Note 241c — VIII. LORD ACTON’S LIST OF THE HUNDRED BEST BOOKS
Reading edition
Guicciardini, Francesco (1483-1540), the Italian historian and statesman, was born at Florence. Undertook in 1512 an embassy from Florence to the Court of Ferdinand the Catholic, and learned diplomacy in Spain. In 1515 he entered the service of Pope Leo X. His principal book is his History of Italy. The Istoria d’Italia appeared in Florence in ten volumes between 1561 and 1564. His Recordi Politici consists of some 400 aphorisms on political and social topics and has been described by an Italian critic as “Italian corruption codified and elevated to a rule of life.”