Niccolò Machiavelli

Niccolò Machiavelli (1469–1527) was a Florentine diplomat, historian and political writer whose name became shorthand for unscrupulous statecraft. In 1498 he became secretary of Florence's council for diplomacy and war, sent on missions to Louis XII's court, Rome and Italian lords. He observed Cesare Borgia closely, and was at Sinigaglia in December 1502 when Borgia killed his rebellious captains.

Distrusting mercenaries, he raised a Florentine citizen militia, which took Pisa in 1509. In 1512 Spanish troops backed by the Medici and Pope Julius II beat the Florentines at Prato; the Republic fell and he lost his post. Suspected of conspiracy in 1513, he was tortured but denied everything, then freed under Pope Leo X's amnesty.

On his farm near San Casciano he wrote The Prince around 1513, followed by the Discourses on Livy and The Mandrake. He died in Florence in 1527; The Prince was not printed until 1532.