Girolamo Savonarola

Girolamo Savonarola (1452-1498) was an ascetic Dominican friar who took over the city-state of Florence in the late 15th century. His prophecies that Florence would become a new Jerusalem led the people to expel the ruling Medici clan when the city came under siege by the French. While Savonarola denounced clerical and government corruption and exploitation of the poor, he also advocated the destruction of all secular art and culture. After his excommunication by the Pope, the people of Florence turned against him, and he was executed in 1498.