MACHIAVELLIANISM
INTRODUCTION Machiavellianism is "the employment of cunning and duplicity in statecraft or in general conduct". The word comes from the Italian Renaissance diplomat and writer Niccolo Machiavelli, born in 1469, who wrote Il Principe ( The Prince). Soon after its publication in the 16th century, it saw infecting Northern European politics. Having originated in Italy, it soon spread to France and the St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre of 1572 in Paris is seen as the product of Machiavellianism. The concept was greatly influenced by the Huguenot Innocent Gentillet, who published his DiscourscontreMachievel in 1576. DEPICTION OF MACHIAVELLIANISM IN ART The concept of Machiavellianism was seized upon by many contemporaries. The English Playwrights William Shakespeare and Christopher Marlowe were enthusiastic proponents. Shakespeare's Gloucester, later Richard the Third, refers to Machiavelli in Henry the Sixth Part Three. In The