Life of Castruccio Castracani: Related by Niccolo Machiavelli and Sent to Zanobi Buondelmonte and Luigi Alamanni, His Dearest Friends

A charismatic warlord of the early fourteenth century, Castruccio Castracani came from humble beginnings as a foundling, and ended his life as ruler of Lucca, Pisa, Pistoia and Florence. In this Life, Machiavelli extols Castracani for his acute understanding of the politics of warfare and statecraft [...]
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A charismatic warlord of the early fourteenth century, Castruccio Castracani came from humble beginnings as a foundling, and ended his life as ruler of Lucca, Pisa, Pistoia and Florence. In this Life, Machiavelli extols Castracani for his acute understanding of the politics of warfare and statecraft, and whilst sparing no detail of his shrewd and often bloody tactics, he overturns our moral prejudice, depicting Castracani as a popular unifying force. Life of Castruccio Castracani is accompanied by selected passages from Machiavelli's Florentine Histories to give a powerful, rounded portrait of the abandoned child who rose to become the most powerful man in Tuscany.