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Political Realism · History
Florentine Histories
by Machiavelli · The Honest Advisor of Power · Renaissance, 1469-1527
- Advanced
- 1525
- ~12 hr read
- 26 chapter guides
- Public domain
Start reading · Read the Book I, Chapter VII guide free
Before the text
Editor's Prelude
The City Beneath The Glory
In 1520, Cardinal Giulio de' Medici asked Machiavelli to write the history of Florence. The commission carried a dangerous intimacy. Machiavelli had served the republic that the Medici displaced, endured prison and torture after their return, and now had to narrate a city whose celebrated families were also living powers. The result is neither a court chronicle nor a neutral procession of dates. It is history written by a man who knows how quickly public institutions can become instruments of private command.
The first book ranges across the collapse of the Roman West, the growth of papal power, and the rival states of Italy before Florence takes center stage. That long approach is deliberate. Machiavelli wants the city's conflicts to appear inside a larger struggle over authority: emperors and popes, mercenary captains and republics, foreign dynasties and local elites all press upon one another. Once the narrative reaches Florence, names and offices multiply, but the recurring pressure is simple—who can turn civic energy into durable order?
A quarrel can force a republic to improve its laws, or let a faction capture it. Machiavelli repeatedly tests laws against loyalties, public speech against private ambition, and military success against what a city can actually hold. The brilliance of Florence is never denied. The question beneath the whole history is whether brilliance without discipline can keep from preparing its own ruin.
The opening pages
Book I, Chapter I: Northern Invasions
BOOK I
Irruption of Northern people upon the Roman territories—Visigoths—Barbarians called in by Stilicho—Vandals in Africa—Franks and Burgundians give their names to France and Burgundy—The Huns—Angles give the name to England—Attila, king of the Huns, in Italy—Genseric takes Rome—The Lombards.
The people who inhabit the northern parts beyond the Rhine and the Danube, living in a healthy and prolific region, frequently increase to such vast multitudes that part of them are compelled to abandon their native soil, and seek a habitation in other countries. The method adopted, when one of these provinces had to be relieved of its superabundant population, was to divide into three parts, each containing an equal number of nobles and of people, of rich and of poor. The third upon whom the lot fell, then went in search of new abodes, leaving the remaining two-thirds in possession of their native country.
These migrating masses destroyed the Roman empire by the facilities for settlement which the country offered when the emperors abandoned Rome, the ancient seat of their dominion, and fixed their residence at Constantinople; for by this step they exposed the western empire to the rapine of both their ministers and their enemies, the remoteness of their position preventing them either from seeing or providing for its necessities. To suffer the overthrow of such an extensive empire, established by the blood of so many brave and virtuous men, showed no less folly in the princes themselves than infidelity in their ministers; for not one irruption alone, but many, contributed to its ruin; and these barbarians exhibited much ability and perseverance in accomplishing their object.
The first of these northern nations that invaded the empire after the Cimbrians, who were conquered by Caius Marius, was the Visigoths—which name in our language signifies "Western Goths." These, after some battles fought along its confines, long held their seat of dominion upon the Danube, with consent of the emperors; and although, moved by various causes, they often attacked the Roman provinces, were always kept in subjection by the imperial forces. The emperor Theodosius conquered them with great glory; and, being wholly reduced to his power, they no longer selected a sovereign of their own, but, satisfied with the terms which he granted them, lived and fought under his ensigns, and authority. On the death of Theodosius, his sons Arcadius and Honorius, succeeded to the empire, but not to the talents and fortune of their father; and the times became changed with the princes. Theodosius had appointed a governor to each of the three divisions of the empire, Ruffinus to the eastern, to the western Stilicho, and Gildo to the African. Each of these, after the death of Theodosius, determined not to be governors merely, but to assume sovereign dominion over their respective provinces. Gildo and Ruffinus were suppressed at their outset; but Stilicho, concealing his design, ingratiated himself with the new emperors, and at the same time so disturbed their government, as to facilitate his occupation of it afterward. To make the Visigoths their enemies, he advised that the accustomed stipend allowed to this people should be withheld; and as he thought these enemies would not be sufficient alone to disturb the empire, he contrived that the Burgundians, Franks, Vandals, and Alans (a northern people in search of new habitations), should assail the Roman provinces.
Chapter guides · 26
Book I, Chapter VII
Italy Before Florence
The opening book builds the unstable world in which Florence will have to survive.
A divided Italy
Machiavelli has crossed a thousand years: the Roman West breaks apart, new kingdoms enter Italy, papal power grows, emperors and popes struggle, and local states learn to live between them. Florence has barely appeared because the first subject is the political landscape that makes its rise possible.
Cities depend on one another
The sweep is not background decoration. No Italian city can act alone for long. Religious authority, foreign dynasties, mercenary captains, and neighboring republics continually change what local freedom can mean.
Captains profit from weak states
The book closes with Italian states relying on hired captains instead of armies of their own. These commanders have reasons to prolong war and protect one another. Machiavelli argues that even the supposed winners lose: the soldiers gain money while the states remain exposed.
Book II, Chapter III
Florence Builds A Republic
Factional victories produce offices, companies, and a government that is always being remade.
Offices against the nobles
Florence builds its government around the Signory, its chief magistrates, and the Gonfalonier of Justice, who commands an armed civic force. Giano della Bella helps strengthen laws against powerful nobles. But a riot after an acquittal gives his enemies a chance to blame him, and he leaves the city rather than let his supporters fight for him.
A republic repeatedly revised
Machiavelli is showing institution-building under pressure. The republic is not founded once; it is repeatedly revised after exclusion, return, riot, and war. That flexibility gives Florence strength, but it also teaches factions to treat law as the prize of victory.
Prosperity without unity
The city strengthens its public buildings and grows wealthy. Machiavelli closes by saying that Florence had nothing to fear from outside; the harm would come from enmities within.
Book II, Chapter V
Protection Has a Price
Corso Donati falls, and Florence’s search for outside protection brings another oppressive official.
Book II, Chapter VII
Military Failure Opens a Door
Military weakness and factional fear make the Duke of Athens look like a solution.
Book II, Chapter IX
The Tyrant Leaves, The Conflict Stays
Florence expels the Duke of Athens but cannot expel the social struggle that empowered him.
Book III, Chapter II
Law Becomes A Factional Weapon
The rules against Ghibellines let citizens punish enemies while claiming to defend the republic.
Book III, Chapter IV
The Ciompi Seize The Palace
The lowest wool workers turn grievance into a government, then discover how difficult command is.
Book III, Chapter VII
Moderation Refuses A Crown
Veri de' Medici gains power by declining the kind of power others expect him to seize.
Book IV, Chapter II
War Reopens The Class Struggle
A foreign threat gives Florentine elites a reason to reconsider who should share power.
Book IV, Chapter IV
Good Counsel and a Broken Surrender
Giovanni’s deathbed advice gives way to a disputed war and Astorre Gianni’s abuse of a surrendered town.
Book IV, Chapter VII
Cosimo Returns Through Force and Office
Cosimo survives imprisonment, while Rinaldo’s failed resistance lets his opponents recall the exile.
Book V, Chapter II
Italian Politics Is A Chain Reaction
A succession crisis in Naples pulls Genoa, Milan, Florence, and the exiles into one connected struggle.
Book V, Chapter IV
Alliance Is Never Trust
Florence and Venice need one another against Milan while suspecting one another at every step.
Book V, Chapter VI
War Reaches Tuscany
The league's disagreements let Piccinino carry Milanese pressure close to Florence.
Book V, Chapter VII
Anghiari Exposes Mercenary War
A famous victory saves Florence, yet the battle itself reveals how cautiously hired soldiers fight.
Book VI, Chapter II
Murder and a Stronger Ruling Party
Baldaccio’s death and tighter control of offices secure the Florentine regime while alliances shift abroad.
Book VI, Chapter IV
Sforza Uses Betrayal and Hunger
Venice changes sides, Sforza deceives Milan, and Florence debates which neighbor it should prefer.
Book VI, Chapter V
Milan Changes The Balance
Sforza takes Milan, and every Italian alliance must be rebuilt around the new duke.
Book VI, Chapter VII
Storms and a War for Naples
A hurricane and a disputed succession expose dangers that Italy’s rulers cannot keep under control.
Book VII, Chapter I
Cosimo's Achievement Has A Cost
The portrait of Cosimo joins civic magnificence to a system that leaves Florence dependent on one family.
Book VII, Chapter III
Piero Wins Without A Battle
The opposition gathers arms, but its leaders cannot turn grievance into coordinated action.
Book VII, Chapter V
Prato Resists, Volterra Is Sacked
A failed coup and a brutal conquest expose the difference between taking a town and securing its loyalty.
Book VII, Chapter VI
A Murder Does Not Make a Revolution
The killing of Galeazzo succeeds, but the conspirators cannot turn it into a popular rising.
Book VIII, Chapter II
The Pazzi Conspiracy Fails
The murder succeeds against Giuliano but collapses as a seizure of the Florentine state.
Book VIII, Chapter IV
Lorenzo Bets His Life On Diplomacy
Military defeat pushes Lorenzo to seek peace directly from the king of Naples.
Book VIII, Chapter VII
The Ending Knows What Comes Next
Lorenzo's death closes the history at the edge of the Italian catastrophe Machiavelli has already lived through.
Questions readers ask
- How long does it take to read Florentine Histories?
- About 12 hr in total.
- How difficult is Florentine Histories?
- Advanced. A long history; about 12 hours of reading.
- Which translation is this?
- The Unknown (anonymous English translation) translation from the Italian, first published in 1532. The text follows History of Florence and of the Affairs of Italy: From the Earliest Times to the Death of Lorenzo the Magnificent (1901).
- Can I read Florentine Histories for free?
- Florentine Histories is part of Nexus Premium, so reading it needs an account and a Premium subscription. The opening above and two chapter guides on this page are free to read.
- How many chapter guides are there?
- 26 chapter guides, written by the Nexus editors. Two open in full here; the rest show their opening line.
About Machiavelli
Machiavelli served the Florentine Republic as a diplomat and civil servant during an age of invasion and political instability. After the Medici returned to power, he was imprisoned, tortured, and pushed out of public life, where he wrote his most famous works.
“What does power actually demand?”
Machiavelli forces political thought to confront the gap between private virtue and public survival.
Source text: public domain. Chapter guides: original Nexus writing. Florentine Histories is part of The Nexus Archive, guided Quests through the great works.