Machiavelli in the 19th Century

Seeing Villari through Machiavelli

Villari's biography of Machiavelli relies heavily on historical techniques, ideas, and argumentation practiced and in contemporaneous  programs of modern history in Britain. It was the work for which Villari was best known, and the preface and introduction (more than 230 pages long in the translated edition) are a clear statement of Villari's political and historical orientations. The most common words found in the English edition of of the preface are in the wordle below. Clicking on the window below will allow you to search the terms and contexts found in Villari's preface and introduction.


A side-by-side comparison of the features of 19th-Century British Historiography and Villari's work on Machiavelli further proves the author's reliance on British modes of historical writing.

Finally, Villari's English translator was none other than his wife, Linda Villari, who quickly translated many of her husband's works for an anglophone audience.

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