Baldassare Castiglione
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Baldassare Castiglione, Count of Casatico, was an Italian courtier, diplomat, soldier and a prominent Renaissance author.
Portrait of Baldassare Castiglione by Raphael
The Ducal Palace at Urbino, setting of the Book of the Courtier.
"Il Cortigiano, Del Conte Baldessar Castiglione. Novamente stampato, et con somma diligentia revisto con la sua tavola di novo aggiunta. Con priuilegio. In Vinegia [Venice], appresso Gabriel Giolito de Ferrari MDXLIX" (1549)
Courtier
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A courtier is a person who attends the royal court of a monarch or other royalty. The earliest historical examples of courtiers were part of the retinues of rulers. Historically the court was the centre of government as well as the official residence of the monarch, and the social and political life were often completely mixed together.
Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester was a courtier favoured by Elizabeth I.
Portrait of a Persian courtier
Madame de Pompadour was a French royal mistress
Sir Walter Raleigh was a courtier favoured by Elizabeth I