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Niccolò Machiavelli

Type Figure Region Europe Time 1469–1527 Also known as Machiavelli

Niccolò Machiavelli was a Florentine statesman, diplomat, and political thinker of the Renaissance who long served as a republican official, witnesse…

Timeline

  1. 1469–1498Florence · FlorenceMachiavelli was born in Florence to a declined noble family, received a Latin and humanist education, and took part in the city's public life early on, laying the foundation for his later entry into the Republic's diplomatic and military administration.
  2. 1498–1512Florence · FlorenceFrom 1498 he served as the Republic's second secretary, repeatedly being sent as envoy to France, the Holy Roman Empire, and the Italian states, and helped organize the militia. He witnessed the workings of political power and the rise and fall of city-states, accumulating extensive diplomatic and military administrative experience.
  3. 1512–1527Florence · FlorenceAfter the Medici restoration of 1512 he was dismissed and at one point exiled and imprisoned. Thereafter in the countryside he wrote 'The Prince', 'Discourses on Livy', 'History of Florence', and the comedy 'Mandragola', calmly analyzing the relations among power, virtue, and fortune, and inaugurating modern political realist discourse.

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