1469–1527

Humanist
Historian
Political theorist

Life.

Like other Florentine children of his age and class, Niccolò Machiavelli's education included the humanist study of the classical authors. Very little, though, is known about Machiavelli's life before he entered the world of politics in 1498. At this time he was almost thirty years old, but he managed to rise quickly in Florence's government. The Medici family had been expelled several years before from the city, and a republic had been established which had fallen under the influence of the puritanical preaching of Giralamo Savonarola. Machiavelli came into the Florentine chancery immediately after Savonarola had been executed, a time of significant upheaval in the republic. His first job involved the supervision of the city's relationships with its subject towns in Tuscany. Machiavelli was soon responsible for other tasks, and on several occasions he carried out diplomatic missions. While he...