Niccolo machiavelli short biography. Niccolò Machiavelli 2022-10-10
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Niccolò Machiavelli was an Italian philosopher, statesman, and writer who is best known for his political treatise "The Prince," which was published in 1532. He was born in Florence, Italy in 1469, and was educated in the humanities and law.
Machiavelli began his career in public service as a clerk in the second chancery of the Republic of Florence, where he worked on diplomatic missions and gained valuable experience in the political arena. In 1498, he was appointed as the Secretary of the Second Chancery, a position that gave him access to the inner workings of the government and allowed him to observe firsthand the political struggles and intrigues of the time.
Throughout his career, Machiavelli was a vocal advocate for the autonomy and independence of the city-state of Florence. He believed that the strength and prosperity of a state depended on its ability to defend itself against external threats and to maintain order within its own borders. He was also a firm believer in the use of military force as a means of achieving these goals, and he argued that a ruler who was willing to be ruthless and cunning in the pursuit of power was more likely to succeed than one who was guided by moral scruples.
In 1512, Machiavelli was exiled from Florence and spent the next several years in political limbo. During this time, he wrote "The Prince," which outlined his thoughts on how a ruler should govern and maintain power. The book became an instant classic and remains one of the most influential works of political theory in the Western tradition.
Despite his reputation as a ruthless political strategist, Machiavelli was also a deeply humane and compassionate writer. In his later years, he wrote a number of plays and political treatises that explored themes of justice, virtue, and human nature. He died in 1527, at the age of 58, leaving behind a legacy that continues to shape our understanding of politics and power.
Niccolo Machiavelli
And, unlike other European countries none of the rulers of Italian states was able to consolidate the whole of Italy under their sway. So I practice Reading skill as much as possible and I decide to register in our forum. Machiavelli found himself unemployed after years of patriotic service, and spent most of his remaining years in producing his major works. Machiavelli's most famous work was not formally published during his lifetime, although it probably circulated in manuscript copies. He dedicated the work to the Medici family in an effort to demonstrate his support, but without success. Florentine History Istorie fiorentine , 1520 to 1524.
The climax of this struggle occurred on May 23, 1498, when Savonarola and his two closest confederates in the Dominican Order were escorted to the main square in Florence and hanged atop a pile of brush and logs that was thereupon promptly set ablaze by the hangman. Indeed, one might wonder whether Machiavelli, for all of his alleged realism, actually believed that a prince of complete virtù could in fact exist. People he considered successful and politically active citizens were the people whose opinions should be listened to, that reliance on such people who are given the greatest freedoms serve as the basis for the sustainability of the state. Hence, the prince just like the general needs to be in possession of virtù, that is, to know which strategies and techniques are appropriate to what particular circumstances Wood 1967. The Prince was written against this backdrop, and in its conclusion Machiavelli issued an impassioned call for Italian unity, and an end to foreign intervention. In 1513, the Medici family returned to Florence.
In the course of his diplomatic missions within Italy he became acquainted with the political tactics of many Italian rulers. He retired to the relative safety of his home in the country outside Florence to rest and consider his future. Niccolò would grow up to share his father's literary ambitions. The main goal lies in the complex art of power - the independence and luxury of one's own state. Other of Machiavelli's readers have found no taint of immoralism in his thought whatsoever. This preference having been largely inspired by the writings of Livy about the citizen armies of ancient Rome.
The Austrian Emperor and many Kings and Dukes regain political powers. After his release he retired to his estate at San Casciano near Florence, where he wrote his most important works. For example, the people can never be persuaded that it is good to appoint to an office a man of infamous or corrupt habits, whereas a prince may easily and in a vast variety of ways be persuaded to do this. The methods for achieving obedience are varied, and depend heavily upon the foresight that the prince exercises. He confessed his sins to Brother Matteo, who kept him company until his death. After his involvement in an unsuccessful attempt to organize a Florentine militia against the return of the Medici family to power in 1512 became known, Machiavelli was tortured, jailed and banished from an active role in political life. Birth Machiavelli was born 3 May 1469 in Florence, Italy then the Republic of Florence.
Niccolò Machiavelli (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)
During this period, he produced a treatise on the art of war, one that draws on his experience as organizer of the militia, and a commentary on the writings of the classical Roman historian Livy. Paul Rahe 2008 argues for a similar set of influences, but with an intellectual substance and significance different than Pocock. For Machiavelli, people are compelled to obey purely in deference to the superior power of the state. Although Florence was supposed to be a republic, ruled by its leading citizens rather than by lords or princes, during Machiavelli's youth, Florence was effectively controlled by the powerful Medici family, with Lorenzo de Medici, called "the Magnificent," at its head. However, Florence was a staunch ally of the French, and Pope Julius II was working to drive the French out of Italy.
But at the time, it was not the only thought of Niccolo Machiavelli. The new pope, Julius II, was an inveterate enemy of the entire Borgia clan and soon sent Borgia into exile, where he later died. Lacks a formal bibliography, but there are copious endnotes for each chapter. For Machiavelli, power characteristically defines political activity, and hence it is necessary for any successful ruler to know how power is to be used. The boy was reared in a household consisting of his parents, Bernardo and Bartolomea, along with two older sisters and a younger brother. His writing attracted the attention of Cardinal Giulio de Medici, who had for several years been in control of Florence and who commissioned him to write a history of Florence.
Such an active role for the people, while necessary for the maintenance of vital public liberty, is fundamentally antithetical to the hierarchical structure of subordination-and-rule on which monarchic vivere sicuro rests. Despite his attempts to gain favour with the Medici rulers, he was never restored to a government position. Soon thereafter, control of the Florentine republic fell into the hands of an austere Dominican friar from Ferrara, Girolamo Savonarola. Florence had been under a republican government since 1494, when the leading Medici family and its supporters had been driven from power. The Discourses certainly draw upon the same reservoir of language and concepts that flowed into The Prince, but the former treatise leads us to draw conclusions quite different from—many scholars have said contradictory to—the latter. Certainly, the term lo stato appears widely in Machiavelli's writings, especially in The Prince, in connection with the acquisition and application of power in a coercive sense, which renders its meaning distinct from the Latin term status condition or station from which it is derived.
He ushered in the Modern Age by ridding politics of the vassalage of religion. Machiavelli adopted this position on both pragmatic and principled grounds. Popular Liberty and Popular Speech Machiavelli evinces particular confidence in the capacity of the people to contribute to the promotion of communal liberty. It crystallized ideas and projected the pattern of things to come; it determined the course of the following century. Soon after, Rome fell, and the great Catholic city was terrorized and looted by mostly German Protestant armies. Translated as Machiavellism: The Doctrine of Raison d'Etat and Its Place in Modern History, Douglas Scott trans.
As the title suggests, the text is structured as a free commentary on the first ten volumes of Ab Urbe Condita Libri, the major work of Roman historian The Discourses are divided into three volumes: the first devoted to internal politics; the second to foreign politics; the third one to a comparison of the most exemplary deeds of individual men in ancient Rome and Renaissance Italy. He died in the city on June 21, 1527. Machiavelli thus seeks to learn and teach the rules of political power. He made diplomatic visits to France, Germany and other Italian City-states such as Rome and Pisa. Discourses CW 237 The law-abiding character of the French regime ensures security, but that security, while desirable, ought never to be confused with liberty. ADVERTISEMENTS: Their contents spelt out his political thought and earned him notoriety such as indifference to the use of immoral means to achieve political purposes and the belief that government depended largely on force and craft.
He was brought up by home teachers, but Niccolò gained an excellent knowledge of ancient classical culture by himself. In 1520, he was commissioned by Cardinal Giulio de'Medici to compose a History of Florence, an assignment completed in 1525 and presented to the Cardinal, who had since ascended to the papal throne as Clement VII, in Rome. The Prince: Analyzing Power It has been a common view among political philosophers that there exists a special relationship between moral goodness and legitimate authority. The Florentine republic had been reinstated, and Machiavelli was appointed as secretary of the Second Chancery, a position in which he coordinated relations with Florence's territorial possessions. This debacle, and the threat posed to Florence by the advancing forces of Clement's enemies, led the Florentines to depose the Medici family in 1527.
