One of the major developments in the early fifteenth century was the rise of secularism in Europe. The most familiar and renowned text relating to it is undoubtedly
Niccolò Machiavelli's The Prince (published in 1532), but of equal weight -- and perhaps greater popularity -- in the renaissance was
Baldassare Castiglione's The Book of the Courtier (1528), a guide to the personality traits and proper behavior befitting a gentleman of the court. The book contains a great deal of information about the use and enjoyment of music in the court; musical appreciation, it appears, was one attribute that set a truly cultured gentleman apart from the rogues and less dignified warriors who did not belong to this snobbish level of society. In Auvidis Astrée's Baldassar Castiglione: Il Libro Del Cortegiano,
Doulce Mémoire and
Les Piffari attempt to connect with the court life as described by
Castiglione, down to selecting and grouping together pieces and ensembles that correspond to specific locations within the Ducal Palace in Urbino that served as the setting for
Castiglione's book.