Machiavelli › Timeline
Machiavelli, 1469–1700
The life, the books, and the afterlife. One line per event, from the documents.
- 1469Born in Florence.
- 1494The Medici lose Florence. A republic, under the friar Savonarola's influence.
- 149823 May: Savonarola is hanged and burned. June: Machiavelli, twenty-nine, is elected head of the second chancery, and weeks later secretary to the Ten.
- 1500July: first mission abroad, six months at the French court.
- 1502Piero Soderini is made Gonfalonier for life. October: Machiavelli is sent to Cesare Borgia.
- 150226 December, Cesena: Borgia's governor is found cut in two in the square.
- 1503Rome, for the conclave that elects Julius II.
- 1505December: begins enrolling a militia from the Florentine countryside.
- 1506Perugia: Pope Julius rides into the city of a tyrant who does him no harm.
- 1507Sent to the Emperor in Germany; home in June 1508 with a report.
- 151229 August: the Spanish sack Prato and the militia runs. The Medici return. 7 November: Machiavelli is dismissed.
- 1513February: arrested over a plot, held twenty-two days, six drops of the rope. Freed in March. 10 December: the farm letter. The Prince.
- 1516Around now, the gatherings in the Rucellai gardens, and the Discourses on Livy.
- 1520La Mandragola, the comedy that made him famous. A memorandum to the pope on reforming Florence. Commissioned to write its history.
- 1521The Art of War is printed. A mission to a chapter of friars at Carpi.
- 1525Delivers the History of Florence to the pope.
- 152721 June: dies in Florence, at fifty-eight. Buried in Santa Croce.
- 1531The Discourses are printed, with a papal privilege; The Prince follows in 1532.
- 1559Everything he wrote goes on the Index of Prohibited Books.
- 1576Gentillet's attack reduces him to fifty maxims, conditions removed.
- 1589About now: Marlowe's Machevil on the London stage.
- 1605Francis Bacon thanks him for writing what men do, not what they ought to do.
- 1640The Prince is printed in English for the first time.
- 1700About now: Matthew Prior's comic poem supplies the English of the End must justifie the Means.
More about Machiavelli
- Did Machiavelli say “the ends justify the means”?
- Did Machiavelli say it is better to be feared than loved?
- Was Machiavelli tortured?
- What did Machiavelli see Cesare Borgia do?
- What was Machiavelli’s job?
- Did Machiavelli invent political science?
- Was The Prince meant as satire?
- On the day, and years later
- The reading room: original sources online
Something to read first
The trial file
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