DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.42861#0112
80
INTEREST IN SAVONAROLA
In 1492, Fra Mariano da Genazzano, the cultured
and popular Augustinian, whose polished oratory
at one time made him the rival of Savonarola in
Florence, preached a course of Lent sermons at Man-
tua, which pleased Isabella so much that she insisted
on keeping him at her court for Easter. On his
return to Ferrara, the friar told Duchess Leonora
how deeply he had been impressed with her
daughter’s intelligence and devotion. “ Indeed,”
wrote the gratified mother, “he praised you so
much that he almost made me believe you are
really all that he said, and this would give me
the greatest pleasure in the world.”1 At the
same time, like all the Este princes, Isabella never
ceased to follow the career of Fra Mariano’s rival
with the deepest interest. A volume of Savonarola’s
sermons was in her library, and six months after his
death, she sent to Ferrara for a copy of the Miserere,
a commentary on the Fifty-first Psalm, which he
had written in prison before his execution. “ I send
you the Miserere of Savonarola,” wrote her brother
Alfonso on the 30th of October, “ which I have
had copied by your wish, and which you will find
a worthy and devout book.”2 For the great friar
of San Marco was a citizen of Ferrara, and neither
Ercole d’Este nor his children ever forgot that his
grandfather, Michele Savonarola, had held the post of
physician to the ducal family. But wide and varied
as was Isabella’s interest in all forms of literature,
the study of poetry remained her favourite pursuit.
She was as indefatigable in her endeavours to obtain
the productions of living bards as those of dead
1 Luzio e Renier, op. cit., p. 62.
2 Bibliofilo, i. 26.
INTEREST IN SAVONAROLA
In 1492, Fra Mariano da Genazzano, the cultured
and popular Augustinian, whose polished oratory
at one time made him the rival of Savonarola in
Florence, preached a course of Lent sermons at Man-
tua, which pleased Isabella so much that she insisted
on keeping him at her court for Easter. On his
return to Ferrara, the friar told Duchess Leonora
how deeply he had been impressed with her
daughter’s intelligence and devotion. “ Indeed,”
wrote the gratified mother, “he praised you so
much that he almost made me believe you are
really all that he said, and this would give me
the greatest pleasure in the world.”1 At the
same time, like all the Este princes, Isabella never
ceased to follow the career of Fra Mariano’s rival
with the deepest interest. A volume of Savonarola’s
sermons was in her library, and six months after his
death, she sent to Ferrara for a copy of the Miserere,
a commentary on the Fifty-first Psalm, which he
had written in prison before his execution. “ I send
you the Miserere of Savonarola,” wrote her brother
Alfonso on the 30th of October, “ which I have
had copied by your wish, and which you will find
a worthy and devout book.”2 For the great friar
of San Marco was a citizen of Ferrara, and neither
Ercole d’Este nor his children ever forgot that his
grandfather, Michele Savonarola, had held the post of
physician to the ducal family. But wide and varied
as was Isabella’s interest in all forms of literature,
the study of poetry remained her favourite pursuit.
She was as indefatigable in her endeavours to obtain
the productions of living bards as those of dead
1 Luzio e Renier, op. cit., p. 62.
2 Bibliofilo, i. 26.