Machiavelli was the child of his time

Sabine has written in this regard that “No other person of his era could see the direction of political development of Europe with such clarity as Machiavelli saw it… No one else could see Italy. Didn’t know him as well as Machiavelli.”

•  Establishment of powerful monarchies –

By the 16th century, the movement for limited power of the Church and the State had completely ended and centralization had started in both these areas. The monarchy had ended the power of the feudal lords and the Pope had ended the representative institutions of the council movement. Henry VII in England, Louis XI, Charles VIII and Louis XII in France and Ferdinand in Spain had established autocratic monarchies. These states were becoming powerful and prosperous day by day under the leadership of strong rulers. In fact, this era was the era of strong monarchy. Ample evidence of this ideal is found in the works of Machiavelli. He had envisioned a regime for Italy in which the entire political power of Italy would be There should be centralization and which can establish unity in Italy and establish a strong monarchy. He has consistently given expression to this idea in his ‘Prince’ and ‘Discourses’.

•  Feeling of nationalism –

By this time the process of national integration had been completed in England, France and Spain. The residents of these nations had adopted a feeling of unity among themselves and they began to consider themselves separate from the residents of other nations. In comparison to these powerful states, Italy was divided into five states – the Kingdom of Naples in the south, the Roman Church territories in central Italy, the Principality of Milan, the Republic of Venice and Florence. These states used to fight wars among themselves. The Pope tried to take advantage of their conflict and encouraged France and Spain to intervene in the internal affairs of the Italian states. Thus there was disunity, civil war and rule of foreigners in Italy. Machiavelli was a great patriot and in this regard he had direct experience of France. Therefore, he wanted to unify these states under the leadership of a powerful national king like France. In the last chapter of ‘The Prince’, while expressing his sorrow over the plight of Italy, he has expressed the hope from Giuliano of the Medici family that he would unify Italy and, like Moses, free it from the slavery of foreign barbarians, but his wish 350 Years later, in the last years of the 19th century, it was completed by Cavour and Garivaldi. All of Machiavelli’s works are imbued with the circumstances of Italy’s disunity, civil war and intervention by foreign rulers and the desire for the unification of Italy.

• Renaissance –

Machiavelli was born in the period of revival of knowledge and intellect and the spirit of Renaissance is clearly visible in his works. During the Renaissance, the ideals of the Middle Ages were coming to an end in the fields of literature, art, philosophy, politics and science and people’s faith in the ancient ideals of Greece and Rome was increasing. In the political field, feudalism was coming to an end and the national state was being established and the influence of religion and morality, church and biblicalism was being eliminated in the political field. People had lost faith in the despotic religious authority and morality of the medieval period and were replaced by intelligence, prudence and rationality. During this period, the development of trade and the art of printing and means of transport had given birth to a new life, new consciousness, new outlook, new feeling of freedom and new values of life. Free intellectual travel free from all limitations and restrictions was the specialty of this era. Florence was the center of this new culture and Machiavelli was completely a resident of Florence. So he In his thinking, he advocated nationalism in place of feudalism, separated politics from religion and morality and advocated statecraft in place of state principles. This concept of Renaissance was ingrained in Machiavelli that ‘man is the creator of his own life’, ‘this world is developing and only those who struggle for existence survive in it.’ The imprint of Renaissance can be clearly seen in the suggestions given by Machiavelli to solve political problems.

•  Religion and Morality-

The Pope’s dream of world empire was destroyed in the 15th century. The luxurious life and misdeeds of the Pope ended the faith and devotion towards religion in the hearts of the people. Giving the example of Pope Alexander VI, Machiavelli has written that ‘he has done nothing else except cheating throughout his life.’ In the same situation, saints like Sevanorala demanded reform of the Church and tried to provide spiritual guidance through moral strength. His teachings also had an impact on the people, but when France took control of Florence, to please the Pope, Sevanorala was imprisoned and he was burnt alive. The kings had abandoned moral ideals and even ordinary citizens did not behave according to the rules of morality. Machiavelli was influenced by the circumstances of his time and according to the circumstances of that time, he advised the king that to maintain the existence of the state, one should not worry about the principles of conduct and religion and these principles should be disregarded for the public welfare. One must be ready to do it. Machiavelli has openly advised the king to protect his kingdom and his rule through deceit and force. Machiavelli’s anti- religion and morality The ideology was completely in accordance with its era, because the national states of Europe, France, England and Spain, were fulfilling their self-interests by being indifferent to religion and morality. Therefore, Machiavelli also wanted to see Italy as a state free from the influence and moral constraints of the Pope. In line with how corrupt he saw the Church in his time, he writes, “We Italians have become irreligious and evil because of the Church of Rome and its priests. To the Church we are indebted for one more thing, and this is What is devastating to us is that the church has divided our country and continues to do so.”