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Comparing Machiavelli's The Prince And The Catholic Church

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The Prince and the Catholic Church
The Prince is considered a “handbook” on how to acquire and maintain power. Machiavelli does this by addressing what characteristics he believes a ruler should possess in order to be a successful ruler. With that being said, during the time in which Machiavelli wrote The Prince, some may have viewed his book as being immoral, as it did not follow the beliefs a Christian would uphold. It went against all aspects a good Christian would live by, ultimately leading up to an event that would forever change Machiavelli and his works in the views of Catholic believers. Within this essay, one will be able to identify as to why the story of The Prince may have conflicted with Catholicism and Christianity, causing the Catholicism not only to ban the book, The Prince, but also all of Machiavelli’s works in 1559 for over 300 years.
Throughout the Medieval and Renaissance era of times, there were books that offered advice to rulers. During these times, one of the famous examples was the instructional manual written to rulers by Desiderius Erasmus of Rotterdam. It was called The Education of a Christian Prince (Instituo Principlis Christiani), published in 1516. It was a book dedicated to Holy Roman Emperor, Charles V. The book addressed to the prince that …show more content…

Therefore, causing great concern that the prince would become a threat to his people by not following the moral beliefs of a Christian and following Machiavelli’s unethical theory. Hundreds of years after the banning, not much had changed. Men still believed and acted as they pleased. Rulers followed the ways that Machiavelli mentioned in The Prince, making the banning hypocritical to the way that good Christian rulers would have attained

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