Girolamo Savonarola
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Girolamo Savonarola (Ferrara, then Duchy of Ferrara, September 21, 1452 – Florence, May 23, 1498), also translated as Jerome Savonarola or Hieronymous Savonarola, was an Italian Dominican priest and, briefly, ruler of Florence, who was known for religious reformation, anti-Renaissance preaching, book burning, and destruction of art.
Oddly, Lorenzo de Medici, the previous ruler of Florence and patron of many Renaissance artists, was both a former patron of Savonarola and eventually, the target of Savonarola's preaching.
After the overthrow of the Medici in 1494, Savonarola was the sole leader of Florence, setting up a democratic republic. Characterizing it as a "Christian and religious Republic", one of its first acts was to make sodomy, previously punishable by fine, into a capital offence. His chief enemies were the Duke of Milan and Pope Alexander VI, who issued numerous restraints against him, all of which were ignored.
In 1497 he and his followers carried out the famous Bonfire of the Vanities. They sent boys from door to door collecting items associated with moral laxity: mirrors, cosmetics, lewd pictures, pagan books, gaming tables, fine dresses, and the works of immoral poets, and burnt them all in a large pile in the Piazza della Signoria of Florence. Fine Florentine Renaissance artwork was lost in Savonarola's notorious bonfires, including paintings by Sandro Botticelli thrown on the pyres by the artist himself.
Florence soon tired of Savonarola's hectoring. During his Ascension Day sermon on May 4, 1497, bands of youths rioted, and the riot became a revolt: taverns reopened, and men gambled publicly.
On May 13, 1497 he was excommunicated by Pope Alexander VI, and in 1498, he was simultaneously hanged and burned, in the same place and manner that he had condemned others. He was charged with uttering prophecies, sedition, and religious error. Jacopo Nardi, who recorded the incident in his Istorie della città di Firenze, said that his executioner lit the flame crying, "The one who wanted to burn me is now himself put to the flames." Niccolò Machiavelli, author of The Prince, also witnessed and wrote about the execution. The Medici regained control of Florence. Image:SavonarolaPlaque crop gobeirne.jpg
In the twentieth century, a movement for the canonization of Savonarola began to develop within the Catholic Church, particularly among Dominicans, with many judging his excommunication and execution to have been unjust. His potential beatification and canonization is opposed by Jesuits. [1]
See also
Further reading
- The Life of Girolamo Savonarola by Roberto Ridolfi
- Life and Times of Girolamo Savonarola by Pasquale Villari
- The Meddlesome Friar by Michael de la Bedoyere. 1957.
- Savonarola by Piero Misciattelli (trans. by M. Peters-Roberts). 1930.
- Savonarola: A Biography in Dramatic Episodes by William Van Wyck. 1927. (A play.)
- The novel Romola by George Eliot features Savonarola as a central character.
- The novel The Rule of Four by Ian Caldwell and Dustin Thomason makes extensive references to Savonarola.
- The novel The Birth of Venus by Sarah Dunant makes extensive references to Savonarola.
- The Short Film 'The Burning of Girolamo Savonarola' [2] by Nathan Coombs, recounts Savonarola's life and public execution.da:Girolamo Savonarola
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