The Prior of San Marco
Long before Lorenzo's death, Girolamo Savonarola had made the
corruption of Florence the subject of sermons which drew vast crowds to
San Marco. The city might pride herself on splendid buildings
decorated by the greatest of Italian painters; she might rouse envy in
the foreign princes who were weary of listening to the praises of
Lorenzo; but the preacher lamented the sins of Florentines as one of
old had lamented the wickedness of Nineveh, and prophesied her downfall
if the pagan lust for enjoyment did not yield to the sternest
Christianity.
Savonarola had witnessed many scenes which showed the real attitude of
the Pope toward religion. He had been born at Ferrara, where the
extravagant and sumptuous court had extended a flattering welcome to
Pius IV as he passed from town to town to preach a Crusade against the
Turks. The Pope was sheltered by a golden canopy and greeted by sweet
music, and statues of heathen gods were placed on the river-banks as an
honour to the Vicar of Christ!
Savonarola shrank from court-life and the patronage of Borsi, the
reigning Marquis of Ferrara. That prince, famed for his banquets, his
falcons, and his robes of gold brocade, would have appointed him the
court physician it he would have agreed to study medicine. {42} The
study of the Scriptures appealed more to the recluse, whose only
recreation was to play the lute and write verses of a haunting
melancholy.
Against the wishes of his family Savonarola entered the Order of Saint
Dominic. He gave up the world for a life of the hardest service in the
monastery by day, and took his rest upon a coarse sack at night. He
was conscious of a secret wish for pre-eminence, no doubt, even when he
took the lowest place and put on the shabbiest clothing.
The avarice of Pope Sextus roused the monk to burning indignation. The
new Pope lavished gifts on his own family, who squandered on luxury of
every kind the money that should have relieved the poor. The Church
seemed to have entered zealously into that contest for wealth and power
which was devastating all the free states of Italy.
Savonarola had come from his monastery at Bologna to the Convent of San
Marco when he first lifted up his voice in denunciation. He was not
well received because he used the Bible--distrusted by the Florentines,
who expressed doubts of the correctness of its Latin! Pico della
Mirandola, the brilliant young scholar, was attracted, however, by the
friar's eloquence. A close friendship was formed between these two
men, whose appearance was as much in contrast as their characters.
Savonarola was dark in complexion, with thick lips and an aquiline
nose--only the flashing grey eyes set under overhanging brows redeemed
his face from harshness. Mirandola, on the other hand, was gifted with
remarkable personal beauty. Long fair curls hung to his shoulders and
surrounded a face that was both gentle and gracious. He had an
extraordinary knowledge of languages and a wonderful memory.
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Fastidious Florentines were converted to Mirandola's strange taste in
sermons, so that the convent garden with its rose-trees became the
haunt of an ever-increasing crowd, eager to hear doctrines which were
new enough to tickle their palates pleasantly. On the 1st of August
1489, the friar consented to preach in the Convent Church to the
Dominican brothers and the laymen who continued to assemble in the
cloisters. He took a passage of Revelations for his text. "Three
things he suggested to the people. That the Church of God required
renewal, and that immediately; second, that all Italy should be
chastised; third, that this should come to pass soon." This was the
first of Savonarola's prophecies, and caused great excitement among the
Florentines who heard it.
At Siena, the preacher pronounced sentence on the Church, which was now
under the rule of Innocent IV, a pope more openly depraved than any of
his predecessors. Through Lombardy the echo of that sermon sounded and
the name of Girolamo Savonarola. The monk was banished, and only
recalled to Florence by the favour of Lorenzo dei Medici, who was
undisturbed by a series of sermons against tyranny.
Savonarola was elected Prior of San Marco in July 1491, but he refused
to pay his respects to Lorenzo as the patron of the convent. "Who
elected me to be Prior--God or Lorenzo?" he asked sternly when the
elder Dominicans entreated him to perform this duty. "God," was the
answer they were compelled to make. They were sadly disappointed when
the new Prior decided, "Then I will thank my Lord God, not mortal man."
In the Lent season of this same year Savonarola preached for the first
time in the cathedral or Duomo {44} of Florence. "The people got up in
the middle of the night to get places for the sermon, and came to the
door of the cathedral, waiting outside till it should be opened, making
no account of any inconvenience, neither of the cold nor the wind, nor
of standing in the winter with their feet on the marble; and among them
were young and old, women and children of every sort, who came with
such jubilee and rejoicing that it was bewildering to hear them, going
to the sermon as to a wedding. . . . And though many thousand people
were thus collected together no sound was to be heard, not even a
'hush,' until the arrival of the children, who sang hymns with so much
sweetness that heaven seemed to have opened."
The Magnificent often came to San Marco, piqued by the indifference of
the Prior and interested in the personality of the man who had
succeeded in impressing cultured Florentines by simple language. He
gave gold pieces lavishly to the convent, but the gold was always sent
to the good people of St Martin, who ministered to the needs of those
who were too proud to acknowledge their decaying fortunes. "The silver
and copper are enough for us," were the words that met the
remonstrances of the other brethren. "We do not want so much money."
No wonder that Lorenzo remembered the invincible honesty of this Prior
when he was convinced of the hollowness of the life he had led among a
court of flatterers!
The Prior's warnings were heard in Florence with an uneasy feeling that
their fulfilment might be nearer after Lorenzo died and was succeeded
by his son. Piero dei Medici sent the preacher away from the city, for
he knew that men whispered among themselves that the Dominican had
foretold truly the death of Innocent and the parlous state of Florence
under the {45} new Pope, Alexander VI (Alexander Borgia). He did not
like the predictions of evil for his own house of Medici, which had now
wielded supreme power in Florence for over sixty years. It would go
hardly with him if the people were to rise against the tyranny his
fathers had established.
Piero's downfall was hastened by the news that a French army had
crossed the Alps under Charles VIII of France, who intended to take
Naples. This invasion of Italy terrified the Florentines, for they had
become unwarlike since they gave themselves up to luxury and pleasure.
They dreaded the arrival of the French troops, which were famous
throughout Europe. On these Charles relied to intimidate the citizens
of the rich states he visited on his way to enforce a claim transmitted
to him through Charles of Anjou. Piero de Medici made concessions to
the invader without the knowledge of the people. The Florentines
rebelled against the admission of soldiers within their walls as soon
as the advance guard arrived to mark with chalk the houses they would
choose for their quarters. There were frantic cries of "_Abbasso le
palle_," "Down with the balls," in allusion to the three balls on the
Medici coat of arms. Piero himself was disowned and driven from the
city.
All the enemies of the Medici were recalled, and the populace entreated
Savonarola to return and protect them in their hour of peril. They had
heard him foretell the coming of one who should punish the wicked and
purge Italy of her sins. Now their belief in the Prior's utterances
was confirmed. They hastened to greet him as the saviour of their city.
Savonarola went on an embassy to Charles' camp and made better terms
than the Florentines had {46} expected. Nevertheless, they had to
endure the procession of French troops through their town, and found it
difficult to get rid of Charles VIII, whose cupidity was aroused when
he beheld the wealth of Florence. There was tumult in the streets,
where soldiers brawled with citizens and enraged their hosts by
insults. The Italian blood was greatly roused when the invading
monarch threatened "to sound his trumpets" if his demands were not
granted. "Then we will ring our bells," a bold citizen replied. The
French King knew how quickly the town could change to a stronghold of
barricaded streets if such an alarm were given, and wisely refrained
from further provocation. He passed on his way after "looting" the
palace in which he had been lodged. The Medicean treasures were the
trophies of his visit.
In spite of himself, the monk had to turn politician after the French
army had gone southward. He was said to have saved the State, and was
implored to assume control now that the tyranny was at an end. There
was a vision before him of Florence as a free Republic in the truest
sense. He took up his work gladly for the cause of liberty. The
_Parliamento_, a foolish assembly of the people which was summoned
hastily to do the will of any faction that could overawe it, was
replaced by the Great Council formed on a Venetian model. In this sat
the _benefiziati_--those who had held some civic office, and the
immediate descendants of officials. Florence was not to have a really
democratic government.
After the cares of government, Savonarola felt weary in mind and body;
he had never failed to preach incessantly in the cathedral, where he
expounded his schemes for reform without abandoning his work as
prophet. He broke down, but again took up his burden {47} bravely.
Florence was a changed city under his rule. Women clothed themselves
in the simplest garb and forsook such vanities as wigs and rouge-pots.
Bankers, repenting of greed, hastened to restore the wealth they had
wrongly appropriated. Tradesmen read their Bibles in their shops in
the intervals of business, and were no longer to be found rioting in
the streets. The Florentine youths, once mischievous to the last
degree, attended the friar daily, and actually gave up their
stone-throwing. "_Piagnoni_" (Snivellers) was the name given to these
enthusiasts, for the godly were not without opponents.
Savonarola had to meet the danger of an attempt to restore the
authority of Piero dei Medici. He mustered eleven thousand men and
boys, when a report came that the tyrant had sought the help of Charles
VIII against Florence. The Pope, also, wished to restore Piero for his
own ends. In haste the citizens barred their gates and then assembled
in the cathedral to hearken to their leader.
Savonarola passed a stern resolution that any man should be put to
death who endeavoured to destroy the hard-won freedom of his city.
"One must treat these men," he declared, "as the Romans treated those
who sought the recall of Tarquinius." His fiery spirit inflamed the
Florentines with such zeal that they offered four thousand gold florins
for the head of Piero dei Medici.
The attempt to force the gates of Florence proved a failure. Piero had
to fly to Rome and the Prior's enemies were obliged to seek a fresh
excuse for attacking his position. The Pope was persuaded to send for
him that he might answer a charge of disseminating false doctrines.
The preacher defended himself vigorously, {48} and seemed to satisfy
Alexander Borgia, whose aim was to crush a reformer of the Catholic
Church likely to attack his evil practices. He was, however, forbidden
to preach, and had to be silent at the time when Florence held her
carnival.
The extraordinary change in the nature of this festival was a tribute
to the influence of Savonarola. Children went about the streets,
chanting hymns instead of the licentious songs which Lorenzo dei Medici
had written for the purpose. They begged alms for the poor, and their
only amusement was the _capannucci_, or Bonfire of Vanities, for which
they collected the materials. Books and pictures, clothes and jewels,
false hair and ointments were piled in great heaps round a kind of
pyramid some sixty feet in height. Old King Carnival, in effigy, was
placed at the apex of the pyramid, and the interior was filled with
comestibles that would set the whole erection in a blaze as soon as a
taper was applied. When the signal was given, bells pealed and
trumpets sounded glad farewell to the customs of the ancient carnival.
The procession set forth from San Marco on Palm Sunday (led by
white-robed children with garlands on their heads), and went round the
city till it came to the cathedral. "And so much joy was there in all
hearts that the glory of Paradise seemed to have descended on earth and
many tears of tenderness and devotion were shed." So readily did
Florentines confess that the new spirit of Christianity brought more
satisfaction than the noisy licence of a pagan festival.
In 1496 the Pope not only allowed Savonarola to preach, but even
offered him a Cardinal's Hat on condition that he would utter no more
predictions. "I want no other red hat but that of martyrdom, reddened
{49} by my own blood," was the firm response of the incorruptible
preacher. He was greeted by joyful shouts when he mounted to the
pulpit of the Duomo, and had reached the height of his popularity in
Florence.
When a year had passed, Savonarola faced a different world, where
friends were fain to conceal their devotion and enemies became loud in
their constant menaces. The _Arrabiati_ (enraged) had overcome the
_Piagnoni_ and induced the Pope to pronounce excommunication against
the leader of this party. The sermons continued, the Papal decree was
ignored, but a new doubt had entered the mind of Florentines. A
Franciscan monk, Francesco da Puglia, had attacked the Dominican,
calling him a false prophet and challenging him to prove the truth of
his doctrines by the "ordeal by fire."
Savonarola hesitated to accept the challenge, knowing that he would be
destroyed by it, whatever might be the actual issue. The _Piagnoni_
showed some chagrin when he allowed a disciple, Fra Domenico, to step
into his place as a proof of devotion. On all sides there were murmurs
at the Prior's strange shrinking and obvious reluctance to meet with a
miracle the charges of his opponents.
A great crowd assembled on the day appointed for the "ordeal" in the
early spring of 1498. Balconies and roofs were black with human
figures, children clung to columns and statues in order that they might
not lose a glimpse of this rare spectacle. Only a few followers of
Savonarola prayed and wept in the Piazza of San Marco as the chanting
procession of Domenicans appeared. Fra Domenico walked last of all,
arrayed in a cope of red velvet to symbolize the martyr's flames. He
did not fear to prove the strength of his belief, but walked erect and
bore the cross in triumph. It was the {50} Franciscan brother whose
courage failed for he had never thought, perhaps, that any man would be
brave enough to reply to his awful challenge.
The crowd watched, feverishly expectant, but the hours passed and there
was no sign of Francesco da Puglia. His brethren found fault with
Domenico's red cope and bade him change it. They consulted, and came
at last to the conclusion that their own champion had found himself
unable to meet martyrdom. At length it was announced that there would
be no ordeal--a thunderstorm had not caused one spectator to leave his
place in the Piazza, where there should be wrought a miracle. It was
clear that the Prior's enemies had sought his death, for they showed a
furious passion of resentment. Even the _Piagnoni_ were troubled by
doubts of their prophet, who had refused to show his supernatural
powers and silence the Franciscans. The monks were protected with
difficulty from the violence of the mob as they returned in the April
twilight to the Convent of San Marco.
[Illustration: The Last Sleep of Savonarola. (Sir George Reid,
P.R.S.A.)]
There was the sound of vespers in the church when a noise of tramping
feet was heard and the fierce cry, "To San Marco!" The monks rose from
their knees to shut the doors through which assailants were fast
pouring. These soldiers of the Cross fought dauntlessly with any
weapon they could seize when they saw that their sacred dwelling was in
danger.
Savonarola called the Dominicans round him and led them to the altar,
where he knelt in prayer, commanding them to do likewise. But some of
the white-robed brethren had youthful spirits and would not refrain
from fighting. They rose and struggled to meet death, waving lighted
torches about the heads of their assailants. A novice met naked swords
with a great {51} wooden cross he took to defend the choir from
sacrilege. "Save Thy people, O God"; it was the refrain of the very
psalm they had been singing. The place was dense with smoke, and the
noise of the strife was deafening. A young monk died on the very altar
steps, and received the last Sacrament from Fra Domenico amid this
strange turmoil.
As soon as a pause came in the attack, Savonarola led the brethren to
the library. He told them quietly that he was resolved to give himself
up to his enemies that there might be no further bloodshed. He bade
them farewell with tenderness and walked forth into the dangerous crowd
about the convent. His hands were tied and he was beaten and buffeted
on his way to prison. The first taste of martyrdom was bitter in his
mouth, and he regretted that he had not answered the Franciscan's
challenge.
The prophet was put on trial on a charge of heresy and sedition. He
was tortured so cruelly that he was led to recant and to "confess," as
his judges said. They had already come to a decision that he was
guilty. Sentence of death was pronounced, and he mounted the scaffold
on May 23rd, 1498. He looked upon the multitude gathered in the great
Piazza, but he did not speak to them; he did not save himself, as some
of them were hoping. It was many years before Florence paid him due
honour as the founder of her liberties and the greatest of her
reformers.
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