Education in the Epistole et orationes quedam of the Sicilian humanist Cataldo Parisio

This paper analyzes the role played by education in the work entitled Epistole et orationes quedam by the Sicilian humanist Cataldo Parisio, who was active at the Portuguese court as orator regius and tutor to the children of the Portuguese nobility and royalty. On the one hand, a necessary overview of the humanist’s biography and work, where education appears as a constant topic, is offered. On the other hand, we focus on a list of several letters included in both volumesof his epistolary. These letters were addressed to Cataldo’s pupils (among whom Jorge de Lancaster and Pedro de Menezes were specially outstanding) during his stay in Portugal. After dealing with Cataldo’s teaching method (i.e. his praecipiendi modus), according to the information found in these documents, we conclude that the development of both virtue and literary skills were always the foundation of his educational project, since his students sought to distinguish themselves in the political and social context of Portugal.