The Renaissance

ture and trained for military service. The
courtier, in his view, should act with self-
control and the dignified ease that comes
from long experience of the world and
training in a wide range of fields. This idea
represents an important change from the
medieval chivalric knight, who fought in
service to a feudal overlord and solicited
the affection of an idealized and unattain-
able lady.

TheBook of the Courtierwas translated
into French, English, German, and Span-
ish. It was held in high regard in royal
courts of France and England, and played
a key role in introducing the humanistic
outlook of the Italian Renaissance to
northern Europe. The author is also
known for an elegy he wrote for his friend
Raphael on the painter’s death in 1520,
and letters that reveal in detail his life as
diplomat and courtier.

SEEALSO: Leo X; Raphael; Sforza, Ludovico

Catherine of Siena, Saint ...................

(1347–1380)

A mystic and visionary, and a noted liter-
ary figure of the early Italian Renaissance,
Catherine Benincasa was born in the Tus-
cantownofSienatoawooldyer.Sheex-
perienced religious visions as a child and
withdrew to a tiny room in her father’s
house, taking little food, practicing self-
mortification, sleeping on a hard wooden
plank, and living the life of a religious her-
mit. After joining the Dominican order at
the age of eighteen she gradually ended
her solitude, tending to the poor and the
sick, even as the city was struck by a deadly
outbreak of plague. She attracted a small
crowd of devoted followers and became
famous throughout the city and its sur-
roundings for her virtue and saintliness.
She was often called on to mediate dis-
putes and involved herself in the wars be-

tween the church and several cities of

northern Italy that had banded together to

rebel against papal authority. When Pope

Gregory XI raised an army to threaten Flo-

rence, one of the rebel cities, she traveled

to the papal court in Avignon, France, to

mediate the conflict. After arriving in Avi-

gnon, she urged the pope to return his

court to Rome, against the opposition of

French cardinals who were then dominat-

ing the church administration.

After the death of Gregory, his succes-

sor Urban followed her advice and re-

turned to Rome, but the church was soon

split between two candidates; Catherine

supported Urban, elected by the cardinals

of Rome, against Clement, supported by

the French. Catherine diligently wrote to

the men involved in this Great Schism, at-

tempting through sheer force of personal-

ity and eloquence to heal the breach. Im-

pressed by her insight and the force of her

personality, Urban invited her to live in

Rome, where she died in 1380. Her liter-

ary works include several hundred letters

written to the popes and princes of Eu-

rope and theDialogue of Divine Provi-

dence. Catherine was revered throughout

Europe for her asceticism and her devo-

tion to the church, as well as her startling

and energetic involvement in worldly af-

fairs. She was canonized by Pope Pius II in

1461.

Catholicism .......................................

In the Middle Ages, Christians of western

Europe looked to the pope, the bishop of

Rome, as the earthly leader of their faith.

The “catholic” church meant the entire

community of believers, whose lives were

guided by church doctrine, and whose her-

esies and sins were punished by church

authorities. Catholicism knit Europeans

together at a time when political authority

Catherine of Siena, Saint