Italian politics throughout the early modern period are a complex matter with city states constantly trying to gain more prestige and power. Throughout this constant power struggle, princes were adapting various political ideas to create a more efficient state. Many of these princes and other leaders throughout europe would rely on the teachings of Niccolo Machiavelli, a political revolutionary during the late 13th and early 14th centuries. His ideas would play a vital role in the foundation of political thought concerning the security of states. Both of these items, The Prince and The Florentine Histories provide valuable insight into the political ideas of Machieval and how they would eventually shape most of Europe. The Prince’s contributed significantly to political thought where various nobles such as Cesare Borigia, a powerful Italian prince, who helped set a precedence for Machiavelli’s political theory, by using “his own ruthlessness to build up a state in central Italy” (Wiesner Hanks 137). Other leaders such as Louis the XIV committed themselves to Machiavellian philosophy and use their power to encourage fear among the general populace and nobles. Machiavelli specifically mentions Ferdinand of Spain and uses him as an ideal image of a ruler, because he is able to maintain a strong political presence that helps stability to Spain (Machiavelli 132). This idea of a strong prince or authoritarian figure leading the state would persist throughout the early modern period and into the modern era. The Florentine Histories helped set about the beginning of modern historical documentation with his “devotion to facts” (Harvey Mansfield). Through these writings, Machiavelli established himself as a prominent political theoretician, but it was also an effort to try to stabilize the chaos of Italy and to regain favor with the Medicis. Machiavelli’s political ideas connect to the much broader extent of the Renaissance and the trend of important philosophical thoughts. Machiavelli political message supported the idea that states could be independent of the Vatican could use and state, which resulted in European states gaining more power, while diminishing the churches influence. Machiavelli did however still support the church and its mission for spreading Christianity, he viewed it more as more of a Princes responsibility to focus on.
Machiavelli, Niccolo. Princeps. 1622. Sumptibus Haeredum Lazari Zetneri.