The Prince is a 16th century political treatise by the Italian diplomat and political theorist Niccolo Machiavelli. From correspondence a version appears to have been distributed in 1513, using a Latin title, De Principatibus until 1532, five years after Machiavelli's death. This was done with the permission of the Medici popen Clement VII, but "long before then, in fact since the first appearancem of The prince in manuscript controversy had swirled about his writings."