Florentine Histories

Florentine Histories (Istorie fiorentine) is a historical account by Niccolò Machiavelli, first published in 1532.

Background

After the crisis of 1513, with arrests for conspiracy, torture and after being sentenced to house arrest, Machiavelli's rapport with the Medici family passively began to mend itself. If the dedication of The Prince (1513) to Lorenzo II of Medici hadn't any effect, part of the then dominant faction of the Florence is not in opposition to him, and rather it is these that he uses to be able to obtain an appointment. So it is that in his letter, deplores of the necessity of being idle, while deeming the having of a precious political experience from an offering of the new master. To sustain that timid request Machiavelli, with a considerably courtier-like spirit, gets into the setting his "Mandragola" for the wedding of Lorenzino of Medici (1518). On 1520 he comes invited to Lucca for a mission of a semiprivate character, indicating that the ostracism is to end. To the end of that year, the Cardinal Giulio of Medici, later Pope Clement VII, offers him the appointment to make a history of Florence. Although it is not the charge that the wishful Nicolò wants, he intuits that accepting is the only possible way to come to the good graces of the Medici. Moveover the intent, if only semi-officially, is to recover the city's charge of historic officiality. The stipend for the appointment is not large -- 57 fiorini per year, later changed to 100 -- but it carries the possibility of encountering with the Medici, that up to now had him at a distance. Once completed, the work was presented officially to Giulio, now Pope, in May of 1526. This last had returned several at the arrival of Machiavelli to Rome. Probably due to the pressure of the clergy against the political rehabilitation of Machiavelli; but the presentation was a moment of solemnity and the Pope, content at the result, rewarded him, albeit moderately, and escorted him with the interest of proposing for the making of an writ, in fact, a national army, of his theorizing in the Art of War, in the context of preparations for the War of the League of Cognac. However after, with the sacking of Rome and the fall of the government of Mediceo of Florence, Machievelli's hopes were dashed. At any rate, Machiavelli would die little afterwards.

The work

The composition of the opera presented a problem, it was clear that the commission was not meant to give him the opportunity to make a eulogy of republican florence, of which Machiavelli had been titled "il segretario" (the secretary) par excellence. What was expected of him, if not a glorification of the Medici family, a treatise without polemics and tending to show the present state of things as a natural evolution. The perplexities of the author leaked through from some letters of his rich collection (to Giucciardini on August 30, 1524.

The structure of the opera, quote contorted, illustrates the difficulty of the author. From the eight books book, the first is a general picture of the history of Europe from the fall of the roman empire in 1215 that, with the second book, actually begins to relate the history of florence, with the naration of the feud between Buondelmenti/Donati and Uberti/Amidei, that according to tradition corrobated by Dante would unchain the conflict between Guelfi and Ghibellini. The books II, II, and IV narrating from ""affair prima of the arrivel on scene of the medici and the last four speak of the fight for power that ends with the Medicean lordship. The eighth book closes with the death of Lorenzo il Magnifico, on 1492, with the end of the flargile peace that the equilibrium politics of Lorenza had carried. The author made an effort to show under a altogether favorable light personalities like Cosimo il Vecchio and Lorenzo il magnifico, without underlining their actions recreate a dynasty. On the other hand he exclude in not the introduction a risky passage, given the commitance of the work; for example within the first book, on the power of papal writ (Istorie 1, 9)Elsewhere, as in the celebrated description of the Battle of Anghiari does not hesitate to manipulate the historical facts to sustain its political theory, in fact it describes that battle, bitterly fought with mercenary cavalry, of his abhorment and despisal, like little more of a mise en scène, as in:The first edition was printed on the year 1532.

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