Academies as Places of Noble Education

Among the intellectual founders of early modern academies for noblemen are two Frenchmen, Huguenot leader François de la Noue and the later royal stable master Antoine de Pluvinel. De la Noue first wrote about the education of the French nobility in his Discours politiques et militaires of 1587, where he recommended establishing special schools. In 1594, Pluvinel opened the first French riding or academy in Paris, based on the Italian model. Famous academies arose later in Saumur and Angers. The idea was also picked up by numerous rulers of the Holy Roman Empire in order to improve and regulate the education of the nobility.

The introduction the Cinquième Discours on the education of the nobility, in: Noue, François de La: Discours politiques et militaires: Nouvellement recueillis & mis en lumière de l’imprimerie de François Forest, Basel 1587, pp. 108, source: e-rara.ch, http://www.e-rara.ch/gep_g/content/pageview/1058952.