NEW TOPIC! "Great Books for the SCA Tradition"

Lenny Zimmermann zarlor at acm.org
Wed Jun 11 08:03:05 PDT 1997


On Tue, 10 Jun 1997 23:39:58 -0500, ALREK KANIN wrote:

[snip]
>
>"Etiquette for Renaissance Gentlemen" is my first pick
>by Baldesar Castiglione, Penguin ISBN 0-14-600174-5   95 cents U.S.
>
>It is CHEAP and a very good insight into the Renaissance school of
>thought for upper class men.  It was written in 1528 and covers topics
>on love, war, women, politics, art,and religion...
>
>Good for stick jocks...only 60 pages...might even help people find out
>how to get along with each other, who knows?

I would also like to recommend the full version of this book for those
with Renaissance personas. (Especially if you have a persona who is a
courtier or diplomat.) The original text is "The Book of the
Courtier", by Conte Baldassare Castiglione. Penguin is also printing
this one. As mentioned it was published in 1528, but M. Castiglione
started writing this piece a decade or two earlier. If you haven't
read any period works this can be a bit tough to get through with long
run-on sentences, but worth the try. 

For those who are courtiers I would also highly recommend a book
titled "Renaissance Diplomacy". It covers the history of diplomacy
through the Middle Ages and the Renaissance and beyond. I found it
very fascinating and it's great for insight into some of the mindset.
(Especially if you are doing Ren. Italian. THERE was a world driven by
politics and diplomacy!)

Finally, in this vein, I'd also recommend a book called, I believe,
"The Renaissance Reader". It is a collection of parts of works by Ren.
Italian authors from Petrarch on into the 16th Century and is
excellent for everything from an insight into daily life, behavior and
etiquette, and family life to diplomacy and philosophies.

I don't have either of the last two books with me, so I can't pass
along the ISBN and author's from them, but I'll try to look it up this
evening.
Honos Servio,
Lionardo Acquistapace, Bjornsborg
(mka Lenny Zimmermann, San Antonio)
zarlor at acm.org



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