From courtesy to civility: changing codes of conduct in early modern England

Abstract

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.

Contents

1. Introduction -- 2. Civility in Manners: The Emergence of a Concept -- 3. The Rules of Civility: Decency and Deference -- 4. Civility and Social Change -- 5. The Civility of Speech and Writing -- 6. Objections to Civility -- 7. Anti-Civility: Libertines and Rakes -- 8. Conclusion.