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Machiavelli the Mind of the PLEA Machiavelli CONTENTS Vol. 40 No. 1 The PLEA The Mind of Machiavelli PM40030156 The Mind of The PLEA Machiavelli CONTENTS 3 Who was Niccolò The word “Machiavellian” brings deception, Machiavelli? cunning behaviour, and bad faith to mind. This is What influences the mind of a sixteenth- because of Niccolò Machiavelli, and specifically his 16th-century book The Prince. The Prince century Italian diplomat? shocked the ruling establishment with its dark exploration of political leadership. Lesser-known 6 Exploring Machiavelli’s but equally important is Machiavelli’s book The Discourses. The Discourses analysed how Florence government could be ideally structured. Together, What did the Tuscan city look like 500 these books have become foundational to the study years ago? of modern government. So who was Niccolò Machiavelli? What drove his 8 The Grounded Idealism unorthodox thoughts? And why are his works still relevant today? This issue of The PLEA explores of The Discourses these questions. It considers: Why did the Roman Republic have so • how Machiavelli’s life shaped his theories, much appeal to Machiavelli? • the Florence of Machiavelli’s time, • the ideal structure of government spelled 10 The Cynical Realism of out in The Discourses, and The Prince • the cynical theory of leadership spelled out Do successful leaders need to toss aside in The Prince. higher ideals? Ideal for most any reader, The Mind of Machiavelli fulfills several requirements across Saskatchewan’s 12 Further Resources social science curricula. It will also be of interest to people curious about the history of western Don’t stop learning now! governance and law-making processes. Shutterstock †∫ Wikimedia Commons § Look and Learn ∂ PLEA ON THE COVER STATUE OF NIccoLÒ MACHIAVELLI OUtsIDE THE UFFIZI GALLERY IN FLORence, ItALY. Photo by Shutterstock. 2 teachers.plea.org Who was Niccolò Machiavelli? From common man to top diplomat to political prisoner, Machiavelli experienced government like few others. iccolò Machiavelli was born in Florence, Italy on May 3, 1469. At the time, Italy was not the unified country we know today. Instead, it was a collection of rivalrous city-states. NFlorence and its surrounding territory was a city-state controlled by the House of Medici. The Medici family ruled from 1434 to 1737, with two interruptions. The first interruption in Medici Rule, from 1494-1512, was when Machiavelli rose to prominence in Florence. In 1492, Florence’s beloved ruler Lorenzo de’ Medici passed away. Known as Lorenzo the Magnificent, he Niccolò Machiavelli was not only a respected politician but also a patron of by Santi di Tito. Painted about 50 years the arts. Notably, Michelangelo, famous for such works after Machiavelli’s of art as the Statue of David and the Sistine Chapel, death, there is much received early support from Lorenzo the Magnificent. speculation about the With Lorenzo the Magnificent’s death, Florence’s inspiration and sources leadership passed down to Piero di Lorenzo de’ Medici. for the portrait. ∫ Unlike his “magnificent” father, history graced Piero with a rather unflattering name: Piero the Unfortunate. Piero’s biggest fear was King Charles VIII of France, who was making plans to invade Italy. In response, Piero made the fateful decision to abandon Florence’s alliance with France in favour of an alliance with Naples, the southern Italian city-state. When France’s soldiers poured into Florentian territory in 1494, Piero panicked. He rode off to meet Charles VIII and negotiate peace. The peace deal gave in to almost every French demand: the French would prop up Medici rule if teachers.plea.org 3 The PLEA The Mind of Machiavelli Florence turned over key fortresses. towards his next goal. Savonarola Such experiences were valuable for The deal all but guaranteed Florence had plans to turn Florence into a City understanding common people’s would lose control of Pisa, the of God. God had different plans. views. That Machiavelli had always rival city it conquered in 1406. In 1498, the city revolted against been sceptical of Savonarola’s Florentians were enraged. Riots Savonarola’s puritan excesses, and extremist politics didn’t hurt, either. broke out, mobs sacked the Medici he was burned at the stake. Palace, and Piero went into exile. Machiavelli’s work took him on diplomatic missions, where he The power vacuum created by Piero’s 1498: Enter observed and negotiated with rulers exit allowed a fanatical priest named and governments of all kinds. Girolamo Savonarola to become Machiavelli His analysis and statesmanship Florence’s most influential man. Despite Savonarola’s execution, the impressed Piero Soderini, the Savonarola endorsed the popolani Great Council government he was man elected in 1502 as Florence’s (populists), paving the way for a instrumental in creating remained gonfalonier—a sort of high justice— Great Council government. The new intact. Mere weeks after his death, for life. Machiavelli soon became government gave voting rights to a 29-year-old Niccolò Machiavelli Soderini’s right-hand man, placing almost half of Florence’s adult male joined this government as head of him at the centre of Florence’s population, a level of democracy Florence’s second chancery, a high political and diplomatic life. unmatched in Italy of the time. diplomatic office. Machiavelli’s proudest achievement Having used his considerable sway At first blush, Machiavelli is a under Soderini was replacing at the pulpit to usher in a democratic peculiar pick for a senior civil service Florence’s paid mercenaries with a government, Savonarola pivoted job. While the Machiavellis were citizen army. Machiavelli believed counted amongst Florence’s elite, that mercenaries made ineffective The Bonfire of the Niccolò’s arm of the family were soldiers: their allegiance was to their Vanities. Savonarola had black sheep: his paycheques and Florentines burn art, father’s piles of their own glory, playing cards, cosmetics, unpaid debt left MACHIAVELLI’S not to the state. musical instruments, him ineligible PROUDest This military books, and other items to ACHIEVement UNDER reorganisation purge Florence of sin. § to work in his profession as a SODERINI WAS proved successful lawyer or hold REPLACIng FLORence’S when Florence public office. PAID meRcenARIes took back control Nevertheless, WITH A CITIZen ARMY of Pisa in 1509. both Niccolò and his father M a c h i a v e l l i ’s remained friendly with many next great project did not turn out Florentian elite. Such connections as well. France still had its eyes on were helpful for attaining large parts of Italy. Machiavelli set government work. Adding to out to convince France’s Louis XII Machievelli’s suitability for the job, and Pope Julius II to make peace he was an avid reader with a classic with each other, or at the very least humanist education. Such skills keep Florence out of their battles. were useful for a job that required He was unsuccessful. In order to documentation and correspondence. secure Italian territories, the Pope’s Rounding out Machiavelli’s Holy League army—backed by formal education was the street Spain—marched into Florence in learning he picked up as a fixture 1512. Machiavelli’s citizen militia in Florence’s brothels and taverns. crumbled, Soderini was ousted, and Giovanni di Lorenzo de’ Medici— 4 teachers.plea.org later Pope Leo X— Machiavelli’s vineyards, with Florence assumed power. The in the background. Note the cathedral Medicis were back. dome. This view tormented Machiavelli: he spent his final years longing to return THE WRITIngs OF P e r h a p s n a i v e l y, to work for the government. ∂ Machiavelli believed MACHIAVELLI he could carry on as a civil servant under the Most of us know Machiavelli restored Medici regime: as a political writer. However, he considered himself his writing spanned the a truth-teller, not a genres. He also wrote poetry, party man. However, histories, and plays. the Medicis sent Machiavelli packing. Even the Medicis recognised his brilliance as a writer. Things took a turn for the worse in 1513. In 1521 Cardinal Giulio, M a c h i a v e l l i w a s the nephew of Lorenzo the wrongly accused of Magnificent, commissioned taking part in an anti- Machiavelli to write Medicean conspiracy. Florentine Histories, an eight- He was locked away and tortured, On his land, Machiavelli settled volume retrospective of the destined for execution until fate into a life of sustenance labour city. It was published in 1532, intervened. When Giovanni and writing, sometimes struggling five years after his death. was appointed Pope Leo X, to keep his family fed. It was the Medicis granted Florence’s here, outside the halls of power, Machiavelli did not live to prisoners a mass amnesty as part where Machiavelli composed see The Prince published, of the celebrations. Machiavelli The Prince and The Discourses, walked out of prison and returned the two works that made him the either. Manuscripts of this to his family’s small plot of land, so-called “founder of modern 1513 book floated around ten miles south of Florence. political science.” Italy, but it never saw official release until 1532. In fact, his only major political work to THINK be published in his lifetime was 1520’s The Art of War. 1. Foreign armies helped overthrow the Medici regime in 1494, and While alive, Machiavelli was helped bring it back to power in 1512. better-known as a satirist. a) Can you think of instances today where foreign governments His 1518 play La Mandragola involve themselves in the affairs of other countries? (The Mandrake) was widely b) Discuss the ethics of one country getting involved in praised. This farce about a another country. Are there times when it is justified? miraculous fertility potion— 2.
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