The humanist idea of education is among the permanently influential legacies of the Italian Renaissance. Four short Latin treatises published between 1400 and 1460 define it admirably: Pier Paolo Vergerio’sDe ingenuis moribus et liberalibus adolescentiae studiis;Leonardo Bruni’sDe studiis et literis;theDe liberorum educationeof Aeneas Sylvius, who later became Pope Pius II; and Battista Guarino’sDe ordine docendi et studendi.Translated into English by William Harrison Woodward and framed, on the one hand, by his description of the famous school founded by Vittorino da Feltre in 1424 at the court of Gianfrancesco Gonzaga, marquis of Mantua,...

The present volume is offered as an introduction to the study of the education of the first period of Renaissance, the century which followed the death of Petrarch. The work falls into three divisions. The first treats of the career of the characteristic Humanist School-master, Vittorino da Feltre. The second consists of four noteworthy treatises on education produced during this period, not now readily accessible to students. These are here presented in English versions. In the third section I have aimed at setting forth a general review of education as conceived by humanist scholars.

The subject is of interest in more...

Vittorino da Feltre was born at Feltre, one of those picturesque little towns which nestle under the southern slope of the Eastern Alps with their faces turned toward the great Venetian plain. It is near enough to the southern edge of the Dolomite region to be called Titian’s country; its natural centre is Venice, though at the end of the fourteenth century its dependence was either upon the Visconti or the Carrara, the famous condottieri and lords of Padua. Vittorino was the son of one Ser Bruto di Rambaldoni and Moncla his wife; the family was held in high respect¹,...

Vergerius has been referred to above, p. 14 seqq., in connection with Humanism at Padua during the period when Vittorino da Feltre was residing there.

Vergerius was born at Capo d’ Istria in 1349: after spending some years at Padua he removed to Florence, where he taught Logic, and studied Civil and Canon Law. In 1391 we find him again in Padua, as ‘Doctor Artium,’¹ as ‘Doctor Medicinae,’² and as professor of Logic³. In his teaching of this latter subject he has broken away from scholastic method, and already gives evidence of an essentially modern treatment of Dialectic, in which...

This short Treatise, cast as usual in the form of a Letter, is probably the earliest humanist tract upon Education expressly dedicated to a Lady; just as Baptista di Montefeltro, to whom it is addressed, may stand as the first of the succession of studious women who were a characteristic product of the Renaissance.

Baptista was the younger daughter of Antonio, Count of Urbino, who died in 1404. She was then twenty-one years of age, and was married, on June 14,1405, to Galeazzo Malatesta, the heir to the lordship of Pesaro. The marriage was a most unhappy one. The worthless...

Like the Treatise of P. P. Vergerius, this Tractate of Aeneas Sylvius was primarily addressed to the scion of a ruling House. Ladislas, the young King of Bohemia, was born after the death (1439) of his father, Albert II, and his ward-ship was one of the many responsibilities which awaited the new Emperor, Frederick III, on his election in the following year. Ladislas remained in the charge of the Emperor until 1452, and died at the age of 18 in November 1457. It may be said that his short life hardly gave promise of much capacity or strength of character....

Battista Guarino was the youngest son¹ of Guarino Veronese, and was born in 1434 during his father’s residence at Ferrara, where Guarino held the post of tutor to the heir of the House, Leonello d’Este², and kept school. We gather that he was the only one of the sons of Guarino who shewed any genuine taste for scholarship, and that his father built high hopes upon his abilities. As a boy he was brought up and educated under the immediate direction of Guarino, who was led, by his early promise, to entrust him with a share in the private tution...

The purpose of the present chapter is to exhibit a general view of the Educational aims and methods of the Scholars of the first century of Humanism. In order to limit the enquiry to matter strictly pertinent I have confined attention to such sources as represent the definite educational practice of the time. The authorities referred to are, therefore, either actual schoolmasters, as Vittorino and Guarino, or Scholars of mark who compiled treatises upon one or another aspect of education. In this way I have practically excluded reference to the vast body of Commentaries, academic Addresses, or correspondence, produced in...