May 3, 1469 - Niccolò Machiavelli
His inclusion here rests less on his own actions than on the lasting influence of his ideas — particularly the argument, laid out in The Prince, that effective rulers must be willing to act outside moral constraints when power demands it. Written in 1513 during a period of political exile and upheaval in Florence, the work became a reference point for generations of rulers and strategists who found in it a justification for ruthlessness dressed as pragmatism. His name eventually entered common usage as a shorthand for cynical manipulation, a fate that somewhat obscures the nuance of his broader body of work as a diplomat, historian, and observer of Renaissance statecraft.
From Wikipedia
Niccolò di Bernardo dei Machiavelli (3 May 1469 – 21 June 1527) was a Florentine diplomat, author, philosopher, and historian who lived during the Italian Renaissance. He is best known for his political treatise The Prince (Il Principe), written around 1513 but not published until 1532, five years after his death. He has often been called the father of modern political philosophy and political science.
For many years he served as a senior official in the Florentine Republic with responsibilities in diplomatic and military affairs. He wrote comedies, carnival songs, and poetry. His personal correspondence is also important to historians and scholars of Italian correspondence. He worked as secretary to the second chancery of the Republic of Florence from 1498 to 1512, when the Medici were out of power.
After his death Machiavelli's name came to evoke unscrupulous acts of the sort he recommended in his most famous work, The Prince.
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