Peace, Prophecy, and the Apocalyptic Expectation: Girolamo Benivieni’s Letter to Clement VII

The eschatological atmosphere of the first half of 16th century Italy was permeated by the anguishes and hopes of prophecies and predictions about impending disaster and heavenly salvation. The memory of one of the most disruptive and powerful of the prophets of the modern age, Girolamo Savonarola, who had tried to mold Florence into the type of the new Jerusalem, was often evoked by his follower Girolamo Benivieni (1453-1542). The Platonic poet, a close friend of Giovanni Pico della Mirandola and intimate of the Medici family, wrote in his old age, in 1530, a letter to Clement VII to promote the memory of Savonarola and prove the truth and usefulness of his prophecies for the Church. Benivieni’s letter is a masterful example of a political reenactment of prophecy that envisions the fulfillment of the heavenly promises on earth.