Machiavelli, The Prince

Although Machiavelli never directly voices his disdain for the Church, he is clearly contemptuous of many of the Church’s policies. In his explanation of Italy’s decline, he not-so-subtly blames the papacy for some of his country’s ills: After the fall of the Roman Empire, the Pope actively supported rebellions in the cities in which citizens took up arms against nobles, for these conflicts helped buttress the Church’s power. The result was a scattering of small states, with the Church’s holdings at the center. Unfortunately, even the Pope knew little of military matters, and wound up relying on foreign troops – a dependency that has cost Italy much of her former strength and squandered much of her potential, according to Machiavelli. All this said, Machiavelli does write admiringly of Pope Alexander VI (father of Cesare Borgia), who in his own way was a shrewd and, yes, Machiavellian politician.