Excerpts from Books and Wikipedia
"On May 23, 1498, it was the Dominican friar's turn to burn. He had sought to establish a Christian Commonwealth in Florence, but was found guilty of false prophecy and heresy. . . . Savonarola's hellfire sermons had begun to attract a wide audience soon after his arrival in Florence in 1490. His attacks on corruption struck a chord with many people in the city who resented the political grip of the wealthy Medici family. In 1494, when Piero de' Medici was overthrown by the French, Savonarola became the guiding light behind the establishment of a Christian republic. The spirit of millennialism was in the air with the approach of the year 1500, and at first the Florentine citizens responded enthusiastically to Savonarola's apocalyptic message of impending doom. . . . put on trial on the orders of Pope Alexander VI, who had been the target of his most vicious attacks." [Furtado: 1001 Days] Alexander VI (Rodrigo de Lanzol-Borgia): "Spanish; Nephew of Callixtus III; father to Cesare Borgia and Lucrezia Borgia. Divided the extra-European world between Spain and Portugal in the bull Inter caetera (1493)." [Wikipedia]