Renaissance educational theory of the 15th and 16th centuries weighs in on the side of aristocracy, i.e., leadership roles should be in the hands of the best and brightest. Educa-tion for leadership is crucial for the sons of aristocrats. Being born into the aristocracy is not in itself a guarantee that leader-ship capabilities will emerge. "Blood tells," theorists agree, but it does not tell everything, and it does not tell enough about what is most important. "Philip fathered Alexander's body, but Aristotle was father to his mind." The theme echoes through the renaissance and into the seventeenth century (e.g., John Clark, Declamations, 1625).
             Renaissance educational theorists assume that leader-ship education is necessary for the sons of the aristocracy. A few allow that gifted children are sometimes born into lower class families, and that such children may appropri-ately become protégés of benefactors. Very few renaissance educa-tional theorists speak to the subject of leadership education for girls, although a fair number do recommend variant forms of liberal education for upper class girls. It was a late medieval writer, Christine de Pisan, who wrote most notably on the education of women for leadership within courtly circles.
             What are the necessary ingredients in leadership education? Renaissance educational theorists concur with Aeneas Silvius on the centrality of two ingredi-ents: 1. religion tem-pered by philosophy, and 2. a broad selection of great books that are both substantive and rhetorically effective. "Philosophy" in renaissance usage means essentially moral philosophy. A philosophical education would be intent on the cultivation and disciplining of moral character.
             The great books identified by renaissance theorists are called "good literature," which includes works both in prose and poetry. Such literature is good for two reasons. First, it liberates by several means: it turns attention f
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