Niccolo Machiavelli
Italian Statesman and Political Philosopher
1469 - 1527
Niccolo di Bernardo dei Machiavelli, the father of modern political theory, was born on May 3, 1469 in Florence, Italy. Little is known of his early life, but he was known to have had a great amount of education and a thorough reading of great writers including Aristotle, Herodotus, and Virgil. He was a political philosopher and diplomat during the Renaissance, and best known for his famous work, "The Prince" (1513). During the Renaissance Italy was a scene of intense political conflict involving the dominant city-states of Florence, Milan, Venice, and Naples, plus the Papacy, France, Spain, and the Holy Roman Empire. Each city attempted to protect itself by playing the larger powers off against each other. The result was massive political intrigue, blackmail, and violence.
In 1492, Savonarola came into power, and for a while Machiavelli was a follower. Machiavelli felt that Savonarola could only keep power by arming himself, and eventually became disenchanted with the religious leader. In 1498 Savonarola was hanged and Machiavelli gained a position as the head of the second chancery with the new republic. Soon after Savanarola was executed, Machiavelli entered the Florentine government as a secretary. His position quickly rose, however, and was soon engaging in diplomatic missions. He met many of the important politicians of the day, such as the Pope and the King of France, but none had more impact on him than a prince of the Papal States, Cesare Borgia. Borgia was a cunning, cruel man, very much like the one portrayed in The Prince. Machiavelli did not truly like Borgia's policies, but he thought that with a ruler like Borgia the Florentines could unite Italy, which was Machiavelli's goal throughout his life. However, in 1512, the Medici returned to power, and although Machiavelli had hopes of retaining his employment, he was quickly dismissed. Shortly after, a plot to overthrow the Medici was uncovered and Machiavelli's name was on a list of conspirators. Even though the plot was eventually discovered to have been very vague, Machiavelli was imprisoned, tortured and banished from the city. Machiavelli settled outside of Florence from where he desperately tried to return to politics. He tried to gain the favor of the Medici by writing a book of what he thought were the Medici's goals and dedicating it to them. And so The Prince was written for that purpose. Unfortunately, the Medici didn't agree with what the book said, so he was forced top remain out of the political mainstream. However, when the public saw the book, they were outraged. The people wondered how cruel a man could be to think evil thoughts like the ones in The Prince, and this would come back to haunt him when he was alive and dead. However, if the people wanted to know what Machiavelli really stood for, they should have read his "Discourses on Livy", which explain his full political philosophy. But not enough people had and have, and so the legacy of The Prince continues to define Machiavelli to the general public.
A few years later the Medici were kicked out of Florence. The republic was re-established, and Machiavelli ran to retake the office he had left so many years ago. But the reputation that The Prince had established made people think his philosophy was like the Medici, so he was not elected. And here the sharp downhill of his life began. His health began to fail him, and he died months later, in 1527.
Machiavelli had been unfairly attacked all of his life because of a bad reputation. But it only got worse after he died. He was continually blasted for his "support" of corrupt ruling. In fact, Machiavellian now means corrupt government. Only recently has his true personality come to light. The world must change it's vision of the cold, uncaring Machiavelli to the correct view of a patriot and a political genius.