2. ‘give way …’: letter from Lucrezia to her husband, Piero de’ Medici, dated 17 May 1446. See Ross, Early Medici (correspondence), p.50
3. ‘theatrical performances …’: see History of the Popes, ed. Antrobus, Vol. III, p.56, citing as his source the contemporary Giovanni de Pedrino, Cronica di Forli
4. ‘Lorenzo is learning …’: letter from Lucrezia de’ Medici to her husband Piero, 28 February 1458. See Ross, Early Medici, p.60
5. ‘by imitating …’: letter from Marsilio Ficino to Lorenzo de’ Medici, undated. See Ross, Early Medici, p.76
6. ‘to see him …’: Machiavelli, Istorie Fiorentine, Book VIII, Sec. 36
7. ‘act as a man …’ et sea.: letters from Piero de’ Medici to Lorenzo in Milan, May 1465. See Ross, Early Medici, pp.93–5
8. Figures for the alum trade as a whole and the papal revenues of this period vary considerably. Mine are, in the main, extrapolated from Jean Delameau, L’Alun de Rome XVe–XIXe siècle (Paris, 1962), as well as Raymond de Roover, The Rise and Decline of the Medici Bank 1397–1494 (Harvard, 1963), who concentrates on the trading with Bruges and London. Two reliable facts indicate the overall size of the alum trade. In 1462, prior to the papal monopoly, the alum trade throughout Europe was in the order of 300,000 florins (Delameau p.19), while three years later the trade to Bruges and Venice combined amounted to 4,500 tons (Delameau, p.25).
9. ‘Put an end …’: letter from Piero de’ Medici to Lorenzo in Rome, March 1466. See Ross, Early Medici, pp.102–3
10. ‘I know nothing …’: see de Roover, Medici Bank, p.365, citing as the original source the Report of Angelo Tani in the collection Mediceo avanti il Principato (in the State Archives of Florence), Filza 82, No.163
11. ‘I know the fickle …’: this quotation appears in varying forms in many works; see, for instance, Hibbert, Medici, p.73. The original source is Cosimo’s friend, the contemporary Florentine humanist Vespasiano di Bisticci.
12. ‘Messer Dietisalvi …’ et seq.: Machiavelli, Istorie fiorentine, Book VII, Sec. 10
13. ‘When I see …’: Lorenzo de’ Medici, Sonnet V, opening ‘Lasso a me! …’ see The Autobiography of Lorenzo de’ Medici The Magnificent, trans. James Wyatt Cook (New York, 1995), pp.80–2. This has the Italian and English versions on facing pages: I have not adhered to Cook’s translation.
14. ‘Lucretia [sic] was the mistress …’: see Roscoe, Lorenzo, p.74
15. ‘Although neither …’: cited in Cecilia M. Ady, Lorenzo dei Medici and Renaissance Italy (London, 1960), p.29. A copy of the few remaining pages of Lorenzo’s Ricordi can be seen in the Florentine archives (Publica Liberia Magliabechiana). An Italian version, which differs slightly from this, can be found in Roscoe, Lorenzo, Appendix XI pp.464–7. Roscoe claims that he copied this from a version in Lorenzo’s hand, which is now lost. For an English version, see Ross; Early Medici, pp.150–6. The Ricordi breaks off on 1 March 1485 (in fact, 1484 in the manuscript, which adhered to the ancient Florentine year that ended on 25 March).
16. ‘good height’ et seq.: letter from Lucrezia de’ Medici to her husband Piero, dated ‘Rome 27 March 1467’. See Ross, Early Medici, p.108
17. ‘he who does not …’: Machiavelli, Istorie fiorentine, Book VII, Sec. 11
18. ‘On the second day …’: Lorenzo, Ricordi. See Roscoe, Lorenzo, Appendix XI, p.466
19. ‘I would like …’: collation of letters written 1–4 December 1469 by Lorenzo de’ Medici in Florence to Galeazzo Sforza, Duke of Milan – cited in Miles J. Unger, Magnifico: Life of Lorenzo de’ Medici (New York, 2008), pp.168–9
20. ‘was greatly mourned …’: Lorenzo, Ricordi. See Roscoe, Lorenzo, Appendix XI, p.466
21. ‘in as civil …’: cited in Tim Parks, Medici Money: Banking, Metaphysics and Art in Fifteenth-Century Florence (London, 2006), p.199
22. ‘LAU.R.MED’: cited in F.W. Kent, Lorenzo de’ Medici and the Art of Magnificence (Baltimore, 2004), p.146
23. ‘because none could …’: Angelo Poliziano, Stanze Cominciate per la Giostra di Giuliano de’ Medici (Turin, 1954)
24. ‘Lorenzo, heady with youth …’: Machiavelli, Istorie Fiorentine, Book VIII, Sec. 3
25. ‘With regard to this …’: ibid., Book VIII, Sec. 2
26. ‘Therefore, with the blessing …’: see Ross, Early Medici, p.229
27. ‘embittered and darkened …’ et seq.: Jacob Burckhardt, The Civilization of Renaissance Italy, trans. S. Middlemore (London, 1990), pp.40–1
28. ‘without the sanction of …’: document found amongst the Strozzi papers (Carte Strozziane Series I, No. 10, fols 190–1), cited in de Roover, Medici Bank, p.367
29. ‘It is likely …’: ibid.
30. ‘We’ve all got cucumbers …’: Lorenzo de’ Medici, Opere, ed. A. Simioni (Bari, 1914), Vol. II, Canti Carnascialeschi, p.247
2: ‘Blind wickedness’
1. ‘certain of the minor …’: see Roberto Ridolfi, Vita di Girolamo Savonarola, 2 vols. (Florence, 1974), Vol. I, p.14.
2. ‘a cortège of…’: Villari, La Storia … Savonarola Vol. I, p.9–10, drawing on descriptions by contemporary chroniclers. Although the citation is from the original Italian version, I have here, and in some following instances, made use of the English translation undertaken with the author’s supervision by his daughter Linda Villari. See Pasquale Villari, trans. Linda Villari (London, 1888), 2 vols.
3. ‘Borso was a …’: Pius II, Memoirs of a Renaissance Pope, trans. F. Gragg (New York, 1959), p.114
4. ‘the giving of robes …’: Michele Savonarola, De Nuptiis Battibecco et Serrabocca, cited in Edmund Gardner, Dukes and Poets in Ferrara (London, 1904), p.81
5. ‘subterranean dungeons …’: Villari, La Storia … Savonarola, Vol. I, p.14
6. ‘That which God …’: cited in Ridolfi, Vita … Savonarola, Vol. I, pp.5–6
7. ‘he was in the habit …’: see Pacifico Burlamacchi, La Vita del Beato Geronimo Savonarola (Florence, 1937 edn), p.7. This comes from the anonymous sixteenth-century biography said to have been written by Fra Pacifico Burlamacchi (often called ‘Pseudo-Burlamacchi’, as many claim this was not his true identity). The author, whoever he was, knew Savonarola and his intimate circle, and probably either witnessed or heard much of his information at first hand. However, this short biography is not entirely reliable as it also includes several evident exaggerations and myths concerning its subject. Burlamacchi is one of the contemporary sources referred to in note to p.8.
8. ‘In the sadness …’: the original version of this poem is cited in Ridolfi, Vita … Savonarola, Vol. I, p.10
9. Fra Benedetto of Florence: see Vulnera diligentis in Alessandro Gherardi, Nuovi documenti e studi intorno a Girolamo Savonarola (Florence, 1887), pp.7–8
10. ‘not had desire for …’: Savonarola, Prediche sopra Aggeo, ed. L. Firpo (Rome, 1965), p.325
11. ‘lustfulness [and the] …’: Savonarola’s works abound in such sentiments: this particular instance is cited in Stanley Meltzoff, Botticelli, Signorelli and Savonarola (Florence, 1987), p.51
12. ‘the bloody …’: Savonarola cited in Pierre Van Passen, A Crown of Fire: The Life and Times of Girolamo Savonarola (New York, 1960), p.29
13. ‘the partisans …’: ibid., drawing on descriptions by contemporary chroniclers
14. ‘Caleffini reports …’: ibid.
15. ‘Now those who live …’: et seq.: Girolamo Savonarola, A Guide to Righteous Living and Other Works, trans. Konrad Eisenbichler (Toronto, 2003), pp.62, 3
16. ‘Get thee out of …’: Genesis, Ch.12, v.1 (King James version). Savonarola refers to this in a number of his sermons; see for instance Predica XIX sopra Aggeo, delivered on 19 December 1494. For the most part I have used the King James version of the Bible when translating Savonarola’s references. This is of course anachronistic, as the King James translation would not be published in England until more than a century later; however, this version would seem best suited to convey the language and tone of Savona
rola’s words.
17. ‘truly this would have …’: et seq.: Savonarola’s letter to his father Niccolò, 25 April 1475. See Savonarola, Le Lettere, ed. Roberto Ridolfi (Florence, 1933), pp.1–3. There is an English version in Savonarola, A Guide to Righteous Living …, pp.35–7. Only the latter includes the address to his father.
18. ‘rejoice that God …’: Savonarola, Lettere, p.4
19. ‘a strong man …’: letter of 25 April 1475, ibid., p.1
20. ‘My son …’: see Ridolfi, Vita … Savonarola, Vol. I, p.12, citing as his original source Fra Benedetto, Vulnera Diligentis, ms. nella Biblioteca Nazionale di Firenze, Magl. XXXIV. 7 (che si completa col Riccardiano 2985), c. 13 t
21. ‘the silence which enveloped …’: ibid., p.15
22. ‘where I found liberty …’: ibid., p.16, citing several sources, including Burlamacchi and Giovanni Pico della Mirandola’s Vita
23. ‘The sceptre has …’: Ridolfi, Vita … Savonarola, Vol. I, p.9
24. ‘If the rapid …’: Burckhardt, Renaissance in Italy, p.48
25. ‘long silent streets …’: Charles Dickens, American Notes and Pictures from Italy (London, 1908), p.321
3: Lorenzo’s Florence
1. ‘He uses the …’: despatch of 29 July 1484 from Buonfrancesco Arlotti to Duke Ercole of Ferrara, cited in Gardner, Dukes … in Ferrara, p.207
2. ‘With great expense …’: despatch of 12 August 1484 from Arlotti, cited ibid., p.208
3. ‘That same night …’: ibid., p.208
4. ‘Thus at last …’: Machiavelli, Istorie Fiorentine, Book VIII, Sec. 28
5. ‘Jesus, highest good …’: et seq.: Girolamo Savonarola, Poesie, tratte dall’ autographo, ed C. Guasti (Florence, 1862), p.41
6. ‘mind and the radiance …’: Marsilio Ficino, Opera, ed. A. H. Petri (Basle, 1576), Vol. I, pp.834–5
7. ‘neither gravity …’: see Ronald Lightbown, Sandro Botticelli (London, 1978), Vol. I, p.72, citing A. Politian [Poliziano], Prose volgari ineditedi e poesie …, ed. I. Del Lungo (Florence, 1867), pp.253–5
8. ‘thirteen leather bags’: many sources mention these bags; see, for instance, Tim Parks, Medici Money (London, 2005), p.220, and Lauro Martines, April Blood (London, 2003), p.203
9. ‘Between May and September …’: de Roover, Medici Bank, p.366
10. ‘The city was in perfect …’: Francesco Guicciardini, Storie fiorentine dal 1378 al 1509, ed. Roberto Palmarocchi (Bari, 1931), p.72
11. ‘He was a man …’: cited in Roscoe, Lorenzo de’ Medici, p.265
12. ‘fisher of men’: cited in James Hankins, ‘Marsilio Ficino’, Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy, ed E. J. Craig, Vol. III, p.655
13. ‘not as a deserter’ et seq.: cited in James Hankins, ‘Pico della Mirandola’, Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy, ed. E. J. Craig, Vol. VII, p.387
14. ‘piously philosophising’: cited in Ridolfi, Vita … Savonarola, Vol. I, p.69
15. One of his fellow … et seq.: the following information on Savonarola’s teaching and preaching, by his fellow monks and contemporaries, is taken from three contemporary sources: Savonarola’s fellow monk, Placido Cinozzi, Epistola, p.10 et seq., the contemporary historian of San Marco, Roberto Ubaldini, Annalia (Cronaco dell Convento di San Marco), p.153 et seq., which was written in 1505; and Burlamacchi, Savonarola (1937 edn), p.16. Much of this information is more easily accessible in the English editions of the Villari and Ridolfi biographies. See Pasquale Villari, Savonarola, trans. Linda Villari (London, 1888), Vol. I, pp.71–3, and Roberto Ridolfi, Savonarola, trans. Cecil Grayson (London, 1959), pp.14–15, whose translations I have not followed precisely.
16. ‘I had neither …’ et seq.: Savonarola, Prediche sopra l’Esodo, ed. P. G. Ricci, Vol. I, p.50, and Prediche sopra Ruth e Michea, ed V. Romano, cited in Ridolfi, Vita … Savonarola, Vol. I, p.26
17. ‘many reasons …’: see the fifteenth-century document re the trial of Savonarola in the documents reprinted in Villari, La storia … di Savonarola, Vol. II, p.cxlix et seq.
18. ‘You should consider …’: see letter 5 December 1485 in Savonarola, Le Lettere, ed. Ridolfi, pp.5–11
19. ‘Most honourable …’ et seq.: ibid, pp.5–11
20. For the reasons Savonarola gave for the imminent scourge of the Church, as well as quotes from Savonarola’s Latin notes for his 1486 sermons, which were discovered by Ridolfi, see Roberto Ridolfi, Studi Savonaroliani (Florence, 1935), pp.44–52. More readily available English accounts can be found in Ridolfi, Savonarola (trans. Grayson), pp.24–5, and Desmond Seward, Savonarola and the Borgia Pope (Stroud, 2006), p.45
21. ‘When I …’ et seq.: Savonarola, A Guide to Righteous Living …, p.65
4: Securing the Medici Dynasty
1. ‘Be careful not …’ et seq.: Letter from Lorenzo de’ Medici to Piero de’ Medici, 26 November 1484. See Ross, Early Medici, pp.260–5
2. ‘Not much is …’: de Roover, Medici Bank, p.349
3. ‘He was wont …’ et seq.: see Savonarola’s sermon, cited in Giovanni Pico della Mirandola: His life by his nephew Giovanni Francesco Pico translated from the Latin by Sir Thomas More (London, 1890 edn), pp.26–7. Here I have modified More’s sixteenth-century English for greater clarity.
4. ‘As a desyrous …’: ibid., p.9, with the same qualification as above
5. ‘pleasant enough …’: cited ibid., p.85
6. Slightly differing reports of this Arezzo incident appear in a number of biographies. See, for instance Eugenio Garin, Giovanni Pico della Mirandola: Vita e Dottrina (Florence, 1936), p.25, and Giovanni Semprini, Giovanni Pico della Mirandola (Todi, 1921), p.55 et seq. Both these sources cite the article by D. Berti in the journal Rivista Contemporanea, Vols. XVI–XVII (Turin, 1859), pp.49–51, docs I–III (one of which is Antonimo Magliabechiano). In English, see Seward, Savonarola, p.27
5: Pico’s Challenge
1. A complete reprinted text of Pico’s theses can be found in Giovanni Pico della Mirandola, Conclusiones sive Theses DCCCC (Geneva, 1973), pp.27–90
2. ‘maintain nothing …’: see Pastor, History of the Popes, Vol. V, p.342
3. ‘on public …’: Pico letter of 12 November 1486. See Chanoine Pierre-Marie Cordier, Jean Pic de la Mirandole (Paris, 1957), p.30
4. ‘heretical, rash, and …’: see Pastor, History of the Popes, Vol. V, p.343
5. ‘in twenty nights’: cited ibid.
6. ‘We have given …’: G. Pico della Mirandola, De hominis dignitate …, ed E. Garin (Florence, 1942), Vol. I, pp.104, 6
7. ‘Pain in my feet …’: cited in Hugh Ross Williamson, Lorenzo the Magnificent (London, 1974), p.262
8. ‘When the spirit escapes …’: Roscoe, Lorenzo, p.308, n.41, gives the Italian version, though I have not adhered to Roscoe’s translation
9. ‘This is the greatest …’: letter from Lorenzo de’ Medici to the Florentine ambassador in Rome, 14 March 1489. See Ross, Early Medici, p.303
10. ‘The Count della Mirandola …’: letter from Lorenzo de’ Medici to the Florentine ambassador in Rome, 19 June 1489. See Ross, Early Medici, p.310
11. ‘I much wish to …’: letter from Lorenzo to the Florentine ambassador in Rome, 14 March 1489. See Ross, Early Medici, p.303
12. ‘So that you …’: see Ridolfi, Savonarola, trans. Grayson, p.29. In this latest English translation (and the Italian original) the last-but-one word of the quotation reads ‘your’ (vostra): other sources relating this incident make it plain that Lorenzo must have been referring to ‘our’ seal – that is, the seal of the Medici. Pico’s seal would have carried no authority with the Church at this time; indeed, it would certainly have undermined the request made in the letter. The original source of this quotation is an early version of Burlamacchi, Vita del P.F. Girolamo Savonarola (Lucca, 1764) – for full details of this, see Villari, La Storia … Savonarola, Vol. I, p.91 n.1. Except where indicated otherwise, from now on I have cited the Lucca 1764 edition of Burlamacchi, which is available in the Br
itish Library.
13. – ‘that a scourge …’ et seq.: see notes to pp. 72, 73
14. to various cities …’: letter dated 25 January 1490, Girolamo Savonarola, Le Lettere, ed. R. Ridolfi (Florence, 1933), pp.11–14
15. ‘In this way …’: Savonarola, Lettere, p.12 et seq.
16. ‘when it is time …’: ibid., pp.11–14
17. ‘he spoke with a voice …’ et seq.: see Villari, La Storia … Savonarola, Vol. I, p.86, paraphrasing Burlamacchi, Savonarola, p.15
18. The four and twenty elders are described in Revelation, Ch. 4, v.4
19. ‘You must not be …’: Savonarola, Lettere, pp.11–14
20. ‘Go and do the task …’: see Burlamacchi, Savonarola, p.18
6: The Return of Savonarola
1. ‘for this delaye …’: cited in Giovanni Francesco Pico della Mirandola, Vita … (trans. More), p.27
2. ‘Division of all the Sciences’: see Villari, La Storia … Savonarola, Vol. I, p.108
3. ‘a man in whom God …’: cited in Giovanni Francesco Pico della Mirandola, Vita … (trans. More), p.26
4. ‘I am the hailstorm …’: Savonarola, Prediche sopra Ruth e Michea, ed. V. Romano (Rome, 1962), Vol. II, p.91. These and other collections of Savonarola’s sermons are part of the Collected Works (Edizione nazionale), but as they are separate volumes and were issued at different dates, often with different editors, I have referred to them by their individual titles.
5. ‘he did not speak …’: Francesco Guicciardini, Storie fiorentine, ed. R. Palmarocchi (Bari, 1931), p.108
6. ‘by all kinds of people’: see Ridolfi, Vita … Savonarola, Vol. I, p.57, citing Girolamo Savonarola, Compendio di rivelazioni, ed A. Crucitti (Florence, 1933)
7. ‘I was unable …’: ibid., p.58
8. ‘You fool …’: ibid.
9. ‘a terrifying …’: ibid.
10. ‘a time such as …’ et seq.: see Seward, Savonarola, p.53, and Villari, La Storia … Savonarola, Vol. I, p.133 et seq., both of whom cite their source as the autograph document by Savonarola known as Compendium Revelationum (for details of this, see Villari, La Storia … Savonarola, Vol. I, p.135 n.1)
Death in Florence: the Medici, Savonarola and the Battle for the Soul of the Renaissance City Page 45