Niccolo Machiavelli

Another contemporary of Martin Luther was Niccolo Machiavelli  who lived during the same period.  I bring up Niccolo because much of his writings affected the politics of the kings of Europe much like Martin Luther's writings did. In fact I do believe that part of the Reformation owes some credit to the pragmatism of Niccolo.  One thing that is interesting that some may not know about Machiavelli was familiarity of the Scripture and that he comments a section of The Prince on the leadership of Moses and the strategies he used.  He actually has an admiration for Moses.  Too often the wisdom of  Niccolo is seen as wicked with his “the ends justifies the means” perspective but in observation the writing is structured to give kings advice on maintaining sensible rule while dealing with political adversaries.  As Kings would break off from the ruling influence of the papacy, such advice was more considered and would shape the politics of Europe and the Western World from that point on.