Machiavelli in Context | Florentine Histories: The Age of the Medici (Lecture 22)

Lecture 22: Machiavelli considers the purposes and nature of war in his Florentine Histories. This is perhaps a natural thing to do because Florence was almost always at war, and Machiavelli more thoroughly documents those wars than he does the development of political institutions and the narration of internal political struggles. He also speaks admiringly of Cosimo de’Medici.

The principal focus of this lecture, however, will be the famous attempt to overthrow Medici rule by assassinating Lorenzo de’Medici and his brother Giuliano, the so-called Pazzi conspiracy of 1478. Machiavelli wrote about conspiracies and the dangers intrinsic to them. For Machiavelli, the Pazzi conspiracy becomes a case study that not only illuminates the particular issue of conspiracies but also shows us more generally how we learn from history.

Recommended Readings:
Machiavelli, Florentine Histories, translated by Laura Banfield and Harvey Mansfield, Books V–VIII.