SAVONAROLA AND
Restoration of the Republic (1494-1512)
Context French
invasion of 1494: Valois King Charles
VIII called in by
Ludovico il Moro (Sforza) Duke of Milan, claims
Girolamo Savonarola, prior of reformed Dominican Convent of San Marco
invited to Florence by Lorenzo as
Lenten preacher (at Pico's suggestion)
moral reformer; opposed to
corruption, luxury and homosexuality
organizes youth confraternities,
"bonfires of vanities"
role as prophet: sermons on God’s
punishment of Florence for wealth, vices
1494
French invasion as God's wrath against Medici
political position: Christian
republican government: higher standards of civic virtue
Venetian model: lifetime executive (like Doge); Great Council,
Council of Ten
1494-98 political power but no office; followers called piagnoni
(weepers)
fall of Savonarola: conflict with Borgia Pope Alexander
VI (Spanish)
Cesare Borgia (Duke
Valentino) son is head of papal army
Lucrezia
Borgia, daughter married from Vatican to Este Duke of Ferrara
1497 excommunicated by Alexander VI
1498 interdict issued against
Florence by Pope
Savonarola arrested,
tortured, confesses to fraud
executed by Republic, burned
in central piazza
Lauro Martines, Fire in the City: Savonarola and the Strugglefor the Soul of
Renaissance Florence (2006)
19th C. English novel by George Eliot, Romola set in 1490’s Florence ( fictional)