Savonarola: The Unarmed Prophet
L.F. Marks introduces Savonarola, dominant within the turbulence of Florentine politics of the 1490’s.
Five centuries ago this year, Fra Girolamo Savonarola was born. Accused of heresy, he was hanged and burnt in 1498.
“Hence it is that all armed prophets heme conquered, and the unarmed ones have been destroyed—as happened in our own time to Fra Girolamo Savonarola...”
-Machiavelli: The Prince, Chap. 6
The figure of girolamo Savonarola has perplexed the imagination of historians since his death at the stake in 1498 in his adopted city of Florence. The overwhelming personality of this Dominican friar, who spoke as a prophet of God and who acted the part of uncompromising reformer of Church and State at a time when the principles of both had perilously decayed, has led some to venerate him as saint and others to condemn him as a deluded fanatic. But few could escape his fascination. It is not difficult to see how the Savonarola legend arose. As a preacher in the Cathedral, or in the Church of San Lorenzo, he exercised an almost hypnotic influence over all who heard him. Francesco Guicciardini, the historian of Florence, notes that even his enemies agreed on this point.
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