Education was one of the chief humanist interests; from the time of Vittorino da Feltre and Guarino, who had schools at Mantua (1423-46) and at Ferrara (1429-36) respectively, humanists were often involved in the teaching of children, and they wrote many educational treatises. These stress the supreme importance of education: man cannot live by the promptings of nature alone, 'doctrine' (knowledge, teaching) must be added to experience, and the mind should be formed early. Three classical works in particular influenced humanist educational ideas: the pseudo-Plutarchan essay The education of children, from the Moralia, Cicero's On the orator and above all Quintilian's The education of an orator.

Humanist treatises frequently stress the special importance of sound education for the ruler and the governing class: the studia humanitatis lead to knowledge and virtue, and hence to good government. The English educational writers, Elyot and Ascham, both take this up...