Assassins creed 2 machiavelli biography

Government of the Republic of Florence. Amerigo Vespucci Galeazzo Maria Sforza, Duke of Milan Leonardo da Vinci Alberti family. Sex work in late medieval Europe. Body armour in late medieval Europe. San Gimignano. Landmarks of San Gimignano. Landmarks of rural Tuscany. Giovanni Giocondo c. Pazzi conspiracy, Bernardo Bandini Baroncelli Francesco Salviati Riario Stefano da Bagnone Antonio Maffei da Volterra Apennine Mountains.

Caterina Sforza Most Serene Republic of Venice, Government of the Most Serene Republic of Venice. House of Grimaldi. Marco Barbarigo, Doge of Venice c. Giovanni Ser di Mocenigo, Jr. Carnevale di Venezia. Agostino Barbarigo, Doge of Venice The Orsi family. Bianca Riario Ottaviano Riario Girolamo Savonarola Landmarks of the Vatican, Italia fell to the Ostrogoths during this period, after which it was then briefly reconquered by Byzantine Emperor Justinian I in the Gothic War of The invasion of the Lombards set the peninsula on course for roughly 1, years of successive invading kingdoms, with the Lombards being absorbed into the Kingdom of the Franks Francia, or the Frankish Empire by the year Byindependent city-states had formed and joined together in the Lombard League to drive out the forces of the German Holy Roman Empire.

This allowed the Italian city-states to prosper, with a powerful merchant class allowing increased political freedom and by extension thriving arts and academia. Colleoni was a prominent condittiero of the s. Trouble in paradise! In the s and s, these city-states were constantly feuding and warring, and the Papal States grew to control significant chunks of the Italian Peninsula.

Strong city-states absorbed the lands around them, leading wealthy merchant states to take a front seat in regional politics and form de facto dynasties. Few of these city-states had formal sovereign armies, instead opting to do battle with companies of mercenaries known as condottieri. The condottieri were usually from other parts of Europe such as Germany or Switzerland, but leadership roles among them typically fell to Italian captains.

Bythe major players of our tale had been proliferated: Florence, Milan, and Venice signed the Peace of Lodi in that year, bringing something resembling peace to the peninsula — peace which would last throughout the burgeoning decades of the glorious Italian Renaissance. This is about where we come in. After his story ends we see Italia fall once again into a period of conflict in the Habsburg-Valois Wars, be partially annexed and unified as the Napoleonic Kingdom of Italy under Napoleon Bonaparte, be unified again as the not Napoleonic Kingdom of Italy, then fall into fascism under Benito Mussolini before eventually coming out of it all as the Italian Republic that still stands to this day.

During this period of European history, virtually the entire population of the Italian Peninsula follows a single religion - Christianity. Specifically the teachings of the Catholic Church, an enormous, immensely powerful Christian organisation headquartered in Vatican City and, at the time of the Renaissance, controlling a vast stretch of the central peninsula known as the State of the Church or more commonly, the Papal States.

The Papal States assassin creed 2 machiavelli biography an absolute monarchy, with the elected head of the Church - the pope - holding total authority over the area and its subjects. Jesus was crucified and executed by the Roman Empire in Jerusalem in the early CE 30s, and according to Christian tradition, he was resurrected and ascended to Heaven three days later with the promise that he would return to Earth on an undisclosed date and lead his followers to Heaven.

In Christianity, Jesus was followed in his lifetime by twelve disciples known as the Apostles, and one of these Apostles - Syrian fisherman Shimon Bar Yonah commonly known to Catholics as Saint Peter - was the first pope of the Catholic Church. Whilst the Catholic Church is the largest Christian denomination in the world, the Reformation initiated in the early 16th century saw the rise of Protestantism - Christian religious movements that deliberately distanced themselves from the Catholic Church and, in particular, the authority of the pope.

Even earlier, in our little slice of the s, the Renaissance brought with it the onset of humanist philosophy, which places value on the agency and will of human beings as individuals or groups, leading to a collective questioning of the role Catholic Church as a supreme authority over all European Christians. Today, the Catholic Church exerts control over only the Vatican City State - a small enclave entirely contained within the Italian city of Rome.

Today, this state is the only absolute monarchy in the world, ruled by the current pope, Francis, who has held the office since March Despite no longer controlling significant territory, the Catholic Church is still a highly influential institution by virtue of its enormous membership of 1. The narrative culminates with protagonist Ezio Auditore travelling to the Vatican City State to assassinate Alexander.

Centuries old even by the time of the Renaissance, the Florentine Republic in is perhaps the strongest of the Italian city-states.

Assassins creed 2 machiavelli biography: Machiavelli in Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood.

Ruled by the powerful Medici banking clan, Florence is home to all manner of artists, poets, and sculptors, their crafts facilitated by a growing middle class and the enhanced political freedoms of the Florentine government. A coup orchestrated by the House of Pazzi in failed to kill Lorenzo and its conspirators were all brutally executed. Lorenzo was succeeded upon his death by his son Piero the Unfortunate, monikered as such because his rule lasted only two years before Charles VIII of France invaded the Republic.

The Pazzi were an influential banking family of the Florentine nobility. The conspiracy culminated in an attack on the Medici family during High Mass at the Florence Cathedral that failed to kill Lorenzo il Magnifico, the head of the Medici family. The only currency actually used in the game is the florinwhich was a gold coin used from to Originating in the Republic of Florence, the florin was the first European gold coin to see widespread use in the Middle Ages, and the influential, international Florentine banks allowed its usage to quickly expand across Europe, where it became the dominant form of currency used for large transactions.

Amerigo Vespucci was a Florentine merchant and navigator best known for his voyages to South America and the Caribbean Sea, and for later becoming the namesake of the Americas.

Assassins creed 2 machiavelli biography: Database: Niccolò Machiavelli (Assassin's Creed II)

The first of these two occurred inwhen Vespucci accompanied an expedition funded by the Spanish monarchy to the Americas. The expedition then captured people in the Bahamas to be sold as slaves and returned to Spain. This voyage left Lisbon in May and resupplied at Cape Verde before reaching Brazil in August, where they were attacked by the inhabitants, who killed and ate a member of the crew.

This bay is called Guanabara Bay today, and houses the city of Rio de Janeiro, a major city in the modern Federative Republic of Brazil.

Assassins creed 2 machiavelli biography: The clothes Niccolò wore in

On February 13 they returned to Portugal. After returning to Seville inVespucci entered the service of Ferdinand II, King of Aragon, who he continued to consult for until his death in Galeazzo Maria Sforza was a Milanese nobleman who was the fifth Duke of Milan, holding the position from until his assassination in As Duke, Sforza was widely hated in Milan, and is infamous for his cruelty, personally committing numerous acts of torture and rape.

These assassins were supported by roughly thirty allies, and made no plans to escape after the killing. Lampugnani initiated the attack whilst kneeling before Sforza, after which he stabbed the Duke in the groin and chest. The rest of the assassins, having made no plans to escape justice, were swiftly executed and had their corpses displayed.

This portrait of a man in red chalk at the Royal Library of Turin is widely agreed to be a self-portrait of Leonardo c. He was born out of wedlock to a local peasant woman named Caterina di Meo Lippi and wealthy Florentine notary Piero Fruosino di Antonio da Vinci, the latter of whom later fathered twelve other children with two wives, the youngest forty years younger than Leonardo.

Returning again to Florence inLeonardo began a portrait of Florentine noble Lisa del Giocondo, which would eventually become his most famous work, the Mona Lisa. From to Leonardo mostly lived in the Apostolic Palace in the Vatican City State, where he worked on his art, as well as botany and dissecting cadavers. On his deathbed, Leonardo was said to have been full of regret, saying that he had not accomplished enough with his artwork.

Leonardo later helps Ezio to infiltrate the Palazzo Ducale using a flying machine and studies the Apple of Eden at the behest of the Assassins. The Alberti family was a Florentine political family that became established in the s and were banished from Florence twice - first after the Battle of Montaperti for their allegiance to the Guelphs, and again in for their support of the Revolt of the Ciompi.

In the s they returned to Florence and became allied with the Medici family. Shortly after this exchange, Uberto is assassinated by Ezio in an act of revenge. The following year, he was appointed vice-chancellor of the Holy Roman Church. These nepotistic appointments were common amongst popes of this era. As a new pope was in the process of being elected, Borgia was rumoured to have bribed one of the candidates - Lombard Cardinal Ascanio Maria Sforza Visconti - as well as others, and was elected Pope Alexander VI that year.

Alexander also planned to create new fiefs in the Papal States and Kingdom of Naples for Giovanni and his youngest son, Gioffre - an act which brought him into conflict with Ferdinand I, King of Naples. Ferdinand I made allies of Florence, Venice, and Milan against the papacy, but failed to sway Spain to his cause due to Alexander having granted Spain and Portugal titles to lands in the newly-discovered South America.

This, among other machinations, gave Alexander a reputation for corruption. Charles arrived in Rome on December 31 and Alexander made peace with him by ceding Civitavecchia to him and sending Cesare to fight for the French. Inan elderly Alexander died after falling ill. Four of his children - Giovanni c. Alexander was known for having many mistresses, but it seems apparent that he had a deep and special passion for Vannozza.

Alexander is also noteworthy for his treatment of Jews, which was substantially less hostile than that of other popes and the Catholic Church in general. He allowed 9, displaced Iberian Jews to enter the Papal States inand did the same for Jews expelled from Portugal and Provence in andrespectively. It has been noted that contemporary negative perceptions of Alexander and his family can be partially attributed to prejudice stemming from their Spanish roots, and the view that the Borgia were outsiders bettering themselves at the expense of the Italian people.

He is soon identified by Mario Auditore as the leader of the Templar Order. Later, Borgia receives the Apple of Eden from his agents in Venice, but flees without it after he is overwhelmed by Ezio and the Assassins. Borgia is soon revealed to have become Pope inand Ezio later travels to Vatican City to assassinate him and prevent him from opening the First Civilisation Vault.

Ezio engages and subdues Borgia in the Sistine Chapel, but spares him and enters the Vault himself. Portrait of a Ladya assassin creed 2 machiavelli biography by Jacopo Tintoretto c. Catholic Christianity forbids any sexual activity outside of heterosexual marriages officiated by the Catholic Church. Brothels allowed workers to engage in collective actions to protect their rights and livelihoods, although the requirement that they be licenced also often led to excessive regulation, including laws that prevented workers from living outside of designated brothels and laws that allowed workers to be raped at any time without the rapist needing to fear legal consequences.

Both characters are later revealed to be members of the Assassins. A suit of armour created by Antonio Missaglia, circa. The first evidence of humans using personal body armour comes from the Stele of Vultures, an ancient Sumerian monument from somewhere between and BCE. Mail, a type of mesh made of interlocking metal rings, was invented around BCE, probably by the Celts, and remained the most popular kind of personal body armour in western Europe until the early s.

In the s, increase in the price of labour in the wake of the Black Death meant that the less labour-intensive plate armour quickly became cheaper and therefore more common across western Europe. Plate armour the kind associated with the typical medieval knight peaked in popularity shortly before and afteroverlapping somewhat with the advent of firearms.

A full suit of plate armour would have weighed kilograms, but it generally would not have significantly slowed or inhibited the movement of the wearer due to the even spread of this weight throughout the entire body. Although the most popular medieval stereotype is the fully plate-clad soldier, it was actually very popular for soldiers to cover only parts of their bodies in armour due to the high cost of a full suit.

A cuirass to cover the torso and a helmet are the most common examples, as they protect the most vital organs of the body. As firearms became more powerful, metal armour was no longer a viable option against them, not only because the projectiles could penetrate armour, but also because it simply became more financially sustainable for armies to be made up of lightly-armoured or unarmoured soldiers carrying firearms themselves.

Light plate armour continued to be used by mounted soldiers, generals, and nobles until the s, for both practical and ceremonial purposes, but it was typically not a popular method of personal protection after the end of the Renaissance period. An English police officer wears a bullet-proof vest whilst guarding the entrance to Downing Street in London, United Kingdom.

The term Machiavellian often connotes political deceit, deviousness, and realpolitik. Even though Machiavelli has become most famous for his work on principalities, scholars also give attention to the exhortations in his other works of political philosophy. His much less popular treatise, the Discourses on Livy is often said to have paved the way of modern republicanism.

Likes Comments 0. Like Related wiki Cudgel Cormac. His role in Assassin's Creed 2 is, of course, embellished a bit. He's a key character in the game as both a leader of a band of mercenaries and a member of the Italian Brotherhood. Jacopo de'Pazzi is one of the main villains of Assassin's Creed 2and the main architect of the Pazzi Conspiracy, which is actually a historical event and not just a narrative piece in-game.

The Pazzi family planned to kill the Medici brothers and take over the government of Florence, but they failed both in real history and Assassin's Creed 2. The Pazzi became reviled in Florence, and Jacopo was eventually hunted assassin creed 2 machiavelli biography and hanged, although in-game it's Rodrigo Borgia that kills him for his failure.

Francesco de'Pazzi is the nephew of Jacopo, and he's one of the key members that executed the assassination attempt on the Medicis. While the attempt did successfully kill Giuliano, Francesco was killed in the process. In Assassin's Creed 2 it's Ezio that does the deed. It's interesting to note that Francesco has a son named Vieri in-game, although he's not actually a real historical person.

Bernard de Baroncelli was another member of the Pazzi Conspiracy and assisted in the assassination of Giuliano de'Medici. Unlike Francesco, he escaped the scene but was later hunted down. In real history, he was found in Constantinople and escorted back to Florence to be hanged, while in Assassin's Creed 2 Ezio hunts him down in San Gimignano.

Stefano Bagnone was the chaplain of Jacopo de'Pazzi, and as expected yet another member of the Pazzi Conspiracy. Historically Bagnone fails and is disgraced and hung, but Ezio puts a stop to the attempt by blending with the other monks. Francesco Salviata was the archbishop of Pisa inand he used his station and influence to help organize the Pazzi Conspiracy.

He was yet another conspirator that failed to assassinate Medici, with Ezio hunting him down in Assassin's Creed 2. Giovanni Mocenigo served as the Doge of Venice from The Templars of the Pazzi Conspiracy desperately seek his allegiance in Assassin's Creed 2but once Ezio Auditore arrives in Venice the group decides they're out of time and opt to assassinate Mocenigo.