Savonarola, Girolamo (1452–1498)

Dominican monk whose fiery preaching ignited a movement of cultural reform and puritanism in Florence, and who became a martyr for his cause on the day of his public execution in the city's main square, the Piazza della Signoria. Born in Ferrara, the son of a doctor, Savonarola was trained for a career in medicine but took a stronger interest in the Bible, the writings of Aristotle, and the work of the medieval Scholastics, including Saint Thomas Aquinas. He studied at the University of Ferrara but spurned a career as a scholar by turning to the Dominican order, which he joined in 1475. In this year he began his harsh public criticism of the Papacy, naming it a “proud whore” in his poem De Ruina Ecclesiae.

Favoring the solitary and ascetic life, he withdrew to the monastery of San Domenico in Bologna and, in 1481, joined San Marco, a convent in Florence. At the Church of San Lorenzo, he preached against the vice, corruption, and vanity of the church and its leaders as well as the pursuit of riches among the Florentines. At first, his use of the didactic and obscure language of religious scholars turned listeners away. He left the city in 1487 but returned under the patronage of Count Pico della Mirandola in 1490. He continued his sermons and gained a following by speaking in a more direct and popular manner. His accurate predictions of certain worldly events also earned him a reputation as a prophet.

In 1491 Savonarola became the prior of San Marco. His biting criticism of the Florentine aristocrats and tyrants inspired the anger of Lorenzo de' Medici, the ruler of Florence who advised the monk to control his tongue or suffer the consequences. In 1492, the monk boldly denied Lorenzo absolution of his sins, as punishment for his tyranny over the city. In the same year, Savonarola's accurate prediction of the deaths of Lorenzo as well as Pope Innocent VIII brought him a fearful respect among ordinary citizens. After Lorenzo's son Piero succeeded his father as ruler of the city, Savonarola's influence increased; his prediction of a coming catastrophe as punishment for the city's sins and tyranny found a receptive audience.

In 1494, Piero de' Medici was deposed and Savonarola became the city's ruler, intending to make Florence a pure, republican example for the rest of Italy. Savonarola saved his severest criticism for the Papacy, which he saw mired in luxury and corruption, an institution in dire need of reform. For this reason, he supported the invasion of Italy by the French under King Charles VIII, seeing in this event an opportunity for Florence and the other cities of northern Italy to establish democratic governments and for the Papacy to change its ways. Savonarola personally negotiated with Charles after the king deposed Piero de' Medici, and convinced Charles to moderate his demands. After this event Savonarola became the absolute master of Florence.

In 1495, Savonarola had passed a new constitution establishing republic in Florence. He reformed the tax code, replacing arbitrary levies with a tax of 10 percent on property, assessed against all citizens equally. He made sodomy a capital offense, banned popular entertainments, forced the Florentines to don plain clothing, and organized the famous Bonfire of the Vanities, the destruction of books, artworks, and vain luxuries (mirrors, musical instruments, games, cosmetics, jewelry, fine clothing) in the Piazza della Signoria. The Renaissance of new learning, art, and culture inspired by the antiquities of Greece and Rome represented to Savonarola a return to the paganism of the ancients, and a defiance of the religious piety and purity of medieval times.

Savonarola's sermons on the corruption of the church, as well as his alliance with the French invaders, earned him the enmity of the Duke of Milan and of Pope Alexander VI, who ordered him to cease preaching, an instruction that Savonarola defied. The pope excommunicated the monk in 1497, upon which Savonarola accused Alexander of gaining his title through bribery. Savonarola's power among the commoners and middle class in Florence represented a threat to the established church, to the merchant class of the city, to the Arrabiati (supporters of the Medici family), and most dangerously to the pope. He was also opposed by members of the Franciscan order, rivals of the Dominicans.

The pope excommunicated Savonarola in 1497 and then threatened to put the entire city of Florence under an interdict for Savonarola's continued preaching. The town fathers took the threat seriously and ordered the monk to cease his preaching. In 1498, when one of Savonarola's followers agreed to a public ordeal by fire, a storm prevented the ordeal from taking place. This greatly angered the Florentines, who were growing weary with Savonarola and his puritanical regime. The entire city suddenly turned against him, rioting at San Marco, killing several of his followers, and demanding his arrest. Savonarola was taken into custody with two of his followers and charged with heresy, sedition, and false prophecies. He was tortured on the rack and reportedly confessed to his crimes. The three men were convicted, sentenced to death, hanged by chains from a cross, and then burned to death in the Piazza della Signoria. Savonarola's remains were crushed into the cinders and thrown into the Arno River, to prevent any relics of his body from being preserved and venerated by those still loyal to him.

See Also: Alexander VI; Charles VIII; Florence; Medici, Lorenzo de'; Medici, Piero de'