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Courtesy Book
A courtesy book (also book of manners) was a didactic manual of knowledge for courtiers to handle matters of etiquette, socially acceptable behaviour, and personal morals, with an especial emphasis upon life in a royal court; the genre of courtesy literature dates from the 13th century. Medieval Courtesy books formed part of the didactic literature of the Middle Ages, covering topics from religion and ethics to social awareness and social conduct. While firmly normative in their bent, they also showed an awareness of the human realities that did not fit neatly under the rubric of their precepts. Such books appealed both to an aristocratic readership and to aspiring urban middle classes. The oldest known courtesy book from Germany is the mid-thirteenth century ''Tannhäuser'' Book of Manners. Another of the oldest known courtesy books of Germany, is the learning-poems of " Winsbecke" and " Winsbeckin", written around 1220 by an anonymous author. The oldest known courtesy book fro ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Etiquette
Etiquette () is the set of norms of personal behaviour in polite society, usually occurring in the form of an ethical code of the expected and accepted social behaviours that accord with the conventions and norms observed and practised by a society, a social class, or a social group. In modern English usage, the French word ' (label and tag) dates from the year 1750. History In the third millennium BCE, the Ancient Egyptian vizier Ptahhotep wrote ''The Maxims of Ptahhotep'' (2375–2350 BC), a didactic book of precepts extolling civil virtues, such as truthfulness, self-control, and kindness towards other people. Recurrent thematic motifs in the maxims include learning by listening to other people, being mindful of the imperfection of human knowledge, and that avoiding open conflict, whenever possible, should not be considered weakness. That the pursuit of justice should be foremost, yet acknowledged that, in human affairs, the command of a god ultimately prevails i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Niccolò Machiavelli
Niccolò di Bernardo dei Machiavelli ( , , ; 3 May 1469 – 21 June 1527), occasionally rendered in English as Nicholas Machiavel ( , ; see below), was an Italian diplomat, author, philosopher and historian who lived during the Renaissance. He is best known for his political treatise '' The Prince'' (''Il Principe''), written in about 1513 but not published until 1532. He has often been called the father of modern political philosophy and political science. For many years he served as a senior official in the Florentine Republic with responsibilities in diplomatic and military affairs. He wrote comedies, carnival songs, and poetry. His personal correspondence is also important to historians and scholars of Italian correspondence. He worked as secretary to the Second Chancery of the Republic of Florence from 1498 to 1512, when the Medici were out of power. After his death Machiavelli's name came to evoke unscrupulous acts of the sort he advised most famously in his work, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lord Chesterfield
Philip Dormer Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield, (22 September 169424 March 1773) was a British statesman, diplomat, and man of letters, and an acclaimed wit of his time. Early life He was born in London to Philip Stanhope, 3rd Earl of Chesterfield, and Lady Elizabeth Savile, and known as Lord Stanhope until the death of his father, in 1726. Following the death of his mother in 1708, Stanhope was raised mainly by his grandmother, the Marchioness of Halifax. Educated at Trinity Hall, Cambridge, he left just over a year into his studies, after focusing on languages and oration. He subsequently embarked on the Grand Tour of the Continent, to complete his education as a nobleman, by exposure to the cultural legacies of Classical antiquity and the Renaissance, and to become acquainted with his aristocratic counterparts and the polite society of Continental Europe. In the course of his post-graduate tour of Europe, the death of Queen Anne (r. 1702–1714) and the accession of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Oxford Companion To English Literature
''The Oxford Companion to English Literature'' first published in 1932, edited by the retired diplomat Sir Paul Harvey (1869–1948), was the earliest of the Oxford Companions to appear. It is currently in its seventh edition (2009), edited by Dinah Birch. The work, which has been periodically updated, includes biographies of prominent historical and leading contemporary writers in the English language, entries on major works, "allusions which may be encountered", significant ( serial) publications and literary clubs. Writers in other languages are included when they have affected the anglophone world. The ''Companion'' achieved "classic status" with the expanded fifth edition edited by novelist and scholar Margaret Drabble, and the book was often referred to as "The Drabble". Harvey's entries concerning Sir Walter Scott, much admired by Drabble in the introduction to the fifth edition, were reduced for reasons of space, in the sixth edition. Modern technology has meant that ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Henry Peacham (born 1578)
Henry Peacham (born 1578, d. in or after 1644) was an English poet and writer, known today primarily for his book, ''The Compleat Gentleman'', first printed in 1622. Biography Son of Henry Peacham the Elder, a clergyman, Peacham was a graduate of Trinity College, Cambridge. In 1603, at the age of twenty-five the younger Peacham was a schoolmaster at Kimbolton Grammar School. In 1612 he published a book of printed emblems called ''Minerva Britanna'', based on a manuscript which is believed to have been presented to Henry Frederick, Prince of Wales, in 1610.Elizabeth Hageman, Katherine Conway, ''Resurrecting Elizabeth I in Seventeenth-century England'' (2007), p. 73 Peacham's ''The Compleat Gentleman'' is presented as a guidebook on the arts for young men of good birth. In it, he discusses what writers, poets, composers, philosophers, and artists gentlemen should study in order to become well-educated. Because he mentions a large number of contemporary artistic figures, he i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bartholomew Yonge
Batholomew Young or Yong ( fl. 1577–1598), was the translator of Montemayor's Spanish pastoral romance ''Diana''. The translation Young was, according to a pedigree in the Harleian MS 1754, son of Gregory Young of Yorkshire. He describes himself as of the Middle Temple, and took part as a French orator in a "public shew" given at the Middle Temple, when Lady Rich, probably the sister of Essex, was among the audience. About 1577 he was for two years in Spain. On coming home he spent "welny three yeeres in some serious studies and certaine affaires" without using his Spanish. At this point he fell into the company and acquaintance "of my especial good friend Edward Banister of Idesworth in the Countie of Southampton, Esquier". Banister gave him the first and second parts of Montemayor's ''Diana'' to translate into English, that he might not lose his Spanish. He did not publish his translation for sixteen years. In the meantime another translation was completed by (Sir) Thomas Wil ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
George Pettie
George Pettie (1548–1589) was an English writer of romances. His style influenced Robert Greene, and paved the way to euphuism. Life He was younger son of John Le Petite or Pettie of Tetsworth and Stoke Talmage, Oxfordshire, by his wife Mary, daughter of William Charnell of Snareston, Leicestershire. He became a scholar of Christ Church, Oxford, in 1564, and graduated B.A. on 29 March 1569. According to Anthony Wood, William Gager of Christ Church was a close friend. At Christ Church, Pettie was servitor to Thomas Bernard, with Richard Verstegan. Pettie travelled abroad, and apparently had some military experience. On returning home he concentrated on writing. Guazzo's Civile Conversation. He died, according to Wood, during July 1589, in his prime, at Plymouth. He was buried in "the great Church" at Plymouth. Works The success of ''The Palace of Pleasure'' (1566–7) of William Painter prompted Pettie to write a similar book: ''A Petite Pallace of Pettie his Pleasur ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ben Jonson
Benjamin "Ben" Jonson (c. 11 June 1572 – c. 16 August 1637) was an English playwright and poet. Jonson's artistry exerted a lasting influence upon English poetry and stage comedy. He popularised the comedy of humours; he is best known for the satirical plays ''Every Man in His Humour'' (1598), '' Volpone, or The Fox'' (c. 1606), '' The Alchemist'' (1610) and '' Bartholomew Fair'' (1614) and for his lyric and epigrammatic poetry. "He is generally regarded as the second most important English dramatist, after William Shakespeare, during the reign of James I." Jonson was a classically educated, well-read and cultured man of the English Renaissance with an appetite for controversy (personal and political, artistic and intellectual) whose cultural influence was of unparalleled breadth upon the playwrights and the poets of the Jacobean era (1603–1625) and of the Caroline era (1625–1642)."Ben Jonson", ''Grolier Encyclopedia of Knowledge'', volume 10, p. 388. His ancestor ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Edmund Spenser
Edmund Spenser (; 1552/1553 – 13 January 1599) was an English poet best known for '' The Faerie Queene'', an epic poem and fantastical allegory celebrating the Tudor dynasty and Elizabeth I. He is recognized as one of the premier craftsmen of nascent Modern English verse and is often considered one of the greatest poets in the English language. Life Edmund Spenser was born in East Smithfield, London, around the year 1552; however, there is still some ambiguity as to the exact date of his birth. His parenthood is obscure, but he was probably the son of John Spenser, a journeyman clothmaker. As a young boy, he was educated in London at the Merchant Taylors' School and matriculated as a sizar at Pembroke College, Cambridge. While at Cambridge he became a friend of Gabriel Harvey and later consulted him, despite their differing views on poetry. In 1578, he became for a short time secretary to John Young, Bishop of Rochester. In 1579, he published ''The Shepheardes Calender'' an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Shakespeare
William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the " Bard of Avon" (or simply "the Bard"). His extant works, including collaborations, consist of some 39 plays, 154 sonnets, three long narrative poems, and a few other verses, some of uncertain authorship. His plays have been translated into every major living language and are performed more often than those of any other playwright. He remains arguably the most influential writer in the English language, and his works continue to be studied and reinterpreted. Shakespeare was born and raised in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire. At the age of 18, he married Anne Hathaway, with whom he had three children: Susanna, and twins Hamnet and Judith. Sometime between 1585 and 1592, he began a successful career in London as ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Thomas Hoby
Sir Thomas Hoby (1530 – 13 July 1566) was an English diplomat and translator. Early life Hoby was born in 1530. He was the second son of William Hoby of Leominster, Herefordshire, by his second wife, Katherine, daughter of John Forden. He was a brother-in-law of William Cecil, Lord Burghley, the Queen's principal minister, and an uncle of Robert Cecil, 1st Earl of Salisbury, who succeeded his father as Secretary of State. Among his siblings was brother Sir William Hoby of Hayles. He matriculated at St. John's College, Cambridge in 1546. Encouraged by his sophisticated half-brother, Sir Philip Hoby (later the English Ambassador to the Holy Roman Empire and Flanders), he subsequently visited France, Italy, and other foreign countries, and, as Roger Ascham states, "was many wayes well furnished with learning, and very expert in knowledge of divers tongues." His tour of Italy, which included visits to Calabria and Sicily and which he documented in his autobiography, is the most e ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Erving Goffman
Erving Goffman (11 June 1922 – 19 November 1982) was a Canadian-born sociologist, social psychologist, and writer, considered by some "the most influential American sociologist of the twentieth century". In 2007 '' The Times Higher Education Guide'' listed him as the sixth most-cited author of books in the humanities and social sciences, behind Michel Foucault, Pierre Bourdieu, and Anthony Giddens, and ahead of Jürgen Habermas. Goffman was the 73rd president of the American Sociological Association. His best-known contribution to social theory is his study of symbolic interaction. This took the form of dramaturgical analysis, beginning with his 1956 book '' The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life''. Goffman's other major works include '' Asylums'' (1961), ''Stigma'' (1963), ''Interaction Ritual'' (1967), ''Frame Analysis'' (1974), and ''Forms of Talk'' (1981). His major areas of study included the sociology of everyday life, social interaction, the social co ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
