Girolamo Savonarola Bust

Girolamo Savonarola preached that Florence's political future depended on moral reform. Born in Ferrara in 1452, he entered the Dominican order and became prior of San Marco in Florence. His sermons drew on biblical prophecy to condemn corruption and warn of approaching punishment.

The French invasion of 1494 and the expulsion of the Medici gave his message new political force. Savonarola supported a reformed republic and encouraged changes in public and private behavior. Campaigns against luxury included the burning of objects considered vain or morally dangerous, though later stories about particular artworks destroyed in these fires require caution.

His authority rested on claims to religious insight as well as on the support of followers. Conflict with Pope Alexander VI, opposition within Florence, and the failure of a proposed ordeal by fire undermined that position. Arrested and interrogated under torture, Savonarola was executed with two fellow friars in 1498; their bodies were burned.

Admirers and critics have presented him as prophet, reformer, fanatic, or political agitator. His career resists any one of those labels because religious expectations and the government of the city were inseparable in the struggle around him.