Erica Benner - Be Like the Fox: Machiavelli In His World

Be Like the Fox

Machiavellis Lifelong Quest for Freedom

ERICA BENNER

W. W. Norton & Company

Independent Publishers Since 1923

New York London

Writing this book was a new departure for me. Many people helped keep it on track and steer it toward publication. Rosamund Bartlett inspired me to venture beyond political philosophy and try my hand at a more biographical book about Machiavelli. My agent, Catherine Clarke, is simply the best. My editors at Allen Lane, Tom Penn and Josephine Greywoode, deserve a large share of the credit for making the book as readable as I hope it now is; I take full responsibility for its remaining flaws. Thanks to Ian Shapiro, grants from Yale Universitys Macmillan Center funded fruitful periods of research in Florence. Richard Duguids eagle eye and indexing skills improved the final version. I also thank Sarah Day and Isabel Blake at Allen Lane, my editor Maria Guarnaschelli at W. W. Norton and her assistant Nathaniel Dennett, my superb Italian translator Lorenzo Matteoli, Ilana Bet-el, Amy Bloch, Andrea Guidi, John Najemy, Gretchen Benner and Reed Benner. And Patrick, as ever, with love.

Machiavelli Household

Niccol Machiavelli, Second Chancellor of the Florentine Republic from 1498 to 1512; also a poet, playwright, historian and political writer

Bernardo and Bartolommea Machiavelli, his parents

Primavera, Margherita and Totto Machiavelli, Niccols sisters and brother

Marietta (Corsini) Machiavelli, Niccols wife

Bernardo, Ludovico, Piero, Guido, Baccina and Totto Machiavelli, their children

Nencia, Bartolommea Machiavellis servant girl

Nicol di Alessandro Machiavelli, Bernardo Machiavellis younger cousin and neighbour

Machiavellis Friends

Biagio Buonaccorsi, Niccols loyal coadjutor in the Chancery

Agostino Vespucci, another office-mate, a member of the patrician Vespucci family, connoisseur of fine art and publisher of Machiavellis first published work

Filippo Casavecchia, another colleague and close friend

Francesco Vettori, a leading patrician who holds many political posts in the republic and under Medici rule, and one of Machiavellis most intimate correspondents

The Orti Oricellari circle: Cosimo Rucellai (grandson of Bernardo), Zanobi Buondelmonti, Luigi Alamanni, Battista della Palla

Francesco Guicciardini, a lawyer, historian, and leading political figure under the Medici government after 1512

Jacopo Falconetti, a wealthy businessman of humble origins who hosts a spectacular production of Machiavellis play Mandragola

Barbera Salutati Raffacani, a young singer and musician with whom Machiavelli is enamoured in his later years

The House of Medici

Lorenzo, known as il Magnifico, Florences political leader from 1469 to 1492

Giuliano, Lorenzos younger brother, murdered in the Pazzi conspiracy of 1478

Lorenzos sons

Piero, Lorenzos eldest son and heir; Florences leader from 1492 to 1494

Giovanni, who became Pope Leo X in 1513

Giuliano, later Duke of Nemours

Pieros children

Lorenzo di Piero, later Duke of Urbino and leader of Florence

Clarice, who marries Filippo Strozzi

Others

Alfonsina Orsini de Medici, Pieros Naples-born wife and Regent of Florence from 1515 to 1519

Giulio de Medici, son of the murdered Giuliano, who became Pope Clement VII in 1523

Alessandro and Ippolitode Medici, sons, respectively, of Lorenzo di Piero and Giuliano di Piero

Other Protagonists in Florence

The family Pazzi, leaders of a conspiracy against the Medici in 1478

Bartolomeo Scala, Florentine Chancellor under the Medici and Bernardo Machiavellis close friend

Girolamo Savonarola, a Dominican friar from Ferrara whose popular sermons and prophecies give him great authority in Florence

Bernardo Rucellai, a patrician opponent of popular government and founder of the Orti Oricellari gardens, where Machiavelli would take part in discussions that inspired his Discourses and Art of War

Messer Guidantonio Vespucci, a famous patrician lawyer and Rucellais political ally

Tommaso Soderini, a patrician elder statesman in the early years of Lorenzo il Magnificos government

Soderinis sons

Paoloantonio Soderini, a supporter of popular government and of Savonarola

Piero Soderini, elected Florences first Gonfalonier (Standard-bearer) for Life in 1502

Francesco Soderini, Bishop of Volterra and later Cardinal, one of Machiavellis early political mentors

Others

Paolo Vitelli, a renowned Italian mercenary, captain of Florences military forces from 1498 to 1499

Filippo Strozzi (the younger), scion of the wealthy Strozzi family, married to Clarice de Medici

Outside Florence

The Italians

Caterina Sforza Riario, ruler of Forl and Imola in the Romagna, Florences closest Italian ally

The Pisan people, who rebel against Florentine rule in 1494 and engage Florence in a draining war

Vitellozzo Vitelli, Paolo Vitellis brother and second-in-command, later allied with Cesare Borgia

The French

King CharlesVIII, whose armies pass through Italy and linger in Florence in 1494

King LouisXII, Charless successor, the Florentine republics most important foreign defender

Cardinal Georges dAmboise, King Louiss chief counsellor

Florimond Robertet, another of King Louiss advisers

King Franois I, Louiss successor

Non-Florentine popes and their relatives

Pope SixtusIV, born Francesco della Rovere, thought to have been behind the Pazzi conspiracy in Florence

Pope AlexanderVI, born Rodrigo Borgia, the subject of much gossip concerning his nepotism and other corruptions

Cesare Borgia, his son, appointed captain of the papal troops by his father and given the French title Duc de Valentinois

Pope JuliusII, born Giuliano della Rovere, popularly known as il Papa terribile (the fearsome pope) for his impetuous and warlike disposition

Copyright 2017 by Erica Benner

First American Edition 2017

First published 2017 in Great Britain by Allen Lane, an imprint of Penguin Books,
under the title Be Like the Fox: Machiavellis Lifelong Quest for Freedom

All rights reserved

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Book design by Jouve (UK), Milton Keanes

Production manager: Phil Hofius

JACKET DESIGN BY PETE GARCEAU
JACKET IMAGES: PORTRAIT OF NICCOLO MACHIAVELLI (14691527) BY SANTI DI TITO
BY IMAGNO GETTY IMAGES; GIROLAMO SAVONAROLAS EXECUTION IN PIAZZA
DELLA SIGNORIA IN FLORENCE, MAY 23, 1498. RENAISSANCE, ITALY, 15TH CENTURY