Niccolo Machiavelli is one of the most talked about writers from the Renaissance. He had been an essayist, historian, sketch writer, biographer, writer of famous novels, and a poet. Machiavelli was the first great political philosopher of the Renaissance.
             On May 3, 1469, the future philosopher, Niccolo Machiavelli, was born in Florence Italy. During this time, Lorenzo d' Medici came to power. Unfortunately, Lorenzo's son made political union, which, resulted into the French invasion in 1494. His family was among the wealthy and notable houses of Florence. His family was rumored to have descended from the old Marquesses of Tuscany. . His father died in the year 1500. His mother was Bartolonea dé Nelli and died in 1496.
             Machiavelli had a great amount of education. He studied Latin under various tutors. It was said that Machiavelli learned more by himself from books than he did at school. Books were considered a luxury for him and his family. He became very intrigued with Greek philosophy, and attended college at the University of Florence.
             Another influence of Machiavelli's was Savanarola. Savonarola was the Dominican monk who established a real Florentine Republic. His main political experience was watching Savanarola from afar. Machiavelli had felt Savonarola could stay in power only by arming himself and he finally became uninterested with the religious leader. Machiavelli enrolled in the Florentine government as a secretary. His position of being a secretary of the Florentine government swiftly flourished and he started taking part in diplomatic missions. Throughout his missions he met a lot of significant people. Among the people, he met the Pope, the king of France, and Cesare Borgia, the Prince of the Papal States. Borgia was a man similar to the one portrayed in his popular novel The Prince. Borgia was clever and malevolent. Machiavelli didn't truly like Borgia's politics...