Savonarola is the monk who governs Florence in 1494 through his preaching, turning the city of art and trade into a theocracy. He is known as “the nine-fingered one”.
| Type | Character |
| Place | Florence |
| Era | 1494 |
| Chronicle | ciudades |
| Spanish entry | Savonarola |
Description
A monk from a congregation in nearby Lombardy, he preaches every afternoon from the pulpit of San Miniato. Of his body it is only said that he has una estola jugosa (“a juicy stole”). He is remembered as the man in the fire: he walked through fire and was seen inside the flames.
Doctrine and government
Only God governs, he preaches, through His word, and he is its prophet. Florence is the New Jerusalem, called to cleanse Italy. Art, grace and all magic are sinful; freedom of worship and conscience are suppressed, and practitioners go to the stake. His miracles — fire-walking, healing lepers, raising children from strange accidents — are undisputed; their source is not.
- Preaching at San Miniato shapes consciences.
- Constitution: he wrote it and it turns the preaching into law.
- Followers go house by house, leading people to give up their goods.
- The bonfire de las dañadas (“of the damaged”) in the main square burns the vanities along with works by Michelangelo, Donatello and Leonardo.
Rome excommunicated him in 1497. He dominates Pico della Mirandola, once a liberal “great sorcerer-sage” who sought a meeting of all religions. He is said to be hunted.
The next day
Announced: an extraordinary sermon in Florence Cathedral, perhaps his last, and a vote on his jurisdiction. Bound to the Lombard congregation, he must stop preaching under church law; freed, he may keep preaching and even lead a political faction.
Conflicting accounts
- He is one of “the beings of good”, alongside Minaya.
- A demonic entity inhabits him (an unproven whisper).
- He went too far, breaking the balance between majestic and humble Florence.
Magic is said to abound more where he is; whether this is his doing or a trait of the plane is not established.
Open questions
- Who votes, and where, is unknown; no clause of his constitution is known.
- Whether the fire-walking and being “inside the flames” are one event, and whether the bonfire and his preaching festival are one event, is unclear.