Abstract

This essay considers Bartolo da Sassoferrato’s De Tyranno a forerunner of the idea of “civil principalityµ that Niccolò Machiavelli would put forth in chapter ix of his Prince. It also shows how reading Bartolo’s treatise helps us to better understand this controversial Machiavellian theory. The same is true of several statements by Savonarola and Guicciardini; by using similar words and formulas, they too describe that same form of government, which Bartolo calls a “veiledµ tyranny