Homiliae clarissimi viri, celeberrimique in orbe concionatoris, fratis Hieronymi Savonarolae Ferrariensis ordinis predicatorum in totum libellum Ruth, ac in totum Michaem

The Homilies on the Book of Ruth and of Micah were published in Salamanca in 1556 by the printer Giovanni da Canova. The work in the vernacular language was translated into Latin by Fra Alfonso Mugnozio Teuario, of the family of preachers.

The cinquecentina is dedicated to the Most Serene Sovereign Joanna, Queen of Castile and Portugal, expressing wishes of good health and an enduring reign. The frontispiece shows the coat of arms of Castile with a cartouche celebrating Emperor Charles V: “Carolus V Imperator Hispaniae Rex.” Joanna of Habsburg, Infanta of Spain and Archduchess of Austria, was the fourth child of Emperor Charles V and his wife, Isabella of Portugal.

In the book’s preface, the friar Alfonso Mugnozio asks the queen not to be astonished by the dedication: if Giovanni Bresauola had already dedicated Savonarola’s work on Amos and Zachary to her relative Isabella of Aragon, now the work on Ruth is offered to Joanna of Castile, a sovereign who has shown herself to be a protector of letters and knowledge. Recalling Savonarola’s fame, the friar Alfonso Mugnozio emphasizes that his works are rightfully dedicated to sovereigns, but at the same time asks the Most August Giovanna to support and protect the incomparable preacher so that he might speak to the whole world in the Latin language, repress vice, and reinstate good customs.

Historically, the hypothesis may be advanced that the dedication to the Infanta of Spain of the homilies on the Moabite Ruth, who represented a model of piety and was the great-grandmother of the future King David, was no accident. At that time, biblical references were immediately understandable, unlike in today’s society. In the mid-16th century, Joanna’s father, Charles V, was in fact restoring a universal monarchy whose moral foundation was Catholicism. Charles V was animated by a sincere religious faith that called upon him to protect Christendom, and in this political context the Book of Ruth could take on particular meaning. While Judaism had traditionally seen the relationship with foreigners as a dangerous contamination, the Book of Ruth heralded the universality of a Salvation that would be attained in Israel, precisely through the descendance of a foreign woman. Moreover, the family history of Joanna of Habsburg mirrored that of the biblical heroine: like Ruth, who was the widow of an Israelite, Joanna, married to the prince of Portugal João Manuel d’Aviz, was widowed early, after only two years of marriage crowned by the birth of a son.

We do not know the provenance of the specimen conserved at the Uffizi; although there are neither inscriptions nor ownership notes, it bears noting that the cinquecentina shows pages 76 and 88 glued together to eliminate the seventh homily.