A courtesy book (also book of manners) was a didactic manual of knowledge for courtiers to handle matters of

etiquette Etiquette ( /ˈɛtikɛt, -kɪt/) can be defined as a set of norms of personal behavior in polite society, usually occurring in the form of an ethical code of the expected and accepted social behaviors that accord with the conventions and ...

, 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 In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and ...

, 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 class The middle class refers to a class of people in the middle of a social hierarchy, often defined by occupation, income, education, or social status. The term has historically been associated with modernity, capitalism and political debate. C ...

es. 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 from Italy around 1215/16 is the ''Der Wälsche Gast'' by Thomasin von Zirclaere, speaking to a German audience. The oldest known courtesy book from England is '' Book of the Civilized Man'' by Daniel of Beccles, also known as the '' Liber Urbani'', from the beginning of the 13th century – possibly 1190AD.

Renaissance

The Renaissance saw the re-emergence of urban civilisation in the Italian city-states, drawing on the earlier urban civilizations of ancient Greece and Rome, but developing new ideals of manners and courtesy. Three sixteenth century Italian texts on courtly manners and morals – Baldassarre Castiglione's '' Il Cortegiano'' (1528); Giovanni della Casa's '' Il Galateo'' (1558) and Stefano Guazzo's '' La Civil Conversazione'' (1574) in four volumes – had an especially wide influence both south and north of the Alps. Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, apparently had at his bedside three books: the Bible,

Niccolò Machiavelli Niccolò di Bernardo dei Machiavelli (3 May 1469 – 21 June 1527) was a Florentine diplomat, author, philosopher, and historian who lived during the Italian Renaissance. He is best known for his political treatise '' The Prince'' (), writte ...

's '' The Prince'', and '' Il Cortegiano'' (''The Courtier ''). Through Castiglione's writings, the Italian ideals of Neo-Platonism, beauty and symmetry, and the amateur author, reached a wide humanist audience, as did the new Italianate emphasis on the self in society and the importance of social appearances. The norms for personal boundaries and social proxemics established by figures such as della Casa still influence the Western world almost a half millennium later.

English translations and developments

In 1561,

Thomas Hoby Sir Thomas Hoby (1530 – 13 July 1566) was an England, 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 Forde ...

published ''The Courtyer'', his translation of ''Il Cortegiano'', (although he had made the translation a decade earlier). The work was read widely and influenced the writings of

Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 23 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 natio ...

, Edmund Spenser and

Ben Jonson Benjamin Jonson ( 11 June 1572 – ) was an English playwright, poet and actor. Jonson's artistry exerted a lasting influence on English poetry and stage comedy. He popularised the comedy of humours; he is best known for the satire, satirical ...

. Robert Peterson's translation of ''Il Galateo'' appeared in 1576. George Pettie translated the first three books of Guazzo's work into ''The Civil Conversation'' in 1581; the fourth and last volume from ''La Civil Conversazione'' appeared five years later in a translation by Bartholomew Yonge. A well-known English example of the genre is Henry Peacham's ''The Compleat Gentleman'' of 1622.See the articles "Courtesy Literature" and "Hoby" in .

Later developments

Courtesy books continued to be written into the 1700s, the last traditional English one being Lord Chesterfield's ''Letters to His Son'' – memorably described by Samuel Johnson as teaching "the morals of a whore and the manners of a dancing-master". However they took on a new form in the fiction of the time, much of it (like the work of Sir Charles Grandison) filling a similar normative role.S. K. Marks, ''Sir Charles Grandison'' (1986) p. 14

Medieval

Renaissance

English translations and developments

Later developments

See also

References

Further reading