Francesco Guicciardini - Guicciardini and Machiavelli On Politics and History

Guicciardini and Machiavelli On Politics and History

Guicciardini was friends with Niccolò Machiavelli; the two maintained a lively correspondence until the latter's death in 1527. Though Guicciardini was on a somewhat higher social standing than his friend, through their letters a relaxed, comfortable relationship between the two emerges. "Aware of their difference in class, Machiavelli nevertheless was not intimidated by Guicciardini's offices...or by his aristocratic connections. The two established their rapport because of mutual regard for each other's intellect." They discussed not only personal matters, but political ideas as well and influenced one another's work.

Guicciardini was critical of some of the ideas expressed by Machiavelli in his Discourses on Livy, "Guicciardini's principal objection to the theories which Machiavelli advanced in the Discourses was that Machiavelli put things 'too absolutely.' Guicciardini did not agree with Machiavelli's basic assumption that Rome could serve as a perfect norm."

Both were innovative in their approach to history: "Machiavelli and Guicciardini are important transitional figures in the development of historical writing. The historical consciousness that becomes visible in their work is a significant rupture in our thinking about the past...Human agency was a central element in the historical thought of Machiavelli and Guicciardini, but they did not have a modern notion of individuality...They started to disentangle historiography from its rhetorical framework, and in Guicciardini’s work we can observe the first traces of a critical historical method."