Machiavelli and the Militia: New Thoughts

By custom, Florentine chancellors remained outside the arena of factional politics. Niccolo Machiavelli, elected as second chancellor in 1498, did not act as the operative of a political faction, although he gave active support to the policies of the republican government and particularly to the programme of Piero Soderini, elected Florence's chief magistrate in 1502. A key policy of the Soderini government was the native militia, initiated by Machiavelli himself, an institution that encountered fierce opposition from Soderini's enemies. His government named don Miguel de Corella (known in Italy as don Michele or Micheletto), Cesare Borgia's former lieutenant, to head the militia in 1506; a major historical controversy has ensued between scholars who see this appointment as solely a military policy and others who detect an attempt by the Soderini government to counter its opponents. The present note offers new evidence, in the form of letters from Piero's brother, Cardinal Francesco Soderini, demonstrating that the latter saw don Michele's appointment as a means of intimidating the internal enemies of the regime. It is suggested that Piero Soderini himself must have backed his brother's political view of don Michele's role; further evidence is presented to suggest that Machiavelli himself endorsed the internal political possibilities offered by don Michele's appointment, although there is no suggestion that Machiavelli acted as an uninhibited factional operative in the manner of some of his more extreme predecessors in the chancery.