Death in Florence: the Medici, Savonarola and the Battle for the Soul of the Renaissance City

by Paul Strathern

  5. ‘Black scorch marks …’: Niall Ferguson, The Ascent of Money (London, 2008), p.27

  6. ‘the Medici bank brought …’ et seq.: de Roover, Medici Bank, p.370

  7. ‘small in stature …’: et seq.: Guicciardini, Opere, Vol. I, p.68

  8. ‘At last you have arrived, O King! …’ et seq.: see Commynes, Mémoires (ed. Calmette), Vol. III, p.145; also Ridolfi, Vita … Savonarola, Vol. I, Ch. 10, opening pages; Guicciardini, History of Florence; Savonarola, Compendium Revelationum et al. The words I have used are a compilation from these sources.

  9. ‘the boat of true …’ et seq.: see Martines, Savonarola, pp.55–6, paraphrasing and then citing Savonarola, Prediche sopra Aggeo (ed Firpo), pp.80–2. The reference to ‘Camaldoli’ is on Martines, p.43, from Cerretani.

  10. ‘Girolamo Tornabuoni …’: see Landucci, Diario, p.76

  11. ‘There was great cause …’: Villari, La Storia … Savonarola, Vol. I, pp.242–3

  12. ‘Viva Francia! …’ et seq.: all the main histories of the period describe the French entry into Florence. The best eyewitness reports, which mostly concur, are Cerretani, Landucci and Parenti, who are cited by historians ranging from Villari and Martines to Hibbert and myself (here and in The Medici). For the French point of view, see also John S. C. Bridge, A History of France from the Death of Louis XI, Vol. II, The Reign of Charles VIII, p.149 et seq.

  13. ‘My brother …’: Lettres de Charles VIII, ed. P. Pélicier (Paris, 1930), Vol. IV, pp.111–12

  14. ‘A gang of …’: see Villari, La Storia … Savonarola, Vol. I, pp.250–1, who has collated various contemporary sources, in particular Parenti and Cerretani

  15. ‘only divine providence …’: Piero Parenti, Storie fiorentine, Vol. I, 1476–8, 1492–6 (Florence, 1994), p.142

  16. ‘and all the while …’: Landucci, Diario, p.82

  17. ‘We will have to sound …’ et seq.: the same applies to this famous incident as to the French entry into Florence. Contemporary sources such as Landucci, Cerretani, Guicciardini et al. allude to the treaty and the circumstances surrounding its signing, differing only in detail. Subsequent histories carry the same story, with much the same words, which have become fixed in legend.

  18. ‘It is not me …’: This speech is paraphrased in Landucci, Diario, pp.87–8, and mentioned in several other contemporary accounts, though its original source is Savonarola, Prediche XXVI sopra Ruth e Michea.

  19. ‘beneath the pious …’: see Ridolfi, Vita … Savonarola, Vol. I, p.42

  20. ‘if he had lived …’: cited in Ridolfi, Vita … Savonarola, Vol. I, p.149; see also Pico: His life … (trans. More), p.26

  21. ‘the object of as much …’: see Villari, La Storia … Savonarola, Vol. I, p.257, citing Parenti, Storie Fiorentine

  22. ‘The scientists used …’ et seq:. Daily Telegraph, 7 February 2008

  14: A New Government

  1. ‘Florence was stripped …’: Guicciardini, Opere, ed. F. Palamanocchi (Bari, 1931), Vol. VI, p.105

  2. ‘When Charles VIII …’: Guicciardini, Opere (Milan, 1998), p.208

  3. ‘an election …’: Landucci, Diario, p.89

  4. ‘Anyone who had …’: Guicciardini, Opere, ed. F. Palmanocchi (Bari, 1931), Vol. VI, p.101

  5. ‘although they had …’: ibid., p.25

  6. ‘12th December (Friday) …’: Landucci, Diario, p.91

  7. ‘They decided that …’: Guicciardini, Opere, (Milan, 1998), p.209

  8. ‘there were always …’ et seq.: Landucci, Diario, pp.94, 90, 92

  9. ‘Jesus Christus …’ et seq.: see Seward, Savonarola, pp.94, 96, citing Savonarola, Predica XIII sopra Aggeo

  10. ‘the people no longer …’ et seq.: Villari, La Storia … Savonarola, Vol. I, pp.265–6

  11. For details of the Great Council, see Villari, La Storia … Savonarola, Vol. I, pp.285–7

  12. ‘one-fifth of the male population …’: Gene Brucker, Renaissance Florence (New York, 1968), p.268

  13. ‘to encourage …’: Guicciardini, cited in Villari, La Storia … Savonarola, Vol. I, p.287

  14. ‘it so broadened …’: see Lightbown, Botticelli, Vol. I, p.133

  15. ‘went on discoursing …’ et seq.: Landucci, Diario, p.93

  16. ‘The new Signoria …’: ibid., p.78

  17. ‘government introduced …’: letter from Savonarola, written 1495–6, cited in Seward, Savonarola, p.95

  18. ‘in Italy …’: see Savonarola, Predica XIII sopra Aggeo (12 December 1494)

  19. ‘This wretched priest …’: Landucci, Diario, p.97

  20. ‘because he had …’: et seq.: Commynes, Mémoires, ed. Calmette, Vol. III, pp.144–5

  21. ‘a most peculiar …’: Ridolfi, Vita … Savonarola, Vol. I, p.197

  22. ‘We have heard you …’: for the text of this letter, see Villari, La Storia … Savonarola, Vol. I, Documento XXIII

  23. ‘firstly, because …’: for the full text of this letter, see Savonarola, Le Lettere (Ridolfi), pp.55–8, also Villari, La Storia … Savonarola, Vol. I, Documento XXIV

  24. ‘last sermon’ et seq.: see Savonarola, Prediche XXVI sopra i Salmi, ed. Vincenzo Romano, 2 vols (Rome, 1969–74)

  25. ‘The Lord has placed me …’: et seq.: for the Latin version, see Girolamo Savonarola, Compendium Revelationum, in Giovanni Francesco Pico della Mirandola, Vita R.P.Fr. Hieronimi (ed. Quétif). For a modern Italian version, see Girolamo Savonarola, Tratto sul governo della Città di Firenze (Casale Monferrato, 1996), which includes the Compendio di rivelazione (ed. Fausto Sbaffoni), pp.37–161. For English citations, see Herbert Lucas, Fra Girolamo Savonarola (London, 1906), pp.49–73; E. L. S. Horsborough, Girolamo Savonarola (London, 1911), pp.88–91; David Weinstein, Savonarola and Florence (Princeton, 1970), pp.116–8; and Seward, Savonarola, pp.140–5

  15: The Voices of Florence

  1. ‘at the Dogana …’ et seq.: Landucci, Diario, pp.112, 114

  2. ‘though we may use …’ et seq.: Martines, Savonarola, p.149

  3. ‘On 24 May …’: Landucci, Diario (1883 edn), p.106

  4. ‘There are many enemies …’: see Savonarola’s letter of 31 July 1495, cited in full in Villari, La Storia … Savonarola (1887), Vol. I, Doc. XXIV, pp. cv–cvii

  5. ‘both sides of human …’ Jakob Burckhardt, Die Kultur der Renaissance in Italien (1926 Leipzig edn), p.119

  6. ‘When Michelangelo returned …’: Condivi, Vita di Michelangelo (1928), pp. 59–60

  7. ‘all the slenderness …’: Giorgio Vasari, Le Vite dei piu eccelenti pittori, scultori e architetti, 4 vols, ed. Carlo L. Ragghianti (Milan, 1943–7), Vol. III, p.410

  8. ‘the miracle of how …’: ibid., Vol. III, p.411

  9. ‘Botticelli became such an …’: ibid., Vol. I, p.869

  16: ‘A bolt from the blue’

  1. ‘a bolt from …’: see Ridolfi, Vita … Savonarola, Vol. I, p.202

  2. ‘the prior and Monastery …’: and further citations from this Brief, see Savonarola, Le Lettere (ed. Ridolfi), pp.231–3

  3. ‘gratia recuperandae …’: see Ridolfi, Vita … Savonarola, Vol. I, p.204, citing his source as Codice Magliabechiano, XXXV, 190. This receipt was not dated.

  4. ‘no less than …’: from a sermon preached on 18 February 1498. See Savonarola, Prediche sopra I’Esodo, 2 vols, ed. Pier Giorgio Ricci (Rome, 1955–6), Vol. I, p.47

  5. ‘With regards to prophecy …’ et seq.: see Savonarola, Le Lettere, pp.61–73

  6. ‘Thus the accusations …’: see Ridolfi, Vita … Savonarola, Vol. I, p.207

  7. ‘I am well aware …’: cited in Villari, La Storia … Savonarola, Vol. I, p.404

  8. ‘The time for mercy …’ et seq.: from sermons delivered on 11 and 18 October 1495, cited in Savonarola, Prediche spora i Salmi, Vol. II, p.191 et seq., p.218 et seq.

  9. ‘Pray to God …’: ibid., Vol. II, p.241

  10. ‘We command you …’: for the full text of this papal Brief, see Nuovi Documenti e Studi intorno a Gir
olamo Savonarola, ed. Alessandro Gherhardi (Florence, 1887), pp.390–1

  11. ‘some of my sons …’: Landucci, Diario, p.125

  12. ‘Some boys took …’ et seq.: ibid, pp.123–4

  13. ‘was also said …’: cited in Martines, Savonarola, p.285.

  14. ‘Even in the face …’: ibid.

  15. ‘16 February …’: et seq. Landucci, Diario, pp.124–5

  16. ‘Bliss was it …’: William Wordsworth, The Prelude (London, 1926), Book XI, lines 108–9, p.401

  17. ‘steps for Savonarola’s boys …’: Landucci, Diario, pp.125–6

  18. ‘In you, young men …’ et seq.: sermon delivered on 17 February 1496, see Savonarola, Prediche sopra Amos a Zaccaria, ed. P. Ghigglieri, 3 vols (Rome, 1971–2)

  19. ‘the high priests of Rome …’: et seq.: ibid., sermon 24 February

  20. ‘The light will vanish …’: ibid., sermon 23 March

  21. ‘It is you who are …’ et seq.: ibid., sermon 10 April

  22. ‘Throughout this time …’ et seq.: Landucci, Diario, pp.131–3

  23. ‘Come to my next …’: cited in Seward, Savonarola, p.158

  24. ‘If I coveted …’: sermon delivered on 20 August 1496. See Savonarola, Prediche sopra Ruth e Michea

  25. ‘In many places …’: Landucci, Diario, p.138

  26. ‘that twelve ships …’: ibid., p.139

  17: The Bonfire of the Vanities

  1. The price of corn …’ et seq.: Landucci, Diario, pp.143–4

  2. ‘vanities’, ‘dead hair’, etc.: such terms recurred frequently in Savonarola’s Lenten sermons, which in 1497 were on Ezekiel (see note to p.262 below)

  3. ‘which are painted …’: see Savonarola, Prediche sopra Amos, sermon XIII, delivered on 6 March 1496

  4. ‘monstrous image’: see Villari, La Storia … Savonarola, Vol. I, p.505

  5. ‘Thus saith the Lord …’: Ezekiel, Ch. 25, vv.16–17

  6. ‘Friars have a proverb …’ et seq.: Savonarola, Prediche sopra Ezechiele, ed. Roberto Ridolfi, 2 vols (Rome, 1955), Vol. II, p.59

  7. ‘My Lord secretary …’: see Gherardi, Nuovi documenti …, p.151 et seq.

  8. ‘condemning him as …’: Parenti, cited in Ridolfi, Vita … Savonarola, Vol. I, p.277

  9. ‘the death of his son …’: see Savonarola, Prediche sopra Ezechiele, Vol. I, p.286

  10. ‘More than one …’ et seq.: Landucci, Diario, p. 145

  11. ‘The city is more …’: cited in Ridolfi, Vita … Savonarola, Vol. I, p.278, who gives as his original source Antonio Capelli, Fra Girolamo Savonarola e notizie intorno al suo tempo, in Atti della Deputatzione di Storia Patri per le provincie Modensi e Parmensi, Vol. IV (1868), pp.301–406

  12. ‘imposed his views …’: see Seward, Savonarola, citing Guicciardini, Storie Fiorentine, p.152

  13. ‘We suspected a plot …’: et seq.: Landucci, Diario, p.145.

  14. ‘The price of corn …’ et seq.: Landucci, Diario, p.146.

  15. ‘27th April. We heard that …’: et seq.: ibid., p.147

  16. ‘He here abandoned …’: et seq: see Villari, La Storia … Savonarola, Vol. II, pp.9–11, where Villari paraphrases the evidence given by Lamberto dell’Antella in Documenti I, which can be found at the back of Vol. II

  17. ‘The outrage against …’: cited in Villari, La Storia … Savonarola, naming as his source Gherardi, Nuovi Documenti, pp.84–6

  18: ‘On suspicion of heresy’

  1. ‘a number of …’ et seq.: Landucci, Diario, pp.147–8

  2. ‘broke it and …’: ibid., p.151

  3. ‘on suspicion of heresy …’ et seq.: see Alexander VI’s papal Brief of Excommunication, Villari, La Storia … Savonarola, Vol. II, Documento V, pp.xxxix–xl

  4. excommunication … bell, book and candle: literally the exclusion from the right to take Holy Communion. The Christian rite derives from the earlier Old Testament exclusion from the synagogue (see Ezra, Ch. 10, v.8). Examples in the New Testament appear, for instance, in Matthew, Ch. 18, v.17, and several times in the writings of St Paul (e.g. 1 Corinthians, Ch. 5, v.5 and 1 Timothy, Ch. 1, v.20). The ritual evolved through the centuries, but retained the same essentials.

  5. ‘To All Christians …’ et seq.: Savonarola, Le Lettere, pp.141–5

  6. ‘The palio of Santa Barbara …’: et seq.: see Landucci, Diario, pp.152–5, which cover the entries for June and July 1497

  7. ‘10 August …’: ibid., p.156

  8. ‘the Palace that night …’: cited in Martines, Savonarola, p.194, giving Cerretani as his source.

  9. ‘Franceso Valori at last …’: see Guicciardini, Opere (Bari, 1931), Vol. VI, p.142, also cited from a different original edition by Martines, Savonarola, pp.195–6. I have collated these translations.

  10. ‘in the hours leading …’: see Martines, Savonarola, p.195

  11. ‘Everyone was astonished that …’: Landucci, Diario, pp.156–7

  12. ‘Plague broke out …’: ibid., p.154

  13. ‘Thus, my Giovambattista …’: Savonarola, Le Lettere (Ridolfi), p.178 et seq

  14. ‘For the time being …’: see Villari, La Storia … Savonarola, Vol. II, p.xxxv, where this letter from Paolo Somenzi to the Duke of Milan is reprinted amongst the documents

  15. ‘So great was the esteem …’: see Ridolfi, Vita … Savonarola, Vol. II, p.315, citing Parenti, Storie fiorentine, who in turn attributes these words to the contemporary priest and sculptor Ambogio della Robbia

  16. ‘We will not rely …’: et seq.: Girolamo Savonarola, Trionfo della Croce (Siena, 1899). This includes the Latin and Italian versions on facing pages, in very short chapters that are frequently only a page or two long. My quotes are taken from the last lines of the Prologue, the beginning of Chapter 1, and Chapter 2.

  17. ‘the mutable, restless …’ et seq.: cited in Villari, La Storia … Savonarola, Vol. II, p.99, giving as his source Savonarola, Trattato circa il regimente il governo della città di Firenze, Part 1

  19: Open Defiance

  1. ‘At this time …’ et seq.: Landucci, Diario, p.161

  2. ‘when he received …’ et seq.: letter from Manfredo Manfredi to the Duke of Ferrara, dated 1 February [1498]; see Ridolfi, Vita … Savonarola, Vol. I, pp.319–20

  3. ‘total and free …’: see Gherardi, Nuovi Documenti, p.175

  4. ‘As soon as Savonarola …’: Savonarola, Prediche sopra l’Esodo, ed. P. G. Ricci, 2 vols, (Rome, 1955), Vol. I, p.3, preamble to first sermon (Predica 1)

  5. ‘Lord, I who am but …’ et seq.: ibid., Vol. I, pp.3, 18

  6. ‘Many people went …’ et seq.: Landucci, Diario, pp.161–2

  7. ‘be maimed …’: cited in Martines, Savonarola, p.1, giving as his source Lorenzo Violi, Le giornate, ed. G. C. Carfagnini (Florence, 1986), pp.73–4. Later direct Martines quote also from p.1

  8. ‘I am being attacked …’ despatch from Bonsi to Florence dated 17 February [1498]. See Gherardi, Nuovi Documenti …, p.178

  9. ‘expressing himself …’ et seq.: despatch from Bonsi to Florence dated 25 February [1498]. See Gherardi, Nuovi Documenti … p.180

  10. ‘A big stack …’: Landucci, Diario, pp.130–1

  11. ‘A great council …’: Guicciardini, Opere (Bari, 1923), Vol. VI, p.146

  12. ‘As for this Brief …’: cited in Ridolfi, Vita … Savonarola, Vol. I, p.332 giving his source as Clementi Lupi, Nuovi Documenti inorno a fra Girolamo Savonarola, Archivo Storico Italiano (Florence, 1842), Third Series, Vol. III (1866), Part 1, pp.3–77

  13. ‘whose influence with …’: Guicciardini, Opere (Bari, 1929), Vol. I, pp.295–6

  14. ‘At last a great …’ et seq.: Guicciardini, Opere (Bari, 1931), Vol. VI, p.146

  15. ‘because of three furies …’: cited in Marsilio Ficino, The Antichrist Girolamo of Ferrara …, ed. & intro. by Volkhard Wels (Texas, 2006), Introduction p.11, citing as the original source Marsilio Ficino, ‘Letter to Aldus Manutius’, dated 1 July 1497

  16. ‘Apology
of Marsilio …’ et seq.: see Ficino, The Antichrist, p.26

  17. ‘For such boasters …’: ibid., p.27; Corinthians, Ch. 2, vv.13–15

  18. ‘the profound sense …’ et seq: Lightbown, Botticelli, Vol. I, p.130

  19. ‘The time to avenge our disgrace …’: cited in Villari, La Storia … Savonarola, Vol. II, pp.132–3, where p.132 n.1 discusses the many sources for this letter, of which he considers the most authentic to be Riccardi, Codex 2,053

  20. ‘Savonarola then proceeded …’ et seq.: Villari, La Storia … Savonarola, Vol. II, p.133

  20: The Tables Are Turned

  1. ‘I entreat each one …’: Savonarola, Prediche sopra l’Esodo, cited in Pastor, History of the Popes, Vol. VI, p.41

  2. ‘Fra Domenico preached …’ et seq.: Landucci, Diario, p.167

  3. ‘his quarrel was with …’: cited in Villari, La Storia … Savonarola, Vol. II, pp.138–9; p.139 n.1 gives an elaboration of the contemporary sources.

  4. ‘If Savonarola enters …’: ibid., p.139, citing the contemporary diarists Burlamacchi and Cerretani as his sources

  5. ‘The Church of God …’: ibid., p.140 n.2 for Latin text

  6. ‘for this will surely result …’: et seq.: highly similar, but not always identical, accounts of the meeting of the Pratica on 30 March 1498, as well as the attributed quotes, appear in all the main biographies. See, for instance, Villari, La Storia … Savonarola, Vol. II, p.142 et seq.; p.144 n.1 discusses the contemporary sources and their reliability. I have also been guided by Ridolfi and Martines (who cites Consulte e pratiche della republica fiorentina, 1498–1505, ed. Denis Fachard, 2 vols (Geneva, 1993), Vol. I, pp.64–5).

  7. ‘The day having …’: Francesco Guicciardini, Opere, Vol. VI, Storie fiorentine (Bari, 1931), p.149

  8. ‘all the wood …’: Landucci, Diario, p.135

  9. ‘Those who know themselves …’: see Villari, La Storia … Savonarola, Vol. II, pp.147–8, which cites the entire document. The autograph draft is in the codex of San Marco, sheet 168. This original manuscript is undated, but internal evidence confirms it as being written during the early days of the week preceding the date set for the ordeal.