Everything from without was favouring Alexander’s encroaching policy,
when he was compelled to turn his eyes from France towards the centre of
Italy: in Florence dwelt a man, neither duke, nor king, nor soldier, a
man whose power was in his genius, whose armour was his purity, who
owned no offensive weapon but his tongue, and who yet began to grow more
dangerous for him than all the kings, dukes, princes, in the whole world
could ever be; this man was the poor Dominican monk Girolamo Savonarola,
the same who had refused absolution to Lorenzo dei Medici because he
would not restore the liberty of Florence.
Girolamo Savonarola had prophesied the invasion of a force from beyond
the Alps, and Charles VIII had conquered Naples; Girolamo Savonarola had
prophesied to Charles VIII that because he had failed to fulfil the
mission of liberator entrusted to him by God, he was threatened with a
great misfortune as a punishment, and Charles was dead; lastly,
Savonarola had prophesied his own fall like the man who paced around the
holy city for eight days, crying, "Woe to Jerusalem!" and on the ninth
day, "Woe be on my own head!" None the less, the Florentine reformer,
who could not recoil from any danger, was determined to attack the
colossal abomination that was seated on St. Peter’s holy throne; each
debauch, each fresh crime that lifted up its brazen face to the light of
day or tried to hide its shameful head beneath the veil of night, he had
never failed to paint out to the people, denouncing it as the off spring
of the pope’s luxurious living and lust of power. Thus had he
stigmatised Alexander’s new amour with the beautiful Giulia Farnese, who
in the preceding April a added another son to the pope’s family; thus
had he cursed the Duke of Gandia’s murderer, the lustful, jealous
fratricide; lastly, he had pointed out to the Florentines, who were
excluded from the league then forming, what sort of future was in store
far them when the Borgias should have made themselves masters of the
small principalities and should come to attack the duchies and
republics. It was clear that in Savonarola, the pope had an enemy at
once temporal and spiritual, whose importunate and threatening voice
must be silenced at any cost.
But mighty as the pope’s power was, to accomplish a design like this was
no easy matter. Savonarola, preaching the stern principles of liberty,
had united to his cause, even in the midst of rich, pleasure-loving
Florence, a party of some size, known as the ’Piagnoni’, or the
Penitents: this band was composed of citizens who were anxious for
reform in Church and State, who accused the Medici of enslaving the
fatherland and the Borgias of upsetting the faith, who demanded two
things, that the republic should return to her democratic principles,
and religion to a primitive simplicity. Towards the first of these
projects considerable progress had been made, since they had
successively obtained, first, an amnesty for all crimes and
delinquencies committed under other governments; secondly, the abolition
of the ’balia’, which was an aristocratic magistracy; thirdly, the
establishment of a sovereign council, composed of 1800 citizens; and
lastly, the substitution of popular elections for drawing by lot and for
oligarchical nominations: these changes had been effected in spite of
two other factions, the ’Arrabiati’, or Madmen, who, consisting of the
richest and noblest youths of the Florentine patrician families, desired
to have an oligarchical government; and the ’Bigi’, or Greys, so called
because they always held their meetings in the shade, who desired the
return of the Medici.
The first measure Alexander used against the growing power of Savonarola
was to declare him heretic, and as such banished from the pulpit; but
Savonarola had eluded this prohibition by making his pupil and friend,
Domenico Bonvicini di Pescia, preach in his stead. The result was that
the master’s teachings were issued from other lips, and that was all;
the seed, though scattered by another hand, fell none the less on
fertile soil, where it would soon burst into flower. Moreover,
Savonarola now set an example that was followed to good purpose by
Luther, when, twenty-two years later, he burned Leo X’s bull of
excommunication at Wittenberg; he was weary of silence, so he declared,
on the authority of Pope Pelagius, that an unjust excommunication had no
efficacy, and that the person excommunicated unjustly did not even need
to get absolution. So on Christmas Day, 1497, he declared that by the
inspiration of God he renounced his obedience to a corrupt master; and
he began to preach once more in the cathedral, with a success that was
all the greater for the interruption, and an influence far more
formidable than before, because it was strengthened by that sympathy of
the masses which an unjust persecution always inspires.
Then Alexander made overtures to Leonardo dei Medici, vicar of the
archbishopric of Florence, to obtain the punishment of the rebel:
Leonardo, in obedience to the orders he received, from Rome, issued a
mandate forbidding the faithful to attend at Savonarola’s sermons. After
this mandate, any who should hear the discourses of the excommunicated
monk would be refused communion and confession; and as when they died
they would be contaminated with heresy, in consequence of their
spiritual intercourse with a heretic, their dead bodies would be dragged
on a hurdle and deprived of the rights of sepulture. Savonarola appealed
from the mandate of his superior both to the people and to the Signoria,
and the two together gave orders to the episcopal vicar to leave
Florence within two hours: this happened at the beginning of the year
1498.
The expulsion of Leonard’s dei Medici was a new triumph for Savonarola,
so, wishing to turn to good moral account his growing influence, he
resolved to convert the last day of the carnival, hitherto given up to
worldly pleasures, into a day of religious sacrifice. So actually on
Shrove Tuesday a considerable number of boys were collected in front of
the cathedral, and there divided into bands, which traversed the whole
town, making a house-to-house visitation, claiming all profane books,
licentious paintings, lutes, harps, cards and dice, cosmetics and
perfumes—in a word, all the hundreds of products of a corrupt society
and civilisation, by the aid of which Satan at times makes victorious
war on God. The inhabitants of Florence obeyed, and came forth to the
Piazza of the Duoma, bringing these works of perdition, which were soon
piled up in a huge stack, which the youthful reformers set on fire,
singing religious psalms and hymns the while. On this pile were burned
many copies of Boccaccio and of Margante Maggiore, and pictures by Fro
Bartalommeo, who from that day forward renounced the art of this world
to consecrate his brush utterly and entirely to the reproduction of
religious scenes.
A reform such as this was terrifying to Alexander; so he resolved on
fighting Savonarola with his own weapons—that is, by the force of
eloquence. He chose as the Dominican’s opponent a preacher of recognised
talent, called Fra Francesco di Paglia; and he sent him to Florence,
where he began to preach in Santa Croce, accusing Savonarola of heresy
and impiety. At the same time the pope, in a new brief, announced to the
Signaria that unless they forbade the arch-heretic to preach, all the
goods of Florentine merchants who lived on the papal territory would be
confiscated, and the republic laid under an interdict and declared the
spiritual and temporal enemy of the Church. The Signoria, abandoned by
France, and aware that the material power of Rome was increasing in a
frightful manner, was forced this time to yield, and to issue to
Savonarola an order to leave off preaching. He obeyed, and bade farewell
to his congregation in a sermon full of strength and eloquence.
But the withdrawal of Savonarola, so far from calming the ferment, had
increased it: there was talk about his prophecies being fulfilled; and
some zealots, more ardent than their mastery added miracle to
inspiration, and loudly proclaimed that Savonarola had offered to go
down into the vaults of the cathedral with his antagonist, and there
bring a dead man to life again, to prove that his doctrine was true,
promising to declare himself vanquished if the miracle were performed by
his adversary. These rumours reached the ears of Fra Francesco, and as
he was a man of warm blood, who counted his own life as nothing if it
might be spent to help his cause, he declared in all humility that he
felt he was too great a sinner for God to work a miracle in his behalf;
but he proposed another challenge: he would try with Savonarola the
ordeal of fire. He knew, he said, that he must perish, but at least he
should perish avenging the cause of religion, since he was certain to
involve in his destruction the tempter who plunged so many souls beside
his own into eternal damnation.
The proposition made by Fra Francesco was taken to Savanarola; but as he
had never proposed the earlier challenge, he hesitated to accept the
second; hereupon his disciple, Fra Domenico Bonvicini, more confident
than his master in his own power, declared himself ready to accept the
trial by fire in his stead; so certain was he that God would perform a
miracle by the intercession of Savonarola, His prophet.
Instantly the report spread through Florence that the mortal challenge
was accepted; Savonarola’s partisans, all men of the strongest
convictions, felt no doubt as to the success of their cause. His enemies
were enchanted at the thought of the heretic giving himself to the
flames; and the indifferent saw in the ordeal a spectacle of real and
terrible interest.
But the devotion of Fra Bonvicini of Pescia was not what Fra Francesco
was reckoning with. He was willing, no doubt, to die a terrible death,
but on condition that Savanarola died with him. What mattered to him the
death of an obscure disciple like Fra Bonvicini? It was the master he
would strike, the great teacher who must be involved in his own ruin. So
he refused to enter the fire except with Savonarola himself, and,
playing this terrible game in his own person, would not allow his
adversary to play it by proxy.
Then a thing happened which certainly no one could have anticipated. In
the place of Fra Francesco, who would not tilt with any but the master,
two Franciscan monks appeared to tilt with the disciple. These were Fra
Nicholas de Pilly and Fra Andrea Rondinelli. Immediately the partisans
of Savonarala, seeing this arrival of reinforcements for their
antagonist, came forward in a crowd to try the ordeal. The Franciscans
were unwilling to be behindhand, and everybody took sides with equal
ardour for one or other party. All Florence was like a den of madmen;
everyone wanted the ordeal, everyone wanted to go into the fire; not
only did men challenge one another, but women and even children were
clamouring to be allowed to try. At last the Signoria, reserving this
privilege for the first applicants, ordered that the strange duel should
take place only between Fra Domenico Bonvicini and Fra Andrea
Rondinelli; ten of the citizens were to arrange all details; the day was
fixed for the 7th of April, 1498, and the place the Piazza del Palazzo.
The judges of the field made their arrangements conscientiously. By
their orders scaffolding was erected at the appointed place, five feet
in height, ten in width, and eighty feet long. This scaffolding was
covered with faggots and heath, supported by cross-bars of the very
driest wood that could be found. Two narrow paths were made, two feet
wide at most, their entrance giving an the Loggia dei Lanzi, their exit
exactly opposite. The loggia was itself divided into two by a partition,
so that each champion had a kind of room to make his preparations in,
just as in the theatre every actor has his dressing-room; but in this
instance the tragedy that was about to be played was not a fictitious
one.
The Franciscans arrived on the piazza and entered the compartment
reserved for them without making any religious demonstration; while
Savonarola, on the contrary, advanced to his own place in the
procession, wearing the sacerdotal robes in which he had just celebrated
the Holy Eucharist, and holding in his hand the sacred host for all the
world to see, as it was enclosed in a crystal tabernacle. Fra Domenico
di Pescia, the hero of the occasion, followed, bearing a crucifix, and
all the Dominican monks, their red crosses in their hands, marched
behind singing a psalm; while behind them again followed the most
considerable of the citizens of their party, bearing torches, for, sure
as they were of the triumph of their cause, they wished to fire the
faggots themselves. The piazza was so crowded that the people overflowed
into all the streets around. In every door and window there was nothing
to be seen but heads ranged one above the other; the terraces were
covered with people, and curious spectators were observed on the roof of
the Duomo and on the top of the Campanile.
But, brought face to face with the ordeal, the Franciscans raised such
difficulties that it was very plain the heart of their champion was
failing him. The first fear they expressed was that Fra Bonvicini was an
enchanter, and so carried about him some talisman or charm which would
save him from the fire. So they insisted that he should be stripped of
all his clothes and put on others to be inspected by witnesses. Fra
Bonvicini made no objection, though the suspicion was humiliating; he
changed shirt, dress, and cowl. Then, when the Franciscans observed that
Savanarola was placing the tabernacle in his hands, they protested that
it was profanation to expose the sacred host to the risk of burning,
that this was not in the bond, and if Bonvicini would not give up this
supernatural aid, they far their part would give up the trial
altogether. Savonarola replied that it was not astonishing that the
champion of religion who put his faith in God should bear in his hands
that very God to whom he entrusted his salvation. But this reply did not
satisfy the Franciscans, who were unwilling to let go their contention.
Savonarola remained inflexible, supporting his own right, and thus
nearly four hours passed in the discussion of points which neither party
would give up, and affairs remained in ’statu quo’. Meanwhile the
people, jammed together in the streets, on the terraces, on the roofs,
since break of day, were suffering from hunger and thirst and beginning
to get impatient: their impatience soon developed into loud murmurs,
which reached even the champions’ ears, so that the partisans of
Savonarala, who felt such faith in him that they were confident of a
miracle, entreated him to yield to all the conditions suggested. To this
Savonarola replied that if it were himself making the trial he would be
less inexorable; but since another man was incurring the danger; he
could not take too many precautions. Two more hours passed, while his
partisans tried in vain to combat his refusals. At last, as night was
coming on and the people grew ever more and more impatient and their
murmurs began to assume a threatening tone, Bonvicini declared that he
was ready to walk through the fire, holding nothing in his hand but a
crucifix. No one could refuse him this; so Fra Rondinelli was compelled
to accept his proposition. The announcement was made to the populace
that the champions had come to terms and the trial was about to take
place. At this news the people calmed down, in the hope of being
compensated at last for their long wait; but at that very moment a storm
which had long been threatening broke over Florence with such fury that
the faggots which had just been lighted were extinguished by the rain,
leaving no possibility of their rekindling. From the moment when the
people suspected that they had been fooled, their enthusiasm was changed
into derision. They were ignorant from which side the difficulties had
arisen that had hindered the trial, so they laid the responsibility on
both champions without distinction. The Signoria, foreseeing the
disorder that was now imminent, ordered the assembly to retire; but the
assembly thought otherwise, and stayed on the piazza, waiting for the
departure of the two champions, in spite of the fearful rain that still
fell in torrents. Rondinelli was taken back amid shouts and hootings,
and pursued with showers of stones. Savonarola, thanks to his sacred
garments and the host which he still carried, passed calmly enough
through the midst of the mob—a miracle quite as remarkable as if he had
passed through the fire unscathed.
But it was only the sacred majesty of the host that had protected this
man, who was indeed from this moment regarded as a false prophet: the
crowd allowed Savonarola to return to his convent, but they regretted
the necessity, so excited were they by the Arrabbiati party, who had
always denounced him as a liar and a hypocrite. So when the next
morning, Palm Sunday, he stood up in the pulpit to explain his conduct,
he could not obtain a moment’s silence for insults, hooting, and loud
laughter. Then the outcry, at first derisive, became menacing:
Savonarola, whose voice was too weak to subdue the tumult, descended
from his pulpit, retired into the sacristy, and thence to his convent,
where he shut himself up in his cell. At that moment a cry was heard,
and was repeated by everybody present:
"To San Marco, to San Marco!" The rioters, few at first, were recruited
by all the populace as they swept along the streets, and at last reached
the convent, dashing like an angry sea against the wall.
The doors, closed on Savonarala’s entrance, soon crashed before the
vehement onset of the powerful multitude, which struck down on the
instant every obstacle it met: the whole convent was quickly flooded
with people, and Savonarola, with his two confederates, Domenico
Bonvicini and Silvestro Maruffi, was arrested in his cell, and conducted
to prison amid the insults of the crowd, who, always in extremes,
whether of enthusiasm or hatred, would have liked to tear them to
pieces, and would not be quieted till they had exacted a promise that
the prisoners should be forcibly compelled to make the trial of fire
which they had refused to make of their own free will.
Alexander VI, as we may suppose, had not been without influence in
bringing about this sudden and astonishing reaction, although he was not
present in person; and had scarcely learned the news of Savonarola’s
fall and arrest when he claimed him as subject to ecclesiastical
jurisdiction. But in spite of the grant of indulgences wherewith this
demand was accompanied, the Signoria insisted that Savonarola’s trial
should take place at Florence, adding a request so as not to appear to
withdraw the accused completely from the pontifical authority—that the
pope would send two ecclesiastical judges to sit in the Florentine
tribunal. Alexander, seeing that he would get nothing better from the
magnificent republic, sent as deputies Gioacchino Turriano of Venice,
General of the Dominicans, and Francesco Ramolini, doctor in law: they
practically brought the sentence with them, declaring Savonarola and his
accomplices heretics, schismatics, persecutors of the Church and
seducers of the people.
The firmness shown by the Florentines in claiming their rights of
jurisdiction were nothing but an empty show to save appearances; the
tribunal, as a fact, was composed of eight members, all known to be
fervent haters of Savonarola, whose trial began with the torture. The
result was that, feeble in body constitutionally nervous and irritable,
he had not been able to endure the rack, and, overcome by agony just at
the moment when the executioner had lifted him up by the wrists and then
dropped him a distance of two feet to the ground, he had confessed, in
order to get some respite, that his prophecies were nothing more than
conjectures. It is true that, so soon as he went back to prison, he
protested against the confession, saying that it was the weakness of his
bodily organs and his want of firmness that had wrested the lie from
him, but that the truth really was that the Lord had several times
appeared to him in his ecstasies and revealed the things that he had
spoken. This protestation led to a new application of the torture,
during which Savonarola succumbed once more to the dreadful pain, and
once more retracted. But scarcely was he unbound, and was still lying on
the bed of torture, when he declared that his confessions were the fault
of his torturers, and the vengeance would recoil upon their heads; and
he protested yet once more against all he had confessed and might
confess again. A third time the torture produced the same avowals, and
the relief that followed it the same retractions. The judges therefore,
when they condemned him and his two disciples to the flames, decided
that his confession should not be read aloud at the stake, according to
custom, feeling certain that on this occasion also he would give it the
lie, and that publicly, which, as anyone must see who knew the versatile
spirit of the public, would be a most dangerous proceeding.
On the 23rd of May, the fire which had been promised to the people
before was a second time prepared on the Piazza del Palazzo, and this
time the crowd assembled quite certain that they would not be
disappointed of a spectacle so long anticipated. And towards eleven
o’clock in the morning, Girolamo Savonarola, Domenico Bonvicini, and
Silvestro Maruffi were led to the place of execution, degraded of their
orders by the ecclesiastical judges, and bound all three to the same
stake in the centre of an immense pile of wood. Then the bishop
Pagnanoli told the condemned men that he cut them off from the Church.
"Ay, from the Church militant," said Savonarola, who from that very
hour, thanks to his martyrdom, was entering into the Church triumphant.
No other words were spoken by the condemned men, for at this moment one
of the Arrabbiati, a personal enemy of Savonarola, breaking through the
hedge of guards around the scaffold, snatched the torch from the
executioner’s hand and himself set fire to the four corners of the pile.
Savonarola and his disciples, from the moment when they saw the smoke
arise, began to sing a psalm, and the flames enwrapped them on all sides
with a glowing veil, while their religious song was yet heard mounting
upward to the gates of heaven.
Pope Alexander VI was thus set free from perhaps the most formidable
enemy who had ever risen against him, and the pontifical vengeance
pursued the victims even after their death: the Signoria, yielding to
his wishes, gave orders that the ashes of the prophet and his disciples
should be thrown into the Arno. But certain half-burned fragments were
picked up by the very soldiers whose business it was to keep the people
back from approaching the fire, and the holy relics are even now shown,
blackened by the flames, to the faithful, who if they no longer regard
Savonarola as a prophet, revere him none the less as a martyr.