How the monk Savonarola fought against art and luxury, and how it all ended

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

People like Girolamo Savonarola, history does not like, deals with them cruelly. With people who are trying to stop natural social processes by bringing back to life something obsolete that should be left in the past. And even though the bygone era won in something against the new, it is impossible to reverse the development of human civilization even for the sake of correcting the flaws that have recently appeared. But a place in history for Savonarola was nevertheless found, which is also natural - he was too extraordinary and consistent in his views as a person.

A failed medic and a keen monk

It was a very interesting, perhaps the most interesting era since the fall of Rome. Italy was the territory of the Renaissance, it was covered by the ideas of humanism, and this influenced the whole European reality (and, to some extent, the history of Russia). The second half of the 15th century in Italy is the era of the masterpieces of Michelangelo and da Vinci, magnificent Florence, the glory of the Medici dukes, thanks to whom art developed, masterpieces appeared, and brilliant artists made their way to glory. But this is also a period of fierce struggle with the same art of one of the most interesting statesmen - Girolamo Savonarola.

He was born on September 21, 1452 into a wealthy respected family. His grandfather, Michele Savonarola, was a famous doctor and at some point moved his family from Padua to Ferrara, where the future churchman was born later. It was the grandfather who instilled in one of his many grandchildren, Girolamo, a love of science, primarily medicine and philosophy.

Girolamo grew up as an educated child, loved to study, everything said that a brilliant, secured, worthy future awaited him. He devoted a lot of time to the study of poetry - like many educated people of that time, he himself made attempts to compose and did it quite successfully. But at the same time, quite early in the young man, a desire for self-restraint and religious reflection manifested itself, which would then lead Savonarola to monasticism.

Meanwhile, asceticism was not a popular life principle for that era. From medieval views, the people of the Renaissance came to a different philosophy - to the priority of sensual pleasures, to debauchery and a decline in morals - so, in any case, later Savonarola will call this state of affairs. The bishops did not set a good example for the flock, quite often Catholic priests lived in sin, even the popes did not hesitate to have illegitimate children and, moreover, to declare their paternity.

Personal tragedy also played a role in Savonarola's decision to leave the world. At twenty-three, he became a victim of unrequited love for the illegitimate daughter of the Florentine Strozzi, was refused; shortly thereafter, he decided to retire to a monastery.

The monasteries of Ferrara did not fit - they were too rich for a young ascetic, and perhaps too close geographically to the life he was trying to leave behind. Savonarola went to Bologna, to the Dominican monastery. A new stage in the life of Girolamo dictated other changes: he gave up property, things, money, donated his library to the monastery. From that moment on, Savonarola was immersed in the monastic life and further comprehension of sciences.

Growing influence and social action

Soon he was already a deacon, then a presbyter. In 1479 Savonarola completed his education and was sent by the abbot of a Bologna monastery to Florence to teach. From that moment on, he became a preacher, and not an ordinary one, but one of the brightest in the history of Christianity.

Savonarola talked a lot about the depravity of contemporary Italian society, about the fall in morals in Rome, about the fact that centuries-old foundations were forgotten, about the fact that the desire for luxury and excessive enthusiasm for the material side of life, including works of art, directs Christians along a sinful, false path. At first, his sermons met with mixed success. He moved from city to city, improving his oratory skills, in order to one day return to Florence, with which his further fate and his death will be connected.

In 1482, Savonarola preached at the San Marco Convent. Gradually the number of his followers increased, among them there were more and more ordinary townspeople, the secular population. He himself was convinced that he was only passing the word of God to people, he was visited by mystical visions. Some of Savonarola's predictions - such as the death of Pope Innocent VIII or the attack by French troops on Florence - came true, increasing the credibility of Savonarola's preaching. He was considered a prophet, on behalf of whom God himself speaks. In 1491 he was elected abbot of the monastery of San Marco. A year later, Piero the Foolish, the son of the famous patron of the arts, Lorenzo Medici, became the ruler of Florence, a very unpopular man in the city. Savonarola's speeches helped to weaken Piero's position, and he was eventually forced to flee Florence, after which the republic was restored in the city. The actual ruler was Girolamo Savonarola.

When the French king Charles VIII entered Italy and found himself at the walls of Florence, it was Savonarola who went to negotiate with him. And the very fact of negotiations with one of the European rulers, and the influence that Savonarola's words had on the young king, only strengthened the reputation of the latter. Soon he was already deciding many other questions of the management of Florence.

Conflict with the church and execution

Of course, the preacher also had enemies. Even "parties" were formed - some sought to return the Medici to the Florentine throne, others defended the principles of an aristocratic republic, for the third Savonarola continued to be the beloved ruler.

Of course, for the highest Catholic clergy, for the Pope, he was an inconvenient person, with his speeches, his desire for the autonomy of the monastery of San Marco, and then promoting his own policy of uniting Italian monasteries. There was nothing to accuse Savonarola of, since there was no heresy in his sermons. It was based on the dogmas of the church - rather, Italy had time to move away from them. What were the "bonfires of vanity" alone - the ritual burning of everything secular, luxurious - that is, sinful. It is known that there were several such events. They burned secular books, musical instruments, expensive clothes. Sandro Botticelli, according to rumors, sacrificed this fire and his works, several sketches. Perhaps, however, this was not so much dictated by blind faith in the words of Savonarola - it is possible that the artist in this way simply "bought off" the churchman.

By the way, as for another Florentine artist - Michelangelo, he thought it best to leave for Rome during the heyday of the power of Savonarola, the master returned after the death of the people's leader. he rejected it with contempt. But the general political situation, the military threat, decisions dictated by the Holy Scriptures, but hitting the financial viability of the townspeople, such as the restriction of usury and the requirement to issue interest-free loans to the poor, led Florence to find itself in a difficult political and economic situation. Consequently, dissatisfaction with the preacher grew.

Despite the miraculous effect of the sermons of Savonarola, a very charismatic man who knew how to "take" people away from entertainment balls and carnivals, his power over the minds of the Florentines began to weaken. The same crowd that once enthusiastically took up the words of the monk, in 1498, imprisoned him. Savonarola was captured along with his two supporters and, after interrogation and torture, was executed - hanged and then burned in the Piazza della Signoria in Florence.

The episode ended, Florence returned to its historical tracks, the Medici returned, the world moved on, finally leaving the Middle Ages behind.

Savonarola was subsequently recognized by the Catholic Church as a martyr of the faith.

Like all Catholic monks, Savonarola wore a hairstyle called tonsure, and here is what men's haircuts looked like in other denominations.