The Prince | Chapter I

Chapter I

Of the Various Kinds of Princedom, and of the Ways in Which they are Acquired

ALL THE STATES and Governments by which men are or ever have been ruled, have been and are either Republics or Princedoms. Princedoms are either hereditary, in which the sovereignty is derived through an ancient line of ancestors, or they are new. New Princedoms are either wholly new, as that of Milan to Francesco Sforza; or they are like limbs joined on to the hereditary possessions of the Prince who acquires them, as the Kingdom of Naples to the dominions of the King of Spain. The States thus acquired have either been used to live under a Prince or have been free; and he who acquires them does so either by his own arms or by the arms of others, and either by good fortune or by merit.

  • sovereignty – authority
  • “Francesco Sforza” – (1401 – 1466), Duke of Milan, Italy
  • “Kingdom of Naples…King of Spain.” – The Kingdom of Naples was a large area expanding from central to southern Italy, and throughout history, there were struggles between France and Spain for control over the kingdom. When Machiavelli returned to the kingdom in 1494, he was just in time to witness the exile of the Medici family, which had been the ruling family for years; the Medicis came back into power in 1512. The exile of this family was the result of Girolamo Savanorola's influence as a religious leader. Savanorola supported Charles VIII, the Frenchmen who seized Naples in 1494, which, consequently, began the Italian Wars (1494 – 1559) between France and Spain. As a result, the Treaties of Blois were written, which turned the kingdoms of Naples and Sicily over to Spain.