Renaissance Sports and European Competition

Along with the rebirth of Greco-Roman culture came a fresh emphasis on education. Europeans during the Renaissance suddenly found educational ideals thrust upon them within society. Education had become a main focus of almost every aspect of European culture. The new values of Renaissance eduction brought about a want of society to better itself and gain new morals. Also, new educational reforms gave way to increased knowledge of the individual. In addition, important professions now required more of an educational background, and education grew a deeper role in religion.
The spirit of the Renaissance and educational ideas made the average person in society want to better themselves by developing new morals and obtaining a more substantial education. In 1450, the book On the Education of Free Men by Piccolomini, an Italian humanist, generalized the idea that education assisted in saving a person's soul. Through this text, he attempted to persuade people to put a larger focus on scholastic endeavors. He emphasized specifically philosophy and “letters”. In 1459, Battista Guarino wrote On the Method of Teaching and Learning. He was an Italian humanist educator that was proud that mankind was finally pursuing the quality of virtue. Although it was his view that man should have been virtuous all along, he had no objections to the current quest to be a better person by gaining it. The proper behavior and attributes of the courtier were written about in 1528 by Castiglione in The Book of the Courtier. Here, Castiglione wisely passed on his knowledge of the court and the proper behavior that should take place within it. Even if the courtier was not very skilled at on certain activity, he believed that it was important to still be knowledgeable in the topic in order to be able to judge the works of others in that topic. This enabled the betterment of the courtier as a person by mastering many important abilities And since Castiglione himself was a ma of the court, the...