Across eleven chapters, Dhuoda’s book outlines the subjects that should most concern a man of high birth, such as how to pray and read the Bible; how to distinguish vice from virtue; how best to honor his parents; how to serve God and the Crown; how to handle illness, affliction, and hardship.

Many things have been said about what the 'measure of a man' is. Plato still has the best take for measurement of any man or woman, in my view: "The measure of a (wo)man is what s/he does with power."