Italian Renaissance · 1494-1559

The Italian Wars and Machiavelli

France and Spain fight over Italy for more than sixty years. In Florence an out-of-work official writes The Prince, a handbook on how rulers keep power. Students follow the armies on the map and test Machiavelli's advice.

Teach it live New Open on the map
Length
50 minutes
Ages
13–16
On the map
3 steps, AD 1500 to AD 1530
Live lesson
7 rounds, 3 on the map
Worksheet
Two A4 pages, with Classroom
You need
A projector; phones for live

Live lesson · new in Classroom

Teach it live. The class answers on their phones.

Put the board on the projector. Students join with a six-digit code, no account needed, and tap the map: where was the frontier, where did the grain come from. Their pins drop in together when you reveal, and the closest student takes the round.

€19 per month: every lesson live, every worksheet, cancel anytime. Rome at its height runs live for free.

A live lesson on the projector: the class's pins on the map around Alexandria, the closest students listed beside it A student's phone: the question and a map to tap
7 rounds
3 places to find on the map, quiz questions, a class vote and a one-line answer.
About 15 minutes
Run it as the map step, or to open the discussion. You move on with the space bar.
A report
Every answer, per student and per round, to read back or print after the lesson.
1

Introduction

5 min

Read aloud

France and Spain fight over Italy for more than sixty years. In Florence an out-of-work official writes The Prince, a handbook on how rulers keep power. Students follow the armies on the map and test Machiavelli's advice.

By the end of the lesson, students can

  • Explain why France and Spain fought over Italy between 1494 and 1559.
  • Locate three places where the Italian Wars were fought or decided.
  • Summarise one idea from Machiavelli's The Prince and judge whether it is good advice.
2

Explore the map

15 min

Project the map, or let students follow on their own devices. Each step opens the map at the right year and place.

a

AD 1500

A divided prize

Open the map in 1500 and compare Italy with France. Is Italy one state? Why was a rich but divided Italy a tempting target?

Open this view on the map
b

AD 1530

Northern Italy in 1530

Jump to 1530 and zoom in on the plain of Lombardy below the Alps. The French king Francis I was captured near Pavia in 1525. Which states share northern Italy now?

Open this view on the map
c

AD 1530

France surrounded

Zoom out in 1530 and look at France. Find Spain to the south and the Habsburg Netherlands to the north. Why did the French feel surrounded by Charles V?

Open this view on the map
3

Class discussion

15 min

Pick two or three. They run from what happened to why it mattered.

  1. Italy was rich but split into many states. Why did that make it easy to invade?
  2. Machiavelli wrote that a ruler must be ready to do wrong when it keeps the state safe. Do you agree?
  3. Machiavelli dedicated The Prince to a Medici. Why might a man who had been jailed under the Medici do that?
  4. The Italian Wars saw more cannon and handguns than earlier wars. How did these change warfare?
  5. Today "Machiavellian" means cunning and ruthless. Is that fair to Machiavelli? Explain.
4

Game round

10 min

Play a round of Rule History as Suleiman the Magnificent, who allied with Francis I of France against Charles V in the 1530s. After each ruling, ask the class: what would Machiavelli have advised?

Open Rule History
5

Worksheet

5 min

This worksheet comes with Classroom

€19 per month unlocks every worksheet, every live lesson and the class workspace. The free lesson prints without a subscription.