A Great and Wretched City: Promise and Failure in Machiavelli’s Florentine Political Thought (I Tatti Studies in Italian Renaissance History)

Like many inhabitants of booming metropolises, Machiavelli alternated between love and hate for his native city. He often wrote scathing remarks about Florentine political myopia, corruption, and servitude, but also wrote about Florence with pride, patriotism, and confident hope of better times. Despite the alternating tones of sarcasm and despair he used to describe Florentine affairs, Machiavelli provided a stubbornly persistent sense that his city had all the materials and potential necessary for a wholesale, triumphant, and epochal political renewal. As he memorably put it, Florence was "truly a great and wretched city.” Mark Jurdjevic focuses on the Florentine dimension of Machiavelli's political thought, revealing new aspects of his republican convictions. Through ‘The Prince’, ‘Discourses’, correspondence, and, most substantially, ‘Florentine Histories’ , Jurdjevic examines Machiavelli's political career and relationships to the republic and the Medici. He shows that significant and as yet unrecognized aspects of Machiavelli's political thought were distinctly Florentine in inspiration, content, and purpose. From a new perspective and armed with new arguments, ‘A Great and Wretched City’ reengages the venerable debate about Machiavelli's relationship to Renaissance republicanism. Dispelling the myth that Florentine politics offered Machiavelli only negative lessons, Jurdjevic argues that his contempt for the city's shortcomings was a direct function of his considerable estimation of its unrealized political potential.0 The Book Is Structured Around Two Arguments. First, It Makes A General Argument That Significant And As Yet Unrecognized Aspects Of Machiavelli's Political Thought Were Distinctly Florentine In Inspiration, Content, And Purpose. The Book Then Advances The More Specific Argument That Machiavelli's Political And Historical Writings From The 1520s Espouse A More Engaged, Activist Republican Agenda Than Any Of His Earlier Writings. Machiavelli Deployed A Realist Republicanism, Specifically Informed By Florentine History, In An Attempt To Stave Off The Rising Autocratic Tide That Threatened To Engulf Florence. Thus, From A New Perspective And Armed With New Arguments, This Book Reengages The Venerable Debate About Machiavelli's Relationship To Renaissance Republicanism. The Machiavelli Who Emerges From My Analysis Was Willing To Take Bold Risks In Pursuit Of A Republican Future For His City.--introduction, P. [1]-2. Introduction : The Florentine Question -- The Savonarolan Lens -- Roman Doubts -- Nobles And Noble Culture In The Florentine Histories -- A New View Of The People -- The Albizzi Regime In The Florentine Histories -- The Virtues And Vices Of Medici Power In The Florentine Histories -- The Failure Of Florentine Institutions -- Conclusion : Machiavelli's Republican Realism. Mark Jurdjevic. Includes Bibliographical References (pages [273]-284) And Index. Review text: "Mark Jurdjevic's A Great and Wretched City is a wonderful contribution to Machiavelli studies. It gives Machiavelli's 'Florentine writings' their proper due, and appropriately tempers the ill-considered and much too prevalent overemphasis on Machiavelli's admiration for Rome. The book is astoundingly erudite, penetrating analytically, and generally written with a confident elegance that makes it an unusually accessible piece of high-end scholarship."--John P. McCormick, University of Chicago "Jurdjevic convincingly argues that two of Machiavelli's late works, The Florentine Histories and Discourse on Florentine Affairs, constitute the culmination of a change in Machiavelli's political thinking beginning with the Discourses on Livy. Pessimistic about the potential for individual action, Machiavelli concludes that collective structures and institutions, purposely designed to limit the impact of individual political activity, can create and preserve republican government."--Ronald G. Witt, Duke University Frontmatter Introduction: The Florentine Question (page 1) 1. The Savonarolan Lens (page 16) 2. Roman Doubts (page 53) 3. Nobles and Noble Culture in the Florentine Histories (page 81) 4. A New View of the People (page 103) 5. The Albizzi Regime in the Florentine Histories (page 132) 6. The Virtues and Vices of Medici Power in the Florentine Histories (page 149) 7. The Failure of Florentine Institutions (page 179) Conclusion: Machiavelli's Republican Realism (page 206) Notes (page 217) References (page 273) Acknowledgments (page 285) Index (page 289) Dispelling the myth that Florentine politics offered only negative lessons, Mark Jurdjevic shows that significant aspects of Machiavelli's political thought were inspired by his native city. Machiavelli's contempt for Florence's shortcomings was a direct function of his considerable estimation of the city's unrealized political potential. Biographical note: Mark Jurdjevic is Associate Professor of History at Glendon College, York University