Selected Writings of Girolamo Savonarola Religion and Politics, 1490–1498
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Italian Literature and Thought Series The Italian Literature and Thought Series makes available in English represen- tative works of Italian culture. Although the series focuses on the modern and contemporary periods, it does not neglect the humanistic roots of Italian thought. The series includes monographs, anthologies, and critically updated republications of canonical works, as well as works of general interest. advisory board Peter Carravetta City University of New York Umberto Eco University of Bologna Giuseppe Mazzotta Yale University Lucia Re University of California, Los Angeles Massimo Riva Brown University Paolo Valesio Columbia University Rebecca West University of Chicago Selected Writings of Girolamo Savonarola Religion and Politics, 1490–1498 Translated and edited by Anne Borelli and Maria Pastore Passaro Donald Beebe, Executive Editor Introduction by Alison Brown Foreword by Giuseppe Mazzotta Yale University Press New Haven and London Copyright ᭧ 2006 by Yale University. All rights reserved. This book may not be reproduced, in whole or in part, including illustrations, in any form (beyond that copying permitted by Sections 107 and 108 of the U.S. Copyright Law and except by reviewers for the public press), without written permission from the publishers. Designed by Sonia Shannon. Set in Galliard type by Binghamton Valley Composition. Printed in the United States of America. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Savonarola, Girolamo, 1452–1498. [Selections. English. 2005] Selected writings of Girolamo Savonarola : religion and poli- tics, 1490–1498 / translated and edited by Anne Borelli and Ma- ria Pastore Passaro ; Donald Beebe, executive editor. p. cm.—(Italian literature and thought series) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN-13: 978-0-300-10326-7 ISBN-10: 0-300-10326-3 (alk. paper) 1. Florence (Italy)—Politics and government—1421–1737. 2. Florence (Italy)—Church history. 3. Catholic Church—Italy— Florence—History. 4. Savonarola, Girolamo, 1452–1498. I. Borelli, Anne. II. Pastore Passaro, Maria C. III. Beebe, Donald. IV. Title. V. Series. DG737.97.A613 2005 282'.092—dc22 2005050073 A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. The paper in this book meets the guidelines for permanence and durability of the Committee on Production Guidelines for Book Longevity of the Council on Library Resources. 10987654321 To Donald Weinstein Contents List of Illustrations x Foreword by Giuseppe Mazzotta xi Acknowledgments by Donald Beebe xiii Introduction by Alison Brown xv Text Sources xxxvi Biblical Abbreviations and Equivalencies xxxviii PASTORAL MINISTRY 1 Amos and Zacharias, Sermon XLIV (The Art of Living Well): Good Friday, 1 April 1496 3 Ruth and Micheas, Sermon XXVIII, “The Art of Dying Well”: All Souls’ Day, 2 November 1496 33 PROPHECY 57 Psalms, Sermon III, “Renovation Sermon”: Octave of the Epiphany, 13 January 1495 59 A Dialogue concerning Prophetic Truth, 1496–97 77 POLITICS 137 Aggeus, Sermon VII (On Social Order): First Sunday of Advent, 28 November 1494 139 Aggeus, Sermon XIII (The Venetian Model for Republican Florence): Third Sunday of Advent, 12 December 1494 151 Aggeus, Sermon XXIII (Florence, God’s Chosen City): 28 December 1494 163 Treatise on the Rule and Government of the City of Florence: 1498? 176 MORAL REFORM I 207 Carnival: 16 February 1496 209 Luca Landucci, A Florentine Diary: 16–29 February 209 Letter from Paolo de Somenzi to Lodovico Sforza, Duke of Milan: 16 February 1496 211 Pseudo-Burlamacchi, La vita del Beato Ieronimo Savonarola 212 Palm Sunday Procession/Monte di Pieta`: 27 March 1496 222 Amos and Zacharias, Sermon XL 222 vii viii Contents Girolamo Benivieni, “Viva ne nostri cuori, o Florentia” 231 Luca Landucci, A Florentine Diary: 27 March 1496 238 Piero Parenti, Storia fiorentina 239 Pseudo-Burlamacchi, La vita del Beato Ieronimo Savonarola 241 Bonfire of Vanities I: 7 February 1497 244 Girolamo Benivieni, “Da che tu ci hai, Signore” 244 Piero Parenti, Storia fiorentina 251 Iacopo Nardi, Istorie della citta` di Firenze 253 Pseudo-Burlamacchi, La vita del Beato Ieronimo Savonarola 256 SILENCING AND EXCOMMUNICATION 259 Silencing 261 Letter from Pope Alexander VI to Savonarola: 21 July 1495 261 Letter from Savonarola to Pope Alexander VI: 31 July 1495 262 Letter from Pope Alexander VI to the Brothers of Santa Croce: 8 September 1495 265 Letter from Savonarola to Pope Alexander VI: 29 September 1495 268 Letter from Pope Alexander VI to Savonarola: 16 October 1495 278 Open Letter to a Friend: end of 1495 280 Excommunication 290 Open Letter to All the Elect: 8 May 1497 290 Letter from Savonarola to Pope Alexander VI: 20 May 1497 295 Open Letter to All Christians: 19 June 1497 297 Letter from Savonarola to Pope Alexander VI: 25 June 1497 301 Open Letter against the Recently Imposed Sentence of Excommunication: end of June 1497 303 Letter from Savonarola to Pope Alexander VI: 13 October 1497 308 Letter from Savonarola to Pope Alexander VI: 13 [3] March 1498 309 Alternate Version 310 MORAL REFORM II 313 Bonfire of Vanities II: 27 February 1498 315 Exodus, Sermon III: Quinquagesima Sunday, 25 February 1498 315 Luca Landucci, A Florentine Diary: 27 February 1498 336 Piero Parenti, Storia fiorentina 337 Iacopo Nardi, Istorie della citta` di Firenze 339 Contents ix Letter from Paolo de Somenzi to Lodovico Sforza, Duke of Milan: 27 February 1498 343 Pseudo-Burlamacchi, La vita del Beato Ieronimo Savonarola 345 LAST MOMENTS 349 Savonarola’s Execution: 22 May 1498 351 Luca Landucci, A Florentine Diary: 22 May 1498 351 Simone Filipepi, Estratto della cronaca 353 Lorenzo Violi, Le Giornate 354 Postmortem 355 Marsilio Ficino, Apologia contra Savonarolam 355 Francesco Guicciardini, History of Florence 360 AFTERLIFE 363 Index 369 Illustrations 1. “Savonarola Preaching in the Pulpit of the Cathedral of Florence,” 1496 2. “Adoration of the Cross,” 1496 3. “Choice between Heaven and Hell,” 1496 4. “The Good Death,” 1496 5. “Savonarola Debates with Wise Men,” ca. 1498–1500 6. Sandro Botticelli, Mystic Crucifixion, ca. 1500 7–8. Savonarolan medal, ca. 1490s 9. Michelangelo, Battle of Cascina, early sixteenth-century copy 10. Leonardo da Vinci, Battle of Anghiari, copy, ca. 1615 11. Fra Bartolommeo, Gran Consiglio Altarpiece, 1510–1513 12. Execution of Savonarola and His Two Companions in the Piazza della Signoria, ca. 1498–1520 13. Apotheosis of Girolamo Savonarola, early sixteenth century Illustrations follow page 136. x Foreword The Italian Quattrocentro is replete with extraordinarily creative personalities who brought forth ideas and ways of thinking destined to change and to shape the face of the modern world. At one end of this century one finds, among others, Alberti and Valla. At the other end there stand, among others, two bitter enemies, a Neoplatonic philosopher, Ficino, and a Dominican preacher, Savonarola. Girolamo Savonarola was well aware of the creative, deeply subversive powers of the imagination and, specifically, of the religious and prophetic imagination. He thought of himself as, and was, a preacher-prophet. Of the many biblical prophets he glossed in his preaching before the Florentines, he identified especially with one, Haggai (Aggeus). Haggai, a relatively mi- nor prophet who stands in the tradition of Ezekiel and Amos, lived and wrote at the time of the brilliant Persian general Darius, a time when the Persians worshipped Zoroaster and, accordingly, practiced a religion based on the interpretation of the stars. By 538 b.c. Cyrus agreed to let Israel return to Palestine. A new consecration of the temple was in order, but Israel’s struggle to restore the land that had been defiled and to rebuild the temple was delayed. Some Jews opted to return to Babylon, while those who de- cided to stay thought rather of their own houses and left the house of God in disarray. Haggai preached against all such delay. He launched his call to holiness by denouncing the alliance between the high priest and the governor and made the political program of rebuilding the emblem of a radical moral reform. In the history of modern religious consciousness, Savonarola is usually aligned with the sixteenth-century reformers (such as Sozzini, Luther, and Calvin), whose evangelical zeal he is said to prefigure. These reformers are defined by their narrow and intense moral focus: they pursued the retrieval of the pure, spiritual core of the Christian tradition that had been disfigured by the cynical exercise of papal power. In their view, public and private morality had to be made consistent with the unadulterated letter of the Gos- pel. More than a moral reformer, Savonarola can be called a moral revolu- tionary. His vision is broad. Like the reformers who were to follow him, he attacked the dominant paradigms of social life—the unholy conniving of the universal Church with Florence’s political despots; the astrological philoso- phies of the latter-day Zoroastrians; the conceits of hermetic, Neoplatonic syncretism; decadent aesthetic conventions; and private vices. But he saw xi xii Foreword with great clarity that the spiritual crisis he witnessed in Florence and in the Church would not be solved by the erasure of all bonds between culture and its religious roots or by a return to a simpler form of spirituality. Unlike the reformers, and notwithstanding his own nostalgia for medieval forms of apocalyptic vision and prophecies of doom, he called for a renewal of both culture and religious life, persuaded that the shaping force of the West lies within the horizon of Christian history. He was a revolutionary because his breadth of vision poured over into his call for a new style of art, of thought, and of living. In his mind, the city of Florence had the unique opportunity to become the New Jerusalem. To achieve this vision, he did not flinch from struggling to convince his audience to overcome themselves. Above all, he was a revolutionary because he struggled to overcome himself.