only a limited effect on a select few people.

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