''On Civility in Children'' ( lat, De civilitate morum puerilium) is a handbook written by

Erasmus of Rotterdam Desiderius Erasmus Roterodamus (; ; English: Erasmus of Rotterdam or Erasmus;''Erasmus'' was his baptismal name, given after St. Erasmus of Formiae. ''Desiderius'' was an adopted additional name, which he used from 1496. The ''Roterodamus'' w ...

, and is considered to be the first treatise in Western Europe on the moral and practical education of children. First published in 1530 it was addressed to the eleven-year-old Henry of Burgundy, son of Adolph, Prince of Veere, and gives instructions, in simple Latin, on how a boy should conduct himself in the company of adults. The book achieved immediate success and was translated into many languages. The first English version, by Robert Whittinton (or Whittington) was published in 1532, under the title of ''A Little Book of Good Manners for Children''. Another translation by Thomas Paynell was issued in 1560. The book is divided into seventeen sections, each dealing with an aspect of behaviour.

Norbert Elias Norbert Elias (; 22 June 1897 – 1 August 1990) was a German sociologist who later became a British citizen. He is especially famous for his theory of civilizing/decivilizing processes. Biography Elias was born on 22 June 1897 in Bresla ...

refers to this book in his most influential work, ''

The Civilizing Process ''The Civilizing Process'' is a book by German sociologist Norbert Elias. It is an influential work in sociology and Elias' most important work. It was first published in Basel, Switzerland in two volumes in 1939 in German as ''Über den Prozeß ...

'', claiming that Erasmus' specific use of the French term "civilité" reshaped its meaning, laying the groundwork for the later emergence of the influence of the word

civilization A civilization (or civilisation) is any complex society characterized by the development of a state, social stratification, urbanization, and symbolic systems of communication beyond natural spoken language (namely, a writing system). Ci ...

for the French and British states.

References

Etiquette Handbooks and manuals 1530 books 16th-century Latin books {{manuscript-stub