Search Results

The Prophet as Physician of Souls: Savonarola’s Manual for Confessors

Donald Weinstein

in Society and Individual in Renaissance Florence

This chapter presents a study of an often-ignored confessor's manual written by Girolamo Savonarola which reveals the friar at work in a role quite different from that of fiery preacher. It argues ... More

This chapter presents a study of an often-ignored confessor's manual written by Girolamo Savonarola which reveals the friar at work in a role quite different from that of fiery preacher. It argues that the manual, which advises priests on questions of pastoral care, shows a “kinder, gentler” Savonarola. It explores one of Savonarola's least studied and, apparently, least regarded writings, the Confessionale pro instructione confessorum. The Confessionale is a short, succinct treatise, some forty-four folios. Confessors should interrogate married people about their sexual practices. The Confessionale's special focus on the problems of marriage, sexual behavior, and usury suggests that Savonarola was an attentive observer of life as it was lived by laymen and laywomen, that he knew at first hand which restraints chafed them most and which questions they most frequently brought before their confessors.Less

A Dialogue concerning Prophetic Truth 1496–97

Anne Borelli, Maria Pastore Passaro, Donald Beebe, Alison Brown, and Giuseppe Mazzotta

in Selected Writings of Girolamo Savonarola: Religion and Politics, 1490-1498

This chapter presents a translation of Savonarola's Dialogue concerning Prophetic Truth.

From Bruni to Savonarola: Fortune, Venice and Apocalypse

J.G.A. Pocock and Richard Whatmore

in The Machiavellian Moment: Florentine Political Thought and the Atlantic Republican Tradition

This chapter is concerned with Florentine thought during the century which followed 1434, when Cosimo de’ Medici established a sixty-year-long rule by his family, manipulating politics behind a ... More

This chapter is concerned with Florentine thought during the century which followed 1434, when Cosimo de’ Medici established a sixty-year-long rule by his family, manipulating politics behind a republican façade. The last quarter of this century—from 1512—is that of the transforming writings of Machiavelli, Guicciardini, and Giannotti, but the whole period can be treated in terms of the working out of the implications and contradictions inherent in civic humanism; and it can be shown how the thought of the Machiavellian epoch served to convey the Aristotelian-Polybian tradition to future generations and to lands beyond Italy. This chapter, however, focuses on the expression of the civic humanist outlook by the men of the quattrocento.Less

Excommunication

Anne Borelli, Maria Pastore Passaro, Donald Beebe, Alison Brown, and Giuseppe Mazzotta

in Selected Writings of Girolamo Savonarola: Religion and Politics, 1490-1498

This chapter presents translations of the following documents: Open Letter to All the Elect of God and Faithful Christians (8 May 1497); letter from Savonarola to Pope Alexander VI (20 May 1497); ... More

This chapter presents translations of the following documents: Open Letter to All the Elect of God and Faithful Christians (8 May 1497); letter from Savonarola to Pope Alexander VI (20 May 1497); Open Letter to All Christians and Those Beloved of God, against the Surreptitious Excommunication Newly Made (19 June 1497); letter from Savonarola to Pope Alexander VI (25 June 1497); Open Letter against the Recently Imposed Sentence of Excommunication (end of June 1497); letter from Savonarola to Pope Alexander VI (13 October 1497); and letter from Savonarola to Pope Alexander VI(13 [3] March 1498).Less

Afterlife

Anne Borelli, Maria Pastore Passaro, Donald Beebe, Alison Brown, and Giuseppe Mazzotta

in Selected Writings of Girolamo Savonarola: Religion and Politics, 1490-1498

This chapter describes the fate of Girolamo Savonarola following his arrest. Savonarola was imprisoned in the Alberghettino, the “little hotel,” a maximum-security cell at the top of the Palazzo ... More

This chapter describes the fate of Girolamo Savonarola following his arrest. Savonarola was imprisoned in the Alberghettino, the “little hotel,” a maximum-security cell at the top of the Palazzo Vecchio. Over the course of the following weeks (April 1498), he was subjected to repeated interrogations and torture. Savonarola and his two companions were later convicted of heresy and schism, and were hanged on 23 May 1498. Despite the zeal of both Church and State to eradicate all trace of their moral antagonist, the incendiary power of his words and example was not extinguished. The chapter also discusses Savonarola's reputation after his death.Less

Silencing

Anne Borelli, Maria Pastore Passaro, Donald Beebe, Alison Brown, and Giuseppe Mazzotta

in Selected Writings of Girolamo Savonarola: Religion and Politics, 1490-1498

This chapter presents translations of the following documents: Letter from Pope Alexander VI to Savonarola (21 July 1495); letter from Savonarola to Pope Alexander VI (31 July 1495); lletter from ... More

This chapter presents translations of the following documents: Letter from Pope Alexander VI to Savonarola (21 July 1495); letter from Savonarola to Pope Alexander VI (31 July 1495); lletter from Pope Alexander VI to the Brothers of Santa Croce (8 September 1495); letter from Savonarola to Pope Alexander VI (29 September 1495) and letter from Pope Alexander VI to Savonarola (16 October 1495).Less

Psalms, Sermon III Renovation Sermon Octave of the Epiphany Delivered 13 January 1494 [5]

Anne Borelli, Maria Pastore Passaro, Donald Beebe, Alison Brown, and Giuseppe Mazzotta

in Selected Writings of Girolamo Savonarola: Religion and Politics, 1490-1498

This chapter presents a translation of Savonarola's sermon on 13 January 1495. The sermon is important for the claim Savonarola made in it that his prophecies were based on what God said to him and ... More

This chapter presents a translation of Savonarola's sermon on 13 January 1495. The sermon is important for the claim Savonarola made in it that his prophecies were based on what God said to him and not simply on his interpretation of the Bible. It is also important for containing Savonarola's first public account of his mission, including his two earliest “mental images,” or visions.Less

Amos and Zacharias, Sermon XLIV Good Friday 1 April 1496

Anne Borelli, Maria Pastore Passaro, Donald Beebe, Alison Brown, and Giuseppe Mazzotta

in Selected Writings of Girolamo Savonarola: Religion and Politics, 1490-1498

This chapter presents a translation of Savonarola's Good Friday sermon on 1 April 1496. He begins by citing his biblical text for the day, which he quotes in Latin before translating or paraphrasing ... More

This chapter presents a translation of Savonarola's Good Friday sermon on 1 April 1496. He begins by citing his biblical text for the day, which he quotes in Latin before translating or paraphrasing it in Italian; he then expounds it by comparing the authority of the Old and the New Testaments, explaining Christianity in terms of its humanity (here, Christ's sacrifice upon the Cross) and its naturalism (the natural instinct, shared with plants and birds, being to strive towards self-preservation and perfection).Less

Aggeus, Sermon XIII Third Sunday of Advent 12 December 1494

Anne Borelli, Maria Pastore Passaro, Donald Beebe, Alison Brown, and Giuseppe Mazzotta

in Selected Writings of Girolamo Savonarola: Religion and Politics, 1490-1498

This chapter presents a translation of Savonarola's sermon on 12 December 1494, where he proposes “what the natural government of the Florentine people should be”.

Treatise on the Rule and Government of the City of Florence

Anne Borelli, Maria Pastore Passaro, Donald Beebe, Alison Brown, and Giuseppe Mazzotta

in Selected Writings of Girolamo Savonarola: Religion and Politics, 1490-1498

This chapter presents a translation of Savonarola'sTreatise on the Rule and Government of the City of Florence.

Ruth and Micheas, Sermon XXVIII The Art of Dying Well All Souls' Day Delivered 2 November 1496

Anne Borelli, Maria Pastore Passaro, Donald Beebe, Alison Brown, and Giuseppe Mazzotta

in Selected Writings of Girolamo Savonarola: Religion and Politics, 1490-1498

This chapter presents a translation of Savonarola's All Soul's Day sermon on 2 November 1496. Interior devotion was the main theme of the sermon, which used similar arguments and devices as his Good ... More

This chapter presents a translation of Savonarola's All Soul's Day sermon on 2 November 1496. Interior devotion was the main theme of the sermon, which used similar arguments and devices as his Good Friday sermon earlier in the year to make its impact. He initially embarks on the theme of naturalism and how difficult it is to get people to think about death when the desire to live is our most natural instinct. His solution to the problem is to offer a set of practical rules to avoid sin and the danger of Hell, which he expounds by using visual images and analogies: the evocative image of “the spectacles of death” and a detailed description of three pictures to be hung at home as a perpetual aide mémoire.Less

Aggeus, Sermon VII First Sunday of Advent 28 November 1494

Anne Borelli, Maria Pastore Passaro, Donald Beebe, Alison Brown, and Giuseppe Mazzotta

in Selected Writings of Girolamo Savonarola: Religion and Politics, 1490-1498

This chapter presents a translation of Savonarola's sermon on 28 November 1494. The sermon adopts the pattern of his earlier pastoral sermons in its use of naturalistic, Thomist arguments and ... More

This chapter presents a translation of Savonarola's sermon on 28 November 1494. The sermon adopts the pattern of his earlier pastoral sermons in its use of naturalistic, Thomist arguments and striking images to make his point, followed by specific advice on how to achieve salvation. He begins by explaining that whereas animals are guided by unerring instinct, and saints and the elect are unerringly guided by God's special light, man's uniqueness lies in having free will and a soul as well as a body; hence he stands “as if between two magnets,” pulled both upwards and downwards and needing God's special light to achieve certainty. How to acquire this special light provides the context for introducing his reform program.Less

Aggeus, Sermon XXIII 28 December 1494

Anne Borelli, Maria Pastore Passaro, Donald Beebe, Alison Brown, and Giuseppe Mazzotta

in Selected Writings of Girolamo Savonarola: Religion and Politics, 1490-1498

This chapter presents a translation of Savonarola's sermon on 28 December 1494, where he emphasizes the need to establish a hierarchy of order within the greatly enlarged and socially mixed ... More

This chapter presents a translation of Savonarola's sermon on 28 December 1494, where he emphasizes the need to establish a hierarchy of order within the greatly enlarged and socially mixed government.Less

Varieties of Protest: (i) Peasants, Alliances, Economics, Religion

Samuel K. Cohn, Jr.

in Popular Protest and Ideals of Democracy in Late Renaissance Italy

The following two chapters introduce aspects of popular revolt during the Italian wars that trace convergences with the late Middle Ages. First, Italy did not follow European paths north of the Alps ... More

The following two chapters introduce aspects of popular revolt during the Italian wars that trace convergences with the late Middle Ages. First, Italy did not follow European paths north of the Alps with widespread insurrections comprised largely of peasants that cut across states and linguistic divides. From 1494 to 1559, peasant revolts increased (1) with extensions of the ‘German Peasants’ Revolt’ into northern Italy in 1524–25 and (2) with resistance against billeting and military abuses throughout this period. Their number, however, remained distinctly in the shadows of urban revolt. Second, alliances between urban and peasant rebels also increased. However, in comparison with other European regions, indifference or hostility between urban and rural rebels in Italy largely remained. Third, if mutinies of soldiers are discarded, economic revolts between employers and labourers were even sparser in Italy, 1494 to 1559, than they had been in the Middle Ages. The most striking exception was the year-long Lucchese revolt, called Gli Straccioni (1531–32), that began as a protest of silk workers against new impositions from their bosses, but like Florence’s revolt of the Ciompi in 1378, quickly grew into a revolt of the city’s popolo to extend political representation. Finally, Italy did not follow trends north of the Alps, where religious ideals and doctrines and the role of clerics became central to insurrection. Revolts spawned by religious ideology and influenced by clerics in Italy instead declined below levels even seen in the late Middle Ages.Less

Women

Samuel K. Cohn, Jr.

in Popular Protest and Ideals of Democracy in Late Renaissance Italy

In a number of venues, women appear more visible in chronicles and diplomatic dispatches than they had been in the Middle Ages as illustrated during the Savonarolan movement when women congregated in ... More

In a number of venues, women appear more visible in chronicles and diplomatic dispatches than they had been in the Middle Ages as illustrated during the Savonarolan movement when women congregated in public places to debate for and against the friar’s prophecies and ideology. More striking was their increased appearance in popular revolt from their almost complete absence in popular revolt during the late Middle Ages in Italy. First, to defend their cities against occupying military regimes or in struggles for independence, women volunteered for non-combatant but dangerous roles of repairing fortifications, carrying messages across enemy lines, and scavenging the battle-fields to retrieve and nurse the wounded. More notable, they served as combatants and even leaders. During Pisa’s fifteen-year struggle for independence, a woman led two squadre of women fully armed who ‘valiantly’ fought against French and Florentine armies, and in Rome a woman led a fighting unit of men and women against an abusive military occupation of their city. Nonetheless, their increased involvement does not underlie sociological conclusions that women formed the back-bone of popular insurrection in ‘pre-modern’ Europe, determined by ‘their biological nature’ to defend their hearths. First, the mainstay of popular revolt in Italy, 1494–1559, was the male popolo, which comprised 89 percent of the revolts. Second, women’s courageous rebellious resistance came not in protecting their individual households from starvation but in defending their cities and territories from occupying armies.Less