Niccolò Machiavelli

Niccolò Machiavelli (1469–1527) was a Florentine statesman, political thinker, historian and playwright. For fourteen years he served the Florentine republic as a diplomat and secretary, observing Cesare Borgia, Louis XII and the Emperor Maximilian at first hand and organizing a citizen militia. When the Medici returned to power in 1512 he was dismissed, imprisoned, tortured and exiled to his farm, where he wrote The Prince (1513) in the hope of regaining office, the Discourses on Livy, a defense of republics, a History of Florence and the comedy La Mandragola. The Prince was published only after his death, and his name became an adjective for cunning, which does him an injustice.