After the overthrow of the Medicis in 1494 Savonarola set up a democratic republic with strict laws governing the repression of vice and frivolity. His denunciations of the abuses of Church and government leaders, but also his fanaticism, made him many enemies, including Pope Alexander VI, who summoned him to Rome to answer a charge of heresy.

After disregarding the order he was excommunicated, tortured, hanged and then burned.