The Italian Renaissance | Florence in Turmoil (Lecture 26)

Lecture 26: One of the casualties of the French invasions of 1494 was the Medici hegemony in Florence. Lorenzo de’Medici had died in 1492, succeeded by his incompetent eldest son, Piero. The French invasions caused Piero to panic in 1494, driving him to yield to all of the French king’s demands, including the payment of a huge indemnity and the loss of the port at Pisa and the fortresses protecting the Florentine perimeter. On hearing of his capitulation, the Florentines drove him and his family from the city and declared the pristine republic restored. But 60 years of Medici rule had so weakened the opposition that a power vacuum ensued. The only force sufficiently organized to fill the void was led by a millenarian Dominican monk, Girolamo Savonarola (d. 1498). He had come to Florence to preach, soon becoming prior of San Marco, from which his sermons on Florence’s divine mission attracted large crowds. In particular, he attacked Lorenzo de’Medici, claiming he had stolen the people’s liberty, assuming spiritual leadership of a faction of republicans, and demanding a harsh puritanical regime.

Primary Source Texts:
Kenneth R. Bartlett, “Girolamo Savonarola,” pp. 329–336, in The Civilization of the Italian Renaissance.

Secondary Sources:
Lorenzo Polizzotto, The Elect Nation: The Savonarolan Movement in Florence, 1494–1545.

Supplementary Reading:
Donald Weinstein, Savonarola and Florence: Prophesy and Patriotism in the Renaissance.

Lecture 27: https://rumble.com/v4yl32f-the-italian-renaissance-savonarola-and-the-republic-lecture-27.html