The Description

A Description of the methods adopted by the Duke Valentino when murdering Vitellozzo Vitelli, Oliverotto da Fermo, the Signor Pagolo, and the Duke di Gravina Orsini^[1] is a work by Italian Renaissance political scientist and historian Niccolò Machiavelli. The work describes Cesare Borgia's capture and murder of members of the Orsini family, his rivals in Renaissance Rome. Both Vitellozzo Vitelli and Oliverotto da Fermo were strangled on the night of their capture on 31 December 1502.^[2]

Duke Valentino (Cesare Borgia) returns from Lombardy to Imola, planning to conquer Bologna. This prompts the Vitelli and Orsini families to meet at Magione and form an alliance against his growing power. Rumours of this meeting foment rebellion in Urbino, and rebels seize the fortress of San Leo from the Duke. The conspirators seek an alliance with Florence, which instead supports the Duke through Machiavelli. After the Duke's forces are defeated at Fossombrone, he pretends to seek reconciliation while secretly gathering troops, including 500 French lancers. A peace agreement is reached where the Duke pays 4,000 ducats and promises safety to the Bentivogli, while the rebels agree to restore captured territories and serve him. Following the reconciliation, the Duke of Urbino flees to Venice, and Duke Valentino negotiates with the Vitelli and Orsini at Cesena about attacking either Tuscany or Sinigalia. When Sinigalia's fortress commander insists on surrendering only to the Duke personally, he sees an opportunity and dismisses most French troops while secretly instructing eight followers to capture the rebel leaders upon arrival. On December 30, 1502, the Duke assembles over 12,000 troops at the Metauro river and marches to Sinigalia, where the rebel forces have been sent away except for Oliverotto's men. Vitellozzo, Pagolo Orsini, and Duke di Gravina meet the Duke, appearing dejected, while Oliverotto is summoned from drilling his troops. Once inside the Duke's quarters, all four are taken prisoner, their forces are disarmed, and that night Vitellozzo and Oliverotto are strangled, followed by Pagolo and Duke di Gravina on January 18 after the Pope captures other Orsini family members.

Machiavelli was a direct witness to several of the surrounding events.^[3] Within the description, he refers to himself in the third person. According to the historian Alessandro Campi, this is because "[h]e does not want his testimony to be direct or personal, but rather an impartial historical report."^[4]

It is unclear when Machiavelli wrote this account of these events, which he witnessed in December 1502. The description differs in some small details from diplomatic letters he wrote at the time. It makes reference to an event that occurred on 31 May 1503, and so must have written later than then. Some critics propose that the description was written very shortly after the events in question, some time between June and August 1503. Other have proposed 1511-1512 or 1517 as probable dates, based on Machiavelli's developing career and some clarifications within the text which would not have been necessary if it was written immediately after the events in question. If the known version of the text was written later, Machiavelli likely wrote some initial notes or a rough draft at the time and revised it over time.^[3]

The original autograph manuscript of the work is held in the Archivio di Stato of Florence.^[a] Within the manuscript codex, the description appears without a title in Machiavelli's hand, though a later hand has labeled it "Il tradimento del duca Valentino al Vitellozzo Vitelli, Oliverotto da Fermo et altri". Like most of Machiavelli's writing, it was not published until after his death. It was first printed in 1532, as an appendix to the first edition to The Prince. The publisher, Antonio Blado, gave it the title "Descrizione del modo tenuto dal Duca Valentino nello ammazzare Vitellozzo Vitelli, Oliverotto da Fermo, il Signor Pagolo e il duca di Gravina Orsini", which is now the name by which the text is known.^[3] The authoritative critical edition of the text is in L'arte della guerra. Scritti politici minori from Jean-Jacques Marchand's National Edition of the Works by Niccolò Machiavelli, published in 2001.^[3][5]

The historian Alessandro Campi identifies the work as an important part of Machiavelli's political philosophy about conspiracies, alongside his works On Conspiracy and The Pazzi and the Conspiracy against the Medici.^[6]

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