Today is the birthday of Niccolo Machiavelli in 1469, in Florence, Italy. He’s not a Tudor, but he definitely influenced our Tudor monarchs with his famous book, The Prince, which outlined the way a Renaissance monarch should rule. He didn’t just write political books, but also published comedies, and poetry. But The Prince is what he will always be remembered for, because it had such an impact on political ideas at the time.
He believed that sometimes a prince had to act immorally, and that the ends justified the means, and that it was better for a prince to be feared than loved. Through the centuries people have debated whether the book is actually a satire, or also was perhaps a tell-all book that would give away the secrets of these types of rulers, since the rulers themselves already presumably knew it all already.
That’s your Tudor Minute for today. Remember you can dive deeper into life in 16th century England through the Renaissance English History Podcast at englandcast.com.
From the shop:
Niccolò Machiavelli Life Advice T-shirt
(Whosever desires constant success must change his conduct with the times)
Ps. All products are made on-demand and can take a few weeks to ship.
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Heather Teysko is the creator, writer, and producer of The Renaissance English History Podcast, one of the longest running indie history podcasts, going since 2009. She's been writing about history online for over 25 years, since her first site on Colonial American history became number one in history on Yahoo in 1998. She writes books, created the original Tudor Planner (a yearly diary filled with Tudor history) and in 2019 created the world's first Tudorcon (you can "attend" online this year!). She has been passionate about Tudor England since she first read Alison Weir's The Six Wives of Henry VIII 20 years ago, and subsequently moved to London after college to spend her time immersed in Tudor history.