This study investigates the function of ‘culture’ in the political rivalries of the nobility around 1600 and explores the significance of ‘competition’ and ‘competitive zeal’ in the culture of the nobility in the Early Modern Age. Entire chapters are dedicated to the rhetoric competitions which were held, the rivalry in formulating obituaries and death notices or the aesthetic staging of tournaments as demonstration of the competitive zeal of the nobles. Landgrave Moritz the Learned (1572?1632) of Hesse-Kassel is often used as example in the book.