OCR A Level History A Unit Group 3 Thematic study and historical interpretations: The Renaissance c.1400-c.1600 November 2021 question paper Y305

Evaluate the interpretations in both of the two passages and explain which you think is more convincing as an explanation of the nature and impact of Savonarola’s preaching and

prophesying.

Passage A

Girolamo Savonarola was a ranting Dominican friar who gained an astonishing power over Florence armed with nothing more than threats of divine punishment and promises of earthly glory. The pulpit* was Savonarola’s chosen field of battle. By the time Savonarola arrived in Florence in 1490 he had begun to find himself as a preacher, with a rough, dramatic style that challenged the elegant rhetoric* which was fashionable in the city. He filled his sermons with apocalyptic images of divine retribution and death. In the night of April 5th, 1492, lightning struck Brunelleschi’s great cathedral dome. The next day Savonarola announced his most terrifying vision: ‘Behold, the sword of God over the earth, swift and soon’. One admirer felt his golden hair stand on end. Two nights later disaster struck again. Lorenzo de’ Medici fell into a coma, dying the following day. As the legend of the prophet-revolutionary grew there were those who said he had denied Lorenzo his blessing when the dying man refused to restore the liberty of Florence. There were also those who said, not without encouragement from Savonarola, that he had prophesied this death. Between Advent 1493 and Lent 1494, the prophetic voice of Savonarola grew more forceful and more urgent, with images of God’s sword hanging by a thread over the city.

*pulpit – a raised area in a church where preachers stand to speak

*rhetoric – spoken or written comments designed to persuade

Adapted from: D. Weinstein, ‘Savonarola – Preacher and Patriot?’, History Today, Volume 39, Issue 11 published in 1989. Item removed due to third party copyright restrictions. Link to material: https://www.google.co.uk/ books/edition/Fire_in_the_City/-H88DwAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=Fire+in+the+City:+Savonarola +and+the+Soul+of+Renaissance+Florence&printsec=frontcover (pp p287, 288, 289, 290)

Adapted from: L. Martines, Fire in the City: Savonarola and the Soul of Renaissance Florence, published in 2006.

2* Assess the importance of scholars to the development of the Renaissance during the period

from c.1400 to c.1600.

3* ‘The Renaissance had little impact on the Church throughout the period from c.1400 to c.1600.’

How far do you agree?

4* ‘Reliance on mercenary armies posed a greater threat to the Renaissance than any other aspect

of warfare in the period from c.1400 to c.1600.’ How far do you agree?