Comparing Table of Contents of Prints

     The selection of texts which had been included and excluded from the London publication reveals the political situation of Europe during the seventeenth century. Machiavelli’s writings on the Guelphs, the population in support of the Pope, and Ghibellines in support of the Roman Emperor are included in both the 1675 and 1680 anthologies. The Guelphs and Ghibellines emerged in the twelfth and thirteenth century, but their conflict was still prevalent and unresolved during Machiavelli’s time. Machiavelli wrote The Prince during a time of political turbulence, when the Vatican placed increasing pressure on the Florentine city-state to assimilate and the Medici responded with increased strength and independence. The Prince contrasted against popular texts which enforced Catholic morality, which taught the value of kindness and honesty for the sake of entry to heaven, Machiavelli in contrast proposed a means to win at the cost of morality, and often at the expense of others. The Prince did not intend to dictate to a prince how to rule, rather, Machiavelli wrote in clear examples of the success and failures of rulers from ancient and contemporary times. These stories at times revealed a prevalent hypocrisy regarding religion common among European leaders, and credited that religion therefore inhibited the potential ruling power of a prince. The Pope therefore censored the text in 1959 in the city-states which he presided over, he could not however, ban the book in Florence. Even during its exile, The Prince flourished in Florence. It inspired independence, rebellion, the power of the monarch. The anthology is a selection of Machiavelli’s writings in support of the controversial separation of church and state: The Prince and The Original of the Guels and Ghibilin Factions best represent these views. Interestingly, the London publication selected Machiavelli’s writings which emphasized support of the issue. England’s bias on separation controversy is highlighted in the selection of texts present in the selection of texts included in the anthology: their position in support of separation is revealed.

     The Table of Chapters index in both the 1675 and 1680 prints also include the recurring image of a row of crowns with matching floral symbols beneath. The English impose their stamp on the Table of Contents, in which a story is told of rebellion against religious rule. This is a case which reveals the appeal of Machiavelli’s support of the separation of church and state would serve to benefit the English monarch, and provides an insight into the texts geologic movement from Italy to its publication London, and therefore the growing support of Europe for separation.