![]() ![]() It was an attempt to regain a political post and the Medici family’s good favor that Machiavelli penned The Prince, which was to become his most well-known work. He was accused of conspiracy, imprisoned, tortured and temporarily exiled. Machiavelli’s political life took a downward turn after 1512, when he fell out of favor with the powerful Medici family. The shrewd and cunning Borgia later inspired the title character in Machiavelli’s famous and influential political treatise The Prince (1532). He soon found himself assigned diplomatic missions for his principality, through which he met such luminaries as Louis XII of France, Pope Julius II, the Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I, and perhaps most importantly for Machiavelli, a prince of the Papal States named Cesare Borgia. As defense secretary, he distinguished himself by executing policies that strengthened Florence politically. Machiavelli entered the political service of his native Florence by the time he was 29. A lifelong patriot and diehard proponent of a unified Italy, Machiavelli became one of the fathers of modern political theory. ![]() On May 3, 1469, the Italian philosopher and writer Niccolo Machiavelli is born. ![]()
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