New Humanists

The Mirror for Princes | Episode LV

Ancient Language Institute Episode 55

Thomas Elyot wrote "The Boke named the Governour," the first book about education written in the English language, an outstanding example in the crowded field of Renaissance-era mirrors for princes. The mirrors for princes were works designed to instruct and train future kings, nobles, and leading men. Machiavelli and Erasmus wrote famous mirrors for princes, but what does the English tradition of this genre have to show us?


Richard M. Gamble’s The Great Tradition: https://amzn.to/3Q4lRnO


Thomas Elyot's The Boke named The Governour: https://www.luminarium.org/renascence-editions/gov/gov1.htm


Niccolo Machiavelli's The Prince: https://bookshop.org/a/25626/9780199535699


Desiderius Erasmus' The Education of a Christian Prince: https://bookshop.org/a/25626/9780521588119


Niccolo Machiavelli's Discourses on Livy: https://amzn.to/463xl2y


Plutarch's Parallel Lives (inc. Lycurgus): https://amzn.to/3YbAPxk


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Music: Save Us Now by Shane Ivers - https://www.silvermansound.com