| dc.description.abstract | The search for the ideal of the perfect man is as old as our civilisation. It figures as early as the Instructions
of Ptahhotep, the Egyptian volume supposed to be the oldest surviving book, “le plus ancient livre du monde",
written probably during the latter part of the Sixth Dynasty (2322-2151 BC). The Instructions of Ptahhotep make
up a manual of good manners and polite conduct, containing thirty-seven maxims and addressed to all aspiring
officials. The cardinal virtues described are self-control, modesty, and discretion; honesty, fairness, and
kindness; generosity and diligence. The corresponding vices are quarrelsomeness, calumny, boasting, and cheating;
gluttony, lust, and greed. In relation to his betters, the civil servant is always to show respect, deference and
solicitude. He is to carry out his orders with courtesy and discipline and give advice when asked, thus gently
teaching his supervisor. He is to avoid showing-off, pushiness, and playing one superior off against another. He is
also supposed to shun gossip and ridicule. In relation to his peers and intimate associates, the official is to
show friendship, loyalty, forgiveness and generosity. He should not boast of his successes, nor belittle those who
are not so successful, but he should enjoy the good things of life. Much stress is put on becoming “wise” and,
especially, on learning how to speak well. The Instructions make it clear that any ambitious man who adapts himself
to the established administrative and social systems, and who meets the demands of those systems for industry and
honesty will gain wealth, position, and recognition. The goal is definite worldly advantage, with little regard to
spiritual values or to the future life. Judging from the number of surviving papyri copies from various periods,
the maxims were very popular in ancient Egypt.
From the maxims of Ptahhotep it is clear that any attempt to establish an ideal of human perfection presents many
difficulties because of the protean character of ideals. What seems new in one age is often only the revival of
things that have lain dormant or unnoticed from the past. For the Greeks the perfect man was the philosopher. For
the Romans - the orator, and for the Middle Ages - the knight. In the Renaissance, however, it was the courtier, in
whom elements of the ideals described by Plato, Cicero, Chaucer - and, indeed, Ptahhotep - were combined.
Burckhardt depicted the Renaissance as a cultural revolution, with the civilising effect of literature and the
humanities bringing about social refinement and a new spiritual sophistication. In the early sixteenth century the
courts of kings and princes dominated both politics and culture and became the centres of a new “civilisation of
good manners”. Courts were now international and the internal organisation of courts across Europe was very
similar. It became more and more usual for leading courtiers to be employed as resident ambassadors. Thus courtiers
became international figures. Along with these developments the sixteenth century saw the appearance of an
international “philosophy of the courtier”. Its supreme representative was Baldassare Castiglione’s Il Cortegiano,
sometimes seen as a sixteenth-century adaptation of classical ideas. Castiglione realised the importance of the new
class of men, adviser-courtiers, and he even created a new word to signify their service - cortegiania.
Il Cortegiano is an extended manual of fashioning and self-fashioning. It is built on the belief that man can
invent himself. It was Pico della Mirandola who formulated in the Renaissance the influential concept of man as a
creator. In his famous Oration on the Dignity of Man Pico advances the theory that the key to man’s greatness is
his God-given power to “make” himself - the power freely to act, to create and, like the chameleon, to transform
his own nature. In the Oration God is depicted revealing this power to man at Creation: “We have made thee neither
of heaven nor of earth, neither mortal nor immortal, so that with freedom of choice and with honour, as though the
maker and moulder of thyself, thou mayest fashion thyself in whatever shape thou shalt prefer”.
Il Cortegiano was to become the most significant book in the history of courtly literature. It became the symbol of
changing times, new standards, and new social attitudes. From the time almost of its first Italian edition, Il
Cortegiano was known in England and over time it became a more and more important influence on English courtiers.
Perhaps few of the nobles of Elizabeth’s Court approached the ideal of Castiglione’s courtier, but most of them
seem to have recognised the merits of the fashionable new model.
It has been noticed that the reign of Elizabeth produced a novelty at the English Court - the male favourite, whose
importance and influence depended mostly on his physical and personal attraction for the Queen. Foremost among
Elizabeth’s favourites was Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester. His position at Court means that any study of the
Elizabethan Court prior to the 1590s must focus on him. This study will examine how close Leicester, “the most
controversial personality of the reign”, came to the ideal described by Castiglione. A by-product of this
examination will be the assembling of the scattered information connected with Leicester’s accomplishments,
interests and everyday activities; most existing studies of Leicester treat these areas of his life as peripheral. | en_EN |
