Death in Florence: the Medici, Savonarola and the Battle for the Soul of the Renaissance City
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11. ‘the preacher for …’: see Ridolfi, Vita … Savonarola, Vol. I, p.56, citing Savonarola, Compendio di rivelazioni, an Italian translation from the original Latin of some of the sheets contained in the above Compendium
12. ‘as a result …’: ibid, p.55
13. ‘which forces me …’: et seq.: Villari, La Storia … Savonarola, Vol. I, pp.136–7, citing Documento VIII, p.xxxiii, which includes the entire sermon and is at the end of Vol. I
14. ‘I believe that Christ …’: cited in Martines, Savonarola, p.27
15. ‘a certain respect …’: Guicciardini, Storie, p.108
16. ‘a man eminent …’: see Poliziano Letters [Latin and English], Book IV, Letter 2, p.237
17. ‘The ultimate aim …’: see Villari, La Storia … Savonarola, Vol. I, p.106, citing Girolamo Savonarola, Compendium totius philosopiae tam … moralis (Venice, 1542), Book 1, p.25
18. ‘I have met …’: Poliziano, cited in Ross Williamson, Lorenzo, pp.238–9
19. ‘musical voice …’: Poliziano, letter to Tristano Calco, cited in Villari, La Storia … Savonarola, Vol. I, p.80
20. ‘Father, there is …’ et seq.: in a letter by his brother, the poet Girolamo Benivieni, to Clement VII, cited in Ridolfi, Vita … Savonarola, Vol. I, pp.51–2
21. ‘I shall wax …: cited in Latin in several sources: see Ridolfi, Vita … Savonarola, Vol. I, p.65, citing as one of his sources Roberto Ubaldini, ‘the future chronicler of San Marco’
22. ‘It is not for you …’: Acts, Ch. 1, vv.7–8
23. For the details and circumstances of Fra Mariano’s sermon I have drawn on a variety of sources, including Villari, La Storia … Savonarola, Vol. I, p.79 et seq., Ridolfi, Vita … Savonarola, Vol. I, pp.64–5, and Seward, Savonarola, pp.55–6, as well as the two original sources from which they draw – namely, Burlamacchi, Savonarola, p.23 et seq., and Placido Cinozzi, Epistola de vita et moribus Ieronimo Savonarola, which can be found in P. Villari and E. Casanova, Scelta di prediche e scritti di fra Girolamo Savonarola etc. (Florence, 1887).
24. ‘You will not …’: see Ridolfi, Vita … Savonarola, Vol. I, p.50, who cites the original Latin document reproduced in Villari, La Storia … Savonarola, Vol. I, p. xxxiii, which pertains to ‘after Easter 1491’. I have chosen a broad interpretation of this dating, which seems appropriate.
7: Cat and Mouse
1. ‘Who made me …’ et seq.: Burlamacchi, Savonarola, p.24 et seq.
2. ‘A foreign monk …’: ibid.
3. ‘Is he asking …’: see Ridolfi, Vita … Savonarola, Vol. I, p.67, where he is paraphrasing Burlamacchi, Savonarola, p.24 et seq.
4. ‘This is …’: my loose translation of the idiomatic Italian. See Ridolfi, Vita … Savonarola, Vol. I, p.68, citing Burlamacchi op. cit., p.25, and Cinozzi op. cit., p.13
5. ‘all his enemies met …’: Machiavelli, Istorie Fiorentine, Book VIII, Sec. 36
6. ‘I know that you have …’ et seq: this meeting is reported in the main biographies: see, for instance, Ridolfi, Vita … Savonarola, Vol. I, p.59, and especially Villari, La Storia … Savonarola, Vol. I, p.139, where note 3 gives a list of the many contemporary sources, which include Burlamacchi, Cinozzi and Benivieni op. cit.
7. ‘So great was the persecution …’: see The Autobiography of Lorenzo de’ Medici: A commentary on my sonnets, ed. & trans. James Wyatt Cook (Binghampton, 1995), Sonnet X, p.104. This has the Italian and English versions on facing pages; I have not adhered to Cook’s translation.
8. ‘To prevent the …’: see Ross, Early Medici, p.302
9. According to some sources … : see Parks, Medici Money, p.240. There is no doubt that Giovanni’s education involved Lorenzo in considerable debts; however, there remains a suspicion that the particular sum mentioned here may in fact be Giovanni’s debt of 7,500 florins with the Medici bank, referred to in de Roover, Medici Bank, p.370, which was outstanding two years later in 1494.
10. ‘accusing Lorenzo of …’: see Ross Williamson, Lorenzo, p.261
11. These great men …’: see Roberto Ridolfi, Studi Savonaroliani (Florence, 1935), p.100; a note identifies this sermon as having been preached on the Saturday after the second Sunday in Lent.
12. ‘the whole city …’: cited in Ross Williamson, Lorenzo, p.209
13. ‘30 loads of gifts …’: Luca Landucci, Diario Fiorentino dal 1450 al 1516, ed. I del Badia (Florence, 1883), p.63
14. ‘to have changed …’: ibid, p.209
15. ‘I recommend that …’ et seq.: letter from Lorenzo de’ Medici, March 1493, in Laurentii Medicis Magnifici Vita (Adnotationes et Monumento), 2 vols (Pisa, 1784), Vol. II, p.308 et seq. A more readily available complete English version can be found in Ross, Early Medici, pp.332–5.
16. ‘one is foolish …’: cited in de Roover, Medici Bank, p.370
17. ‘5th April …’: Landucci, Diario, p.63
18. ‘That night Savonarola …’: Ridolfi, Vita … Savonarola, Vol. I, pp.73–4
19. ‘on the night …’ and following footnote: see Girolamo Savonarola, Compendium Revelationum, in Giovanni Francesco Pico della Mirandola, Vita R.P.Fr. Hieronimi Savonarolae Ferrarensis Ord. Predicatorum, ed. J. Quétif (Paris, 1674), Vol. I, p.231, and Girolamo Savonarola, Compendio di rivelazioni, ed. F. Buzzi (Casale Monferrato, 1996), p.47. For Villari’s argument, see his La Storia … Savonarola, Vol. I, pp.154–6; for his vision date, see ibid., p.165.
20. ‘Pico arrived to see …’ et seq.: Poliziano, Letters, pp.236–8
21. ‘and restore what has …’ et seq.: see note to p.8
8: The End of an Era
1. ‘On the night …’: Poliziano, Letters, p.248
2. ‘people heard wolves …’: Guicciardini, Opere (Milan, 1998), p.190
3. ‘there were many …’: Machiavelli, Istorie fiorentine, Book VIII, Sec. 36
4. ‘Besides these incidents …’: Roscoe, Lorenzo, pp.359–60
5. ‘In the eyes of the world …’: Landucci, Diario, p.54
6. ‘the people of Florence …’: Machiavelli, Istorie fiorentine, Book VIII, Ch. 36
7. ‘It is now generally …’: de Roover, Medici Bank, pp.372–3
8. ‘a sermon is preached …’: Landucci, Diario, p.53
9. ‘Each morning in …’: written by Niccolò Guicciardini, 13 April 1492. See Ridolfi, Studi Savonaroliani, p.264
10. ‘a black cross …’ et seq.: this is a brief paraphrase, which is collated by Villari from Savonarola’s own Latin and Italian versions; see Villari, La Storia … Savonarola, Vol. I, p.167. The Latin version can be found in Savonarola, Compendium Revelationum, which is included in Gianfrancesco Pico della Mirandola, Vita R. P. F. Hieronimi p.231 et seq. and an Italian version can be found in Savonarola, Compendio di rivelazioni, ed. Buzzi (Rome, 1996), pp.244–5
11. ‘All of Florence …’: letter written by Bernardo Vettori, 7 May 1492, see Ridolfi, Studi Savonaroliani, p.107
12. ‘he could still …’: Ascanio Condivi, Vita di Michelangelo (Milan, 1928), p.192
13. become an exceptional preacher et seq.: many contemporary sources, from Machiavelli and Poliziano to Condivi, comment upon Savonarola’s sermons and his manner of preaching. Concerning his change of accent, as well as the development of his preaching style, see for instance Martines, Savonarola, pp.95–6, as well as a host of references in the standard biographies by Villari and Ridolfi.
14. the dismissal of Soderini and Rucellai: this is mentioned in Meltzoff, Botticelli … Savonarola, p.256. For the most part, precise details can only be gleaned obliquely; see, for instance, Donald Weinstein, Savonarola and Florence (Princeton, 1970), p.121
9: Noah’s Ark
1. ‘is so ill-assembled …’: see Villari, La Storia … Savonarola, Vol, I, p. 200. The offending Latin text was published more than forty years later in Girolamo Savonarola, Reverendi P. Fra Hieronymi Savonarole in primam D. Joannis epistolam … [Bernardini Stagni edition] (Venice, 1536)
2. ‘Savonarola spoke in …’: this apparent
paraphrase from Savonarola’s sermons appears in Villari, La Storia … Savonarola, Vol. I, p.200
3. ‘The length of the ark …’: Genesis, Ch. 6, v.15
4. ‘each day he …’: Villari, La Storia … Savonarola, Vol. I, p.201
5. ‘Gladius Domini …’ et seq.: Savonarola, Compendium Revelationum, pp.229–31
6. ‘he shall take …’: cited in Seward, Savonarola, p.67
7. ‘I will go …’: Isaiah, Ch. 45, v.2
8. ‘O Lord, we …’: see Villari, La Storia … Savonarola, Vol. I, p.199. This is a paraphrase from Savonarola, ‘Prediche sul Salmo Quam bonus’ (Prato, 1846), sermon XXIII, 562–79. The latter is a reprint of the original summaries made in Latin by Savonarola himself after delivering these sermons. According to Villari, ibid. p.188n., ‘These sermons were later translated and published in an amended form by Girolamo Gianotti during the sixteenth century.’ Interestingly, the Ottoman threat and the possibility of God making use of the Turks as his scourge was not ‘amended’ by Gianotti in the light of the later French invasion, which appeared to so many to fulfil Savonarola’s prophecy.
9. ‘he gave up …’: Giorgio Vasari, Lives of the Artists, trans. George Bull (Harmondsworth, 1965), Vol. I, p.227
10. ‘in mind alone …’: cited in Ridolfi, Vita … Savonarola, Vol. I, p.146. There are many similar expressions of Savonarola’s intellectual admiration for Pico.
11. ‘a previously undiscovered …’: see Ridolfi, Vita … Savonarola, Vol. I, p.147
12. ‘From this we learn …’: ibid. For Ridolfi’s unimpeachable sources, see Vol. II, p.549 n.11, where he goes into considerable detail concerning Sinibaldi’s notes, which appear in the margins of a copy of Domenico Benivieni, Defensione [of Savonarola] (Florence, 1496), which is conserved in the Collezione Guicciardiniana 3.7.91, at the Biblioteca Nazionale di Firenze.
13. ‘According to … the future chronicler …’: see Ridolfi, Vita … Savonarola, Vol. I, p.147, 65
14. ‘advice and judgement’: cited in Ridolfi, Vita … Savonarola, Vol. I, p.148. For further information on Savonarola’s participation, see ibid., Vol. II, pp.349–50 n.13.
10: A Bid for Independence
1. ‘a life of sanctity …’: Savonarola, Le Lettere (ed. Ridolfi), p.33
2. ‘He intended …’: this is taken from Ridolfi, Vita … Savonarola, Vol. I, pp.101–2, who cites as his sources Alessandro Gherardi, Nuovi documenti e studi intorno a Girolamo Savonarola (Florence, 1887), p.61 et seq., and Burlamacchi, Savonarola (1937 edn), p.51 et seq.
3. ‘When we have completed …’: ibid.
4. ‘it is my intention …’: Savonarola, Le Lettere (ed. Ridolfi) p.30
5. ‘At all times …’: letter from Lorenzo de’ Medici, March 1493, in Laurentii Medicis Magnifici Vita (Adnotationes et Monumento), 2 vols (Pisa, 1784), Vol. II, p.308 et seq. A more readily available complete English version can be found in Ross, Early Medici, pp.332–5.
6. ‘[Cardinal] Rodrigo Borgia …’: see Pastor, History of the Popes, Vol. V, p.385b, citing as ‘the annalist’ the contemporary historian Piero Parenti, Storie fiorentine, a work that was later edited and published. Pastor consulted the original document, which can be found in the Codex Magliabecchi, XXV, 2, 519, f.133b in the National Library, Florence.
7. ‘Now we are in …’: this remark is cited in various forms in numerous sources. See, for instance, Seward, Savonarola, p.64; James Reston Jr, Dogs of God (New York, 2005), p.287; and the authoritative and respected late Michael Mallett, The Borgias (London, 1969), p.128 (where an unfortunate editorial error has resulted in a misleading compression).
8. For confirmation of the unlikely scene between Cardinal Caraffa and Alexander VI, see, for instance, Ridolfi, Vita … Savonarola, Vol. I, p.95, who cites several contemporary accounts (see Vol. II, p.526 n.24), including Cinozzi, Epistola …, p.12; Burlamacchi, Savonarola (1937 edn), p.56; and Ubaldini, whose history of San Marco cites Cardinal Caraffa himself.
9. ‘If you had arrived …’: cited in Burlamacchi, Savonarola (1937 edn), p.56
10. ‘Have charity …’: these traditional last words are cited in Villari, La Storia … Savonarola, Vol. I, p.177 n.1, where he gives several biographical and documentary sources
11. For general financial details of this period, see de Roover, Medici Bank; Parks, Medici Money; and Niall Ferguson, The Ascent of Money (London, 2008)
12. ‘vivae vocis …’: cited in Ridolfi, Vita … Savonarola, Vol. I, p.102, giving his sources as Gheraradi, Nuovi documenti …, p.61 et seq., and Burlamacchi, Savonarola (1937 edn), p.51 et seq.
13. ‘Hebrew, Greek …’: cited in Villari, La Storia … Savonarola, Vol. I, p.178 n.2, where he gives Burlamacchi, Vita del P. F. Girolamo Savonarola (Lucca, 1764), p.44 et seq., as his source
14. ‘A rumour quickly spread …’ et seq.: see Ridolfi, Vita … Savonarola, Vol. I, p.113, citing as his source the contemporary eyewitness Alessandro Bracci, in a letter dated 23 June 1493. For further details, see Vol. II, p.232 n.32. I have used Bracci’s sentences in a different order purely to preserve the time sequence.
15. ‘They contain …’: see the English edition, Roberto Ridolfi, The Life of Girolamo Savonarola, trans. C. Grayson (London, 1959), p.70
11: ‘Italy faced hard times …’
1. ‘Italy faced hard …’: Machiavelli, Decennale Primo, lines 1–3
2. There are many contemporary references to the general situation and historic developments in Italy, and especially in Florence, during the vital period 1493–4. See, for instance, the works of Guicciardini, Machiavelli, Landucci and Cerretani. I have made use of these, as well as the many more general descriptions written since: see, for instance, Paul Strathern, The Medici.
3. ‘boasted that the Pope …’: this remark was recorded by the contemporary Venetian historian Domenico Malipiero, Annali Veneti (Florence, 1843 edn), p.482
4. ‘For they sow …’: Hosea, Ch. 8, v.7
5. ‘20th January …’: Landucci, Diario, pp.66–7.
6. The incident of the snow carvings is mentioned by Vasari and Condivi, both of whom were contemporaries of Michelangelo and knew him personally. For an easily accessible English reference, see for instance Michael Holroyd, Michael Angelo Buonarotti (which contains in translation The Life of Michelangelo by Ascanio Condivi, London, 1911), pp.12–13 (Ch. 1, Sec. 11)
7. ‘a horde of …’ et seq.: Dante, Inferno, Canto XV
8. ‘perverse vices …’: Dante Aligheri, Hell, trans. Dorothy L. Sayers (Harmondsworth, 2001 edn), Canto XV, commentary p.97
9. ‘We heard that …’: Landucci, Diario, p.67
10. ‘the least deranged …’: cited in Jean Cluzel, Anne de France (Paris, 2002), p.31, giving as his source the early French historian Pierre de Brantôme, who was born some twenty years after the death of Anne of France.
11. ‘Lorenzo and Giovanni …’: Landucci, Diario, pp.67–8.
12. ‘a delegation of form …’: this is a paraphrase compiled from both sources. See eq. Landucci, Diario, p.68–9
13. ‘the fleet of the King …’ et seq.: Landucci, Diario, pp.69–70
14. ‘the prime mover of …’: Machiavelli, Decennale Primo, line 51
15. ‘Italy faced hard times …’: Machiavelli, Decennale Primo, lines 1–3, 4–6, 16
12: ‘I will destroy all flesh’
1. ‘I will destroy all flesh’: Genesis, Ch. 6, v.17 (Revised Standard version)
2. ‘For Behold …’: ibid.
3. ‘Lo, the sword …’: see Bartolomeo Cerretani, Storie Fiorentine, p.12, which appears in J. Schnitzer, Zur Geschichte Savonarolas (Munich, 1904), Vol. III
4. ‘Everyone walked …’: Cerretani, Storie Fiorentine (Schnitzer), p.12
5. ‘This small picture …’: see Vasari, Lives of the Artists (trans. Bull), Vol. I, p.231, for a readily available original Latin version. I have not adhered to Bull’s translation.
6. ‘Although he was …’: Guicciardini, Opere (Bari, 1931), Vol. VI, p.63
&
nbsp; 7. ‘a young man of …’: Mémories de Philippe de Commynes, ed. Mlle Dupont (Paris, 1843), Vol. II, p.336
8. ‘behind his hand …’: ibid. p.340
9. ‘A rumour was …’: Guicciardini, Opere, p.444
10. ‘with regard to …’: see Mémoires de Philippe de Commynes, ed. Dupont, Vol. II, pp.348, 352, and Philippe de Commynes, Mémoires, ed J. Calmette & C. Durville (Paris, 1925), Vol. III, pp.52, 56–7
11. ‘that Lorenzo de’ Medici …’ et seq.: Condivi, Vita di Michelangelo (Milan, 1928), pp.50, 54
12. ‘if the place had …’ Commynes, Mémoires, ed. Calmette, Vol. III, p.53
13. ‘those who …’: ibid. p.56
14. ‘He told [Piero] that …’ et seq.: ibid. pp.55–6
15. ‘All the girls …’: Mantuan envoy to Florence, cited in Hibbert, Medici, p.185
16. ‘Before there was …’ et seq.: Savonarola, Prediche sopra Aggeo, ed. Luigi Firpo (Rome, 1965), p.12
17. ‘During the course …’: see Ridolfi, Vita … Savonarola, Vol. I, pp.121–2, where he paraphrases Savonarola, Compendio di rivelazioni, c.6
18. ‘A Dominican friar …’: Mantuan envoy to Florence, cited in Hibbert, Medici, p.185
19. ‘that it is time …’: Cerretani, Storie fiorentine, p.11
20. ‘a man of holy …’: ibid.
21. ‘We’re finished!’: cited in Martines Savonarola, p.38
22. ‘forbidding anyone …’ et seq.: Landucci Diario, pp.75–6
23. ‘Another proclamation …’: Landucci, Diario, p.75
13: Humiliation
1. ‘seigneur de Balsac’: see Commynes, Mémoires (ed. Calmette) Vol. III, p.66
2. ‘began pillaging …’: ibid., p.67
3. ‘it was believed …’: ibid., p.67 n.1
4. ‘others were behaving …’: et seq.: ibid., p.67