Francesco Guicciardini

Francesco Guicciardini (March 6, 1483 – May 22, 1540) was an Italian historian and statesman. He is considered one of the major political writers of the Italian Renaissance and the Father of Modern History. He was a friend and critic of Niccolò Machiavelli.
Biography.
His family was illustrious and noble; after the usual education of a boy in grammar and elementary classical studies, his father, Piero, sent him to the universities of Ferrara and Padua, where he stayed until the year 1505. In 1512, he went to the court of the King of Aragon, Ferdinand the Catholic as ambassador.
In 1515 he became working for the Pope Leo X, who made him governor of Reggio Emilia in 1516 and of Modena in 1517.