Who they were
Machiavelli was a Florentine diplomat, official, and political writer of the Renaissance.
What they did
He served the Florentine Republic in diplomacy and defense. After the Medici returned and he lost office, he wrote The Prince (1513), a frank analysis of how rulers gain and keep power, along with the Discourses on Livy and other works.
Legacy
The Prince made his name a byword — “Machiavellian” — for cunning statecraft divorced from conventional morality, and he is regarded as a founder of modern political thought. His intent, whether a cynical manual or a work of republican realism, remains debated.