Perhaps the most famous book of the Renaissance is Machiavelli’s The Prince. It remains a standard political science text and has influenced political discourse since its publication in 1531. Machiavelli’s name has also become an adjective - Machiavellian today means using amoral and expedient methods to achieve political goals.
Niccolò di Bernardo dei Machiavelli was born in 1469 in San Casciano in Val di Pesa, a village near of the city-state of Florence. He was born into a wealthy family and received a broad classical education and followed his father into the legal profession.
At the time of his youth, Italy was convulsed with political turmoil. City states warred with each other and were involved in larger dynastic wars with Spain, France and the Holy Roman Empire. Alliances shifted constantly and governments changed constantly.   In 1494, Florence expelled the Medici family, who had ruled the city state for 60 years, and declared the city a republic. Machiavelli obtained a position with the new republican government and was appointed a clerk and ambassador. He became a member of the Council responsible for diplomatic negotiations and led diplomatic missions to the court of Louis XII in France, Ferdinand II of Aragón, and to the Papacy in Rome. In Rome, he observed at close hand the state building methods Cesare Borgia -  a brave, firm, cruel devious and immensely talented Roman general and statesman as he carved out a mini empire in central Italy.
Between 1503 to 1506, Machiavelli had responsibility for organizing the defense of the city, and this experience of dealing with militias and mercenaries would inform parts of The Prince. Machiavelli, continued as a member of the Florentine Chancery committee until 1512 when the Medici family regained power in Florence and began a purge of all those who had played a prominent role in the republican government. Machiavelli was arrested accused of conspiring against the Medici and tortured. However there was little evidence against he and he was released and exiled. He retired to his estate at Sant'Andrea in Percussina and began writing The Prince and other political treatises. He died in exile in 1527.

The Prince

Originally titled De Principatibus (About Principalities), Il Principe (The Prince) was written in 1513, the first year of Machiavelli’s exile from Florence, but not published until 1532, five years after Machiavelli's death.
Machiavelli was heavily influenced by the turmoil that had wracked Italy for his entire life. As a result, for Machiavelli’s Prince the main value any political leader can have is to maintain political stability. The Prince’s chief goal is maintain a virtuous and stable state, and any political act, no matter how cruel or amoral, that is committed to protect the state is justified. Machiavelli suggests that the Prince must do anything to retain power but must weigh any act against the will of the people. “A wise prince should establish himself on that which is his own control and not in that of others; he must endeavor to avoid hatred…It is best to be both feared and loved; however, if one cannot be both it is better to be feared than loved.”
The Prince is regarded as one of the most influential books on the subject of politics and the acquisition, retention and use of political power. The book was not written as a studious and legal treatise but a guide for potential politicians. It is speculated it was written with the idea of ingratiating Machiavelli back into the good graces of the Medici.  It is has become the classic study of power and the use of force, coercion and deception instead of law and argument and has come to inform the ideas of everyone from Francis Bacon to Benito Mussolini.