HIST 3510

Machiavelli

Course Description

Course information provided by the 2014-2015 Catalog.

This course presents Machiavelli in a variety of historical and interpretive contexts; European and Italian politics in the early sixteenth century; the decline of the Florentine republic and the rise of the Medicean principate; Machiavelli's career in government and his, and the republic's, crisis in 1512-13; the intellectual traditions of Renaissance humanism, political thought, and the revival of antiquity; vernacular literary currents and popular culture; and the political writers and theorists with whom Machiavelli associated and corresponded. Emphasis is placed on a close reading of the major works (including the letters, The Prince, the Discourses, Mandragola, and selections from The Art of War and the Florentine Histories, all in translation) and a critical examination, in the light of that reading, of some major modern interpretations of Machiavelli.

Distribution Category (HA-AS)

When Offered Spring.

Breadth Requirement (HB)

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