Machiavelli goes against the traditional mindset that a prince derived his power from God. Machiavelli believed that the rulers were given no divine right. He said that a ruler achieved his power through his own efforts and skills. The traditional thinkers believed that the ruler had to abide by Christian morals like the virtues. On the other hand, Machiavelli said that they did not have to abide by these Christian standards. Machiavelli was in contradiction with many other beliefs of medieval philosophers and politicians.
             Traditional medieval thinkers believed that the Christian standards of morality were the guidances to political life. Traditional medieval thinkers believed that God chose the ruler and he had divinity because of that. They believed that an important standard of Christianity was to be merciful. They believed that the ruler was to be merciful because God wanted it that way. God doesn't want the ruler to be cruel. They believed that in general, religion was to be the ruler's method of control. Everything had to do with religion when there were decisions to be made. The medieval thinkers believed that the successful ruler was someone who acquired faith, mercy, and other Christian virtues in his rule.
             Machiavelli went against the majority of the traditional medieval thinkers' ideas.
             Machiavelli eliminated moral principles from politics. Machiavelli believed that the good ruler ignored questions of good and evil because those questions distracted the ruler from dealing with the necessities like state problems concerning the welfare of the people. Instead of using religion in a way of ruling, he said religion was to be used to unite the people and to encourage obedience to the law. To him, the successful ruler was disinterested in the issues of morality and immorality. It is not that Machiavelli does not believe in being merciful, it is just that he believes there are special occasions or situations where it sho...