Erasmus from Rotterdam

The presence of the works of the humanist Erasmus of Rotterdam in the private library of Castiglione, staring with the fundamental Institutio principis christiani of 1516 and his works translating and paraphrasing the New Testament, makes it possible to analyse the relationship between the two authors staring from concrete facts. While Castiglione was producing the first draft of his work, in the years following 1515, the fame of Erasmus in Italy, especially in the Roman circles frequented by Baldassarre, reached its peak. So it is natural to presume that the principle works of Erasmus printed in Italy in this period (the Encomium moriae, the Institutio principis christiani and the translations of  Isocrates and Plutarch) would have influenced Castiglione, giving him some precious suggestions for the writing of the second draft of his work. In particular, Baldassarre used material form the writings of Erasmus in the part of the dialogue reserved for the discussion of the figure of the prince and his relationships with the gentlemen of the court. The Institutio principis christiani, in particular, rotated around three fundamental concepts that Castiglione also shared: the education of the prince, the need to avoid adulation, the necessity to pursue peace. Castiglione took on from Erasmus the importance of analysing the question of the relationship between the prince and the courtier, but, when he reached his final draft, he solved the problem in a new way: in fact, the courtier is given not just a generic role of general moral edification, as in Erasmus, but specific joint responsibility in the management of power, on an almost equal level.

It then happened that, precisely in the years in which he was bringing to an end his writing of The Cortegiano, at the time of his nunciate in Madrid, Castiglione matured a feeling of coldness and hostility towards Erasmus, that had, however, political and not literary roots. In fact, the disciples of Erasmus included the humanists at the court of Charles V who actively promoted the anti-Roman activities of the Emperor, against which he had to make a formal stand. It was with a follower of Erasmus, Alfonso de Valdés, with whom more than anyone else Baldassarre engaged, in the final period of his life, the most terrible and bitter fight.