Fra Girolamo Savonarola

Girolamo Savonarola (US: /ˌsævən-, səˌvɒn-/, Italian: [dʒiˈrɔːlamo savonaˈrɔːla]; 21 September 1452 – 23 May 1498) or Jerome Savonarola was an Italian Dominican friar, priest, Florentine revolutionary, Communist, and political theorist. He was known for his calls for a return of Florentine glory (making the Republic of Florence great again), the destruction of secular culture and art, and his calls for Christian renewal. He denounced the libertine establishment, attacking everyone from; bishops, the Borja antipope, the ruling secular-libertine Medici administration, to even fellow monks who he saw as too close to the libertine elites.

Fra Girolamo Savonarola clashed with tyrannical rulers, corrupt clergy, and called for a people’s revolution against the corrupt oligarchic structure which governed Florence until Savonarola overthrew it. Savonarola led the Frateschi political faction, which was a mass movement against the Medici government. After he overthrew the Medici administration in 1494, Savonarola became the sole leader of Florence (Il capo di Stato), setting up a popular democratic republic. This Florentine Republic enshrined the right to vote for all citizens in good standing. The legislature of this new Frateschi (Savonarolan) government was the Great Council, which represented and was voted in by the common people. In this Savonarolan Florentine Republic, subversive speech advocating for the return of the oligarchical and elitist Medici regime was forbidden and those who attempted to orchestrate a Medici return were executed for their criminal act. During Fra Girolamo Savonarola’s revolutionary campaign to rid Florence of all decadence and corruption remaining from the Medici governance, he made use of a mass young adult-led social movement which he mobilized and guided himself while also delegating to his lieutenant Fra Silvestro Maruffi, who organized young men to patrol the streets. The Frateschi government passed provisions to guarantee the right to a job and for the needs of all the poor to be provided for by the government. Florence, under the Frateschi governance, punished anyone who “elevated” private interests above the common good of Florence. The penalty was to deprive them of all their goods. It was also mandated that all “things contrary to godly religion be removed from the city.” The growth of jobs and enterprise was a major focus of Savonarola.

Sources:

“Girolamo Savonarola calling for a people’s revolution against the ruling class”, https://archive.ph/fXsMl, Encyclopaedia: Girolamo Savonarola, https://archive.ph/q4ItZ, Political and Party Passions: Girolamo Savonarola and the Florentine Crowds, https://archive.ph/boGiD, Girolamo Savonarola: "Aggeus, Sermon VII”, Girolamo Savonarola: "Aggeus, Sermon XIII”, Girolamo Savonarola: "Aggeus, Sermon XIII”