Introduction

This book resulted from the Machiavelli at 500 conference held in Manchester in May 1998, which marked the 500th anniversary of Machiavelli becoming the Second Secretary in the Florentine Republic after the downfall of Savonarola. The conference was held in the evocative surroundings of the fifteenth-century Hall of Chetham’s School. In the same building is the library founded by Humphrey Chetham with its chained books and the desk where Marx worked during his visits to Manchester to see Engels.