How Italy's City-States Were Run

First, many of the city-states were republics. A republic is a government controlled by humans. The city-states were ruled by a powerful man that ran the government. In Venice, they were called the duke, or doge. In Florence, the Medici family gained control of the government in 1434. The Medici family ruled Florence for many decades. One important ruler was Lorenzo de' Medici who ruled from 1469 to 1492. Also known as "the Magnificent," he used his wealth to support artists, architects, and writers. Many of the Renaissance's artista owed their success to his support.

Politics in Italy was rough. The rulers had to keep the poor from rebelling and wealthy people from seizing their power. They had to make deals with lots of people, which included, merchants, bankers, landlords, church leaders, and mercenaries. On top of that, they had to make deals with other city-state leaders.

The Renaissance was also a time where the Italians developed diplomacy. Diplomacy us like negotiating, or making deals, with other rulers. Each city-state sent ambassadors to other city-states to be representatives. Much of diplomacy began in Italy's city-states.

Niccolò Machiavelli tried describing how a ruler could maintain power in Italy's city-states by describing it in a book he wrote called the The Prince. It was written in 1513. In his book, he stated that people were greedy and self-centered. He also argued that rulers should not try to be good. Instead, they should do whatever they could in their power to keep their power and protect their city. Which may have consisted of lying and killing. Today, when someone says another person is being Machiavellian, they meant they were being tricky and not thinking about being good.