Discuss how Savonarola wielded authority in Florence and the way he came to power.

What will be an ideal response?

It is important to examine the political environment of Florence before Savonarola’s emergence in Florentine politics. This will help with an understanding of how he wielded his authority. Once the Medici family was diminished, there was a power vacuum in the city-state. His power arose in connection to his teaching, which appealed to the puritanical factions of the city. He emphasized the moral decadence of humanism as exhibited by the Medicis and others of the nobility, and he emphasized the fear of God. This message was used to shift political authority from previous rulers, and Savonarola convinced the general population to participate in destroying objects linked to humanism that had been patronized by previous rulers. He enacted this message through the “bonfire of the vanities.”