Savonarola

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THE WORLD'S EPOCH-MAKERS EDITED BY

OLIPHANT SMEATON

Savonarola By Rev. George M'Hardy, D.D.

THE LATEST VOLUMES IN THIS SERIES ARE:DAVID HUME. By Prof. JAMES ORR, D.D. ROUSSEAU. By

w.

H. HUDSON, M.A.

DESCARTES, SPINOZA, AND THE PHILOSOPHY. By Principal lVERACH, D.D.

NEW

SOCRATES. By Rev. J. T. FORBES, M.A. WYCLIFFE AND THE LOLLARDS. By Rev. J. C. CARRICK, B.D. CARDINAL NEWMAN. By CHARLES SAROLEA, Ph.D. MARCUS AURELIUS AND THE LATER STOICS. By Vice-Principal F. W. BussELL, D.D. KANT. By Prof. R. M. WENLEY, D.Sc.

THE WORLD'S EPOCH-MAKERS

Savonarola

Edinburgh.

PIU.'fTZD llT l!Ol!.R.ISON AND GIBB LlllITBD, FOR

T. & T. OLARK, EDINBURGH. LONDON: BDIPXJN, ll.lRSH.lLL, UAllILTON, KENT, AND CO. LDIITED. /

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lil!lW \'011.J[ : CD.lRLBS acRJRNJ!JťS SONS.

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PREFACE --+ONE of the Popes-Pius vn.-is reported to have said that WD.en he got to heaven he should begin by asking whether Savonarola was a saint or a schisrnatic, a prophet or a charlatan. That was long a keenly debated question, and for generations the controversies waged over it had an absorbing attraction for many minds. Those controversies have in large measure subsided, yet the life-story out of which they sprang possesses a singular fascination still, owing partly to its drarnatic surprises and the picturesque impressiveness of its outstanding incidents, and partly also to the momentous character of the movements and changes that marked the period to which it belongs. In this volurne an attempt is made to describe the figure which the great Dominican presented in his day and the work he strove to accomplish, as well ·as· to indicate the place in history which may reasonably be claimed for him ; and in performing this task my endeavour has been to introduce such touches of local colouring as may aid the reader in realising the scenes depicted. For the facts of Savonarola's career I have drawn chiefly from the following sources :-Villari's Lije and Times oj Girolamo Savonarola, Madden's Lije and v

vi

PREFACE

Martyrd-Om oj Girolamo Savonarola, Clark's Savonm·ola, his Lije and Times, Dr. Creighton's History oj the Papacy, Harforďs Lije oj Michael Angelo Buonarotti, with Memoirs oj Savonarola, Rcvphael, and Vittoria Oolonna, Mrs. Oliphanťs Makers oj Florence, Milman's Savonarola, Erasmus, and Other Essays, Frederick , Myers' Lectwres on Great Men, George Elioťs Romola, and a brilliant sketch in R. A. Vaughan's Essays and Remains. Professor Villari's work, which stands first in this list, contains a full and exceedingly valuable store of information, skilfully arranged and used with admirable effect; and it would be impossible to write on Savonarola without being laid under large obligations to that book. I must acknowledge my indebtedness to it, particularly for many of the quotations from speeches and sermons which are given in the course of the narrative. I have also been indebted to two writers who have treated the subject from the distinctively Roman Catholic point of view. One is Dr. Pastor, of the University of Innsbruck, who, in his History oj the Popes, presents a lifelike record of the Florentine friar and of the circumstances of the times in which he moved. The other is Father Lucas, whose Fra Girolamo Savonarola brings together a rich collection of contemporary documentary evidence bearing on the relatioris of parties, the political and ecclesiastical intrigues, and the correspondence between the magistracy of Florence and the Papal Court at Rome. Both these writers, while displaying a frank appreciation of the sincerity of Savonarola's intentions and the good service he rendered to morality and religion, yet condemn him severely for tho stand he took in opposition to the demands of the

PREFACE

vii

Holy See; and in order to avoid exaggeration or onesidedness of statement on this and similar points, I have sought to weigh as carefully as possible the arguments they ad vance. , · With regard to the various characters and events, and the aspects of society and religion, which come into view in dealing with the main subject, other works of reference have been co_nsulted, such as Gregorovius' History oj Rome in the Middle Ages, Hallam's State oj Europe during the Middle Ages, Milman's Latin Christianity, Roscoe's Lije oj L01·enzo de Medici, E. G. Gardner's Story oj Florence, besiq.es articles in the leading Biographical Dicťionaries and Encyclopredias. If this book can help to deepen interest in a memorable and eventful historie drama, and in the extraordinary man who played in it so striking and, towards the close, so pathetic a part, it will have served the purpose for which it was written. GEORGE ~1'HARDY. KIRKOALDY,

March 1901.

OONTENTS

-

CD.AP.

PAOE

I. THE AGE AND THE MAN

II, "

BOYJIOOD, EDUOATION1 AND EARLY MENTAL STRUGGLES

21

IV, FLORENCE, SAN MARCO, AND LORENZO DE MEDICI

28

V, THE LEAP INTO FAME "

VI. FLORENCE AGAIN -

36

THE MISSION

FOUND1 AND THE

SPHERE,

42

62

VII, THE MONK AND THE bÚGNIFlCO

61

v YIII. CHANGES AND PROPHECIES 01!' ORANGE 1--

10

III, MONABTIO LIFE AT BOLOGNA

IX, PREPARING FOR THE FLOOD

X, XI.

69

78

AMID THE THROES 01!' REVOLUTION

90

CHARLES VIII. IN FLORENCE

v

XII. THE PREACHER AS LAWGIVER

v

XIII. THE DREAM 01!' A THEOCRACY

95 108

I/ XIV, THE BURDENS AND PERILS OB' PoWER

XV. THE .HAND

123

134

01!' THE POPE.

l, XVI. THE UNCOMPROMISING WITNESS ,

143

v

154

XVII. THE PYRAMID 01!' VANITIES

162

\,, XVIII. THE SENTENCE OF ExcOMMUNICATIO~

XIX,

,

Srx MosTns o~· SILENCE

ix

175

CONTENTS

X

PAG&

CDAP,

THE POPE DEFIED

, 187

XXI.

GATHERING TROUBLES

• 200

XXII.

THE 0RDEAL BY FIRE

• 208

XX.

XXIII.

THE BURSTINO 01!' THE STORM

XXIV.

THE T.&AGIC CLOSE

XXV.

REVIEW

•

224 , 242

, 261

SAVON.AROLA -+--

CHAPTER I THE AGE

AND

TIIE

MAN

THE fifteenth century is remarkable as the period in which we can watch the spectacle of the modern world struggling into birth. Some of the forces which had been working through the long course of the Middle Ages were becoming exhausted; some were producing their inevitable reactions; some were expanding in power, bursting their old limits, and assuming more advanced forms ; new forces altogether were coming into play. The intellectual, political, moral, and religious life of Europe was manifestly preparing for a fresh stage of development. The feudal system was breaking up, and great changes were transpiring in the organisation of states and nations. Commerce was striking out into new fields, and the commercial classes were rising to prominence in society. Art was springing into unwonted activity, and in painting, sculpture, and architecture exhibiting amazing richness and beauty in its creations. On every side thought was stirring; the range of interests was widening; there I

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SAVONAROLA

was a growing devotion to literature, and the invention of printing came just in time to multiply the books that were wantec], and to meet the craving for knowledge which had been awakened. The human mind was in a ferment of unrest, throwing off the bondage of old customs and traditional ideas, and vaguely straining after larger and freer scope for its native instincts and energies. ln short, a movement was in progress destined to affect the whole future history of the W esteru world That movement, so familiarly known as the Renaissance, had been going on for several generations, but by the middle of the fifteenth century it had become a potent and pervasive influence. Its centre was in the great cities of Italy. There, for many years past, a revived passion for learning had arisen, and princes and nobles vied with each other in their patronage of intellectual and artistic genius. Greek scholars had visited Italy, bringing with them the manuscripts of their own ancient classics, and they had been warmly welcomed at the universities and the courts of the great. Italian studenta and studenta from other lands gathered round them, eager to share the culture to be derived from the literary treasures which they possessed. The num ber of those disseminators of ancient Grecian lore was immensely increased when, in 1453, the c.'l.pture of Constantinople by the Turks drove many of the learned men of that city to seek refuge in the land which was so ready to receive them as teachers. The result was a marvellous quickening of intellectual activity. Men broke away from the narrow and formal subtleties of the scholastic philosophy, and from the hard dogmatism of the scholastic

THE AGE AND THE MAN

3

theology, which, enforced by the august authority of the Roman Catholic Church, had for ages reigned supreme. It became the fashion in all sections of society, from the highest to the lowest, to be scholars and students of the New Learning. The freer ideas, the fresher and more natural views of life, µrawn from the literature of pagan Greece, exerted an irresistible charm. A new philosophy of life began to be advocated and acted upon. Hitherto, through the overwhelming dominance of the Church, speculation and learning had dealt with questions mainly of mystical and theological interest; and the shadow of the supernatural and the unseen hovered over men in all their thinking and conduct. Now liberty was claimed on behalf of the natural enjoyments of man, and on behalf of the free exercise of all man's natural faculties and energies. This was what has been designated the Humanist factor in the Renaissance. lt was a protest against the spirit of the centuries that had been lived through, and the beginning of a new attitude towards the world and the secular side of life generally, and an insistence on a new conception of man's place and range of action amid the worlďs interests and affairs. The ancient classics were held up as the literae humaniores, the literature which nourished the fulness of man's being, and helped man to realise the variety of his own powers and the manifold attractions and uses of the things around him. N ecessarily, the tendency of such a movement was rationalistic and sceptical. It generated a critical and inquiring temper, a disposition to question the grounds of established laws, traditions, and beliefs. But it led

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SAVONAROLA

to no active crusade, no strenuous struggle to rectify the errors and evils of the world. The Humanists were not heroic reformers. They were content with the mental emancipation which their studies gave them. They revelled in their freedom of thought and in the unfettered exercise of their individual powers. They pursued their learned r csearches, compared texts and codices, wrote commentaries on their favourite authors, translated Greek books into Latin, composed verses and dissertations after the manner of the classic poet or historian they most admired-for the writers of the Renaissance were mainly imitators and copyists, and exhibited little originality either in thought or í style. ut amid all their scholarly industry they s~ght gnly- t ljeir- own c~lture,and rěcognised - no mission higher than to ma ke life as pleasant fortfiemselv ~hey-eoul_d, and-to-leav1nlie wor d to go as it pleased. It _was therefore a thoroughly secular spirit which layat the heart of -the movement. It sapped reverenče;liigh ser1ousness, self-=i-eštraint. It- fostered a aste- ffuwhat was gracefiil; beautiful, intellectually o~ artistically refined-;--yet- it left the mind destitute 1 of any grand or noble aims, and exposed it to the insidious allurements of earthly ease, luxury, selfindulgence, and_ in many cases ·s-ensual gratification. Jienee- _the wi_despread disregard ofJhe eommon principles of morality which was too patent an accompanim~nt . of tlíe- Renaissance. Learning -and scholarly polish, and -not goodness ·or rectitude, formed the passp~rt to social_recognition and favour. The freedom of action claimed and taken led to deplorable vices and unscrupulous•irregularities. The standard of conduct was pagan, not Christian. The Renaissance was not

1

THE AGE AND 'rHE MAN

S

in itself immoral; nevertheless, in liberating the intellect from the trammels of scholastic and ecclesiastical authority, it liberated also from the·superstitious restraints, which hitherto had so far held them in check, the baser impulses and inclinations of human nature, and these carried men away into immoral excesses with the force of a pent-up torrent. Beneath a surface of brilliant culture gross appetites and low passions were allowed to work without any curb of acknowledged moral responsibility. "Italian society exhibited au almost unexarnpled spectacle of literary, artistic, and courtly refinernent, crossed by brutalities of lust, treason, poisonings, assassin11,tion, violence." As is invariably the case when the educated classes are devoid of moral energy and principle, the political rulers of that period found their opportunity of augmenting their own power and swelling their pomp and magnificence. The decline of faith meant the revival of despotism, as it always will. The princes who governed the several states into which Italy was divided developed into crafty tyrants, who, while posing as liberal patrona of art and scholarship, held their people in rigid subjection, humoured them occasionally by gaudy spectacles and shows, and intrigued against each other, leading all the time lives of voluptuous pleasure, greedy self-aggrandisement, and treacherous cruelty. To stem the tide of evil thus let loose, the Roman Church of that age was utterly incompetent. That Church, with her wide-branching influence, had grown corrupt through the very prestige of her outward success and unquestioned supremacy. Love of power, love of money, and love of display were glaringly

6

SAVONAROLA

patent in the higher orders of her ecclesiastics, where also, in numberless instances, the private habits and connections were an open disgrace, setting an example which was only too largely followed by the rank and file of the priesthood, and by men of all grades among the laity. True religion had not altogether fled the earth; yet, although it survived in earnest hearts in hidden corners of society, the masses of the people had lapsed into a sordid, materialistic indifference; and religion, as represented by the Church of Rome, was essentially a revived pagan cult, embellished by the glittering veneer of a splendid and pompous '\llceremonialism. Jt was amid this welter of intellectual unrest, and • moral, religious, and political corruption, that Savonárola appeared. With soul acutely alive to the peril for Italy and- fór- urope inherent in the existing ličenceaňd grossness,_ the_Dominican- friar set himself, as his one governing aim, to work for the purification of the Church and- fór- the restoration: of..:. society to faith and righteousness. Early in his career he caught a firm grasp of the conception so vítal to the world, that moral principle, loyalty to rectitude, and reverence for the Divine will, are really the forces which mal~}or progress. His life was an incarnation of that ideB"j'\He toiled and preached at Florence-the ver heart of the Renaissance culture and pagan sensuousness - to get it realised in private conduct, social\ } manners, and the ad~inistrati_on of t_he Church and the \ State. He was well versed hnrtself m the New Learning ; his mind, at first steeped in scholastic lore, had opened to the fascination of the classic literature of ancient Greece ; but the pure and ex_.alted moral fervour

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