1447–1503

The Renaissance Papacy and Savonarola's Preaching in Florence

A succession of popes from Nicholas V to Julius II generously patronized humanists and artists. They were Nicholas V, Callixtus III Borgia, Pius II, Paul II, Sixtus IV, Innocent VIII, Alexander VI and Julius II. They built St. Peter's Basilica and the Sistine Chapel and assembled the Vatican Library.

At the same time they carried nepotism and simony to an extreme. Innocent VIII acknowledged illegitimate children. Alexander VI Borgia (1492–1503) bought the papacy outright. He openly advanced his son Cesare and daughter Lucrezia and became a symbol of the papacy's moral decline.

In 1490 Lorenzo de' Medici invited the Dominican Girolamo Savonarola to Florence. Against this background Savonarola became famous for apocalyptic preaching against the church's luxury and corruption. After the Medici's expulsion and on Savonarola's advice, Florence became a republic. There "bonfires of the vanities" were held – the only case before the Reformation of print being used to spread ideas of religious reform.

His loyalty to the alliance with France against Alexander VI's league and his unfulfilled prophecies destroyed him. He was excommunicated in 1497 and hanged and burned as a heretic in May 1498.