Machiavelli (1469-1527): Olympian Theologian

Niccoló Machiavelli was born on May 3, 1469, in Florence. His father was a lawyer. As a youth he learned Latin and especially appreciated The History of Rome written by Livy (58 BC-AD 17).

On May 3, 1498, Niccoló turned 29. On May 23, Girolamo Savonarola was executed. Amidst the changes in the Florentine government which followed, Niccoló was elected secretary of the council responsible for the diplomacy and defense of the Republic of Florence.

Girolamo Savonarola (1452-1498): His Fall

In his sermon of January 13, 1495, Girolamo Savonarola reminded his thousands of listeners of how he had accurately prophesied the coming of Charles 8^th as God’s instrument. He added that he had likewise accurately predicted the deaths of Lorenzo de’ Medici and Innocent 8^th, pope, before either had died in 1492. He again promised that God would reward Florentines with great power and riches in response to their religious and political reforms as long as these continued. In a sermon on April 1, Girolamo told his listeners that the Virgin Mary herself, in a vision, had assured him of God’s promises and continuing protection.

Girolamo Savonarola (1452-1498): His Rise

Girolamo Savonarola was born on September 21, 1452 in Ferrara, Latinia, a city about 94 miles (150 km) north of Florence and 55 miles (88 km) southwest of Venice.

As a teenager and young adult, Girolamo wrote poetry complaining about the corruption of the world and especially of the Latin Church. Following his own advice, which he wrote in an unfinished essay entitled “On Contempt for the World,” he imagined himself leaving the corrupt world by entering the Dominican monastery in nearby Bologna in 1475.

Sandro Botticelli (ca 1445-1510)

Alessandro di Mariano di Vanni Filipepi, known to us as Sandro Botticelli, was born around 1445 in Florence. Little is known with any certainty about his childhood and early adulthood. By 1470, however, he was working on his own in Florence as a professional painter.

Lorenzo de’ Medici (1449-1492)

Cosimo de’ Medici was almost 75 years old when he died in 1464. When Cosimo’s son died only five years later, his grandson Lorenzo (b. 1449) became ruler of both the Medici Bank and the Republic of Florence at the age of 20. He would die at the young age of 43 in 1492.