Renaissance Lives | 'Machiavelli From Radical to Reactionary'
The ‘Machiavellian’ can signify duplicity and amorality in politics, but Machiavelli himself is far more complex than this cliché. A high-ranking Florentine government official and prolific writer of hugely influential political, military and historical works, Machiavelli was also a vernacular poet, first-rank dramatist and religious radical, rejecting not only the contemporary Catholic Church but Christianity itself. From champion of Florentine popular republicanism, to political radical, to conservative, Robert Black explores the many faces of the man described as the father of modern political philosophy and political science.
Author of 'Machiavelli From Radical to Reactionary', Robert Black (Emeritus Professor, University of Leeds) in conversation with Simon Ditchfield, and François Quiviger (Warburg Institute).
Renaissance Lives is a series of biographies published by Reaktion Books as well as a series of conversations discussing the ways in which individuals transmitted or changed the lives of traditions, ideas and images.
This event took place on 17 November 2022.
