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SAVONAROLA, GIROLAMO. 



SAXE, MARSHAL. 



193 



bora at Over Bradley, near Halifax, in Yorkshire, November 30, 1549. 

 He was admitted a studeut of Merton College, Oxford, in 1561, where 

 he proceeded to the degree of B.A., and was chosen fellow of the col- 

 lege. He took the degree of ALA. in 1570, about which time his 

 fondness for the mathematics induced him voluntarily to read public 

 lectures in the university on Euclid, Ptolemy, and other writers. He 

 also served as proctor for two years, and in 1578 he made a tour 

 through the Continent, and at his return had the distinguished honour 

 of being chosen tutor in the Greek language to Queen Elizabeth, who, 

 it is said, had a great esteem for him. He was elected warden of 

 Merton College in 1585, in which office he continued for thirty-six 

 years, and greatly benefitted that society by his exertions. During his 

 time he enriched the literature of his country with several classical 

 and historical publications. He was made provost of Eton College in 

 1 596, and on the accession of King James he was knighted. He died 

 at Eton College, on the 19th of February, 1622, in the seventy-third 

 year of his age, and was buried in the chapel there. On this occasion 

 the University of Oxford paid the greatest honours to his memory, by 

 having a public speech and verses made in his praise, which were pub- 

 lished untler the title of 'Ultima Linea Savilii.' He was indeed a 

 munificent benefactor to the University of Oxford, in which, besides 

 various other donations, he founded, in 1619, two professorships, one 

 of geometry, the other of astronomy, which are still maintained. His 

 library, consisting of a very curious and valuable collection of scientific 

 books and manuscripts, he left to the university, and it is now pre- 

 served in a separate room near the Bodleian Library, the two Savilian 

 professors being the only persons who have immediate access to it. 

 His fame principally rests on a magnificent edition of all the works of 

 St. Chrysostom, which was published in 1613, in 8 vols. folio, in the 

 production of which he is said to have expended no less than 8000Z., 

 and on his collection of our best historians, published in 1596, under 

 the title of ' Rerum Anglicarum Scriptor^s post Bedam.' As a mathe- 

 matician, he is known principally by his ' Lectures on the first book 

 of Euclid's Elements,' published in 1621, but several manuscript col- 

 lections of his on the history of the sciences are preserved in his 

 library at Oxford. 



SAVONAROLA, GIRO'LAMO, a Dominican monk, a native of 

 Ferrara, made himself known by his eloquent preaching at Florence, 

 where he was living in the convent of S. Marco, which belonged to his 

 order, in the latter part of the 15th century. In his sermons he used 

 at times to assume the tone of a prophet, foretelling public calamities 

 as a punishment for the sins of the people. Florence was then enjoy- 

 ing peace and prosperity under the administration of Lorenzo de' 

 Medici, all Italy was quiet, and yet Savonarola startled hia hearers by 

 foretelling the approaching irruption of fierce foreign hosts, which 

 would bring bloodshed and desolation over the land. A few years 

 after, his prophecy was fulfilled by the invasion of Charles VIII. of 

 France and his ruthless bands, and an age of calamities began for Italy. 

 Before this however Savonarola was wont to inculcate democratic 

 doctrines ; he recommended a return to the former popular system of 

 government, which had been interrupted by the ascendency of the 

 Medici; and he even declaimed against Lorenzo himself. Lorenzo 

 took little notice of this ; and when his friends urged him to check 

 the monk's audacity, he replied, that as long as the preacher exerted 

 himself to reform the morals of the citizens of Florence, he should 

 willingly excuse his incivility to himself. When Lorenzo fell ill, in 

 the spring of 1492, and his life was despaired of, Savonarola appeared 

 by his bed-side, some say at Lorenzo's own request. The conversation 

 that followed is variously related. Poliziano, an eye-witness, states 

 that Savonarola exhorted Lorenzo to be firm in the Catholic faith, to 

 which the sick man assented. The monk then asked Lorenzo whether, 

 in case he recovered, he purposed to live a virtuous and well-regulated 

 life, to which a ready assent was also given. Lastly, Savonarola told 

 Lorenzo that he ought to bear his death with resignation, if such be 

 the will of God. " With cheerfulness," replied Lorenzo. Savonarola 

 was then going to quit the room, when Lorenzo called him back, 

 and requested his benediction, which the monk readily gave in the 

 solemn form of the liturgy, Lorenzo pronouncing the usual responses 

 with a firm and collected voice. 



Such is the account of Poliziano, written soon after the event, but 

 a different one came into circulation a long time after, and was 

 registered in the biography of Savonarola, written by Gianfrancesco 

 Pico of Mirandola, nephew of the celebrated Giovanni Pico, the friend 

 of Lorenzo. The story is, that Savonarola was sent for to hear 

 Lorenzo's confession, and that among other injunctions to which 

 Lorenzo readily assented, the monk required him to promise that if 

 he should recover, he would restore the republic to its former state of 

 popular freedom, and as Lorenzo made no reply to this, Savonarola 

 left him without giving him absolution. Roscoe thinks this tale to 

 have been an invention of that party spirit which broke out some time 

 after Lorenzo's death, and which led to the expulsion of Piero de' 

 Medici, Lorenzo's son, in 1494. Savonarola acted a conspicuous part 

 in the disturbances which followed. He became the leader cf the 

 democratic party, which was styled the Piagnoni or lachrymose party, 

 because, in imitation of their leader, they were continually denounc- 

 ing and bewailing the sins and corruption of their fellow-citizens. The 

 opposite or aristocratic party, that wished to place the government in 

 a few hands, were styled Compaguacci, and also Arrabbiati, or 



' enraged.' The Piagnoni succeeded for a time, and a general legisla- 

 tive council was formed of 830 citizens, above thirty years of age, and 

 who were " netti di specchio," that is to say, inscribed in the public 

 books as having always paid their taxes regularly. A vast hall was 

 constructed for their meetings in the town palace. Savonarola's in- 

 fluence was now very great, being looked upon by his party as a kind 

 of prophet and supreme judge. Grave citizens mixed with friars, and 

 children, assembled in the public places crying ' Viva Cristo,' singing 

 hymns composed for the occasion, and dancing with frantic gestures. 

 But the Arrabbiati were not idle ; they represented Savonarola as an 

 impostor, and they accused him of heresy at Rome. Pope Alexander VI. 

 (Borgia) summoned him to appear before him, in default of which he 

 excommunicated him. Savonarola, who had long been preaching against 

 the corruptions of the clergy, did not spare the head of the Church, 

 whom he styled an usurper, and he wrote to several princes urging 

 them to assemble a general council, before which he made sure of 

 proving that Alexander not only was not a legitimate pontiff, but was not 

 even a Christian. In the year 1497, Piero de' Medici made an attempt 

 to re-enter Florence by surprise, at the head of an armed party, but the 

 plot was discovered, and several of his abettors within the town being 

 arrested, five of them were condemned to death, and the rest to banish- 

 ment. They appealed from their sentence to the great council of tho 

 citizens, but Savonarola and his party urged the immediate execution 

 of the sentence, and the five were beheaded. This enraged the aristo- 

 cratic party, who, joined to the secret enemies which Savonarola liad 

 among the clergy, encouraged two Franciscan monks to preach against 

 him. Savonarola, thus assailed, called to his aid a brother Dominican, 

 Domenico da Pescia, and both retorted from the pulpit against the 

 Franciscans. The contest was kept up for some time with mutual 

 accusations and vituperations, until Fra Domenico, excited beyond 

 reason, proposed to prove the superiority and sanctity of his master 

 by walking through the flames, and, strange to say, one of the Fran- 

 ciscans undertook to do the same on the part of his brethren. The 

 mode of trial was arranged by the magistrates ; a mass of combustibles 

 was laid in the square, and a walk was made across, through which 

 the champions were to pass while the faggots were blazing. On the 

 appointed day, 17th April, 1498, Savonarola and his champion, at- 

 tended by a numerous procession, made their appearance, giving out 

 the psalm 'ExurgatDeus et dissipentur iuimici ejus.' His opponent 

 Frb, Giuliano Roiidiuelli, attended by some Franciscan monks, walked 

 silently and steadily to the place of trial ; the flames were kindled, 

 and the crowded spectators stood in mute astonishment and expecta- 

 tion, when Savonarola proposed that his champion Domenico should 

 bear the consecrated host through the fire. This proposal shocked 

 the whole assembly, and the magistrates and heads of the clergy 

 exclaimed against it as a profanation, and as a tempting of God him- 

 self. Frh, Domenico however refused to proceed without the host, and 

 the trial was given up, This business ruined the credit of Savonarola: 

 on his return to his convent of S. Marco he was taunted by the popu- 

 lace, and soon after a party of his enemies entered the convent by 

 force, and dragged him, with Domenico and another monk, to prison. 

 He was tried before a mixed lay and ecclesiastic commission appointed 

 by Alexander VI. His eloquence at first startled his judges, but the 

 implements of torture being produced, the firmness of Savonarola 

 failed him, and he acknowledged the falsehood of hia pretensions to 

 supernatural powers. He was condemned to death, and he and his 

 two associates, being led to the spot prepared for execution, were first 

 strangled, and their bodies thrown into the flames, on the 23rd of 

 May, 1498. 



Savonarola left several works, both in Italian and in Latin, one of 

 which, entitled ' Triumphua Crucis," is a demonstration of the truth of 

 Christianity. His sermons however, of which some remain, are the 

 most remarkable of his productions. He was eminently a popular 

 orator, and profoundly versed in the art of exciting the feelings. Hia 

 memory has found several apologists, among the rest Filippo Neri, 

 and Barotti, in his ' Biographies of Authors, Natives of Ferrara.' 



SAXE, MARSHAL. MAURICE, COUNT OF SAXONY, was the natural 

 son of Augustus II., king of Poland and elector of Saxony, and of the 

 Countess of Kcenigsmarck, a Swedish lady of high rank. Maurice was 

 born at Dresden, on the 19th of October 1696. In 1708, when only 

 twelve years old, he served in the army of the allies under the Count 

 of Schulembourg before Lisle ; in 1709 he had a horse shot under him 

 at the siege of Tournay ; and he was at the battle of Malplaquet in 

 the same year. His father soon afterwards gave him a regiment of 

 cavalry, with which he fought against Sweden, and was at the taking 

 of Stralsund. When he was only fifteen years of age his mother got 

 up a marriage between him and the heiress of the counts of Loben, a 

 German lady, who was about the same age. 



When Prince Eugene was besieging Belgrade be was joined by 

 Maurice of Saxony, who, when the campaign was terminated, returned 

 to Dresden, and after a short stay repaired to Paris (1720), where he 

 was introduced to the Duke of Orleans, then regent, who received him 

 in the most flattering manner, and conferred on him the title of 

 Mareschal-de-Camp. On his return to Dresden to ask his father's per- 

 mission to accept the dignity, he contrived to separate himself from 

 his wife by procuring a divorce. No blame is imputed to her except 

 jealousy, for which there was no doubt sufficient cause, constancy in 

 hia attachmenta to the other sex being by no means one of the charac- 



