Original Machiavelli ‘most wanted’ notice found

The original wanted notice for one of the world’s most infamous political operators has been found by a Manchester academic.

Professor Stephen Milner, from the University of Manchester’s School of Arts, Languages and Cultures, discovered the 500-year-old proclamation calling for the arrest of Niccolò Machiavelli, known as the Italian Prince of Darkness.

The ‘most wanted’ notice set in motion a chain of events that led to Machiavelli writing the book for which he is most famous, The Prince. It also marked a change his political fortunes that resulted in his death 14 years later in abject poverty.

“When I saw it I knew exactly what it was and it was pretty exciting,” said Professor Milner. “When you realise this document marked the fall from grace of one the world’s most influential political writers, it’s quite a feeling.”

“The Prince is a seminal work, with a lasting influence on political thought and culture. The term Machiavellian and the naming of the Devil as ‘Old Nick’ all derive from this single work.”

The Prince was infamous for encouraging the notion to maintain power at all costs, and promoted the sacrifice of virtue and morality to do so.

The book has since been updated to apply to areas such as finance, business, and politics.

Professor Milner, who examined hundreds of proclamations from between 1470 and 1530, has also mapped the actual site where the town crier would have read out the proclamation and been able to shed light on payments made to four horsemen who searched the streets of Florence for Machiavelli.

“When his name was linked to conspiracy to overthrow the Medici, they wasted no time in seeking his capture using the proclamation I discovered,” Professor Milner said. “On the same day, he was imprisoned, tortured and later released and placed under house arrest outside the city.

“The Prince was written in the vain hope of gaining favour and employment with the Medici, but there’s no evidence to suggest they even read it.”