Here is a rather longer paper that I just finished for my seminar in Medieval Marginalization. It is a scholarly look at primary and secondary sources regard heresy and accusations of such in 16th century Italy. Enjoy.
“Injure
me, for you I nurture.”
Jeremy Eames
History Seminar
Dr. Gregory Milton
11/18/2011
For Large Wood: 55sols 6
deniers
For vine-branches: 21 sols 3
deniers
For straw: 2 sols 6 deniers
For four stakes: 10 sols 9
deniers
For ropes to tie the
convicts: 45 sols 7 deniers
For the executioners, each
20 sols: 80 sols
-Inquisition
accounts for an execution
There are many things that
qualify Italy as the birth place of the Renaissance, among them
printing, universities, art, architecture, literature, philosophy,
and trade. However when one thinks of Italy as a place of learning
and commerce they inevitably miss the other factors that made such
richness possible. There were three lives that perished to pave the
way for the modern era and each will be examined. The reader will
note that they are not the lives of explorers, inventors, or rulers,
but of heretics. Included is also a brief account of political usage
of heresy in the papal elections. This is included to show that
accusations of heresy could be
solely political in nature. The following essay will examine
the lives of Girolamo Savonarola, Reginald Pole, Domenico Scandella,
better known as Mennochio, and Giordano Bruno in an attempt to
understand heresy and its political uses. As a precursor to these
micro histories the reader will find a brief summary of the political
turmoil in Italy and will then progress on to the circumstances
surrounding each accusation or trial of heresy.
Like
all history one cannot simply step into a specific event without
first placing it into context. Because of this the reader will begin
their journey at the beginning of the 1480s and continue through
1600. This will enable the reader to place each trial in a framework
of ideology and time that, as the reader will see, lends itself to
both persecution and marginalization.
In
response to relapsed Jewish converts, the Spanish inquisition was
established in 1479. While this was not directly tied to events in
Italy it can be used to illustrate the wider tone of inquisition in
Western Europe. The Borgia were in power in Italy along with the
Medici's and Sforza. Witchcraft was on the rise in Italy along with
the rise of printing, particularly in the city of Venice. This rise
in literature, especially literature that was available to the masses
is important to note. Knowledge was no longer held exclusively in the
hands of the powerful. This rise in printing will lead to an
increase, not just in accusations of heresy but also to the burning
of convicted heretics. During the time period of 1550-1560, Italy
also launched what has afterward been termed the Counter Reformation.
This was a direct response to actions beginning in 1517 with Martin
Luther's nailing of his 95 Theses to the door of a German church.
Political turmoil is rampant in Italy with the French and Spanish
making repeated invasions into both southern and northern Italy. They
replace many governments, such as the government of Milan, which the
French King claimed as his own and took the title of the Duke of
Milan,
and Naples, which was seated with a Spanish Viceroy, with puppet
rulers of their own.
By any accounts this time in Italy's history is a violent and
turbulent time. The task at hand is to discover how these political
situations had an influence in creating an atmosphere of persecution
and marginalization. To discover this the reader should turn to one
of Italy’s power-broker families and their interactions with
Savonarola and how this Dominican Friar affected, and was affected
by, a politicized Italy.
Delving
directly into the political arena the reader will begin our series of
micro histories with Girolamo Savonarola, a Dominican friar born in
Ferrara Italy in September 1452.
In his tumultuous career he was mentored by his grandfather and
attained larger instruction in the world at large before committing
to the life of a mendicant.
His recall to Florence in 1490 would begin his fall into the flames,
though the friar did not know it.
Recalled to a city that was full of vice, this itinerant preacher
found a stable home in which to preach against human wrong and
evildoing. According to O'Brien the people flocked to his sermons and
when the French began their invasions in 1494 the local lord, a
Medici , fled the city and the government turned into a primal
theocracy based on eradicating human temptation to the physical
world.
In order to understand the fall of this preacher however the reader
must also understand the man that in all but words sentenced him to
his fate, Pope Alexander VI. This Pope was, according to O'Brien the
exact incarnation of all that Savonarola found wrong with Italy.
He was a man that had fathered several children while in
ecclesiastical positions and was able to purchase the Papal Miter
from the richest of Roman families.
While acting as a cardinal he received a letter from Pope Pius II
rebuking him for taking part in an orgy in the city of Siena. A small
excerpt reads, “All
Siena is talking about this orgy.... Our displeasure is beyond
words.... A Cardinal should be beyond reproach.”
This
was an entirely worldly man, who was known to have used his office to
reap immense payments for letters of indulgence and even goes so far
as to list what kind of indulgences are available each day of the
year.
Savonarola enters into the Italian city of Florence as a preacher
against many things that had come to be associated with the current
Pope. Let us take an in depth look at the content of these sermons
and why they received such a brutal reprisal.
Upon
Savonarola's entrance into Florence in 1490 he began fiery sermons
against the vice that had gripped the city for decades. His appeal
spread throughout the city until he was, in essence, the moral leader
of the city.
His attacks on the physicality of the rulers of the city, of the
secular clergy, and eventually the ecclesiastical community
eventually led to recognition by Pope Alexander VI. His actual
beliefs here become more important as Savonarola saw a single ruler,
such as the pope, as a simple unifier of corruption who was
responsible for the moral failure in society instead of for its
morality.
In an attempt to silence the friar who, in the interim between French
invasions, had managed to effectively become the autocratic leader of
the city of Florence, Pope Alexander VI sent a brief to the friar in
which he congratulated him on his efficacy and summoned him before
the pope to further explain his doctrines.
According to O'Brien this was simply a ploy to get the priest within
his grasp and thence to silence him and Savonarola saw it as such.
With his first request spurned by Savonarola the pope went to further
lengths to silence the preacher by refusing him the ability to preach
openly upon pain of excommunication.
This ban was revoked a few months later with a college of theologians
declaring that nothing Savonarola had said was anathema.
Over the course of the next few years Savonarola never left Florence
nor, with the exception of a brief entrance of the plague into the
city in 1497, did he cease preaching to the community.
His sermons however once again incited the wrath of Alexander VI and
he was excommunicated in 1497.
Despite this turn of events he continued to publicly preach in the
square of the town, the Duomo, and even went so far as to preach that
his excommunication was a heretic.
The
reader should note that here a man eventually burned as a heretic
himself is making accusations of heresy against the populace in
general. He then took the fatal step of writing letters to secular
leaders calling for a change in papal power to be effected by their
hands.
These letters eventually fell into the hands of the Pope himself.
Savonarola was subsequently arrested. Under pain of torture he
confessed to many things, all of which were later recanted, that
enabled the Pope to brand him as a Heresiarch. On May 24th
1498 Girolamo Savonarola was led to the gallows, hanged, and then
burned until nothing remained.
The primary cause here, judging by the decision reached by the
college of theologians about the content of his sermons, can easily
be seen in a political light. It was not the actual occurrence of
heresy about which the Pope was concerned but rather the way in which
Savonarola was able to influence people against the vice and
corruption inside the church that worried him. The influence that
Savonarola had inside Italy was a danger to the Pope, both
politically and morally. The moral outlook of Savonarola was
ultimately positive and seeking redemption while the Pope was simply
after vengeance.
This wide moral chasm between these two men precipitated the eventual
death of Savonarola not due to theological differences but due to
power dynamics. In this case the accusation of heresy was enough to
sentence a man to death even though, according to the documents
available, there was never any evidence for the heresy that he was
accused of and then admitted to under torture, only to later recant
it. This is a clear cut case of hard ball Papal Politics.
Moving
forward from the power struggles of the powerful with a mendicant
friar, let us examine the role of one Reginald Pole briefly. Upon his
death bed Reginald Pole was to Rome a Lutheran and to Germany a
Papist.
A man that seems to have been stuck between two worlds in a highly
polarized environment in the middle of the 16th
century. Pole was well known for being a supporter of the Spirituali,
a group pushing for
reform from inside the Roman Curia. The intriguing part of Pole was
that even though he was accused of heresy several times in his life
by both Lutherans and Catholics he came within one vote of obtaining
the Papal Miter, that is until the arrive of the French Cardinals and
his re-branding as a heretic.
While these accusations were unfounded, they did reference the ideas
of reform that Pole had at the time. In the nearly 7 months between
the death of Pope Paul III and the ascension of Julius III papal
politics are seen within a context that used heresy, and specifically
the accusation of heresy, to eliminate a contender for the Papacy.
Fenlon here disagrees and speaks of other causes that might have
excluded Pole from the Papacy. Among his list are the facts that he
is English, and hence a foreigner, the fact that after the election
of Julius III Pole held many other offices for the Curia including
the position of Papal Legate to England.
While these are accurate, these reasons still do not rule out the use
of heretical accusations in denying the papacy to Pole. More
instrumental in doing so was the questioning of his orthodoxy by the
cardinals assembled.
It should also be noted that in 1550 Pole was appointed as one of
seven members a council to protect the faith against heresy.
This can be used to illustrate that the heresy he was accused of did
not have long-lasting effects and was hence a politically expedient
way of denying him the papacy.
With
the increase in papal inquisitions beginning with the establishment
of the Congregation of the Holy Office of the Inquisition in
1542 one can find a very clear image of the type of heresy that it
was targeted to root out by examining the case of Domenico Scandella,
better known as Mennochio. The work of quintessential importance here
is that of Carlo Ginzburg, The Cheese and the Worms: The Cosmos of
a Sixteenth Century Miller. In this work Ginzburg examines the
mind of a sixteenth century, surprisingly well read, miller.
Mennochio is well known for espousing his beliefs from a mixture of
misunderstood works and his own pontifications on the world at
large.
Why then did the Roman Inquisition take such an interest in a man
that had been elected to several offices in his small town outside
Venice. And why, upon reaching a conviction at a second trial did the
the Papal legates hesitate in his sentencing and require the interest
of the Pope before they would act? Lets first examine the actual
functioning of the inquisition at this time.
The usual course of action
would involve having a period of leniency in which people could
openly repent of the sins and be accorded a reduced penance.
Following this the inquisitors would begin a general inquest into the
population extolling all people to come forward and give names of
heretical persons in the area.
The first time around, this second step seems to be what ensnared
Mennochio. Following this general inquest with a list of heretics to
prosecute, the inquisitors then collected evidence against the
accused. While this evidence and witness collection is taking place
the accused is normally held in the local jail to deter fleeing. Once
the evidence is collected the trial begins.
According to O'Brien, the
strongest part of the inquisition was their relentless insistence on
maintaining records from each trial.
This was sure to have an impact on Mennochio and will lead to his
eventual death. In Mennochio's case historians are allowed a glimpse
into popular culture and can attempt to extrapolate several things
from his responses to the inquisitors questions. As Ginzburg himself
argues, the way that Mennochio thought is actually more accurate a
depiction of everyday people rather than seeing them as all selfless
drones that believed exactly what they were told. The point that
Ginzburg does not tease out of the documents is, why did the
Inquisitio decide to
prosecute Mennochio in the first place?
I
would argue that, because he is in a position of power in the town
both as a 'politician' of sorts and as a miller, the political
ramifications of him remaining in power would have been, in the eyes
of the church, been detrimental to the populace's souls. Also because
of the proximity to the Calvinist and Lutheran populations in
Switzerland and Germany, the impetus for the Roman Curia to take
special interest in the case of Mennochio should not be surprising.
The Pope himself, after the second trial in which Mennochio is found
to be a relapsed heretic, urges the Inquisitors to carry out their
sentence swiftly and execute Mennochio.
This execution and desire for a swift punishment can further
illustrate the way in which Mennochio's trial had political
implications. By providing this public spectacle, the Pope
effectively showed that the price for deviation, not just heretical
but also political deviation, is deserving of death. The way that
Mennochio could have influenced his neighbors was a risk that the
church could ill afford to take.
Finally
the reader will turn to the trial and execution of one of Europe's
liberal thinkers of the 16th
century, a scientific man known throughout Europe, Giordano Bruno.
Bruno's case with first the Venetian Inquisition and then the Holy
Office itself serves as a capstone to the previously discussed
instances of accusations of heresy. In order to understand the nature
of the trial of Bruno the reader must first understand several
political factors that led to his arrest, trial, and death. The
arrest of Bruno plays out much like a spy thriller with the accused
fleeing from Italy to Switzerland to Paris to England and then back
to Venice. His education was completed at the Monastery
of San Domenico Maggiore in Naples. He spent much of his life
preaching about the ideas of science and how the churches ideas of a
Heliocentric world were scientifically incorrect.
He was an avid reader and the start of his chase through Europe is
due to his possession of Erasmus' work, an illegal book in Italy
because of its heretical thought. Above all it was his desire to be
able to speak with the Pope himself and attempt to convince him of
the churches wrong.
On
his return to Italy in 1592 he is arrested by the Venetian
Inquisition.
Here one must draw further distinctions, for the politics of the era
become transparent here. The Venetian Inquisition was a separate and
distinct body from the Holy Office. While the Venetian Inquisition
was tasked with the area in and around Venice itself, the Holy Office
was tasked with the world at large. The Venetian Inquisitor was able
to begin the trial of Bruno without much delay however due to the
political wranglings with the Holy Office his eventual execution
would not happen until 1600, a full eight years later. The main
reason for this was his long imprisonment in the Vatican Prisons.
Of
the many reasons that are given by the Doge of Venice not to turn
over this accused heretic to the Vatican the most pertinent of these
to our case is that of nationalist pride.
After turning to a well known lawyer the Doge is finally able to
acquiesce to the papal demands for Bruno.
The Papal trial is begun anew in Rome and reaches a guilty verdict.
Unlike in Venice, where many heretics were taken quietly out to sea
to drown, the papal burning of Bruno was a public spectacle, with a
full parade.
It should also be noted that during this parade the erstwhile Bruno
had many philosophical exchanges with the crowd for which he was
rewards with 2 stakes, 1 placed through his cheeks to pin his tongue
and 1 to pass through his lips allowing him the ability of speech no
more.
Previous to this it should also be noted that this
philosopher/heretic also repeated his desire to be rejoined with the
holy mother church. Upon reaching the site of execution he was tied
to the post and burned. It was the year 1600.
Once again the reader may
find themselves asking the question why. One must attempt to decode
this trial while at the same time refraining from investing it with
modern notions. One can see Bruno as a highly intelligent writer and
philosopher with the power of written word. The rise of Venetian
printing led not only to his ability to procure Erasmus' work, which
led to his eventual arrest but also the way in which he published in
excess of 15 works to an audience that bridged 12 different
nationalities. His outspoken nature in contradicting orthodoxy in the
academic world and assaulting, though inadvertently as a result of
his writing, normal church views. By doing this he assaulted the
churches power, particularly political power. His transfer from
Venice to Rome also served to reinforce the political reality in
Italy, that Rome held enormous sway throughout the peninsula. Enough
in this case to demand an extradition. This extradition also served
to show the way that the Italian states were politically involved
with Rome. The reader will remember that the Venetian Doge had to
find a politically correct time to allow the prisoners transfer.
In
conclusion, this paper has surveyed, albeit briefly, three lives that
were terminated by accusations of heresy and one account of a
cardinal being accused of heresy to deny him the papal office. In two
of the cases the men burned were intelligent, well taught, and
capable of directly challenging the authority of the Pope. In a third
it was a simple man who, while being literate, did not pose any
direct threat to the Pope but rather an indirect capability of foster
individuals of more intelligence than himself to actively challenge
the church. The part played by Reginald Pole was illustrative of how
accusations of heresy could reach into even the highest parts of the
church when there was a political advantage to hold. It is reasonable
to consider many of the trials and executions in 16th
century Italy to be politically motivated rather than economically,
morally, or reactionary.
Bibliography
Primary Sources
Venitian Wood Cut, c. 1530,
courtesy of Early English Books Online. The translation of this piece
was done by Jeremy Eames with help from Dr. Gregory Milton, USF, and
Oraleze Byars, USF.
Secondary Sources
Anglo,
Sydney. Machiavelli:
a dissection.
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Dandelet, Thomas James, and John A.
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Endnotes
