Florentine Histories Florentine Histories ( ) is a historical account by Italian Renaissance political scientist and writer Niccolò Machiavelli , first published posthumously in 1532 . Background . After the crisis of 1513 , with arrests for conspiracy , torture and after being sentenced to house arrest , Machiavelli ' s relationship with the Medici family passively began to mend itself . If the dedication of " The Prince " ( 1513 ) to Lorenzo II de ' Medici had not any effect , part of the then dominant faction of the Florence was not against him , and instead granted him an appointment . In his letter he deplores of his idle state , offering his precious political experience to the new lord . To sustain that timid request Machiavelli , with a considerably courtier - like spirit , set his " Mandragola " for the wedding of Lorenzino de ' Medici ( 1518 ) . On 1520 he was invited to Lucca for a mission of a semiprivate character , indicating that the ostracism was to be raised up . At the end of that year , Cardinal Giulio de Medici , later Pope Clement VII , commissioned him history of Florence . Although this was not exactly the charge he desired , Machiavelli accepted it as the only possible way to come back into the graces of the Medici . The intent of the work , although semi - officially , was to recover the city ' s charge of historic officiality . The wage for the appointment was not large ( 57 florins per year , later increased to 100 ) . The finished work was presented officially to Giulio de ' Medici , now Pope , in the May 1526 . The Pope liked the work and rewarded him , albeit moderately , and asked him support in the creation of a national army , on the wake of his theorical work " The Art of War " , in the preparations for the War of the League of Cognac . However after the sack of Rome ( 1527 ) and the fall of the Medici government in Florence , Machiavelli ' s hopes were dashed . Machiavelli would die soon afterwards . The work . The composition of the work presented a problem , for it was clear that the commission was not meant to give him the opportunity to eulogize republican Florence , of which Machiavelli had been titled " il segretario " ( the secretary ) par excellence . What was expected of him , if not a glorification of the Medici family , was a treatise without polemics and tending to show the present state of things as a natural evolution . The perplexities of the author leaked through from some letters of his rich collection ( to Francesco Guicciardini on August 30 , 1524 ) . The structure of the opera , quote contorted , illustrates the difficulty of the author . The first of the eight books is a general picture of the history of Europe from the fall of the Western Roman Empire to 1215 ; the second book actually begins to discuss the history of Florence , with the narration of the feud between Buondelmenti / Donati and Uberti / Amidei , that according to tradition corroborated by Dante would unchain the conflict between Guelphs and Ghibellines in the city . The books II , III , and IV narrate the history before the Medici rise , while the last four speak of the fight for power that ended with the Medicean lordship . The eighth book closes with the death of Lorenzo il Magnifico , on 1492 , with the end of the fragile peace that Lorenzo ' s politics of balance had carried . The author made an effort to show under an altogether favorable light personalities like Cosimo il Vecchio and Lorenzo il Magnifico . The first edition was printed on the year 1532 .