Machiavelli was born in Florence, in 1496. His father was a lawyer, and his family lived modestly, but was not rich. Florence in the 15th century was an independent city, owing political allegiance to no one. It was a center of learning and of considerable artistic creativity. In the 15th members of the Medici family ruled it. The Medici family was temporarily expelled from Florence in 1494, and was replaced by a friar named Savonarola who carried on with campaigns against corruption. In 1497 he was excommunicated by the pope, and later executed. A month after his execution Machiavelli was appointed as secretary to the Second Chancery. His duties involved mire than merely keeping the records. He was called to handle the municipal problems and was frequently asked to participate in diplomatic negotiations with foreign powers. He held this position for 15 years. In 1512, the Medici family came back into power in Florence. With the return of the Medicis Machiavelli lost his post in the Florentine government and accused of conspiring to overthrow the government, and consequently he was thrown in prison and tortured. After his imprisonment, and until his death, he wrote prolifically for 14 years. At this time he saw politics as survival of the fittest.In the Prince, his most famous work, Machiavelli believes that rulers should be shrewd, calculating and manipulating, in order to get to a particular goal. The book however, is not true to his real political beliefs, b/c he wrote the book in an attempt to get a job, ironically, it wasnt published until after his death. Machiavelli did have practical knowledge of statecraft. His assessments of the strengths and weakness of these leaders were significant part of his diplomatic dispatches to Florence, and he clearly relied upon them in composing the Prince.The Prince has 4 sections in which Machiavelli organizes his ideas. The 1st part is organized around the theme of how different forms of sta...
