Girolamo Savonarola
Date: 1497 1498
Region: Europe
Subject: Religious
Medium: Literature
Artist: Girolamo Savonarola (1452-1498)
Confronting Bodies: The Roman Catholic Church
Dates of Action: 1497 - 1498
Location: Florence, Rome
Description of Artwork: Writings by Savonarola, a Dominican monk and spiritual reformer, who demanded church reforms and denounced papal corruption.
The Incident: 1497 Italy-Florence: Savonarola attempted to turn the pleasure loving Florentines from their "pagan" ways and turned the annual carnival into a "burning of the vanities", including works by Ovid, Propertius and Boccaccio.
Results of Incident: 1498 Italy: Savonarola was forced by tortures on the rack to confess his heresy in demanding church reforms and in denouncing papal corruptions. After the ceremonial degradation, he was hung on a cross and burned with all his writings, sermons, essays, and pamphlets.
Source: Banned Books 387 B.C. to 1978 A.D., by Anne Lyon Haight, and Chandler B. Grannis, R.R. Bowker Co, 1978.