Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
A BLOW TO INTELLECTUAL THOUGHT
Savonarola's theocratic rule over Florence (1494-98) only lasted four years, until his denunciation of
decadence got him excommunicated and executed by Pope Alexander VI. The pope didn't appreciate
Savonarola criticising his extravagant spending, illegitimate children and pursuit of personal vendettas
under papal guise.
But Savonarola's short reign had an impact on Tuscany for centuries to come: it made the Church
see a need to exert more direct control over the independent-minded region, and to guard against hu-
manist philosophies that might contradict the its divine authority. The result: the Inquisition, where
heretical ideas were made punishable by death, leading to an understandably chilling effect on intel-
lectual inquiry. Celebrated universities in Pisa and Siena were subjected to close scrutiny, and the
University of Pisa was effectively closed for about 50 years until Cosimo I de' Medici (1519-74) rein-
augurated it in 1543.
