Three of the most important political advisors of the renaissance were Patrarch, Machiavelli, .
and Richelieu. They advised some of the greatest rulers of all time. Each man had a personal .
agenda for their country as well as a unique plan on how to achieve their goals. They all gave .
advice from a different view point. Patriarch was a humanist in the most traditional sense and yet .
still had an open mind. While Machiavelli was also a humanist, he was not a traditionalist and .
stepped outside the boundaries of convention and used contemporary history as his primary .
subject and source of information. Richelieu on the other hand, had a very different approach. He .
thought absolutism was the way to success. Even with all of these differences, their goal was the .
same. They wanted their ruler to be a dominate world force. In this essay we will explore each .
advisor=s action plan. How they are similar, where they differ, and whether their advice is still .
relevant in today=s society.
Patriarch, Machiavelli, and Richelieu all had some similar interests. They all believed that a .
ruler must regulate their spending and not spend unless it benefitted the state. They thought that .
the subjects of a state should be loyal to their ruler and in turn, the state should be of benefit to .
the subjects, poor and wealthy alike. The final major issue that they agreed on was power. Each .
man felt that power was all important, but how a ruler became powerful and used that power was .
another matter entirely.
Patriarch felt as though power was best gained through love. He believed that in order to be .
loved you must love. He thought that subjects who loved their ruler would be more likely to obey .
the laws and commands of the state. Machiavelli felt the ruler should keep the power completely .
to himself. He advised that only a man, who is strong, could impose order on the people. He .
believed a dictator was the only type of leader that could accomplish this.
