Castiglione, BALDASARRE, COUNT, Italian author, was born in 1478 at Casatico in the duchy of Mantua, studied at Milan, and became a favourite of the Duke of Urbino. In 1505 he was employed by the duke as envoy to
Henry VII. of England, who made him a knight; from 1513 he spent much of his time in Rome. Sent on an embassy to Spain by Clement VII., he died at Toledo, 2d February 1529. His chief work is Il Cortegiano (Eng. trans. 1561), a manual for courtiers, remarkable for its elegant style. His Italian and Latin Poems are also models of elegance, and his Letters (2 vols. 1769-71) contain interesting contributions to the political and literary history of his time. Tasso devoted a sonnet to the death of Castiglione, and Giulio Romano raised to his memory a monument in Padua.