Niccolò Machiavelli was born on 3 May 1469 in Florence. A Florentine diplomat, civil servant and political thinker, Machiavelli served the Republic of Florence as a secretary and envoy until the Medici returned to power in 1512, when he was removed from office and briefly tortured and imprisoned. In retirement he wrote The Prince, a short guide on how rulers can gain and keep power that treats politics as a matter of practical results rather than morality. His longer Discourses on Livy defend republican government, and he also wrote a history of Florence and a comic play, The Mandrake. The word Machiavellian is used for cunning politics, though scholars debate his real intentions.
Before and after
- 1468Death of Johannes Gutenberg
- c. 1469Birth of Vasco da Gama
- 1469Origins of Sikhism
- 15 April 1469Birth of Guru Nanak
- 3 May 1469Birth of Niccolò Machiavelli
- 12 March 1470Battle of Losecoat Field
- from 10 July 1470 to 5 August 1470Siege of Negroponte
- 21 May 1471Birth of Albrecht Dürer
- 1472Founding of Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München
More in Art, literature & culture
- c. 500sRise of medieval music
- from 8th century to 9th centuryRise of Carolingian Renaissance
- c. 1010sMurasaki Shikibu writes The Tale of Genji
- from 1140 to 1530Gothic art
- 1353Publication of The Decameron
- from 1478 to 1834Spanish Inquisition
The era
This moment belongs to the Medieval world (500 CE to 1500 CE), kingdoms, faiths and trade routes. You can also browse everything in the 15th century.