Who did Machiavelli base the Prince on?

Question

In my AP Euro class my teacher told us which Prince that Machiavelli actually based his book on. I spelled the name totally wrong and now I have no idea who his model was. Just wondering who it was. Thanks=D

Answer 1

Machiavelli had fallen from favor with the ruling Medici family. He wrote The Prince for the new ruler, Lorenzo de Medici. Books were highly valued at this time and Machiavelli hoped that the gift of his work, dedicated to Lorenzo, would restore him to favor with the Medicis.

Answer 2

The Prince was written by Machiavelli for Lorenzo di Medici, who, as a member of the Medici ruling family, pretty much owned the Italian city of Florence.

What happened is, when he wrote it, the Medici's owned the city of Florence (they were a banking family,) and they controlled all aspects of the city.

Because of this, Machiavelli wrote The Prince as almost a tongue and cheek stab at the Medici family, designed to mock them. Although most don't see it that way, and The Prince ends up becoming this work that makes Machiavelli look like a looney.

For a really good Machiavelli work, read The Discourses, that's much closer to what he intended for politics.

Answer 3

Your teacher is absolutely right:

Machiavelli wrote the book under the rule of  Lorenzo De' Medici.

Meanwhile,  having played a significant role in  anti-Medici government of Florentine Republic,  he was removed from office and in 1513 he was accused of conspiracy and arrested and tortured.

He denied his involvement and was eventually released.

He then  retired, near Florence and started writing on the base of his former experience as a diplomatic.

The Prince was for sure a message to Medici and other rulers  but there was for sure , and openly, a "Prince" he had in mind as a model :

his model  was CESARE BORGIA called "The Valentino"

Born around September 13, 1475  he died on  March 12, 1507.

Was  Duke of Valentinois, and Romagna, Prince of Andria and Venafro, Count of Dyois, Lord of Piombino, Camerino and Urbino,  was a Spanish-Italian soldier, lord and cardinal.

Cesare  was the son of Pope Alexander VI and his mistress Vannozza dei Cattanei, brother of  Lucrezia Borgia, Gioffre and Giovanni Borgia, and half-brother to Don Pedro Luis de Borja and Girolama de Borja, children of unknown mothers.

Cesare was appointed by his father commander of the papal armies with a number of Italian mercenaries, supported by 300 cavalry and 4,000 Swiss infantry sent by the King of France.

He conquered a big part of current central Italy destroying the feudal states and city states of the time and trying to unify all of them.

When his father died (1503) he was trying to conquer Tuscany even if seriously ill. He was able (with a direct presence of his troops in Vatican, to force the election of a family friend as new pope: Pius III.

He supported the Borgia but his reign was short and he was replaced by the Borgias' archy  enemy Julius II who caused the complete ruin of the family

Cesare Borgia was kidnapped and imprisoned  Perugia. All his lands were acquired by the Papal States.

Exiled to Spain, in 1504, he was imprisoned in the Castle of La Mota, in Medina del Campo, but  he escaped and joined his brother-in-law, King John III of Navarre.

He  died at the siege of Viana in 1507, when he was just 31.

Machiavelli met and admired him during his diplomatic career .

He  was at Borgia's court from October 7, 1502 through January 18, 1503 as representative/ ambassador  of Florence.

Machiavelli used many of Borgia's exploits and tactics as examples in The Prince . "The Prince"  openly suggests to imitate Borgia. Machiavelli was mainly impressed by two things: the method by which Borgia pacified the Romagna area,  described in chapter VII , and Borgia's assassination of his captains on New Year's Eve of 1503 in Senigallia.

Answer 4

Your teacher was talking out of his/her behind.  The Prince is not a novel, there is no character called "the Prince" in it.  It's a book of teachings to an aspiring statesman, and stories told in the book are all actual, with real names and circumstances.  

Some believe that the book was intended as an "internal training manual" for the Medici family which ruled Florence for a few hundred years, so your teacher might have been talking about intended audience rather than a model...

Answer 5

Well, of course it is based on Prince Rogers Nelson, none other than the legendary master of funk from Minneapolis St. Paul !

But you should have known from his car parked sideways that it wouldn't last!

Answer 6

Wow, DAN 06 is right--hardly ever find anyone who knows the true story of The Prince.  The book is mostly observation, for instance he says, "If you must do an evil, do it quickly."  The DeMedicis were awful, and he was the first leadership guru to suggest how to rule w/o being so bad.