In the middle of the 15th century, Italian philosopher, bishop, and humanist Francesco Patrizi of Siena wrote a number of important political treatises second only in popularity to that of Machiavelli. In one volume on political education, Patrizi tackled the perennial problem of incivility in society, proposing that the solution lay in educating the ruling classes in the virtue of civility which he and his fellow humanists called humanitas.