Machiavelli and Botticelli are set to hit screens in 2016. We sat down to chat with Italian director, Lorenzo Raveggi about his two ambitious projects.
CONFERENCES: Renaissance Drinking Culture and Renaissance Drinking Vessels
May 29, 2014 By
This paper took a closer look at Renaissance drinking vessels and drinking culture and examined the types of vessels commonly used in Italy and the Netherlands during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries.
Machiavelli: The Graphic Novel
May 9, 2014 By
A project to create a print version of a graphic novel depicting the life of the Italian politician and philosopher Machiavelli has successfully reached its fundraising goals.
Prophetic Statebuilding: Machiavelli and the Passion of the Duke
April 12, 2014 By
My interpretation of Machiavelli’s use of Borgia highlights the biblical resonances of Machiavelli’s account of the rise and fall of this exemplary new prince—a prince whom both his subjects and the Florentine himself call by the exalted title “Duke Valentino.”
BOOKS: The Feuding Families of Medieval and Renaissance Italy
March 15, 2014 By
Put down the Godfather, turn off the Sorpanos, and check out the real Italian families of Medieval and Renaissance Italy!
Game of Thrones and Machiavelli
October 5, 2013 By
Megan Cavell reports on the lecture ‘Power is a Curious Thing: Game of Thrones as a Machiavellian Mirror for Princes’ given by Janice Liedl
Machiavelli: Theories on Liberty, Religion, and The Original Constitution
August 8, 2013 By
Machiavelli: Theories on Liberty, Religion, and The Original Constitution Erin Bos Oklahoma Christian University Journal of Historical Studies, Tau Sigma Journal of Historical Studies: Vol.21 (2013) Abstract Machiavellian qualities are often described as conniving or corrupt. Niccolò Machiavelli coined the idea of power-hungry, unremorseful princes in his book, The Prince. However, Machiavelli’s true political theory can […]
How Machiavellian was Machiavelli?
July 25, 2013 By
Professor Quentin Skinner gave a public lecture at the University of York, on the occasion of the 500th anniversary of the composition of Niccolò Machiavelli’s The Prince.
Rule by Natural Reason: Late Medieval and early Renaissance conceptions of political corruption
April 17, 2013 By
This paper argues that, from about the eleventh century CE, a new and distinctive model of corruption accompanied the rediscovery and increased availability of a number of classical texts and ideals, particularly those of Cicero and the Roman Jurists.
500-year-old arrest warrant for Machiavelli discovered
March 6, 2013 By
The original copy of a proclamation – exactly 500-years old – calling for the arrest of Niccolò Machiavelli has been discovered by a British historian.
Shakespeare’s Richard II: Machiavelli for the Good of England
December 15, 2012 By
The name Machiavelli has negative connotations, and this way of thinking is not new. Throughout Europe, in Shakespeare’s time and earlier, Machiavellianism was associated with unscrupulous abuse of power, and Machiavellian methods were seen as immoral and evil.
Reading Machiavelli Rhetorically: The Prince as Covert Critique of the Renaissance Prince
September 17, 2012 By
In this essay, classical rhetorical theory is applied to show that Machiavelli’s Prince was not intended as advice for a prince, nor as “political science,” but rather as a very subtle, but nevertheless powerful, critique of the Italian princes of his day, the Medici included.
Machiavelli on Christian Education
July 20, 2012 By
My primary point is not to vindicate Christian education as good for the well-being of cities but to complicate the assumptions of the civil religion approach by examining Machiavelli’s reflections on human character and psychology.
‘Guelphs! Faction, Liberty and Sovereignty: Inquiries about the Quattrocento’
June 18, 2012 By
Such an approach has not always been the obvious one, as the centuries- long debate about the nature of the Italian noble (or magnate) and Popolo fac- tions suggests. Gaetano Salvemini’s 1899 interpretation of Florentine political conflict in the thirteenth century as the clash between two groups with distinct socio-economic characters and political programmes was probably as much indebted to Machiavelli as to the author’s socialist beliefs
The Originality of Machiavelli
May 3, 2012 By
There is evidently something peculiarly disturbing about what Machiavelli said or implied, something that has caused profound and lasting uneasiness.
The Place of the Tyrant in Machiavelli’s Political Thought and the Literary Genre of the Prince
January 8, 2012 By
When Machiavelli put in writing his thoughts on government, he was the heir of this long-established tradition of reflection on tyranny…
The Political Ideas of Machiavelli: A Fresh Look
December 14, 2011 By
The early sixteenth century marked a watershed period for political writings on the art of governing.
Niccolo Machiavelli – the Cunning Critic of Political Reason
November 21, 2011 By
Is Machiavelli’s lasting reputation as the philosopher-king of political manipulation really justified?
Towards Modernity and Absolute Power: Interpretation of Kingship in
August 2, 2011 By
Towards Modernity and Absolute Power: Interpretation of Kingship in The Book of the Twelve Wise Men and The Seven Books of Law McLean, Benjamin Transcultural Studies: A Series in Interdisciplinary Research,Volumes 2-3 (2006-7) Abstract In Castile (Spain) of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, one finds signs of a vigorous debate on the nature and limits […]
The Borgias: “The Borgias in Love”, SE01 EP05
May 1, 2011 By
“The Borgias In Love” Cesare pursues Baroness Ursula, while Lucrezia falls in love with the stable boy and plots against her brutish husband. Political plots thicken as Cardinal Della Rovere takes his cause to the Duke of Milan, Cesare courts Niccolo Machiavelli for an alliance and Rodrigo makes plans to marry off Juan and Gioffre. […]
Rivers and Humans: The Civilizing Project of Leonardo da Vinci and Niccoló Machiavelli
April 22, 2011 By
The Borgias: SE01 EP01/EP01 – “The Poisoned Chalice/The Assassin”
April 20, 2011 By
The House of Borgias The Borgias were a Spanish papal family who rose to prominence through their involvement in ecclesiastical and political affairs during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. They were made famous for their corruption through Rodrigo Borgias, who became Pope in 1492. Rodrigo was said to have bought his way to the papal […]
IVAN IV: A MACHIAVELLIAN TSAR
January 23, 2011 By
IVAN IV: A MACHIAVELLIAN TSAR Carswell, Robyn E. Historia, Vol.15 (2006) Abstract Dating back to Riurik, Russia has always had strong leaders who stopped at nothing to ensure the success of the throne. With a couple of noted exceptions, the rulers had the luxury of growing up witnessing the rule of their fathers. Ivan IV had no […]
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