Lorenzo and the Philosophers

Abstract

On 23 June 1489, immediately before the traditional procession in honour of St John the Baptist, a theological debate was held in the Duomo in Florence. It was a debate which generated unusually strong emotions. The views of the Franciscan contingent, defending the thesis that Adam's disobedience did not constitute the greatest of all sins, were roundly attacked by the Dominicans as doubtful, suspect, even heretical. Although original sin had been a standard subject for theological disputations since the late Middle Ages, there was enough mileage left in the controversy to warrant the continuation of this particular discussion. It was therefore reconvened a week later, on 30 June, by Lorenzo de' Medici, who invited a group of distinguished thinkers to his palazzo on the via Larga. The guests, having first filled their stomachs at a lavish feast, proceeded to exercise their minds in a scholarly debate. 1

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