HISTORIAS                    Manuel Espejo

Girolamo Savonarola and the Bonfires of the Vanities

 

Towards the end of the 15th century, Italy was a patchwork of numerous small states and republics. Among this complex landscape, Girolamo Savonarola, a Dominican friar and preacher originally from Ferrara but residing in Florence, emerged as a prominent figure. Savonarola was renowned for his unflinching criticism of the Italian ruling elites, his prophetic utterances, and his impassioned calls for the renewal of the Church. He fervently preached against the tyrants who had subjugated the populace, the affluent and powerful who had marginalized and exploited the impoverished, and the corrupt clergy. While his detractors dubbed him the "preacher of the desperate," Savonarola himself considered his mission to be a divine calling.

Savonarola's rise to power in the People's Republic of Florence was catalyzed by the invasion of Italy by Charles VIII, the King of France, in 1494, with the blessing of Florence's sovereign. This event led to the expulsion of the Medici family from the city's governance and the exclusion of oligarchs linked to powerful banking dynasties. Savonarola seized the opportunity and proclaimed that Florence, through acts of penance and spiritual renewal, would transform into the New Jerusalem—the epicenter of Christianity in the world—and that the city would flourish with even greater wealth, power, and glory.

The regime established in Florence after the Medici's ousting was exceedingly puritanical and rigorously religious under the monk's influence. Savonarola vigorously combated immorality, chastising both clergy and laity for their moral transgressions within the house of God. He decried the decadence of the clergy and the avarice of the wealthy, endearing himself to the Florentine commoners.

Notably, Savonarola's followers and sympathizers included intellectuals and artists such as Della Mirandola, Marsilio Ficino, Botticelli, and even Michelangelo Buonarroti. On the other side of the divide, he garnered powerful enemies, including the Duke of Milan, the corrupt Pope Alexander VI, and the Medici family, who viewed him as an overly zealous zealot.

Savonarola openly challenged the authority of the Pope, whom he considered the Antichrist. During those years, Florence experienced a whirlwind of religious fervour, with the government actively combating "vice." Sodomy, adultery, public drunkenness, and other moral transgressions were harshly persecuted. The streets were incessantly filled with religious pageantry, masses, processions, and the infamous bonfires of the vanities.

The bonfires of the vanities were colossal infernos ignited in the city's main square. In a fervent blaze, these fires consumed artworks, literary works by Petrarch and Boccaccio, as well as writings by classical Roman and Greek authors. Savonarola ordered the confiscation and burning of items such as gaming boards, erotic books, combs, mirrors, perfumes, cosmetics, and revealing women's clothing, deeming them as secular and potentially corrupting. The incineration of these worldly possessions marked only the initial phase of Florence's purification, with the subsequent stages aiming to establish a "worldly paradise," followed by a "Spiritual City," and ultimately, "eternal bliss." For Savonarola, God reigned over Florence, and he saw himself as the instrument of His divine will.

Savonarola enjoyed the protection of France, though the unexpected demise of Charles VIII, the French monarch, on April 7, 1498, left him vulnerable to his adversaries. On May 12, 1497, Pope Alexander VI excommunicated Savonarola for heresy and sedition, and the Church threatened the Florentines with severe consequences if they continued to harbour him. Without the safeguard of the French king, Savonarola's fate was sealed.

The friar's arrest triggered a legal quagmire, with a shaky legal foundation for his prosecution. The trial of Savonarola was widely regarded as a travesty, leading one of those responsible for the proceedings to resign in protest, refusing to partake in what he deemed a miscarriage of justice. On May 23, 1498, Savonarola was executed before being consigned to the flames. In 1512, the Medici family reclaimed control of Florence, and Savonarola's supporters endured persecution for years until their eventual extinction.