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Back to collectionsBaldassare CastiglioneDiplomat and author of The Book of the Courtier, a dialogue on social grace.- Language
- italian
- Dates
- 1478 to 1529
- Nationality
- Mantuan
Niccolò MachiavelliFlorentine secretary who studies power as a practice before judging it as morality.- Language
- italian
- Dates
- 1469 to 1527
- Nationality
- Florentine
Pietro BemboVenetian humanist whose prose theory helped establish Tuscan as a literary standard.- Language
- italian
- Dates
- 1470 to 1547
- Nationality
- Venetian
Thomas MoreEnglish humanist whose Utopia turns travel narrative into political experiment.- Language
- latin
- Dates
- 1478 to 1535
- Nationality
- English
William ShakespearePlaywright and poet who turned rhetoric, theatre, and social observation into a shared language.- Language
- en
- Dates
- 1564 to 1616
- Nationality
- English
ErasmusEuropean humanist of philology, irony, and reform through education.- Language
- latin
- Dates
- 1466 to 1536
- Nationality
- Dutch