Q 01/05

The word 'etiquette' comes from a French word for what everyday object?

A) A fan

B) A ticket

C) A glove

D) A mirror

Answer · why

B) A ticket

The English usage dates from about 1750, possibly suggesting that proper behaviour was your admission into society.

Q 02/05

Which French king used a codified etiquette to tame his nobility at Versailles?

A) Louis XVI

B) Francis I

C) Henry IV

D) Louis XIV

Answer · why

D) Louis XIV

The ceremonious court impressed foreign dignitaries and kept the nobles competing for favour instead of plotting.

Q 03/05

Baldassare Castiglione's 1528 guide to ideal courtly behaviour is called what?

A) The Civil Conversation

B) The Gentleman's Mirror

C) The Book of the Courtier

D) The Courtly Companion

Answer · why

C) The Book of the Courtier

It took twenty years to write, was published by the Aldine Press in Venice just before his death, and reached England in Thomas Hoby's 1561 translatio...

Q 04/05

Castiglione's prized quality 'sprezzatura' is best translated as what?

A) Strict punctuality

B) Quiet piety

C) Generous hospitality

D) Studied nonchalance

Answer · why

D) Studied nonchalance

Peter Burke glosses it as 'careful negligence': the courtier should make everything difficult look effortless.

Q 05/05

Which Dutch humanist wrote the 1530 manners manual 'On Civility in Children'?

A) Spinoza

B) Grotius

C) Erasmus

D) Descartes

Answer · why

C) Erasmus

Its lesson was that a civilised adult readily ignores the faults of others while avoiding them himself.