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Girolamo Savonarola and the Problem of Humanist Reform in Florence

Girolamo Savonarola lived at the apex of the Renaissance, but most of his biographers regard him as an anachronism or a precursor of the Reformation. Savonarola, however, was influenced by the entire milieu of Renaissance Florence, including its humanism. Savonarola's major work, Triumph of the Cross, is a synthesis of humanism, neo-Thomism and mysticism. His political reforms were routed in both the millennialist dreams of Florence and the goals of civic humanism. Hoping to translate the abstract humanist life of virtue into the concrete, he ultimately failed, not because the Renaissance was rejecting the Middle Ages, but because the former was reacting against itself. Florence, for all its claims of being the center of the Renaissance, was not willing to make humanist reform a reality.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:unt.edu/info:ark/67531/metadc500716
Date08 1900
CreatorsNorred, Patricia A.
ContributorsPainter, William E., Hagler, Dorse Harland, 1937-, Nichols, Irby Coghill, 1926-
PublisherUniversity of North Texas
Source SetsUniversity of North Texas
LanguageEnglish
Detected LanguageEnglish
TypeThesis or Dissertation
Formativ, 163 leaves, Text
CoverageItaly - Tuscany Region - Florence Province - Florence
RightsPublic, Copyright, Copyright is held by the author, unless otherwise noted. All rights reserved., Norred, Patricia A.

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