---
node: machiavelli
type: person
slug: machiavelli
title: "Niccolò Machiavelli"
lead: "Niccolò Machiavelli (1469–1527) was a Florentine diplomat, official, and political writer of the Renaissance, best known for The Prince."
published: 2026-07-11
updated: 2026-07-11
---

## Who they were

Machiavelli was a Florentine diplomat, official, and political writer of the Renaissance.

## What they did

He served the Florentine Republic in diplomacy and defense. After the Medici returned and he lost office, he wrote The Prince (1513), a frank analysis of how rulers gain and keep power, along with the Discourses on Livy and other works.

## Legacy

The Prince made his name a byword — "Machiavellian" — for cunning statecraft divorced from conventional morality, and he is regarded as a founder of modern political thought. His intent, whether a cynical manual or a work of republican realism, remains debated.