Francesco Guicciardini was an Italian historian and statesman. A friend and critic of Niccolò Machiavelli, he is considered one of the major political writers of the Italian Renaissance. In his masterpiece, The History of Italy, Guicciardini paved the way for a new style in historiography with his use of government sources to support arguments and the realistic analysis of the people and events of his time. March 15, 1483 – June 1, 1540; died at 57. Alive at the same time as Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Martin Luther, Christopher Columbus, and Niccolò Machiavelli. Wiki link