Pays the cost to be the bossThe Life and Times of

NiccolÒ de Bernardo dei

Machiavelli: Teacher of Rulers

Is it better to be

loved

or is it better to be

feared?

Quick Facts

• May 3, 1469-June 21, 1527

• From Florence, Italy during the Renaissance• Chaotic times:

• Popes wage war on city-states• Leaders and cities fall at any moment• Foreign powers—France, Spain,

Switzerland—contend for power in Italy• Short-lived governments• Shaky alliances that backstab each other

• Historian, diplomat, philosopher, Humanist, and writer

• Considered the founder of modern political science—specifically, political ethics Machiavelli’s Italy divided into

“cliques”

The Beginning: Politician’s Eyes

• 1494: The Medici Family (the merchant kings) expelled from Florence. Republic is restored

• 1498: Savanarola (the “ideal ruler”) is executed

• June: Machiavelli (age 29) appointed Head of Second Chancery

• July: Machiavelli appointed Secretary of Dieci di libertà e Pace

• 1503-1506: Responsible for Florentine militia

• Distrusted mercenaries & built up citizen militia

• Defeats Pisa in 1509 with his citizen soldiers

• August, 1512: Defeated by the Medici with Spanish forces and Pope Julius II’s assistance

• Republic is dissolved; Medici are top dogs again

Power players in Machiavelli’s life (clockwise from top left): Girolamo Savonarola, Pope Julius II, Pope Clement VII and Charles VIII of France

Chrysalis: Political Prisoner

• 1512: Machiavelli stripped of power and titles• 1513: accused of conspiracy, arrested, and

imprisoned, and subjected “with the rope”• He denies his involvement with any “conspiracy

and is released• Pope Leo X (Giovanni de Medici) is elected

into power when The Prince is written; has Machiavelli released from prison

• Machiavelli retires to his home and writes political theory• Writes plays that are popularly received• His passion is politics; he writes letters to his

political friends to stay updated on who is in power, etc.

Strappado: “with the rope”

Final Phase: Political Genius

• The following are a list of some political papers Machiavelli wrote:

• Discorso sopre le cose di pisa (1499)• Del modo di trattare i popoli de la valdichiana

ribbelatti (1502)• Discorso sopra la provizione del danaro (1502)• Ritratti delle cose di Francia (1510)• Il principe (1513)• Ritracto delle cose della Magna (1508-1512)• Dell’Arte della Guerra (1519-1520)• Discorso sopra il riformare lo stato di Firenze

(1520)• Sommario delle cose della citta di Lucca (1520)• La vita di Castruccio Castracani di Lucca (1520)• Istorie Florentine (1520-1525)

An early cover of Il Principe

His Legacy: Il Principe

• 1513: Machiavelli writes The Prince

• Dedicated to Lorenzo di Piero de’ Medici, the hopeful “Prince” of Florence

• Not printed until 1532, five years after Machiavelli died

• Allowed by Pope Clement VII (a Medici)• The book was banned by previous

popes because it attacked the Church’s power

• The book was also hated by Protestants

Lorenzo di Piero de’ Medici, to whom The Prince was dedicated

The Prince: What Is iT?

• An analysis on how to acquire and maintain political power

• Contents:• Dedication to the Medici family (Lorenzo in

particular)• Twenty-six chapters divided into four sections:

I. Chapters 1-11: focus on different types of principalities or states

II. Chapters 12-14: focus on different types of armies and a prince’s conduct as military leader

III. Chapters 15-23: focus on the appropriate behavior of a prince

IV. Chapters 24-26: focus on Italy’s desperate political situation

• Last chapter is a desperate plea for Medici family to step up and provide a leader who can save Italy

I: Principalities

• There are four types of principalities:• Hereditary: inherited by a ruler• Mixed: territories annexed to a ruler’s

existing territories• New: acquired in several ways:

• By one’s own power• By the power of others• By criminal acts or extreme cruelty• By the will of the people (civic

principalities)

• Ecclesiastical: the papal states belonging to the Church

Top: Royal crownBottom: Papal tiara

II: Types of Armies• A prince must always pay attention to military affairs if he is to

remain in power. Machiavelli lists four types of military:① Mercenaries or hired soldiers: dangerous and unreliable

② Auxiliaries: troops borrowed from other rulers—also dangerous

③ Native troops: from one’s own citizens—most reliable and desired

④ Mixed troops: a combo of native, hired, and/or borrowed; okay, but still less desirable than an all native army

A heartbreaking day to be a fiorentino and an inspiration for Machiavelli’s writing:Siege of Florence (fresco by Giorgio Vasari, 1558)

III: Princely behavior

• Machiavelli recommends the following behavior for a prince:• It is better to be stingy than

generous• It is better to be cruel than

merciful• It is better to break promises if

keeping them would be dangerous to one’s own interests

• Avoid being hated or despised; the goodwill of the people is the best defense over any fortress

• Undertake great projects to enhance one’s reputation

• Choose wise advisors and avoid flatterers at all cost

From left to right: Charles the V of Spain (Catholic king) and Henry the VIII of England (Protestant king) were among the first generation of royals to read The Prince

IV: Italy’s sad situation

• Machiavelli outlines the following:• Italy’s rulers have lost their states

because they’ve ignored the political and military tactics Machiavelli suggests

• Fortune controls half of human affairs, but free will controls the rest, leaving the prince free to act• Few princes adapt their actions to

the times

• Final chapter implores the Medici to follow Machiavelli’s advice and save Italy from a lame fate of foreign domination Italia: “divided we fall…”

A most famous passage

“Here a question arises: whether it is better to be loved than feared, or the reverse. The answer is, of course, that it would be best to be both loved and feared. But since the two rarely come together, anyone compelled to choose will find greater security in being feared than in being loved… Love endures by a bond which men, being scoundrels, may break whenever it serves their advantage to do so; but fear is supported by the dread of pain, which is ever present.”

~The Prince, chapter XVII

Your Assignment:

I. Look through your lecture notes and create a SOAPSTone for the previous quote

II. Create Three questions based on the homework sheet I gave you (use the sentence stems):

i. One Compare and Contrast question

ii. One Proposition and Support question

iii. One Explain and Describe question

III. Share out in class

Homework Assignment• Take and read all of the most important quotes from

The Prince

• Make a SOAPSTone for 10 of the 15 quotes. Use complete sentences!

• Choose FIVE QUOTES you want to closely analyze.• Use the “Small Group Discussion” sheets to create and

write one question for each quote to be answered in small groups the following class session• Use the sentence stems to help you make questions• Use your knowledge from the lecture and previous EMPIRES

research• Use your experience from the film Throne of Blood• Use your experience/notes from the Greek tragedies