The Prince

(noun)

A 16th-century political treatise by the Italian diplomat and political theorist Niccolò Machiavelli. Machiavelli's ideas on how to accrue honor and power as a leader had a profound impact on political leaders throughout the modern West. Although the work advises princes how to tyrannize, Machiavelli is generally thought to have preferred some form of free republic.

Related Terms

Examples of The Prince in the following topics:

  • Machiavelli

    • He wrote his most renowned work The Prince (Il Principe) in 1513.
    • Machiavelli's best-known book, The Prince, contains several maxims concerning politics.
    • Instead of the more traditional target audience of a hereditary prince, it concentrates on the possibility of a "new prince."
    • To retain power, the hereditary prince must carefully balance the interests of a variety of institutions to which the people are accustomed.
    • Machiavelli is a political philosophy infamous for his justification of violence in his treatise The Prince.

  • Administration of the Empire

    • The first class, the Council of Electors, consisted of the electors, or the princes who could vote for King of the Romans.
    • The second class, the Council of Princes, consisted of the other princes, and was divided into two "benches," one for secular rulers and one for ecclesiastical ones.
    • Higher-ranking princes had individual votes, while lower-ranking princes were grouped into "colleges" by geography.
    • Such a cleric was a prince of the church.
    • Examples are the prince-archbishoprics of Cologne, Trier, and Mainz.

  • Frederick the Great

    • With the death of Frederick I in 1713, Frederick William became King of Prussia, thus making young Frederick the crown prince.
    • The king forced Frederick to watch the decapitation of Katte at Küstrin, leaving the crown prince to faint right before the fatal blow was struck.
    • The crown prince returned to Berlin after finally being released from his tutelage at Küstrin a year later.
    • The works of Niccolò Machiavelli, such as The Prince, were considered a guideline for the behavior of a king in Frederick's age.
    • Prince Frederick was twenty-eight years of age when he acceded to the throne of Prussia.

  • The Mongol Threat

    • For the next three years the Mongol forces took over the major princely cities of Kievan Rus’ and finally forced most principalities to submit to foreign rule and taxation.
    • The great ruler’s death in 1054 brought about major power struggles between his sons and princes in outlying provinces.
    • By the 12th century, after years of fighting amongst the princes, power was centered around smaller principalities.
    • The Mongols were superior in their military tactics and stretched the Rus' forces considerably, however after executing the Kievan prince, the forces went back to Asia to rejoin Genghis Khan.
    • Then he split his army into smaller units that tackled the princely polities one at a time.

  • The Formation of Russia

    • Ivan the Great was also the first Rus’ prince to style himself a Tsar, thereby setting up a strong start for his successor son, Vasili III.
    • Ivan III Vasilyevich, also known as Ivan the Great, was born in Moscow in 1440 and became Grand Prince of Moscow in 1462.
    • Vasili III was the son of Sophia Paleologue and Ivan the Great and the Grand Prince of Moscow from 1505 to 1533.
    • He utilized a rebellious ally in the form of the Lithuanian prince Mikhail Glinski to gain this major victory.
    • He held the title of Grand Prince of Moscow between 1462 and 1505.

  • The Peace of Westphalia

    • The peace negotiations involved a total of 109 delegations representing European powers, including Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand III, Philip IV of Spain, the Kingdom of France, the Swedish Empire, the Dutch Republic, the Princes of the Holy Roman Empire and sovereigns of the free imperial cities.
    • All parties would recognize the Peace of Augsburg of 1555, in which each prince would have the right to determine the religion of his own state, the options being Catholicism, Lutheranism, and now Calvinism.
    • France retained the control of the Bishoprics of Metz, Toul and Verdun near Lorraine, received the cities of the Décapole in Alsace and the city of Pignerol near the Spanish Duchy of Milan.
    • Sweden received Western Pomerania, Wismar, and the Prince-Bishoprics of Bremen and Verden as hereditary fiefs, thus gaining a seat and vote in the Imperial Diet of the Holy Roman Empire.
    • After the Peace of Westphalia, each prince of a given Imperial State would have the right to determine the religion of his own state, the options being Catholicism, Lutheranism, and Calvinism.

  • Ivan I and the Rise of Moscow

    • Ivan I (also known as Ivan Kalita) was born around 1288 to the Prince of Moscow, Daniil Aleksandrovich.
    • He ascended to the seat of Prince of Moscow after the death of his father, and then the death of his older brother Yury.
    • Ivan I continued the family tradition and petitioned the leaders of the Golden Horde to gain the seat of Grand Prince of Vladimir.
    • His other three rivals, all princes of Tver, had previously been granted the title in prior years.
    • He was born around 1288 and died in either 1340 or 1341, still holding the title of Grand Prince of Vladimir.

  • The Hohenzollerns

    • The Hohenzollern family split into two branches, the Catholic Swabian branch and the Protestant Franconian branch, the latter of which transformed from a minor German princely family into one of the most important dynasties in Europe.
    • These acquisitions eventually transformed the Hohenzollerns from a minor German princely family into one of the most important dynasties in Europe.
    • Its ruling margraves were established as prestigious prince-electors in the Golden Bull of 1356, allowing them to vote in the election of the Holy Roman Emperor.
    • Frederick VI of Nuremberg was officially recognized as Margrave and Prince-elector Frederick I of Brandenburg at the Council of Constance in 1415.
    • When Albert Frederick, Duke of Prussia, died without a son in 1618, his son-in-law John Sigismund, at the time the prince-elector of the Margraviate of Brandenburg, inherited the Duchy of Prussia.

  • Hindu Rajput Kingdoms

    • The Rajputs were patrilineal clans, ruling a majority of Hindu princely states in northern India between the 6th and 20th centuries.
    • The Rajputs rose to prominence between the 6th and 12th centuries, establishing the overwhelming majority of Hindu princely states in Rajasthan and Surashtra in northwestern India, which they ruled until the twentieth century.
    • The origin of the Rajputs is a subject of debate, as the term was not used to designate any particular clan or social group before the 6th century CE.
    • His grandson, Akbar (r. 1556-1605), retook the forts of Chittor and Ranthambore in 1568-69 and then made a settlement with all the Rajput princes of Rajasthan—with the exception of Mewar, which continued to hold out against Mughal lordship.
    • At the end of the Third Anglo-Maratha War (1817-1818) between the Maratha Confederacy and the English East India Company, all the Rajput states in Rajasthan entered into a subsidiary alliance with the Company and became princely states under the British Raj.

  • Horyuji Temple

    • The temple was originally commissioned by Prince Shōtoku of the Asuka Period (c. 538 to 710 CE); at the time it was called Ikaruga-dera (斑), a name that is still sometimes used.
    • The current temple is made up of two areas: the Sai-in in the west and the Tō-in in the east.
    • Yumedono, or the Hall of Dreams, is one of the main constructions in the Tō-in area, built on the ground which was once Prince Shōtoku's private palace, Ikaruga no miya.
    • The hall acquired its present-day common name in the later Heian period, after a legend that says a Buddha arrived as Prince Shōtoku and meditated in a hall that existed here.
    • Describe the creation, function, and characteristics of Prince Shōtoku's Hōryū-ji temple.