Machiavelli was an Italian historian, statesman, and political philosopher who was born in Florence in 1469. To understand Machiavelli’s life and work you have to understand the political situation in the country at that time. Now at that time Italy was in a state of political upheaval. Italy was divided between four dominant city-states and each one of these were continually at the mercy of the stronger foreign governments in Europe. And backstabbings, poisoning and disloyalty were epidemic within the Italian states and the Vatican that fought for survival and power. Even the Vatican was tainted by the worst kind of corruption and sex scandals. These hostilities between the Italian city states were fueled by Italy’s strong neighbors like Spain, France and Germany that also wanted to control Italy for their own benefit. It was the renaissance, and the culture flourhised in the Italian courts and society but Italy as a nation was divided and entangled in bitter fighting between the different powers.

OK so back to Machiavelli’s life. Machiavelli was as I said born in Florence on May 3 1469. Little is known of his early life but he might have been involved in overthrowing the Savonarolist government in 1489. After this he entered government service as a secretary and quickly rose to prominence when the Florentine republic was proclaimed. He was appointed head of the government’s second chancery (court of justice) and was secretary for a tenman council that was concerned with the diplomatic negotiations and military operations of the republic. During these years he traveled on several missions in Europe for the Republic of Florence. People he met during these travels were the French King, the German emperor, the pope and so on, he got acquainted with many of the Italian and foreign rulers that were involved in the politics concerning Italy. One of the most influential persons Machiavelli got to know was Cesare Borgia. Cesare Borgia was a cruel and cunning man who was not much unlike the prince portrayed in Machiavellis work the Prince, in fact many say that Cesare Borgia was the prince that Machiavelli thought would unite Italy, and bring back its lost glory, and that it was about him he wrote. But Anyway in the year 1512 the Medici family seized the power in Florence with the help of Spanish troops and the republic was dissolved and Machiavelli was removed from his position and tortured because the Medici thought he was conspiring against them. So then he retired to an estate in the country where he devoted his time to writing about Italy’s history, political philosophy and even plays. Three of his best known works are Discorsi Sopra la prima deca tito livio a commentary on the first ten books by the roman historian Titus Livius that was published in 1531, Il Principe or the Prince published in 1532 and dell’arte della Guerra, in English On the art of war published in 1521. He also wrote the play Mandragola or the Mandrake. Machiavelli died in 1527 and his tombstone lies next to Galileo Galileis and Michelangelos.