THESIS STATEMENTThe moral fanatic and religious fundamentalist, Giralamo Savonarola, inhibits the development of the Renaissance in Florence and returns the city to the Middle Ages.PURPOSE STATEMENTThrough academic research of Florence politics and daily life during Medici rule, it is claimed that Giralamo Savonarola used religion and fear to inhibit the progress of the Renaissance in Florence. INTRODUCTION Religion gives hope to the hopeless. It is intended to accommodate those who are alienated and feel that their life has no purpose. In the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, religion performed the same function it does today. However, the religion was embraced more during the Middle Ages by desperate individuals frantically seeking calm and stability in their lives. Religion provided hope to these gloomy individuals who lovingly and unquestioningly embraced religion and the teachings of the church. The church controlled every aspect of these people's lives and had control over their minds. “The church exercised a hold on the minds of men which it is difficult for us to imagine: the strength of the hold was fundamentally medieval” (Rowdon 159). At the height of Florence's cultural and intellectual rebirth, Giralamo Savonarola used religion to regain the minds of the citizens and bring the city back to the Middle Ages. Under the rule of the Medici, especially under the leadership of Lorenzo de'Medici, art prospered and new revolutionary forms of ideas emerged that furthered the Renaissance in Florence by challenging the stronghold of the church. Florence became an edifice for art and the greatest painters of the time flocked to the city including Fra Filippo Lippi, Verrocchio, Botticelli, Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo (Greenblatt 13)...... middle of paper .... .ermoni, Savonarola won the hearts of the Florentine populace. He begged them to retreat back to church. Savonarola took advantage of the French invasion and established the ideal religious state centered on a moral lifestyle. Savonarola managed to inhibit the development of the Renaissance in Florence and successfully brought the city back to the Middle Ages. Since he had convinced the citizens of Florence to return to the church out of fear, he similarly used the tactic to maintain their loyalty. “The church offered hellfire for disobedience and for playing on those pagan fears that had never quite left the Italian imagination” (Rowdon 159). However, the people began to resent Savonarola's government and he was deposed and then burned at the stake. However, his fiery sermons and moral fanaticism never left the minds of the Florentine citizens.