The Education of a Christian Prince
Encyclopedia
The Education of a Christian Prince is a Renaissance
"how-to" book for princes, advising them on how to be a "good Christian
" prince
. The book was dedicated to Prince Charles, who would later become Habsburg
Emperor
Charles V
. It was written by Desiderius Erasmus
in 1516, the same year as Thomas More
finished his Utopia
and only three years after Machiavelli had written his antithetical advice book for princes Il Principe
. The latter, however, was not published until 1532, 16 years later.
Erasmus stated that teachers should be of gentle disposition and have unimpeachable morals. A good education included all the liberal arts. Like the Roman educator Quintilian
, Erasmus was against corporal punishment
for unruly students. He stressed the student must be treated as an individual.
The text was written in part to secure Erasmus as position as Prince Charles's tutor.
approach to pedagogy, literary critism, his own works (including letters), and oratory. The Education of a Christian Prince highlights rhetoric designed to furnish the best erudite practices for a young man in a critical religious and political position.
Rhetoric’s foundational structure, at the turn of the sixteenth century, would have consisted of classical teachings from names such as Isocrates
, Aristotle
, and Cicero
. Some of their respective foci and contributions, of which Erasmus would have been keenly aware, are as follows:
Erasmus uses his knowledge of classical rhetoric in his writing. The ethos Erasmus sets forth within The Education of a Christian Prince (Institutio principis christiani), similar to the Isocratean manner of setting himself apart from potentially incompetent teachers, he shows a certain disdain “against the sophists.” Actually referring to Isocrates, Erasmus, in the preface of Christian Prince and addressing Charles the prince, he states, “[f]or he was a sophist, instructing some petty king or rather tyrant, and both were pagans”. Erasmus’ use of logos and pathos immediately follow when he completes the eschewing of Isocrates: “I am a theologian addressing a renowned and upright prince, Christians both of us”. Moreover, Peter Gay describes Erasmus as “a true classical spirit in his search for clarity and simplicity, a modern in complexity, an ancestor of the Enlightenment in his critical temper and pacific cosmopolitanism. But, above all, he was a Christian intellectual”. And yet, while Cicero was considered the “patron saint of the Renaissance era” – a title that would become fundamentally problematic for a number of Christians because of pagan beliefs – Erasmus came to be known as the “prince of humanists” as many of his contemporaries esteemed him as “‘[a] man born to bring back literature.’”
Erasmus’ stylistic form of writing was often compared to the standards set forth by Cicero (particularly the influence of his De Inventione); however, Erasmus’ primary goal for Christian Prince and all of his works, as he argued, was to be seen as ‘a Christian rather than a Ciceronian.’ Christian Prince is another example of Erasmus’ rhetorically stylistic mastery that serves as a testament to his ability to imbue the teachings of Christ (embodying Cicero's concept of "imitator"). For example, Christ told his disciples a parable of wheat and tares growing in the same field and that it was not their responsibility, but His, to separate the two (Matt. 13:24-43). Erasmus, a consummate rhetorician, managed to quell the concerns of many fellow Christians by “christianizing” pagan ideologies as part of his role in and contribution to the Renaissance
humanist
tradition. For according to Peter Bietenholz, and in concert with Aristotle’s idea of lexis (consisting of a pure knowledge of language), “[t]he humanist, first and last, is a rhetorician, a linguist. His professional devotion as well as skill is aligned to verba [words], not to res [things]. His real gesta, deeds, are verba, the words, and not res gestae, the actions of historical significance.”
Erasmus indeed employs, primarily, deliberative and epideictic forms of rhetoric within Christian Prince, because it is a conduct book
(also referred to as a courtesy book or advisory literature). At the time of its publishing, the conduct book was beginning to witness a change in its popularity as a bourgeoning genre though it can be seen in such classics as Plato
’s Republic and, in Erasmus’ own time, with the likes of Machiavelli’s The Prince and Thomas More
’s Utopia. Christian Prince serves as a guide for the teacher and the prince as well as all court personnel who might have any reason to speak to or with him and espouses Erasmus’ rhetorical approach to Christocentric political theories and pedagogical praxes which he refers to as the “philosophia Christi.” The concept of “philosophia Christi, ” Erasmus’ primary topoi in Christian Prince, is defined by Erika Rummel as “a life centered on Christ and characterized by inner faith rather than external rites”, was introduced more than a decade prior to the publishing of Christian Prince in a similar body of work, The Handbook (or “Dagger”) of a Christian Soldier (Enchiridion Militis Christiani) (1504). At the conclusion of Christian Prince’s preface, Erasmaus, on the basis of “philosophia Christi,” admonishes the prince that "[a]mong the countless distinctions which under God your merit will win for you, it will be no small part of your reputation that Charles was a prince to whom a man need hesitate to offer the picture of a true and upright Christian prince without flattery, knowing that he would either gladly accept it as an excellent prince already, or wisely imitate it as a young man always in search of self-improvement".
Throughout the Christian Prince treatise, Erasmus deftly invokes the knowledge, wisdom and ultimately, truth, to be gleaned from other great thinkers of antiquity such as Plato, Seneca
, and Plutarch
(who seems to have influenced Erasmus most) who will point the prince to Truth. Its very opening sentence begins with Erasmus positing that “[wisdom in itself is a wonderful thing…, and no kind of wisdom is rated more excellent by Aristotle than that which teaches how to be a beneficent prince; for Xenophon
…rightly considers that there is something beyond human nature, something wholly divine, in absolute rule over free and willing subjects”. However, Erasmus never recommends the pagan authors or their works singularly or in isolation because in the next breath, he makes a seamless rhetorical move to remind the prince that of all the requests King Solomon
could have made when God told him he would grant whatever he asked, Solomon’s prayer was for wisdom to lead God’s people.
A similar rhetorical move can be found in a most noteworthy chapter of the treatise, “The Prince Must Avoid Flatterers,” in reverse. As Erasmus offers the pedagogue a recommended list of readings for the prince as student, he first lists “the proverbs of Solomon, Ecclesiasticus, and the Book of Wisdom” then “[n]ext the Gospels”. The total number of biblical references here is seven. He then recommends works from pagan authors: three from Plutarch (Apophthegms, Moralia, Lives); writings from Seneca (no specific titles provided, but he does pluralize the suggestion); one from Aristotle (Politics); two from Cicero (Offices and Laws); and one from Plato (Republic, but because the work was lost at the time, he recommends Laws). The pagan number of works surpasses the number of biblical works. Erasmus justifies his dissoi logoi (arguing from two contrary accounts) approach here by persuading the prince to always apply the following caveat: “This writer whom you are reading is a pagan and you are a Christian reader; although he has many excellent things to say, he nevertheless does not depict the ideal of a Christian quite accurately, and you must take care not to think that whatever you come across at any point is to be imitated straight away, but instead test everything against the standard of Christ”.
Even with offering an Augustinian-type approach (emphasizing the Christian prince’s ability to interpret pagan texts), Erasmus would continue to have strained relations with some Church Fathers regarding his rhetorical methodologies toward Truth. Despite this fact, Christian Prince “saw ten editions during Erasmus’ lifetime and was translated into a number of vernacular languages, which testifies to a general interest in the work”.
Renaissance
The Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned roughly the 14th to the 17th century, beginning in Italy in the Late Middle Ages and later spreading to the rest of Europe. The term is also used more loosely to refer to the historical era, but since the changes of the Renaissance were not...
"how-to" book for princes, advising them on how to be a "good Christian
Christian
A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...
" prince
Prince
Prince is a general term for a ruler, monarch or member of a monarch's or former monarch's family, and is a hereditary title in the nobility of some European states. The feminine equivalent is a princess...
. The book was dedicated to Prince Charles, who would later become Habsburg
Habsburg
The House of Habsburg , also found as Hapsburg, and also known as House of Austria is one of the most important royal houses of Europe and is best known for being an origin of all of the formally elected Holy Roman Emperors between 1438 and 1740, as well as rulers of the Austrian Empire and...
Emperor
Emperor
An emperor is a monarch, usually the sovereign ruler of an empire or another type of imperial realm. Empress, the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife or a woman who rules in her own right...
Charles V
Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor
Charles V was ruler of the Holy Roman Empire from 1519 and, as Charles I, of the Spanish Empire from 1516 until his voluntary retirement and abdication in favor of his younger brother Ferdinand I and his son Philip II in 1556.As...
. It was written by Desiderius Erasmus
Desiderius Erasmus
Desiderius Erasmus Roterodamus , known as Erasmus of Rotterdam, was a Dutch Renaissance humanist, Catholic priest, and a theologian....
in 1516, the same year as Thomas More
Thomas More
Sir Thomas More , also known by Catholics as Saint Thomas More, was an English lawyer, social philosopher, author, statesman and noted Renaissance humanist. He was an important councillor to Henry VIII of England and, for three years toward the end of his life, Lord Chancellor...
finished his Utopia
Utopia
Utopia is an ideal community or society possessing a perfect socio-politico-legal system. The word was imported from Greek by Sir Thomas More for his 1516 book Utopia, describing a fictional island in the Atlantic Ocean. The term has been used to describe both intentional communities that attempt...
and only three years after Machiavelli had written his antithetical advice book for princes Il Principe
The Prince
The Prince is a political treatise by the Italian diplomat, historian and political theorist Niccolò Machiavelli. From correspondence a version appears to have been distributed in 1513, using a Latin title, De Principatibus . But the printed version was not published until 1532, five years after...
. The latter, however, was not published until 1532, 16 years later.
Erasmus stated that teachers should be of gentle disposition and have unimpeachable morals. A good education included all the liberal arts. Like the Roman educator Quintilian
Quintilian
Marcus Fabius Quintilianus was a Roman rhetorician from Hispania, widely referred to in medieval schools of rhetoric and in Renaissance writing...
, Erasmus was against corporal punishment
Corporal punishment
Corporal punishment is a form of physical punishment that involves the deliberate infliction of pain as retribution for an offence, or for the purpose of disciplining or reforming a wrongdoer, or to deter attitudes or behaviour deemed unacceptable...
for unruly students. He stressed the student must be treated as an individual.
The text was written in part to secure Erasmus as position as Prince Charles's tutor.
Rhetoric
Erasmus was a philologist, grammarian, theologian, and rhetorician. He is considered a key contributor to the rhetorical tradition because of his humanistHumanism
Humanism is an approach in study, philosophy, world view or practice that focuses on human values and concerns. In philosophy and social science, humanism is a perspective which affirms some notion of human nature, and is contrasted with anti-humanism....
approach to pedagogy, literary critism, his own works (including letters), and oratory. The Education of a Christian Prince highlights rhetoric designed to furnish the best erudite practices for a young man in a critical religious and political position.
Rhetoric’s foundational structure, at the turn of the sixteenth century, would have consisted of classical teachings from names such as Isocrates
Isocrates
Isocrates , an ancient Greek rhetorician, was one of the ten Attic orators. In his time, he was probably the most influential rhetorician in Greece and made many contributions to rhetoric and education through his teaching and written works....
, Aristotle
Aristotle
Aristotle was a Greek philosopher and polymath, a student of Plato and teacher of Alexander the Great. His writings cover many subjects, including physics, metaphysics, poetry, theater, music, logic, rhetoric, linguistics, politics, government, ethics, biology, and zoology...
, and Cicero
Cicero
Marcus Tullius Cicero , was a Roman philosopher, statesman, lawyer, political theorist, and Roman constitutionalist. He came from a wealthy municipal family of the equestrian order, and is widely considered one of Rome's greatest orators and prose stylists.He introduced the Romans to the chief...
. Some of their respective foci and contributions, of which Erasmus would have been keenly aware, are as follows:
- Isocrates – In his well-known treatise, Against the SophistsAgainst the SophistsAgainst the Sophists is among the few Isocratic speeches that have survived from Ancient Greece. This polemical text was Isocrates attempt to define Isocrates’ educational doctrine and to separate himself from the multitudes of other teachers of rhetoric. Isocrates was a sophist, an identity which...
, Isocrates rebukes sophists for charging exorbitant fees for promises they could not keep (“producing” learners who could speak on any subject at length). He, as an upper echelon sophist, consequently, opened a school that would afford him opportunities to teach “proper” rhetoric and yield model Greek citizens and well-trained leaders. For Isocrates, writing was critical to rhetoric. - Aristotle – In the Art of Rhetoric, Aristotle defines rhetoric as the “the power to observe the persuasiveness of which any particular matter admits.” There are multiple Aristotelian methods by which a writer can attempt to accomplish the goal of persuasion. Noteworthy are topoi, places (common and special topics) from which an argument can be made; three offices of rhetoric: invention, arrangement and style; three proofs of rhetoric: ethosEthosEthos is a Greek word meaning "character" that is used to describe the guiding beliefs or ideals that characterize a community, nation, or ideology. The Greeks also used this word to refer to the power of music to influence its hearer's emotions, behaviors, and even morals. Early Greek stories of...
(based on the speaker’s or writer’s character), logosLogos' is an important term in philosophy, psychology, rhetoric and religion. Originally a word meaning "a ground", "a plea", "an opinion", "an expectation", "word," "speech," "account," "reason," it became a technical term in philosophy, beginning with Heraclitus ' is an important term in...
(based on inductive or deductive reasoning); and pathosPathosPathos represents an appeal to the audience's emotions. Pathos is a communication technique used most often in rhetoric , and in literature, film and other narrative art....
(relies on an audience’s sensibility to a particular subject); three genres of rhetoric: forensic (also known as judicial and concerned with determining truth or falsity of events that took place in the past), deliberative (also known as political and concerned with determining whether or not action should or should not be taken in the future), and epideicticEpideicticThe Epideictic oratory, also called ceremonial oratory, or praise-and-blame rhetoric, is one of the three branches, or "species" , of rhetoric as outlined in Aristotle's Rhetoric, to be used to praise or blame during ceremonies....
(also known as ceremonial and concerned with praise and blame, values/ethics/virtue, and skill in the present). Aristotle founded The LyceumLyceumThe lyceum is a category of educational institution defined within the education system of many countries, mainly in Europe. The definition varies between countries; usually it is a type of secondary school.-History:...
, a peripatetic school. - Cicero – On the Ideal Orator (De OratoreDe OratoreDe Oratore is a dialogue written by Cicero in 55 BCE. It is set in 91 BCE, when Lucius Licinius Crassus dies, just before the social war and the civil war between Marius and Sulla, during which Marcus Antonius Orator, the other great orator of this dialogue, dies...
) is a dialogic treatise addressed to Cicero’s brother, Quintus, and what Cicero refers to as a more mature work than his previously published On Invention (De Inventione). Interlocutors, primarily Crassus and Antonius, posit that the ideal orator: needs a wealth of knowledge (Crassus); would have the rhetorical ability to “first win people over, second, to instruct them, and third, to stir their feelings” (Antonius; similar to Aristotle’s ethos, logos, pathos); is a master of invention, style (includes correct Latin, clarity, distinction, and appropriateness) and eloquence; uses natural ability and have a willingness to imitate a great teacher for the sake of effectually perfecting the natural ability and not for the cloning of the teacher.
Erasmus uses his knowledge of classical rhetoric in his writing. The ethos Erasmus sets forth within The Education of a Christian Prince (Institutio principis christiani), similar to the Isocratean manner of setting himself apart from potentially incompetent teachers, he shows a certain disdain “against the sophists.” Actually referring to Isocrates, Erasmus, in the preface of Christian Prince and addressing Charles the prince, he states, “[f]or he was a sophist, instructing some petty king or rather tyrant, and both were pagans”. Erasmus’ use of logos and pathos immediately follow when he completes the eschewing of Isocrates: “I am a theologian addressing a renowned and upright prince, Christians both of us”. Moreover, Peter Gay describes Erasmus as “a true classical spirit in his search for clarity and simplicity, a modern in complexity, an ancestor of the Enlightenment in his critical temper and pacific cosmopolitanism. But, above all, he was a Christian intellectual”. And yet, while Cicero was considered the “patron saint of the Renaissance era” – a title that would become fundamentally problematic for a number of Christians because of pagan beliefs – Erasmus came to be known as the “prince of humanists” as many of his contemporaries esteemed him as “‘[a] man born to bring back literature.’”
Erasmus’ stylistic form of writing was often compared to the standards set forth by Cicero (particularly the influence of his De Inventione); however, Erasmus’ primary goal for Christian Prince and all of his works, as he argued, was to be seen as ‘a Christian rather than a Ciceronian.’ Christian Prince is another example of Erasmus’ rhetorically stylistic mastery that serves as a testament to his ability to imbue the teachings of Christ (embodying Cicero's concept of "imitator"). For example, Christ told his disciples a parable of wheat and tares growing in the same field and that it was not their responsibility, but His, to separate the two (Matt. 13:24-43). Erasmus, a consummate rhetorician, managed to quell the concerns of many fellow Christians by “christianizing” pagan ideologies as part of his role in and contribution to the Renaissance
Renaissance
The Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned roughly the 14th to the 17th century, beginning in Italy in the Late Middle Ages and later spreading to the rest of Europe. The term is also used more loosely to refer to the historical era, but since the changes of the Renaissance were not...
humanist
Humanism
Humanism is an approach in study, philosophy, world view or practice that focuses on human values and concerns. In philosophy and social science, humanism is a perspective which affirms some notion of human nature, and is contrasted with anti-humanism....
tradition. For according to Peter Bietenholz, and in concert with Aristotle’s idea of lexis (consisting of a pure knowledge of language), “[t]he humanist, first and last, is a rhetorician, a linguist. His professional devotion as well as skill is aligned to verba [words], not to res [things]. His real gesta, deeds, are verba, the words, and not res gestae, the actions of historical significance.”
Erasmus indeed employs, primarily, deliberative and epideictic forms of rhetoric within Christian Prince, because it is a conduct book
Conduct book
Conduct books are a genre of books that attempt to educate the reader on social norms. As a genre, they began in the mid-to-late Middle Ages, although antecedents such as The Maxims of Ptahhotep are among the earliest surviving works...
(also referred to as a courtesy book or advisory literature). At the time of its publishing, the conduct book was beginning to witness a change in its popularity as a bourgeoning genre though it can be seen in such classics as Plato
Plato
Plato , was a Classical Greek philosopher, mathematician, student of Socrates, writer of philosophical dialogues, and founder of the Academy in Athens, the first institution of higher learning in the Western world. Along with his mentor, Socrates, and his student, Aristotle, Plato helped to lay the...
’s Republic and, in Erasmus’ own time, with the likes of Machiavelli’s The Prince and Thomas More
Thomas More
Sir Thomas More , also known by Catholics as Saint Thomas More, was an English lawyer, social philosopher, author, statesman and noted Renaissance humanist. He was an important councillor to Henry VIII of England and, for three years toward the end of his life, Lord Chancellor...
’s Utopia. Christian Prince serves as a guide for the teacher and the prince as well as all court personnel who might have any reason to speak to or with him and espouses Erasmus’ rhetorical approach to Christocentric political theories and pedagogical praxes which he refers to as the “philosophia Christi.” The concept of “philosophia Christi, ” Erasmus’ primary topoi in Christian Prince, is defined by Erika Rummel as “a life centered on Christ and characterized by inner faith rather than external rites”, was introduced more than a decade prior to the publishing of Christian Prince in a similar body of work, The Handbook (or “Dagger”) of a Christian Soldier (Enchiridion Militis Christiani) (1504). At the conclusion of Christian Prince’s preface, Erasmaus, on the basis of “philosophia Christi,” admonishes the prince that "[a]mong the countless distinctions which under God your merit will win for you, it will be no small part of your reputation that Charles was a prince to whom a man need hesitate to offer the picture of a true and upright Christian prince without flattery, knowing that he would either gladly accept it as an excellent prince already, or wisely imitate it as a young man always in search of self-improvement".
Throughout the Christian Prince treatise, Erasmus deftly invokes the knowledge, wisdom and ultimately, truth, to be gleaned from other great thinkers of antiquity such as Plato, Seneca
Seneca
-People:*Lucius Annaeus Seneca, Seneca the Younger aka Seneca , son of Seneca the Elder, Roman philosopher and playwright, tutor and advisor of Nero*Seneca the Elder , Roman orator and writer...
, and Plutarch
Plutarch
Plutarch then named, on his becoming a Roman citizen, Lucius Mestrius Plutarchus , c. 46 – 120 AD, was a Greek historian, biographer, essayist, and Middle Platonist known primarily for his Parallel Lives and Moralia...
(who seems to have influenced Erasmus most) who will point the prince to Truth. Its very opening sentence begins with Erasmus positing that “[wisdom in itself is a wonderful thing…, and no kind of wisdom is rated more excellent by Aristotle than that which teaches how to be a beneficent prince; for Xenophon
Xenophon
Xenophon , son of Gryllus, of the deme Erchia of Athens, also known as Xenophon of Athens, was a Greek historian, soldier, mercenary, philosopher and a contemporary and admirer of Socrates...
…rightly considers that there is something beyond human nature, something wholly divine, in absolute rule over free and willing subjects”. However, Erasmus never recommends the pagan authors or their works singularly or in isolation because in the next breath, he makes a seamless rhetorical move to remind the prince that of all the requests King Solomon
Solomon
Solomon , according to the Book of Kings and the Book of Chronicles, a King of Israel and according to the Talmud one of the 48 prophets, is identified as the son of David, also called Jedidiah in 2 Samuel 12:25, and is described as the third king of the United Monarchy, and the final king before...
could have made when God told him he would grant whatever he asked, Solomon’s prayer was for wisdom to lead God’s people.
A similar rhetorical move can be found in a most noteworthy chapter of the treatise, “The Prince Must Avoid Flatterers,” in reverse. As Erasmus offers the pedagogue a recommended list of readings for the prince as student, he first lists “the proverbs of Solomon, Ecclesiasticus, and the Book of Wisdom” then “[n]ext the Gospels”. The total number of biblical references here is seven. He then recommends works from pagan authors: three from Plutarch (Apophthegms, Moralia, Lives); writings from Seneca (no specific titles provided, but he does pluralize the suggestion); one from Aristotle (Politics); two from Cicero (Offices and Laws); and one from Plato (Republic, but because the work was lost at the time, he recommends Laws). The pagan number of works surpasses the number of biblical works. Erasmus justifies his dissoi logoi (arguing from two contrary accounts) approach here by persuading the prince to always apply the following caveat: “This writer whom you are reading is a pagan and you are a Christian reader; although he has many excellent things to say, he nevertheless does not depict the ideal of a Christian quite accurately, and you must take care not to think that whatever you come across at any point is to be imitated straight away, but instead test everything against the standard of Christ”.
Even with offering an Augustinian-type approach (emphasizing the Christian prince’s ability to interpret pagan texts), Erasmus would continue to have strained relations with some Church Fathers regarding his rhetorical methodologies toward Truth. Despite this fact, Christian Prince “saw ten editions during Erasmus’ lifetime and was translated into a number of vernacular languages, which testifies to a general interest in the work”.
Quotes
- "Conduct your own rule as if you were striving to ensure that no successor could be your equal, but all the time prepare your children for their future reign as if to ensure that a better man would indeed succeed you."
- "He acquires most who requires nothing, but commands respect."
External links
- Desiderius Erasmus (1516) The Education of a Christian Prince (translated by Lester K. Born), at Stoics.com