A CRIMINAL HISTORY OF MANKIND

and Rodrigo’s mistress. The alliance was the beginning of the immense fortunes of the Farnese
family. The boy Orsino did not seem to mind being cuckolded by his uncle, or if he did, he had no
choice. As a reward for the Farnese family, the pope decided to make Giulia’s brother a cardinal -
although he was aware that this was a move that would meet with strong opposition. While he was
about it, it seemed good sense to make Cesare a cardinal as well. He waited until half the cardinals
were out of Rome, then called the other half together and bullied and threatened them into creating
the two new cardinals.
When the much-hated King Ferrante of Naples died in 1494, his son Alfonso came to the throne,
and the pope decided to confirm his friendship by marrying his twelve-year-old son Joffre to
Alfonso’s pretty illegitimate daughter Sanchia. At sixteen, Sanchia already had a reputation for
promiscuity; she seemed a suitable addition to the Borgia clan. Besides, the pope liked young girls.
But his bargain caused another menace to loom on the horizon. The French King Charles VIII -
successor to Louis XI - felt he had a claim on Naples. In 1494, the worst happened, and Charles
invaded Italy to claim his throne. It was to be the beginning of four centuries of foreign invasions
and foreign domination.
For the Medicis in Florence, the invasion was disastrous. The new ruler of Florence was Lorenzo’s
son Piero; but he was not half the man his father was. He had inherited the chief of his father’s
troubles - a fiery monk called Savonarola, a kind of mad puritan who seethed with rage at the
carnivals organised by the Medicis, and who had refused to give Lorenzo absolution on his
deathbed. As the French army marched into Italy - defeating Alfonso at Rapallo -Savonarola went
to meet the king at Pisa and announced that he was God’s agent who had come to restore the
Church to its old virtues. As Charles drew near to Florence, Piero began to suffer convulsions of
guilt and bad conscience; he had been partly responsible for the invasion by supporting Alfonso.
Charles was not interested in Florence, but he was glad to accept the gold that Piero offered him,
and the use of Florentine fortresses. The people of Florence were enraged at this pusillanimous
conduct; they stoned Piero in the streets and chased the Medicis out of Florence. Then Florence
declared itself a republic. In fact, Savonarola was its ruler. He encouraged the destruction of all
‘vanities’, including books and art treasures. The Medici palaces were attacked and priceless books,
paintings and sculptures destroyed. During the carnival in 1497, a great bonfire was built in the
square outside the Signoria palace, piled high with all of the usual carnival apparel - false beards
and wigs, masquerade dresses - as well as books, paintings and other vanities; as the bonfire blazed,
the people sang a Te Deum. But they soon grew tired of wearing sober clothes and singing hymns.
Savonarola had gained his influence by telling them that the old times were the best, that the men
of the past had all the virtues of decency; the Florentines were always susceptible to sentimental
nostalgia. Now they had a chance to make a realistic assessment of the ‘old ways’ and their
response was to have Savonarola arrested. The man who was really behind this was the pope,
Rodrigo Borgia; he was growing nervous as Savonarola denounced the corruption of the Church.
He ordered Savonarola to be tortured continually until he confessed something that would allow
them to sentence him to death: on one single day, the monk was placed on the rack fourteen times.
On the morning of 23 May 1498, Savonarola was taken to a scaffold that stood on the exact spot
where the ‘bonfire of vanities’ had been held the year before and hanged with two companions;
then his body was burned in front of the crowd. Rodrigo Borgia had once again silenced the
opposition.
The pope himself had been humiliated by the invasion of Charles VIII. His mistress Giulia and her
sister had been captured by the French, and had to be ransomed for a huge sum; fortunately their