The English Machiavelli and Absolute Monarchy

By discussing English Machiavellianism and political absolutism I hope to give you some reasons why in seventeenth century the English read Machiavelli and why we cannot take Machiavelli as the founder of political absolutism. First of all we need to bear in mind that Niccolò Machiavelli himself was not simply a “machiavellist”, a cynic adviser of princes and a cunning politician; he was also a popular republican, a learned humanist scholar, and a fine observer of men, of politics and political institutions. The complexity and the novelty of his approach to politics explain why in seventeenth century England his influence played a crucial role in the courts of the kings, as well as among parliamentarians and indeed republicans, among Whigs as well as Tories.