Historical Context
In
the sixteenth century, when Niccolo Machiavelli wrote The Prince, Italy
was not a unified country. Instead,
it was a collection of city-states, each with its own court and ruler, each
attempting to gain power over the others. In
addition to being a place of domestic intrigue, Italy was also a battleground
for the power-hungry French, the Spanish, the Germans, and the forces of the
Catholic Church under the Popes (who were, in essence, as powerful as secular
kings at this time). One of the
major Italian city-states, the republic of Florence, had long maintained an
alliance with the French, and when Pope Julius II defeated the French in 1512,
Florence was defeated too. Pope
Julius declared that he would not agree make peace unless Florence ceased to be
a republic and accepted the Medici family as their rulers.
These
political developments had a serious impact on the life and career of
Machiavelli. Hardly a dyed-in-the-wool supporter of princes, Machiavelli
had actually served for the past thirteen years as a councillor and diplomat for
the former rulers of Florence, the anti-Medici republicans (his first book, The
Discourses, presents a theory of republican government).
When Florence fell into the hands of his princely enemies, Machiavelli
narrowly escaped execution and found himself exiled instead.
Formerly a man who lived in the center of political power, Machiavelli
was now unemployed and disgraced (not to mention bored!) in the countryside
outside Florence. He began to write
a series of letters, begging the new Medici rulers in Florence to allow him to
return to his beloved city. He
continued this unsuccessful effort for fourteen years, until his death in 1527.
We
must read The Prince, written in 1513, as one of the first of the
documents that Machiavelli wrote in order to
ingratiate himself with the new Florentine prince, Lorenzo de Medici.
Is Machiavelli insincere? Is
he a hypocrite? After all, his
first book declared that a republic was the ideal form of government, not a
state governed by the authority of a prince.
And yet, we must note that Machiavelli never says anywhere in The
Prince that he likes the notion of government by princes.
He merely states that if a country is going to be governed by a
prince, particularly a new prince, he has some advice as to how that prince
should rule if he wishes to be great and powerful. In other words, Machiavelli’s book is absolutely practical
and not at all idealistic. Leaving
aside what government is “best” in an ideal world, The Prince takes
for granted the presence of an authoritarian ruler, and tries to imagine how
such a ruler might achieve success. It
is, of course, also entirely topical as well:
Machiavelli offers Lorenzo an expert handbook that deals with precisely
the situation of Florence at the time. He
seems genuinely interested in using his political experience, as well as his
wide reading in history and philosophy, to help Lorenzo be the best prince he
can be. But he also obviously
expected some personal gain from the book as well – Machiavelli clearly hoped that Lorenzo would find The
Prince so helpful that he would immediately bring its author back to
Florence where he could be a political counselor once again!
Unfortunately,
Machiavelli’s cunning plan didn’t work.
Despite the lavish praise for Medicis and Popes that continues throughout
The Prince, Lorenzo did not seem to like the book very much, and
certainly never called Machiavelli back from exile.
Ironically, shortly before Machiavelli died, Charles V of France defeated
the Pope and removed the Medicis from power.
Florence became a republic once again, and Machiavelli surely expected
his long exile to end at last. There
was one slight problem, however: Machiavelli
had written a short book dedicated to Prince Lorenzo de Medici, advising him on
how best to acquire and maintain power – not a very republican thing to do!
And so, that very book that Machiavelli had hoped would bring him back to
Florence – The Prince – finally kept him away for good.
