Les Vaincus. Savonarole

The Vanquished. Savonarola

Gabriel Trarieux

A DRAMA IN FIVE ACTS

CHARACTERS:

GIROLAMO SAVONAROLA, Dominican monk, prior of the convent of Saint Mark. SANDRO BOTTICELLI, Florentine painter. BERNARDO RIDOLFI, wealthy gentleman, leader of the Medici party. FRANCOISE RIDOLFI, his wife. NICCOLO MACHIAVELLI, Medicean, secretary of the Council of Eight. FRANCESCO VALORI, partisan of Savonarola, leader of the Piagnone party. ROMOLINO, messenger of the Pope. DOMINIQUE BUONVICINI, FRA BENEDETTO, FRA SACRAMORO — Dominican monks of Saint Mark. FRANCESCO DI PUGLIA, RONDINELLI — Franciscan monks. POPOLESCHI, MORGANTE, LAMBERTO DELL’ANTELLA, GIROLAMO GI, CAMPANO — members of the Council of Eight. ANTONIO, MANZO, JACOPO, MICHELE — Florentine artisans. DORO SPINI, libertine. BATTISTA, scholar. MICHELANGELO, sculptor. CECCONE, clerk. MONA FELICIA, duenna. The NURSE OF FRANCOISE. PIETRO BRATTI, jailer. MONKS, ARTISTS, MEN-AT-ARMS, MEN AND WOMEN OF THE PEOPLE, etc. THE CHILDREN’S CHORUS. AN OLD MAN.

The drama takes place in Florence, from February to May 1498.

ACT ONE — THE AUTO-DA-FE OF VANITIES

A square in Florence, at dawn. On the left, artisans’ shops, the palace of the Ridolfi. In the background, houses with porticoes, a perspective of narrow streets. On the right, the church of Santa Maria del Fiore: a vast arched porch, raised by three steps. At the beginning of the act, Brother Dominique Buonvicini, dressed in the white cope of the Dominicans, walks before the church murmuring prayers. Children, also dressed in white, their heads crowned with olive, finish building a bonfire at the back of the square. They plant at the top a grotesque mannequin, decked in gaudy finery.

THE CHILDREN The work is done, Brother Dominique! — What a fine bonfire that will make! — Do you see old Master Carnival?

They form a semicircle around the Brother.

[The drama continues through five acts depicting the rise and fall of Savonarola in Florence, his conflict with the Medici faction and the papacy, the ordeal by fire, and his ultimate arrest and execution. The play dramatizes the clash between religious reform and political power, between prophetic vision and the cynicism of Machiavelli, between the fervor of the people and the machinations of those who would destroy the Dominican friar. Through the figures of Botticelli, Michelangelo, and Machiavelli, Trarieux weaves together the artistic, political, and spiritual dimensions of this pivotal moment in Florentine history.]