Una princeps delle traduzioni di Machiavelli nel 1577: l’edizione parigina delle Istorie fiorentine e il pensiero delle discordie

Abstract

The first complete translation of the Florentine Histories into a European vernacular language, namely French, was published in Paris in 1577. Through a historical investigation of the political context in which this edition emerged, this article proposes a discussion on the usual attribution of the editorial project to Yves de Brinon, as well as on the function of the book in a unique conjuncture, as a book of regained peace. Machiavelli’s Florentine Histories thus appear as the “biography” of a city, which can be read as a counter-biography of a peaceful queen, Catherine de’ Medici: in France as in republican Florence, it is possible to reconcile and overcome divisions.