Renaissance court culture wasn’t left to chance. To start with, there were the text books: The Order of Chivalry by Raymond Lull and The Book of the Courtier by Baldassare Castiglione. Then there were the endless Mirror of Princes books, held up like looking glasses as exemplars of male and female courtly behaviour. Then, if there wasn’t an appropriate text to describe the exact detail of etiquette you needed, you could always write one, as Lady Margaret Beaufort did for the Tudors.
Every day was practice day for the inevitable and hoped-for battle, when young knights would finally win their spurs and older ones would prove their worth. The sporting heroes of the court tournaments would become the laurel-wreathed heroes of the battlefield. Supported by honour, justice and the love of their lady, young men threw themselves into training and the hope of entering in to the legendary status and fame of men such as le Chevalier Bayard.
Poetry, music and drama in the period reveal the extent to which this paramilitary culture was all pervasive. However, they also reveal to us the changing nature of this culture. The introduction of new weapons, like ready to shoot pistols, altered the parameters of a fight. In England, in particular, the growing power of the navy and its new streamlined gunships effectively began to overshadow the traditional image of a knight at arms as the stock hero of warfare.
We will examine the changing role of court men and women in this dynamic world of tradition and innovation.
