Sacred Heart School Ateneo de Cebu H. Abellana St.

, Canduman Manduae City

HISTORY MAKERS Featuring

PROJECT 2.1

Niccol Machiavelli
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Prepared By: Hannah Lois C. Tidalgo of III- St. Francis Xavier Submitted To: Mr. Phrixel Gerald Pimentel Social Studies Teacher

PART I: BRIEF BIOGRAPHY

Niccolo Machiavelli was born on May 3, 1469, in Florence, Italy. He

eventually became a man who lived his life for politics and patriotism. Right now, however, he is associated with corrupt, totalitarian government. The reason for this is a small pamphlet he wrote called The Prince to gain influence with the ruling Medici family in Florence. The political genius of Niccolo Machiavelli was overshadowed by the reputation that was unfairly given to him because of a misunderstanding of his views on politics. Machiavelli's life was very interesting. He lived a nondescript childhood in Florence, and his main political experience in his youth was watching Savanarola from afar. Soon after Savanarola was executed, Machiavelli entered the Florentine government as a secretary. His position quickly rose, however, and was soon engaging in diplomatic missions. He met many of the important politicians of the day, such as the Pope and the King of France, but none had more impact on him than a prince of the Papal States, Cesare Borgia. Borgia was a cunning, cruel man, very much like the one portrayed in The Prince. Machiavelli did not truly like Borgia's policies, but he thought that with a ruler like Borgia the Florentines could unite Italy, which was Machiavelli's goal throughout his life. Unfortunately for Machiavelli, he was dismissed from office when the Medici came to rule Florence and the Republic was overthrown. The lack of a job forced him to switch to writing about politics instead of being active. His diplomatic missions were his last official government positions. When Machiavelli lost his office, he desperately wanted to return to politics. He tried to gain the favor of the Medici by writing a book of what he thought were the Medici's goals and dedicating it to them. And so The Prince was written for that purpose. Unfortunately, the Medici didn't agree with what the book said, so he was out of a job. But when the public saw the book, they were outraged. The people wondered how cruel a man could be to think evil thoughts like the ones in The Prince, and this would come back to haunt him when he was alive and dead. However, if the people wanted to know what Machiavelli really stood for, they should have read his "Discourses on Livy", which explain his full political philosophy. But not enough people had and have, and so the legacy of The Prince continues to define Machiavelli to the general public. A few years later the Medici were kicked out of Florence. The republic was reestablished, and Machiavelli ran to retake the office he had left so many years ago. But the reputation that The Prince had established made people think his philosophy was like the Medici, so he was not elected. And here the sharp downhill of his life began. His health began to fail him, and he died months later, in 1527.
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Machiavelli had been unfairly attacked all of his life because of a bad reputation. But it only got worse after he died. He was continually blasted for his "support" of corrupt ruling. In fact, Machiavellian now means corrupt government. Only recently has his true personality come to light. The world must change its vision of the cold, uncaring Machiavelli to the correct view of a patriot and a political genius.

PART II: CONTRIBUTIONS, INVENTIONS,

ACCOMPLISHMENTS
As a politician, military theorist, historian, playwright, diplomat, and philosopher, Machiavelli proved to be an incredible contribution to society. Machiavelli's accomplishments are few in number, but there tremendous power and influence would change the direction of much political thought for years. To completely understand the ideas of Machiavelli, one must first examine the basis of Humanism. Humanism was the most popular form of philosophical thought of the time.
The Prince, is by far his most interesting piece. The book was written as a guide to ruling, but explored a more infamous aspect of the leadership role. Machiavelli's most famous work The Prince, is by far his most interesting piece. The book was written as a guide to ruling, but explored a more infamous aspect of the leadership role. Historians disagree over whether it is written as a political satire or a serious work. Though Machiavelli's dedication to the Medici family at the start of the novel implies that he was possibly still making a plea for his former position. The aspect of The Prince which gained most notoriety was the way it presented a leaders role. The book explained quite objectively how a ruler or politician must be sly and conniving in order to gain and maintain power.

Machiavelli's best known works are:

= Discorsi Sopra La Prima Deca Di Tito Livio (1531, Discourses on the First Ten Books of Titus Livius) nominally discuss a classical history of early Ancient Rome. = The Mandrake(1528) a satirical play = l Principe (1532, The Prince), whose main theme is that all means may be used in order to maintain authority = Discorso sopra le cose di Pisa (1499) = Discorso sopra la provisione del danaro (1502) A discourse about the provision of money. = Ritratti delle cose dell Alemagna (1508 1512) - Portrait of the affairs of Germany. = Istorie Florentine (15201525) Florentine Histories, an eight-volume history book of the city-state, Florence, commissioned by Giulio di Giuliano de Medici, later Pope Clement VII. Fictional works Besides being a statesman and political scientist, Machiavelli also translated classical works, and was a dramaturge (Clizia, Mandragola), a poet (Sonetti, Canzoni, Ottave, Canti carnascialeschi), and a novelist (Belfagor arcidiavolo).

Some of his other works:

= Decennale primo (1506), a poem in terza rima. = Decennale secondo (1509), a poem. = Ritratti delle cose di Francia (1510) Portrait of the affairs of France. = Andria or The Woman of Andros (1517), a Classical comedy, translated from Terence. = Mandragola (1518) The Mandrake, a fiveact prose comedy, with a verse prologue. = Clizia (1525), a prose comedy. = Belfagor arcidiavolo (1515), a novel.

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= Asino doro (1517) The Golden Ass is a terza rima poem, a new version of the Classic work by Apuleius. = Frammenti storici (1525) Fragments of stories. = Della lingua (1514), a dialogue about the language is also normally considered to be by Machiavelli.

Machiavelli's literary executor, Giuliano de'Ricci, also reported having seen that Machiavelli, his grandfather, made a comedy in the style of Aristophanes which included living Florentines as characters, and to be titled Le Maschere.

PART III: REACTION / REFLECTION

As a student, I am amazed by how Niccolo Machiavelli contributed to the world of history. Honestly, I didnt know anything no clue at all- about this man up until now. For me, his life is one of a kind and what he went through was pretty tough. His life revolved around politics and the like. I can see his passion within him just by reading the documentaries recorded by different histologists/scientists that politics, government is his passion. Because of an incident (which was when the Medici overthrowned him from his position), he was completely misunderstood all his life not until recently- because of attempting to gain his position again by making set of rules on how to rule a government which a lot of its readers totally disagrees with his ideas of a totalitarian government.

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PART IV: PHOTOS

PART V: REFERENCES
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