The Libro del Cortegiano (“Book of the Courtier”), published in 1528, discussed the social type of the courtier and proclaimed an ideal of cultivation and conduct in a Humanist spirit (Humanism) that enjoyed a wide reception across Europe in the centuries that followed. It was thus more than just a seminal text of early modern Europe: it contributed in turn to the “Europeanization of Europe” [2. 12], insofar as it served the construction of cultural identity across national boundaries. Courtly culture (Court [monarchical]) and the autonomy of the individual here enter into a …