Castiglione's "The Courtier" a testament to his formative years at the peaceful, enlightened court of Urbino. Roeder calls it a "theory of the leisure class."
His goal is to bring the principles of the now dissolved court of Urbino -- conviviality, conciliation, adaptability, self-discipline, humanity -- into practice in the tumultuous world of Rome and Italian society in general.
Manners "the convivial form of morals . . . elementary and unchanging." but even as he writes "The Courtier," Castiglione can see the futility, the belatedness of his tribute.
Upon completion of "The Courtier," Roeder has Castiglione reflect "there it lay, the substance of his life, compressed into a little sheaf of shining pages."
Having experienced too early the "hardening world of pleasure and intrigue," the once charming boy favorite of Julius, Federico Gonzaga has coarsened into a surly, lustful, and perhaps murderous youth. Isabelle d'Este places him under Castiglione's tutelage.
The Medici Pope Leo senses the spirit of the time and it is not religion (Savaranola) or politics (Machiavelli) but rather art. Thus "swarms of artists, scholars, poets" flocked to Rome to take advantage of his prodigality.
Leo is not drawn to the strife of Michaelangelo, prefering instead the graceful facility of Rafael. Leo: "in art he loved ease and charm; life was strenuous enough, and much too harsh."
After Lorenzo d'Medici's death, his uncle Pope Leo tries to reconcile with the previously ousted Gonzaga clan: "he applied on every occasion the emollient salves of his softest phrases to the sore spot . . . The mere mention of the name of Gonzaga set his mouth flowing with unctious saliva."
The loyal Castiglione then sent as an emissary to Rome to negotiate on behalf of the Gonzaga.
Castiglione writes from the court of the inconstant, calculating Pope: "this is the house of change and variation and it is difficult to discover its secrets."
Negotiating with Leo, Charles V of Spain, recently made Holy Roman Emperor, uses suppression or support of the Lutherans as a bargaining chip.
Leo's indecisiveness: "he vacillated like a delicate instrument, vibrating nervously to every atmospheric disturbance."
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