MACHIAVELLI, Niccolò (1469-1527). Fourteen letters, written and signed in the name of the Dieci di Balìa of the republic of Florence ('Decem viri Libertatis et Baliae Republicae Florentinae'; eight of the letters also countersigned in his name 'N.M.' or 'N.Malcla.'), including 8 letters and 2 duplicate copies to commissioner-general Antonio Giacomini Tebalducci and 4 letters to the other commissioners of Florence, Florence, 17 May - 9 July 1503 , concerning the war for the recovery of Pisa, altogether 15 pages, 250 x 210mm - 290 x 210mm , address panels and contemporary endorsements on versos, traces of seals, six integral blanks (occasional discolouration, fading or ink corrosion not obscuring text, several small holes touching 5 or 6 letters, seal tears, disbound from a volume); in a modern black morocco case. As secretary and second chancellor of the Florentine republic from 1498 until 1512, Machiavelli was responsible for carrying out the policies of the government, including its military and diplomatic missions. Pisa, which had been conquered by Florence in 1406, had reasserted its independence during the 1494 invasion of Italy by King Charles VIII of France. The ensuing war between Florence and Pisa, which lasted until the reconquest of the latter city in 1509, thus occupied much of Machiavelli's period of public service. The present letters, written either to Antonio Giacomini Tebalducci, commander of the forces serving Florence, or to the other Florentine commissioners concerned with the war, reflect the conduct of military affairs during a two-month period in 1503. The letters give details relating to the provisioning of the army with new men, money, food, mules and munitions; they urge the adoption of measures to save time and money; and they address the question of relations with various mercenary commanders, including some French troops who were allied with Florence. Particular military concerns during this period were the destruction of the harvest in the territory of Pisa, the refurbishing of the fortress of Verruca, preparations for war in Milan and Genoa, and the movement of troops under Cesare Borgia in support of Pisa. Machiavelli's letters from this period provide valuable information on the military and foreign policy of the Florentine republic and contribute to understanding the way in which the system of political and military commissioners related to the central organs of government. They also demonstrate Machiavelli's responsibility for the continuity and realization of policy, and reveal some of the experiences that underlie his political and historical thought. In particular, the preoccupation of these letters with the difficulties of managing a mercenary army and provisioning its forces illuminates the sources of Machiavelli's opinions on the desirability of a citizen militia, an experiment he was to put into effect in 1506-07 and which he was to advocate in his Arte della guerra , written after his forced retirement from public life and published in Florence in 1521. Two of the present letters (4 June 1503 and 6 June 1503) exist in duplicate copies (both present here), both of which were sent, on the evidence of the seals and endorsements. These and a third letter (7 June 1503) were published in N. Machiavelli, Legazioni, commissarie, scritti di governo , ed. F. Chiappelli, vol. II (Bari, 1973), pp.509, 511-12, 514-15, based on Registers 74 and 75 of the Dieci di Balìa in the Archivio di Stato in Florence. The other nine letters are apparently unpublished. (14)
MACHIAVELLI, Niccolò (1469-1527). Fourteen letters, written and signed in the name of the Dieci di Balìa of the republic of Florence ('Decem viri Libertatis et Baliae Republicae Florentinae'; eight of the letters also countersigned in his name 'N.M.' or 'N.Malcla.'), including 8 letters and 2 duplicate copies to commissioner-general Antonio Giacomini Tebalducci and 4 letters to the other commissioners of Florence, Florence, 17 May - 9 July 1503 , concerning the war for the recovery of Pisa, altogether 15 pages, 250 x 210mm - 290 x 210mm , address panels and contemporary endorsements on versos, traces of seals, six integral blanks (occasional discolouration, fading or ink corrosion not obscuring text, several small holes touching 5 or 6 letters, seal tears, disbound from a volume); in a modern black morocco case. As secretary and second chancellor of the Florentine republic from 1498 until 1512, Machiavelli was responsible for carrying out the policies of the government, including its military and diplomatic missions. Pisa, which had been conquered by Florence in 1406, had reasserted its independence during the 1494 invasion of Italy by King Charles VIII of France. The ensuing war between Florence and Pisa, which lasted until the reconquest of the latter city in 1509, thus occupied much of Machiavelli's period of public service. The present letters, written either to Antonio Giacomini Tebalducci, commander of the forces serving Florence, or to the other Florentine commissioners concerned with the war, reflect the conduct of military affairs during a two-month period in 1503. The letters give details relating to the provisioning of the army with new men, money, food, mules and munitions; they urge the adoption of measures to save time and money; and they address the question of relations with various mercenary commanders, including some French troops who were allied with Florence. Particular military concerns during this period were the destruction of the harvest in the territory of Pisa, the refurbishing of the fortress of Verruca, preparations for war in Milan and Genoa, and the movement of troops under Cesare Borgia in support of Pisa. Machiavelli's letters from this period provide valuable information on the military and foreign policy of the Florentine republic and contribute to understanding the way in which the system of political and military commissioners related to the central organs of government. They also demonstrate Machiavelli's responsibility for the continuity and realization of policy, and reveal some of the experiences that underlie his political and historical thought. In particular, the preoccupation of these letters with the difficulties of managing a mercenary army and provisioning its forces illuminates the sources of Machiavelli's opinions on the desirability of a citizen militia, an experiment he was to put into effect in 1506-07 and which he was to advocate in his Arte della guerra , written after his forced retirement from public life and published in Florence in 1521. Two of the present letters (4 June 1503 and 6 June 1503) exist in duplicate copies (both present here), both of which were sent, on the evidence of the seals and endorsements. These and a third letter (7 June 1503) were published in N. Machiavelli, Legazioni, commissarie, scritti di governo , ed. F. Chiappelli, vol. II (Bari, 1973), pp.509, 511-12, 514-15, based on Registers 74 and 75 of the Dieci di Balìa in the Archivio di Stato in Florence. The other nine letters are apparently unpublished. (14)
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