History of Florence - Niccolò Machiavelli

After the crisis of 1513, with arrests for conspiracy, torture and after being sentenced to house arrest, Machiavelli's relationship with the Medici family passively began to mend itself. If the dedication ofThe Prince (1513) to Lorenzo II de Medici had not any effect, part of the then dominant faction of the Florence was not against him, and instead granted him an appointment.

In his letter he deplores of his idle state, offering his precious political experience to the new lord. To sustain that timid request Machiavelli, with a considerably courtier-like spirit, set his Mandragola for the wedding of Lorenzino de' Medici (1518). On 1520 he was invited to Lucca for a mission of a semiprivate character, indicating that the ostracism was to be raised up. At the end of that year, CardinalGiulio de Medici, later Pope Clement VII, commissioned him history of Florence. Although this was not exactly the charge he desired, Machiavelli accepted it as the only possible way to come back into the graces of the Medici. The intent of the work, although semi-officially, was to recover the city's charge of historic officiality. The wage for the appointment was not large (57 florins per year, later increased to 100).

The finished work was presented officially to Giulio de' Medici, now Pope, in the May of 1526. The Pope liked the work and rewarded him, albeit moderately, and asked him support in the creation of a national army, on the wake of his theorical work The Art of War, in the preparations for the War of the League of Cognac. However after the sack of Rome (1527) and the fall of the Medici government in Florence, Machievelli's hopes were dashed. Machiavelli would die soon afterwards.(en.wikipedia.org)

History of Florence PDF