Scourge and Fire: Savonarola in Renaissance Italy

by Lauro Martines

A riveting new book about Savonarola, a lowly friar of Renaissance Florence, but also a charismatic preacher and the talk of all Italy in the 1490s when he called for the renewal of a corrupt Church and the purging of vile governments.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Italy, Renaissance, Biography, Religion, Politics

320 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2006

About the author

Lauro Martines , former Professor of European History at the University of California, Los Angeles, is renowned for his books on the Italian Renaissance. The author of Power and Imagination: City-States in Renaissance Italy, and most recently of Strong Words: Writing and Social Strain in the Italian Renaissance, he reviews for The Times Literary Supplement and lives in London with his wife, novelist Julia O'Faolain.

Reviews

[Jo Walton]

Everybody is prejudiced about Savonarola, for or against, everyone, there's nobody in the world who's heard his name who doesn't have a bias. I've read so many things that are hagiographies and things that are attacks that it's really refreshing to re-read this one which is measured, calm, full of names and specific. While Martines is on Savonarola's side (everyone!), he's not viciously opposed to everyone else, and he can see positives and negatives. What I'm saying here, I suppose, is that I largely agree with him. It's also interesting to see Martines -- a respected emeritus professor -- launching off into alternate history at one point. It's even more interesting to me, because I've just written a Savonarola novel in which this is one of the few variants I didn't go with. This is a balanced and grown up book and I recommend it if you don't mind that the writing style is a little dry.

[GoldGato · Rating 3 out of 5]

Girolamo Savonarola was either the prophet of the Protestant Reformation or the Mad Friar of Florence. The only bits I knew about him were that he helped to expel the Medici from Florence and that he was hanged and then burned at the stake (which was better than just being burned). Normally my lack of knowledge wouldn't make me hustle to find a book about an unknown subject. But since I was stuck at a dinner between two diners who were actually arguing about this dude (it was an awful dinner, they should have been arguing about that), I thought I should educate myself. That's right. Other people have dinner party conversations about politics or sports while I get some weird Renaissance-era religious freak. Plus, my lamb chop was burnt, so I basically starved that night. Needless to say, I held a grudge against the friar.

"...they shoot dice, rush through Masses, thirst for money, and accompany the dead for ducats, not out of charity. Some keep boys, while others keep concubines and are 'the slaves of love'."
(Savonarola on the Roman Catholic Church in 1490)

The Mad Friar/Reformation Prophet was a major figure in Renaissance Florence. He saw what the Medici and their money had done to corrupt just about everyone, yet he boldly spoke out against them. He definitely had guts. It was Savonarola who predicted a future leader from the North would reform the church (Martin Luther took that role) and it was Savonarola who refused to be cowed by the Vatican's power. Yet, he wasn't a full revolutionary. He believed people should keep to the social stations they were born into and he accepted the social hierarchy of the times. He just wanted the Catholic Church to clean up its act. Unfortunately, he chose the wrong city.

Like the Venetians and Genoese, for example, the Florentines had long seen themselves as special people favoured by God.

After pushing out the Medici, he managed to be the 'ruler' for a bit until the populace tired of his puritanical ways. Back came the ruling clans and to the gallows and stake went the friar. I felt for him. While there was no doubt he was probably a pain-in-the-butt, he at least understood how rotten the Church and its leaders were. Plus, he also saw through the standard ploy the elite always use to gain popular support (support us and we'll give you some jobs). Yet, Savonarola wasn't a Mao or Stalin. His mistake was to believe the French King Charles VIII was the Great Reformer. Bad choice.

This is a very good book to learn about the subject and also to understand why Florence is/was/always will be Florence. The writing didn't set me on fire (whoops) but I can now hold my own if that atrocious dinner party ever relives itself. And people wonder why I'm happy with nachos.

Book Season = Winter (extinguish the bonfires)

[Katie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Depending on who you ask, Savonarola was a saint & a martyr or he was a fanatical extremist who subjected Renaissance Florence into a four-year reign of terror. He was a tyrant, or a promoter of republicanism. He was a prophet, or a self-aggrandizing liar. If I had to guess, I'd say he was probably all of them? I am not a fan of the guy at all, but he's one of those historical figures that's so enshrouded in myth that what you think about him probably says more about you than it does about Savonarola himself.

Lauro Martines's book provides a nice account of a very dramatic story, but it suffers a bit for not being able to decide what it wants to be. There are parts that read like the first draft of a yet-to-be-written screenplay, whereas others aim for a more subdued and scholarly analysis of Savonarola's preaching style. I think it's an admirable attempt, but Fire in the City is ultimately too cursory to be much use as a scholarly volume and too fragmented to work well as an introduction for non-specialists. I wish it had either been a really well-crafted narrative history or a more in-depth thematic study. Instead, it tries to be both and as a result doesn't really do either well.

Martines tends to give Savonarola every benefit of the doubt, whether discussing his roving bands of youths who broke up gambling dens, accused people of sodomy, and pressured people to throw their 'vanities' onto bonfires or discussing his role in the execution of some leading Florentine citizens in 1497. To a certain extent this approach is sort of admirable, since it would be much easier to cast the guy as a villain. But I do think that he takes it too far. Martines puts him on the right side of almost every conflict, which is a bit too much even for a sympathetic portrayal of the guy.

[Frank Stein · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book tells a great story reasonably well, but becomes shockingly repetitive at points and gets bogged down in unnecessary details.

Savonarola was the fire-breathing Dominican monk who, in 1494, encouraged the overthrow of the Medici regime in Florence, and then became the most powerful figure in the city until his execution in 1498.

There is so much I didn't know about him that Martines brings to light. First, he recruited armies of "angels" or "enforcers" (children who were already members of religious sodalities) and had them roam the streets at Carnival and other times breaking up dice games, roughing up prostitutes, and collecting chess sets, makeup, and fine clothes for their famous "bonfire of the vanities." At a certain point the resolutely corrupt Florentines fought back to protect their gambling and whoring (the upper class formed a group called the "Ugly Companions" that fought for their right to party) until eventually the enforcers themselves were scared to enforce.

Apparently everyone from Pope Alexander VI (the notorious father of Caesar Borgia) to the Sforza dynasty in Milan was trying to take Savonarola out, mainly due to his encouragement of the French invasion of Italy as a necessary "scourge of God." They were joined in opposition by locals who thought the monk "wanted to turn Florence into a convent." Savonarola's downfall came when he and his monks refused to engage in a trial by ordeal, namely, walking through a raging fire to see if God's grace would save them. It reminds one that despite all the talk of political parties and skulduggery, the Renaissance was still a profoundly superstitious age. After Savonrola's execution, the Signoria ordered that his monastery's bell, la Piagnona (the Lady Weeper or Wailer), be removed and subject to a "spectacle of public infamy." The bell was driven through the streets and literally whipped at and jeered. Again, this is a different age.

Focusing on just five years of Florentine politics gave me a real detailed sense of everyday political tactics that I didn't get from Martines' other book on Renaissance Italy, "Power and Imagination." For instance, even the upper class families that sided with the monk felt the need to balance their interests. Soderini, one of Savonarola's most ardent supporters, urged his own son to join the opposing Ugly Companions, so he would have family in both camps.

But overall this book tries too hard to be both popular and scholarly at once, and Martines feels the need for extensive explanations and repetitious reminders of simple facts. This is not bad, but I imagine there is a better book out there about the "little friar."

[A.J. Deus · Rating 2 out of 5]

Martines prides himself in being opposed to all mystifications. This may be the source of one of the main problems in the Florentine story about Savonarola. As the Dominican Savonarola was exerting his power through sermons, understanding the mythical messages seems paramount. After the first 100 pages or so (of a hard to read translation), I felt left in the dark as to what the conflict was all about. Given that fifteenth century Florence is one of my favorite research areas and that I am not a novice to Savonarola, this needs explaining:

At the end of the fifteenth century, a greater conflict was in motion. The nascent nation-states were in an exploration frenzy to expand their colonial influence over newfound territories in North and South America. The Jews had to leave Spain within three months in an indescribable Holocaust and the Italian Peninsula was flooded with Melchite Saracens fleeing the forced conversions in Spain. Plague and famine shook the foundations of Florence, which seems to also have had a magnetic attraction for the refugees. The papacy and all of Italy were in sheer uproar. The pope faced an intellectual challenge like none other before─but not from Savonarola. A Renaissance man by the name of Pico della Mirandola had found an entirely new way of absorbing everything there was to learn, be it Christian, Jewish, Zoroastrian, or Muslim. Mirandola’s systematic approach opened up all frontiers and breached all restraints that had been imposed by the church. Achievement became the focal point. Having carried his ideas to the center of spiritual evil in Rome, he had made sure that his words fell on fruitful grounds.

Savonarola was at the other end of Mirandola’s views: his intention was to establish Florence as a “New Jerusalem” and his claim was that God himself had spoken to him. The implication of this can be derived from the context from which the Book of Revelations in the New Testament was born. In the New Jerusalem, the Christians expected the kingdom of heaven to be established in Jerusalem, where the book of Revelations promised free booze, plenty of food, and eternal life without worries. Hence, Savonarola was an apocalyptic radical, who glorified poverty, called for the termination of those that thought differently, and pulled the political strings from behind the scenes.

Instead of global context and curiosity, which would have helped in better understanding the preacher Savonarola, the author seems lost in details. For example, Martines is talking at length about a group of demons but seems to dismiss them as superstitions. Instead, there is an apocalyptic wave of purification of the faith by the innocent (e.g. Savonarola’s followers) against those that endorsed wealth and sensuality (the demons). These real ‘demons’ had been in control of Florence before (the Medici) and needed rooting out, so the plan went.

What was the Holy League about (Rome, Venice, Milan, and Spain)? Why would Florence support the French and not the Holy League? Why had they driven out the Medici? What were Savonarola’s predictions and why were they offensive? There were five leading churches in Florence (among 70); what were their doctrinal differences and their role for or against Savonarola?

Having said that, the shortcoming is not Martines’s; it is one of a profession that is still impressed by the bias of a socio-economic history that was brought about by the Catholic Church. The author notes where the Florentine records of history were destroyed in a most thorough manner and under threat of excommunication, immediately after Savonarola’s pulverization and shoveling into the Arno River. They knew exactly what they were doing in preventing relics to keep Savonarola alive.

The book turns good─no, excellent─when the time comes to sack Savonarola’s church San Marco; to arrest Savonarola as an impostor and to see a prophet fall through the insults and kicks of a mob angered by an anticipated miracle that had gone sour; to put the preacher on (show) trial and finally on the stakes. Martines finally manages to pull the reader into the story and bring it to life with just enough detail as to keep the narrative engaging and exciting.

The conclusions might as well be skipped. Was Savonarola a terrorist? Let me answer this with a counter question: Is the fundamental Muslim teacher Anwar al-Awlaki, currently an imam hiding in Yemen’s hinterland, a terrorist? U.S. President Obama’s commissioned murder mission surely suggests so, if not by implication of participation in terrorist attacks, then by providing the intellectual framework for the violent missions. Savonarola glorified poverty and called for the stoning of sodomists (as in the modern Taliban). This is an unacceptable hatred against mankind, regardless of the political and ecclesiastical context. Spiritual leaders of the time were no less aware of their destructive power than those modern “Awlakis.”

This book should be rewritten in modern English, put in a global context and better chronology (I love chronology), cleansed from an onslaught of unnecessary names, and complemented with the spiritual side of Savonarola’s teachings. The author has the skills to unlock a truly fascinating mystery of the time with the potential for a hit in history books. Why? Because the book beautifully carves out how a narrow majority was able to take and loose power and how both majorities acted with cruelty against their foes─all within less than a decade. It demonstrates how an influential preacher can recruit an army with thousands of children, turning them into extremist servants of God in an astonishingly brief time span and in the shadow of trusting parents. The book shows how the institution of the confession can act as an information hub─the whispering network of ecclesiastical power. It suggests that religious preachers have a competitive advantage with a clear and narrow mission against a notoriously fragmented opposition, and that entire cities can welcome religiosity in times of calamities. On the stage of “democratic” politics, it lays out how voting by name compromise the system’s integrity and how the masses were (or maybe are) manipulated easily.

A.J. Deus, author of The Great Leap-Fraud - Social Economics of Religious Terrorism
ajdeus.org

[Diane · Rating 5 out of 5]

Girolamo Savonarola was a complicated character - compassionate, wise, intelligent, and deeply religious. However, he made many glaring errors during his brief time in power (1494-1498)- he supported the French King, Charles VIII; he defied the pope, Alexander VI (Rodrigo Borgia - yes, that family); he alienated many powerful Florentines; and finally, there was the trial by fire proposed by a rival preacher, which proved to be the final straw.

I already knew what happened in Florence at this time. I knew about the bonfire of the vanities, the religious fanaticism, and the exile of the Medici. However, the accounts I had read were pretty one-sided - Savonarola was a heartless religious fanatic and politician who craved power. That was a very inaccurate portrait. Savonarola truly believed he was doing the right thing for Florence. Though some of it may have gone to his head (demonstrated by his repeated defiance of the pope), he appeared to be very concerned for the welfare of the citizens of Florence. However, he made many promises that in the end he could not keep and the consequences for him and his supporters were disastrous.

Like his book, "April Blood," which is about Lorenzo the Magnificent's swift and bloody revenge against the Pazzi conspirators, Lauro Martines brings history alive. All too often, history books are full of dull, dry facts. However, Mr. Martines always keeps things lively and interesting.

Highly recommended. I also recommend "April Blood," which is just as good.

[Thomas · Rating 2 out of 5]

In short:
Talks a lot, says very little.

A little longer:
Know how one is able to discern the meaning of a word through its context within a sentence or paragraph? And, as more words whose meaning is a mystery are added to the sentence/paragraph, your understanding of the meaning of those words gets fuzzier and fuzzier? Have you ever read a paragraph so full of foreign/unknown words that the book loses its grip (if there was one to begin with) on you altogether?
So it is with this book....

A little longer still:
I love historical fiction/non-fiction. And I have been looking for a book that can tell what is a most fascinating one: that of a Dominican friar whose preaching during the latter part of the 15th century in Renaissance Florence inspired the creation of the Republic of Florence. Unfortuantely, I will have to keep looking.
The author obviously has an incredible grasp of the subject matter and enjoys name-dropping, to the point that it makes this book almost inappropriate for a general audience unacquainted with that period of time, the place, the politics, the pope, and the role of The Roman Catholic Church in Italy in the 1490s. Everything does get mentioned but nothing seems to get tied together and, in the end, the Big Picture loses focus and gets lost in a blizzard of facts....
A real shame.

[John]

I can't take any more Herzen, Marx or Stalin at the moment - so I though a bit of Savonarola might afford a few days' diversion. We'll see. Nothing like a fire-eating fundamentalist.

[Daniel Polansky]

I read this book.

[Rob Roy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Fascinating story, poorly written

[Anson Cassel Mills · Rating 3 out of 5]

Martines has provided the general reader with a good life and times of the charismatic, fifteenth-century friar who turned the city of Florence upside down with his fearless preaching. As the author notes in the introductory pages, he could not write a true biography of Savonarola because we know so little about his private life. In fact, we don't know much more about his public life until he became a controversial figure. Martines wisely emphasizes the years 1494 to 1498, “when Savonarola’s life and the history of Florence were so joined together that it is impossible to pull them apart.”

As an authority on Renaissance Italy, Martines is exceptionally persuasive about the Florentine context. Nevertheless, freely admitting his “rationalism,” Martines is less concerned with investigating Savonarola’s religious beliefs or examining how far he moved toward doctrinal heresy before he was executed. The reader may also sense repetition, that the number of named Florentines is overwhelming, and that (especially in the middle chapters) the author might have stepped up the pace of the narrative.

[Lionel Taylor · Rating 3 out of 5]

Savanarola was a Dominican Monk who became a thorn in the side of the Pope as well as the powers that be in Florence. His sermons for renewal in the church inspired the people of Florence to a religious revival unlike any the city had ever seen. Unfortunately, he was contending with one of the most corrupt Popes of all time. This combined with drawing the ire of the Florentine ruling class would seal the monk's fate. As with his other books, the author takes what has the potential to be a very dry subject and turns it into an engaging narrative of religious and political intrigue. While at certain parts of the narrative the sources get pretty thin on what actually happened the author identifies that and does a good job of both explaining the problems with the source and working through the different accounts and the motivations behind them to get to the truth. If you are interested in Renaissance history or the history of the Catholic Church, this book is worth the read.

[Reggie A · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lauro Martines never misses and once again he has not missed. Savonarola is such a polarising figure; as Martines mentions in his own book finding accounts of the man’s life that aren’t dripping in bias is a nigh impossible task.

That’s one of the reasons this biography is so good, in my eyes. I think it’s also extremely empathetic in trying to convey what this deeply internally consistent yet confounding man was really like, it’s hypnotic! While I annotated, I specifically pulled all the quotations of Savonarola himself or of what he believed himself to be. It paints a fascinating picture. He was a fascinating man.

And then of course the political backdrop is fantastically described. Like April Blood, this is an extremely convoluted moment in Florentine history that is nonetheless rendered accessible and entertaining by Martines’s prose. Banger.

[William Dornan · Rating 5 out of 5]

An enlightened assessment of a controversial person

Some reviewers have said that this book reads as a novel. This is a disservice to the reader and the author. This is a serious history that provides insight to a man and time that s shrouded in myth.
After reading this book I have a completely different view of The Friar. He was a complex figure that is not the monster that some narratives have claimed. I must say how chilling it was to read about the siege of San Marco. It echoes the events in the January 6 insurrection .
I recommend this book but not for a light historical read.

[LinseyMcGrath · Rating 5 out of 5]

Savonarola demanded his bonfire of the vanities and for a short and extraordinary moment he made one, a very large one that reverberated for what was to become, centuries. If you are interested in the first rumblings of Reformation(pre Luther) you will find it here.
His story and his commitment to his God could have been written and made drier than dust; but Martines makes the Italian Renaissance and its characters incredibly alive, understood and exciting.
This is scholarship, religion, and politics made easy to read.

[Stella Metcalf · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read for a final research project for a history class. Very well researched and pretty well written but not at all like a novel (as the description claims) so unless you’re reading it for academic purposes I wouldn’t recommend

[laurentiu]

0

[Melissa]

Goodreads

[Harris Silverman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Useful account of the Savonarola episode in Florentine of history and of the general situation there at that time.

[Paul Bruene · Rating 2 out of 5]

The first 50 and last 50 pages are okay but the middle 200 of this book is a slog

[Louise · Rating 3 out of 5]

Murder of a Medici Princess piqued my interest in Renaissance Italy. I selected this book because the jacket of this book says it "reads like a novel"... but it didn't. It's a tough read. If you don't have any background in this era, I recommend trying something else. The author says the book is for the general public. He also says it is not a biography, but a rendering of Florence at the time through the impact of Savonarola.

I'm a general reader, I had 3 main problems in reading this book: 1) the text goes back and forth in time, 2) the absence of verbal links that could provide clarity and 3) some of the major players and events are cameos.

As example of a layman's problem, on p. 80 the discussion "six bean" rule danced around the idea that a bean was a vote. Maybe the meaning of "vote" should have been obvious (it is clearly stated about 100 pages ahead) but with all the text devoted to "bean" on p. 80, I thought I was missing something bigger.

Another example is that after two pages describing the pageantry and "sweet signing" of Charles VIII's entry into Florence, we learn that the residents were only "grinning and bearing it" because they were "on the brink of cataclysm". Then we learn that 2 days before (the sequence problem), 500 people met and the dominant theme was the hatred for Pietro Medici (not about the entry of Charles). When you don't have a background here, the meeting, the festivities and the "cataclysm" are hard to reconcile. You go back to reread it, but the link isn't there. Many pages later, even after reading of Charles as a liberator (which doesn't reconcile with "grin and bear") and then Savonarola as a saving the city from the French army (which doesn't reconcile with liberator), you see what might have been meant by cataclysm.

I felt there was a lot more to tell. Since this is the story of Florence, and not a biography of Savonarola, some major players should not be reduced to cameos. For instance, what became of Charles VIII? The author says that the ill feeling towards Florence throughout Italy stems from their embrace of him... but he basically disappears from the text. The Medici's are frequently cited when a string is pulled, they are obviously major players, but where are they? How are they holding on to their fortune and influencing events? What of Savonarola's youth group? (It sounds like Mao's cultural revolution.) How did this large group meet? Did they convince people to surrender their "vanities" or did they take them?

The author is obviously knowledgeable and has assembled a lot of information. I recommend this book for those who know something about the period, but not the "general reader".

[Charlie · Rating 3 out of 5]

While Martines' work takes Savonarola as its focal point, he becomes a lens through which to view the book's real subject, the city of Florence itself. In the whirl of events surrounding Savonarola's rise and fall, Martines does a commendable job keeping track of the city's moving parts: political structures, patronage networks, class divides, foreign affairs. The ambiguities and possibilities of Italian republicanism prove fascinating. Savonarola himself is treated quite sympathetically, even indulgently. The final chapters do a good job tying together loose ends and reflecting on the historical significance of the contents. Overall, this is a fine book, appropriate for readers with interests in the Italian Renaissance or late medieval church reform.

The account suffers somewhat from inconsistent style and voice. The back of the book blurb (never to be entirely trusted) offers "a gripping and beautifully written narrative that reads like a novel," but that is far from the case. There is a strong narrative component, to be sure, but punctuated by or even subordinated to observations on the political or cultural import of the activities being related. This is good historiography, but it does disrupt the reading experience. Some chapters abruptly shift into an analytic tone, perfectly reasonable but not particularly popular. Additionally, Martines litters his otherwise smooth and congenial prose with obscure, literary turns of phrase, a source of slight but regular irritation.

The result is a book that isn't quite paced fast enough and pitched low enough to fall solidly within "popular history" but that is also rather light compared to most offerings from Oxford University Press. On the other hand, this did allow Martines to interject a refreshing rather than obnoxious authorial voice at several points, openly discussing historiography in a non-technical way, which I think will be particularly beneficial to non-specialist readers.

[Noreen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Savorarola (1492-1534)Long Italian names with titles, don't lend themselves to speed reading. Made it through the first 55 pages, skimmed the rest, gave up, read the chapter on Savonarola in Durant's Renaissance. The idea of "Bonfire of the Vanities" came from Savonarola's teenage boy disciples knocking on doors asking the householders for "vanities" any nice clothes, jewelry, art and literature or accosting richly dressed women in the streets. There were two "Bonfires of the Vanities" shortly before Pope Alexander VI (Roderigo Borgia)gave up asking him to come to Rome. A Franciscan monk challenged him to trial by fire, which Savonarola declined. Overnight his following in Florence melted away. The next day a mob attacked San Marco monastery and hauled away three monks including Savonarola. Following the custom of the Inquisition, all three monks were tortured, confessed and sentenced to death. Pope Alexander sent them absolution. They were hanged and burned to death. Their ashes were dumped in the river to prevent relic collection/martyrdom.

Savonarola had influence on the great artists of his time. He was out maneuvered by the Medici's and the Popes, who both had a better understanding of politics.

Durant says about "Savornarola was the Middle Ages surviving into the Renaissance and the Renaissance destroyed him." A protestant before his time. Martin Luther tacked his 95 Theses to the door of a Wittenberg church in 1517.

[Peter Dunn · Rating 2 out of 5]

A bit of a disappointment this. Though to be fair at least I now know much more about Savonarola and his times, which is why I selected this book as my understanding of him and his period was fairly basic. However the book has a significant flaw.

As an Ulster Prod I was already inclined to give this bogey man historical figure a bit of a break on the count of his anti clericalism and his confrontations with the papacy of his day. However even this bias of mine still wasn’t enough to allow me to set aside the author’s constant attempts to construct elaborate, lengthy, and even more annoyingly repetitive, defences of many of Savonarola’s sayings and actions.

The most annoying aspect, of what I thought was meant to be an historical work, were the curious lapses into speculation as to what Savonarola might have said or should have said complete with pseudo quotations – I don’t know what that is but it’s not history. In time I think I need to read another book on Savonarola.

[Lisa Spillane · Rating 2 out of 5]

Studied Savonarola ten years ago at university, as part of wider florentine renaissance history, so I was looking forward to a study of the man himself. While obviously well researched to be honest I found the book a bit of a slog. It took me a long time to read and I felt a bit like I was wading through it rather than actually enjoying what I was reading. Yes, it did provide insight into the period, but it felt a bit like penance reading it as well! It certainly didn't have the pace of some other biographies I have read recently.

For anyone who also reads lighter historical fiction as well as more academic works, I would recommend Sarah Dunant's - the birth of Venus. Which is set in Florence under Savonarola and it does give a sense of the witch hunting that took place in his name and the fear that people felt. Somehow I just didn't get that feeling as much with Martines' book.

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

Savonarola was a profoundly interesting person. It surprises me how little is written about him because he and his writings are well worth discovering. He took the Christian message and vision to the limit and showed the people of Florence what that meant. Unfortunately, the leaders (and people) of Florence were not ready for this vision and hung him in the square, with the blessing of the Borgia pope. What is ironic is that the appearance of Florence, with all of those beautiful buildings and works of art, would probably not exist today if Savonarola had not convinced Charles V not to invade Florence. Yes, Savonarola saved Florence from the French invaders, who would certainly have pillaged and destroyed Florence if they had the chance. All that is left of Savonarola is a little marker on the ground of the square.

[Colleen · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a bit ponderous and difficult to digest, certainly not the "beautifully written" book the blurb suggests.

The author is clearly and unapologetically a Savonarola apologist, so bear in mind that everything in the book is written from that starting point. However, the material presented is quite interesting if you can get through the labrynthine style, name dropping, and excessive parentheticals.

Suggested for those who already have some familiarity with fifteenth century Italy, as the political climate is critical to understanding the author's defense of Savonarola.

[Phillip Thompson · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Dominican, Savonarola, is a very enigmatic and complex figure. This book is a fairly sympathetic portrayal and makes Savonarola's action much more understandable. He is certainly is right in many of his criticisms of the Church, the Medici, the papacy, and Florentine morals. His tactics for this time period were not that radical by any means and he did plead for leniency on a number of occasions. I recommend this book about a figure who lived on the cusp of the Reformation and shared some common concerns.

[Lauren Albert · Rating 3 out of 5]

I couldn't get into this. Partly it was because of the flood of names and that the people named switched sides frequently and sometimes only for protective coloration. I realize that nothing is black and white but the 'sides' in this were so vague that it was hard to follow the narrative. I'm sure this was part of the author's intent--to show how complex the events were. I did learn some things of course. I never knew anything about Savonarola before.

[Justin Evans · Rating 2 out of 5]

The blurb claims that this reads like a novel. That would be a novel written by someone who was simultaneously writing their dissertation, and had accidentally mixed up the chapters I guess. Martines has a couple of narrative chapters, and a couple of thematic chapters, and a couple of wtf chapters... and it doesn't really work. On the upside, lots of information about a great story.