Weapons and war exercises
In the first book of The Cortegiano, and later in the others, Castiglione dedicated much space to the analysis of the “military profession” that defines, at least formally, the identity of a gentleman. The recognition is authoritative: “estimo che la principale e vera professione del cortigiano debba essere quella delle armi, la quale sopra tutto voglio che egli faccia vivamente e sia conosciuto tra gli altri per ardito e sforzato, e fedele a chi serve” (I believe that the true profession of a courtier must be the arms, which he must practice vigorously and he be recognised by others as brave and robust, and faithful to whom he serves) (B. Castiglione, Il Cortigiano, edited by A. Quondam, Milan 2002, I, 36). Such an assumption affirms a paradigmatic, and at that time taken for granted, identification, destined to survive in European society until the French Revolution: the profession of a nobleman is that of arms. Thus, during the work, there are indications regarding military exercises that in peace time enable the courtier to keep in practice: wrestling, riding, hunting, athletic games.
But, around this specific argument, Castiglione activates his own personal reflections, wanting to propose an integration of the ‘culture of arms’ with the ‘culture of letters’. This reflection is the fruit of both the discussions running at the Court of Urbino, at least at the time of Federico di Montefeltro, and the direct biographical experiences of Castiglione himself: who, son of a man at arms, during the arc of his prolonged career matured a growing disaffection or diffidence towards the world of war and soldiers, in favour of the arts of politics and diplomacy.
Already, in his epistle to Henry VII, dedicated to the commemoration of Guidubaldo di Montefeltro, a new model was outlined, cultural and anthropological, that, refuting the solution of any problem by means of force and violence, places firmly in the foreground the value of pacific cohabitation. This point is taken up and amplified in The Cortegiano, where he proposes to integrate the military operations typical of knights of the feudal era, with humanist culture, so that gentlemen may be induced to reduce resorting to arms and war only in situations of inevitable necessity.
