Last night I got really involved in a thread on Something Awful that was exploring the idea of traveling back to the 1500s. I've always been fascinated by time travel, and I've avidly read and listened to anything about it that I could get my hands on.
In the thread, I wrote about two things: what I would do if I used that time machine, and an exploration of time travel itself.
Since I had an awesome time writing about it, I'll post a series of excerpts from my writing:
Assuming that I found myself in the middle of Europe on Jan. 1 1500, I would make my way to the new Republic of Florence, Italy, and ingratiate myself with Leonardo da Vinci, who will have just returned to the city. My extensive knowledge of science and engineering will make this a relatively simple procedure, though it will take time to transform my French into complex Italian.
Over the next year I will work with him to increase our fortunes, and to gain the trust of him and his contemporaries. Using philosophies refined in future centuries, I will mend fences between him and his rival, Michaelangelo, (they mainly disagreed over the relationship between man and nature), to create the core cadre of a group of young Florentine artists, scientists, philosophers and engineers. This united group will be effectively charged with fleshing out and legitimizing the concepts that I already possess, and translating them into contemporary forms. A small general academy will be formed around the cadre, funded by my own medicine-based income, as well as Michaelangelo's substantial stipend as he begins work on the David statue.
By establishing this group as the premier scientific and academic center of Italy, I will attract the attention of diplomat Niccolo Machiavelli, who has now been appointed Second Chancellor by the Florentine Great Council. As the first political scientist, he will be fascinated by my understanding of politics. With the inclusion of political power in the cadre, I will be able to promote Florence's Republican ideals, and use Michaelangelo to deter the others from siding with Cesare Borgia, preventing da Vinci from leaving Florence in 1502.
At Borgia rampages through Italy, he is now bereft of his chief military architect, da Vinci, which means his sieges will stagnate. Florentine admirers such as Machiavelli will turn away from him, and focus their attentions on Florence and Borgia's rival in Rome, Cardinal Giuliano della Rovere.
Machiavelli begins training the Florence militia in 1503, now supplemented by my modern military infantry movement training, da Vinci's improved military engineering, and a united Florence. At this point I would likely be inducted into the Florence government as Machiavelli's aide-de-camp. Apart from the extensive political benefits this would bring (Machiavelli traveled throughout Italy as chief diplomat), it would also give the Academy a direct line to the government, as the first academy graduates would be entering the officer corps as citizen-soldiers. As officers, they will interact with the merchants who are beginning to come into their own, and will begin to legitimate the middle-class.
In late 1503, as the Italian wars now grind on, Cardinal Giuliano will be crowned as Pope Julius II. His reign will be marked by an aggressive foreign policy, ambitious building projects, and patronage for the arts. Florence will now be in a much stronger position, with a highly trained military, a burgeoning merchant middle-class, and solid political ties with the Vatican.
Michaelangelo completes David in 1504, which will attract the attention of all Italy to Florence. Now unified with Michaelangelo, da Vinci and Botticelli will lead the effort to build a monument around David rather than moving it. The small Republic of Florence will use it as a sign that it has come into its own (David and Goliath myth). Michaelangelo is summoned to Rome to begin work on the tomb of Pope Julius II, and da Vinci and I will now accompany him - leaving Florence in the hands of Machiavelli and the Academy.
So that's the first five years. Come back later for the second part.
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