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Unit 5: Niccolo Machiavelli

The Reformation was a religious movement that swept Europe in the sixteenth century challenging Notes
the authority, doctrine and the liturgy of the Roman Catholic Church, giving rise to Lutheranism,
Calvinism and the Protestant Churches. On October 31, 1517, Martin Luther (1483–1546) posted
the Ninety-Five Theses on the church door at Wittenberg, proclaiming that religion was a matter
of personal conviction, opposed the splendour that surrounded the papacy and the idea of passive
obedience, namely that a Christian should simply obey the constituted authority. John Calvin
(1509– 1564) reinforced these with a strict regimen, similar to the one proposed in More’s Utopia
(1516). It was Puritan. Calvin’s state was a theocratic dictatorship, but as in the case of Luther,
Calvinism contributed “intentionally and uninten-tionally, to personal, economic and political
individualism”.
Calvin’s most important contribution was his acceptance of New Economics, namely the capitalist
economic system. He opposed the accumulation of wealth, the self-indulgent and ostentatious
display of riches, and usury on the poor, but did not oppose the payment of interest on borrowed
capital. Weber attributed the rise of capitalism to the Calvinist Puritan ethic of worldly asceticism,
and in particular English Puritanism. Richard Henry Tawney (1880–1962), criticizing Weber’s
thesis, emphasized more on circumstances and movements—economic and intellectual—for the
origins of capitalism. The link between capitalism and the Protestant ethic was not as simple as
Weber suggested, although he pointed out that the commercial classes in seventeenth-century
England were the possessors of a particular brand of social expediency, which was different from
that of the conservative elements. Toynbee pointed out that Calvinism because of its rigorous
discipline and individualism, appealed tremendously to the rising bourgeoisie.
The Protestant Reformation led to a counter-Reformation and a cold war between the Catholics
and the Protestants. Out of the Renaissance and the Reformation came the scientific revolution
that spanned from 1500–1700, and was responsible for the creation of the modern world. It taught
people to think differently about the world and the universe. Nicolaus Copernicus (1473–1543),
Tycho Brahe (1546–1601), Johann Kepler (1571–1630) and Galileo Galilei (1564–1642) were the
principal participants. The humiliation and torture of Galileo put an end to the scientific tradition
in Italy. The year Galileo died, Sir Isaac Newton (1642–1727) was born. With that, science moved
away from the Mediterranean basin to North Europe.

5.4 Science of Statecraft

Machiavelli’s science of statecraft (or maxims to the ruler) developed out of his ministerial
correspondence, study of history and its lessons, the wisdom of the ancient and from examples of
great and noble deeds. He cautioned unwise princes that they would come to grief if they ignored
these maxims, for by adhering to them they would be free from their dependence on fortune. He
believed that history taught, and to ignore its lessons would be suicidal. He used Livy’s history of
the Roman republic as a reference point, and instructed them to imitate the conduct of Rome in
every aspect.
Importance of History
Machiavelli’s attitude to history was practical. History tended to repeat itself, rather than create or
generate new things. Change was essentially kaleidoscopic, with no fundamental transformation.
Change was cyclical, alternating between growth and decay. He also stressed on the need to read
and imitate the lives and fortunes of great men and use them as guides for understanding the
present:
Whoever considers things present and things past will easily understand how the
same appetites and humours are and always have been incident to all states and
people, so that by diligently examining the course of former ages it is an easy matter
for men to foresee what is going to happen in any commonwealth, and not only to

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