From Courtesy to Civility: Changing Codes of Conduct in Early Modern England

by Anna Bryson

What counted as good and bad manners in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries? Anna Bryson explores what is often entertaining evidence for Tudor and Stuart ideas of bodily decency and decorum, table manners and polite conversation, and also shows the crucial importance of the values of "courtesy" and "civility" in an aristocratic society.

Genres: History

322 pages, Hardcover

First published November 5, 1998

Reviews

[Julaine]

She is Keith Thomas' student.

[Ruth · Rating 2 out of 5]

c1998. Serious - with a capital S. Not much for the lightly interested reader. There are a number of quotes but all in the original ye-olde-English which also does not make for easy reading. "Yet once manners are conceived as representational, they can also be regarded as theatrical and even dissimulatory." Phew.....

[Dinah]

A very detailed look at social manners. Gloriously rich in citations with an excellent bibliography.