The invader was the new King of France, the young and adventurous Charles VIII.  His army was a model to all Europe in the art of war.  It possessed weapons of the latest invention and its main strength lay in its splendid infantry.  Florence was entered without a blow, and King Charles demanded as a ransom a far larger sum than the Republic could pay.  He remained day after day in the city, showing no inclination to depart.  Then was manifested a proof of the wonderful influence of Savonarola’s personality.

The Prior being earnestly entreated by the citizens to ask the French king to depart, he readily undertook the mission and presented himself to Charles, who, surrounded by his barons, received him cordially and listened graciously to his proposal.  Savonarola admonished him not to bring ruin on the city and the anger of the Lord on himself.

The Prior’s overtures were completely successful, for on November 28, the king departed with his army.  And now all was changed in Florence.  The partisans of the Medici had vanished magically and Savonarola ruled the city at the head of the popular party.  He speedily proposed a new form of government suggesting as the best model, a Grand Council like that of Venice.  The new Government was formed of a Grand Council and a Council of Eighty answering to an Assembly of the People and a Senate.  All the proposals of the Prior were adopted, and laws were framed almost in his own words.

VI.—­1495-1497

Germs of civil discord were not lacking, and these soon developed so as to divide Florence into factions, the two chief of these being the Whites, who were favourable to popular liberty, and the Greys, who were adherents of the Medici.  The latter were dangerous and treacherous enemies of Savonarola and of the Republic.  For a time the Prior’s preaching confounded his foes, for it completely changed the aspect of the city.  The women cast off their jewels and dressed simply; young profligates were transformed into sober, religious men, the churches were filled with people at prayer, and the Bible was diligently read.

Now came danger from without.  The departure of the French had endangered the security of Florence.  The Pope and Venice desired the reinstatement of the fallen tyrant Pietro de’ Medici, and he prepared to attack the city.  But he was foiled by the energy to which the Prior roused the Florentines for measures of defence.  Meantime, Savonarola once more displayed his noble independence by spurning the offer on the part of the Pope of a Cardinal’s hat.  And terrible in their vehemence and audacity were his denunciations against the vices of Rome, delivered in his Lenten sermons of 1496.

In his usual strain, but with increasing power, Savonarola graphically and vividly described the woes of Italy, as though he were gifted with prophetic vision.  One of his sermons was interdicted by the Pope, but the preacher modified nothing and defied the Vatican.  And now, while the enthusiasm of his followers was developing into fanaticism, the hatred of his enemies was approaching a climax, and the war was waxing furious.