Brian machiavelli biography

Florence was among the many Italian city-republics frequently contested by the larger political powers of the day—the papacy and the Holy Roman Empire, along with France and Spain. New editions and translations of classical Greek and Roman texts provided the material for the intellectual movement known as the Renaissance, which combined an interest in Christianity with a newfound curiosity about classical culture.

Why was machiavelli exiled

Florence had risen to prominence as a banking center, and the Medici banking family had been the effective rulers of Florence since After a tumultuous rule of under four years, Savonarola was executed, and Piero Soderini reestablished republican government. He undertook diplomatic missions to many of the great European powers and worked intensely to improve the Florentine militia.

In doing so he made not a few enemies. Machiavelli was married from till his death, with his wife Marietta bearing seven children. His extramarital activities were occasionally a source of scandal. Machiavelli was removed from office in the change of regime and was arrested for conspiracy against the Medici. Machiavelli produced his most important literary and political writings during the subsequent years when he retired to his estate outside Florence, while not abandoning his political ambitions.

Around the same time he was also composing his Discourses on Livy , a larger undertaking not finished till at the earliest. Neither political treatise, however, was published in his lifetime; the Discourses reached print in , The Prince in Following , Machiavelli continued to exercise his literary skills. His Golden Ass , though never completed, was written in , followed in the subsequent year by his comedy Mandragola.

At the beginning of the s Machiavelli brought out his Life of Castruccio Castracani , was commissioned by the Medici to write his Florentine Histories published , and published his Art of War Just over one month later, Machiavelli died. His political legacy, however, had just begun.