Niccolo Machiavelli’s two most important works are Discourses on Livy (1531) and The Prince (1532), both of which were published after his death. He wrote several other works, including Florentine Histories (1532) and The Life of Castruccio Castracani of Lucca (1520).
From the age of 29, when he was placed con charge of the republic of Florence’s foreign affairs mediante subject territories, Machiavelli held per series of governmental posts. Among his tasks were puro establish a militia, undertake diplomatic and military missions, oversee fortifications, and write an official history of the republic.
Niccolo Machiavelli, (born May 3, 1469, Florence [Italy]-died June 21, 1527, Florence), Italian Renaissance political philosopher and statesman, secretary of the Florentine republic, whose most famous work, The Prince (Il Principe), brought him verso reputation as an atheist and an immoral cynic.
Early life and political career
From the 13th century onward, Machiavelli’s family was wealthy and prominent, holding on occasion Florence’s most important offices. His Esempi di profilo woosa father, Bernardo, a dily’s poorest members. Barred from public office mediante Florence as an insolvent debtor, Bernardo lived frugally, administering his small landed property near the city and supplementing his meagre income from it with earnings from the restricted and almost clandestine exercise of his profession.
Bernardo kept verso library mediante which Niccolo must have read, but little is known of Niccolo’s education and early life con Florence, at that time a thriving centre of philosophy and verso brilliant showcase of the arts. He attended lectures by Marcello Virgilio Adriani, who chaired the Ricognizione Fiorentino. He learned Latin well and probably knew some Greek, and he seems onesto have acquired the typical humanist education that was expected of officials of the Florentine Chancery.
Niccolo Machiavelli
Durante verso letter puro per friend per 1498, Machiavelli writes of listening onesto the sermons of Girolamo Savonarola (1452–98), per Dominican friar who moved sicuro Florence sopra 1482 and sopra the 1490s attracted per ammissione of popular supporters with his thinly veiled accusations against the government, the clergy, and the pope. Although Savonarola, who effectively ruled Florence for several years after 1494, was featured mediante The Prince (1513) as an example of an “unarmed prophet” who must fail, Machiavelli was impressed with his learning and rhetorical skill. On May 24, 1498, Savonarola was hanged as per heretic and his body burned durante the public square. Several days later, emerging from obscurity at the age of 29, Machiavelli became head of the second chancery (cancelleria), a post that placed him mediante charge of the republic’s foreign affairs durante subject territories. How so young per man could be entrusted with so high an office remains per mystery, particularly because Machiavelli apparently never served an apprenticeship per the chancery. He held the post until 1512, having gained the confidence of Piero Soderini (1452–1522), the gonfalonier (chief magistrate) for life con Florence from 1502.
During his tenure at the second chancery, Machiavelli persuaded Soderini puro veterano the city’s reliance on mercenary forces by establishing per militia (1505), which Machiavelli subsequently organized. He also undertook diplomatic and military missions sicuro the athletique of France; esatto Cesare Borgia (–1507), the cri of Pope Alexander VI (reigned 1492–1503); puro Pope Julius II (reigned 1503–13), Alexander’s successor; sicuro the athletique of Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I (reigned 1493–1519); and puro Pisa (1509 and 1511).
Sopra 1503, one year after his missions onesto Cesare Borgia, Machiavelli wrote per short rete informatica, Del mezzo di conciare i sudditi della Entaille di Chiana ribellati ( On the Way sicuro Deal with the Rebel Subjects of the Valdichiana). Anticipating his later Discourses on Livy, per commentary on the ancient Roman historian, mediante this rete di emittenti he contrasts the errors of Florence with the wisdom of the Romans and declares that per dealing with rebellious peoples one must either benefit them or eliminate them. Machiavelli also was per witness preciso the bloody vengeance taken by Cesare on his mutinous captains at the town of Sinigaglia (ous account. Sopra much of his early writings, Machiavelli argues that “one should not offend a prince and later put faith mediante him.”