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Copyright © 2011 by the American Counseling Association. All rights reserved. Printed in
the United States of America. Except as permitted under the United States Copyright Act
of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced or distributed in any form or by any
means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the written permission of the
publisher.

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

American Counseling Association

5999 Stevenson Avenue
Alexandria, VA 22304

Director of Publications Carolyn C. Baker

Production Manager Bonny E. Gaston

Editorial Assistant Catherine A. Brumley

Copy Editor Elaine Dunn

Cover design by Bonny E. Gaston

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Counseling and psychotherapy : theories and interventions / edited by David Capuzzi
and Douglas R. Gross.—5th ed.
p. cm.
ISBN 978-1-55620-271-1 (alk. paper)
1. Counseling. 2. Psychotherapy. 3. Counseling—Case studies. 4. Psychotherapy—
Case studies. I. Capuzzi, Dave. II. Gross, Douglas R.
BF637.C6C634 2011
158’.3—dc22 2010003868
 contents

Preface v
Acknowledgments ix
Meet the Editors xi
Meet the Contributors xiii

part 1 FOUNDATIONS FOR INDIVIDUAL COUNSELING

AND PSYCHOTHERAPY

chapter 1 Helping Relationships:

From Core Dimensions to Brief Approaches 3
Douglas R. Gross and David Capuzzi

chapter 2 Diversity and Social Justice Issues

in Counseling and Psychotherapy 29
Deborah J. Rubel and Manivong J. Ratts

part 2 THEORIES OF COUNSELING AND PSYCHOTHERAPY

chapter 3 Psychoanalytic Theory 59

Adrianne L. Johnson

chapter 4 Jungian Analytical Theory 77

Abbé Finn

chapter 5 Adlerian Theory 95

Roxane L. Dufrene

iii
iv CONTENTS

chapter 6 Existential Theory 119

Mary Lou Bryant Frank

chapter 7 Person-Centered Theory 143

Richard J. Hazler

chapter 8 Gestalt Theory 167

Melinda Haley

chapter 9 Cognitive–Behavioral Theories 193

Cynthia R. Kalodner

chapter 10 Dialectical Behavior Theory 215

Laura R. Simpson

chapter 11 Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy 237

Ann Vernon

chapter 12 Reality Therapy/Choice Theory 263

Robert E. Wubbolding

chapter 13 Family Theory 287

Cass Dykeman

chapter 14 Feminist Theory 313

Barbara Herlihy and Vivian J. Carroll McCollum

chapter 15 Transpersonal Theory 335

Jonathan W. Carrier and Nathanael G. Mitchell

part 3 INTEGRATIVE APPROACHES

chapter 16 Integrative Approaches:

Expressive Arts, Narrative, and Symbolism 357
Walter Breaux III

Name Index 379

Subject Index 391
 preface

Counseling and Psychotherapy: Theories and Intervention, Fifth Edition, presents a variety of
theories and conceptual frameworks for understanding the parameters of the helping re-
lationship. These parameters can include models for viewing personality development;
explaining past behavior; predicting future behavior; understanding the current behavior
of the client; diagnosing and treatment planning; assessing client motivations, needs, and
unresolved issues; and identifying strategies and interventions for use during the counsel-
ing and psychotherapy process.
Theories help organize data and provide guidelines for the prevention and interven-
tion efforts of counselors and therapists. They direct a professional helper’s attention and
observations and offer constructs, terminology, and viewpoints that can be understood
by colleagues and used during supervision and consultation sessions. Theory directly in-
fluences the interventions used by counselors and therapists to promote a client’s new
insight, new behavior, and new approaches to relationships and problem solving. The
greater a counselor’s or therapist’s awareness of the strengths and possibilities inherent
in numerous theoretical frames of reference, the greater the potential for understanding
the uniqueness of a particular client and for developing the most effective treatment plan.
This book is unique in both format and content. All of the contributing authors are
experts who provide state-of-the-art information about theories of counseling and psy-
chotherapy (see the “Meet the Contributors” section for their backgrounds). In addition,
each chapter discusses applications of the theory as it relates to one particular case study:
a hypothetical client named Maria, whom we introduce on pages 55–58. This book also
includes information that is sometimes not addressed in other counseling and psycho-
therapy textbooks, such as a chapter that focuses on the core dimensions and brief ap-
proaches to the helping relationship, a chapter that emphasizes both diversity and social
justice issues in counseling, a chapter on feminist theory, a chapter on dialectical behavior
theory, and a chapter on transpersonal theory. The book’s unique approach enhances its
readability and should increase reader interest in the material.

FEATURES OF THE TEXT

This book is designed for students who are beginning their study of individual counsel-
ing and psychotherapy. It presents a comprehensive overview of each of the following

v
vi PREFACE

theories: psychoanalytic, Jungian, Adlerian, existential, person-centered, Gestalt, cognitive–

behavioral, dialectical behavior, rational emotive behavior, reality therapy/choice, family,
feminist, transpersonal, and integrative. Each theory is addressed from the perspective of
background, human nature, major constructs, applications (which includes a discussion of
the goals of counseling and psychotherapy, the process of change, traditional intervention
strategies, brief intervention strategies, clients with serious mental health issues, and cross-
cultural considerations), evaluation (which evaluates both the supporting research and the
limitations of the theory), a summary chart, and a case study consistent with the theoretical
model under discussion.
We know that one text cannot adequately address all the factors connected with a given
theory; entire texts have been written discussing each of the theories in this book. We have,
however, attempted to provide readers with a consistent approach to analyzing and study-
ing each theory and have included examples of how to apply the theory to a case study.
The format for this text is based on the contributions of the coeditors, who conceptual-
ized the content and wrote the first chapter, as well as the contributions of 18 authors se-
lected for their expertise in various theories. Each chapter contains theoretical and applied
content. The book is divided into three parts.
Part 1, Foundations for Individual Counseling and Psychotherapy (Chapters 1 and
2), begins by offering general information about the helping relationship and individual
counseling as well as information on brief approaches to counseling and psychotherapy.
This introductory information is followed by a chapter titled “Diversity and Social Justice
Issues in Counseling and Psychotherapy,” which sets the stage for developing awareness
of the limitations of traditional Western theories and subsequent cross-cultural discussions
in each of the theory chapters.
Part 2, Theories of Counseling and Psychotherapy (Chapters 3 through 15), presents
information on the 13 theories selected for inclusion in this portion of the text: psychoana-
lytic theory, Jungian analytical theory, Adlerian theory, existential theory, person-centered
theory, Gestalt theory, cognitive–behavioral theories, dialectical behavior theory, rational
emotive behavior theory, reality therapy/choice theory, family theory, feminist theory, and
transpersonal theory. Each of these chapters presents the theory and then applies the the-
ory to the case study of Maria.
Part 3, Integrative Approaches (Chapter 16), is focused on the use of expressive arts,
narrative approaches, and symbolism within the context of any given theory if the coun-
selor or therapist so chooses.

NEW TO THIS EDITION

This new edition includes some additional features that we think will be of high interest to
readers. Although all the chapters have been revised and updated, several chapters may be
of particular interest. An updated chapter on diversity and social justice issues in counsel-
ing and psychotherapy presents state-of-the-art information and perspectives to counsel-
ors who will be practicing with increasingly diverse client populations. The updated chap-
ter on feminist theory presents an excellent overview of the evolution of feminist theory
as well as addressing human nature, major constructs, applications, clients with serious
mental health issues, cross-cultural considerations, evaluation, and the case of Maria.
The updated chapter on family theory is included to sensitize readers to the fact that
counselors and therapists engaging clients in individual work must keep in mind the sys-
temic variables influencing clients and the fact that some clients may need family counsel-
ing and psychotherapy as part of a comprehensive treatment plan.
Completely new to this fifth edition is a chapter on dialectical behavior theory. Few
counseling textbooks of this nature address this conceptual framework. We think readers
will be stimulated by these features. This edition concludes with an updated chapter on
 PREFACE vii
integrative approaches to counseling and psychotherapy. The possibility of using expres-
sive arts, narrative, or symbolic modalities within the context of a given theoretical frame-
work is also an aspect of the text that we think readers will appreciate. Finally, professors
adopting this text can request the PowerPoints that have been developed for use with
this text from ACA.
We, the coeditors, and the 18 other contributors have made every effort to give the reader
current information and content focused on both theory and application. It is our hope that
the fifth edition of Counseling and Psychotherapy: Theories and Interventions will provide the
foundation that students need to make decisions about follow-up study of specific theories
as well as the development of their own personal theory of counseling and psychotherapy.
 acknowledgments

We would like to thank the 18 authors who contributed their time and expertise to the de-
velopment of this textbook for professionals interested in individual counseling and psy-
chotherapy. We also thank our families, who supported and encouraged our writing and
editing efforts. Thanks go out to Carolyn Baker and the other staff members in the Pub-
lications Department of the American Counseling Association for their collaborative and
thorough approach to the editing and production of this textbook. Without the dedicated
efforts of this group of colleagues, we know this book could not have been published.

ix
 meet the editors

David Capuzzi, PhD, NCC, LPC, is a professor emeritus at Portland State University,
senior faculty associate in the Department of Counseling and Human Services at Johns
Hopkins University, and a member of the core faculty in counselor education and supervi-
sion in the School of Counseling and Social Service at Walden University. Previously, he
served as an affiliate professor in the Department of Counselor Education, Counseling
Psychology and Rehabilitation Services at Pennsylvania State University. He is past presi-
dent of the American Counseling Association (ACA), formerly the American Association
for Counseling and Development.
From 1980 to 1984, Dr. Capuzzi was editor of The School Counselor. He has authored a
number of textbook chapters and monographs on the topic of preventing adolescent sui-
cide and is coeditor and author with Dr. Larry Golden of Helping Families Help Children:
Family Interventions With School Related Problems (1986) and Preventing Adolescent Suicide
(1988). He coauthored and edited with Douglas R. Gross Youth at Risk: A Prevention Re-
source for Counselors, Teachers, and Parents (1989, 1996, 2000, 2004, and 2008); Introduction to
the Counseling Profession (1991, 1997, 2001, 2005, and 2009); Introduction to Group Work (1992,
1998, 2002, 2006, and 2010); and Counseling and Psychotherapy: Theories and Interventions
(1995, 1999, 2003, 2007, and 2011). Other texts are Approaches to Group Work: A Handbook for
Practitioners (2003), Suicide Across the Life Span (2006), and Sexuality Issues in Counseling, the
last coauthored and edited with Larry Burlew. He has authored or coauthored articles in a
number of ACA-related journals.
A frequent speaker and keynoter at professional conferences and institutes, Dr. Capuzzi
has also consulted with a variety of school districts and community agencies interested
in initiating prevention and intervention strategies for adolescents at risk for suicide. He
has facilitated the development of suicide prevention, crisis management, and postvention
programs in communities throughout the United States; provides training on the topics of
youth at risk and grief and loss; and serves as an invited adjunct faculty member at other
universities as time permits. An ACA fellow, he is the first recipient of ACA’s Kitty Cole
Human Rights Award and also a recipient of the Leona Tyler Award in Oregon. In 2010, he
received ACA’s Gilbert and Kathleen Wrenn Award for a Humanitarian and Caring Person.

xi
xii MEET THE EDITORS

Douglas R. Gross, PhD, NCC, is a professor emeritus at Arizona State University, Tempe,
where he served as a faculty member in counselor education for 29 years. His professional
work history includes public school teaching, counseling, and administration. He is cur-
rently retired and living in Michigan. He has been president of the Arizona Counselors
Association, president of the Western Association for Counselor Education and Supervi-
sion, chair of the Western Regional Branch Assembly of the ACA, president of the Asso-
ciation for Humanistic Education and Development and treasurer and parliamentarian of
the ACA.
Dr. Gross has contributed chapters to the following texts: Counseling and Psychotherapy:
Theories and Interventions (1995, 1999, 2003, 2007, 2011); Youth at Risk: A Resource Guide for
Counselors, Teachers, and Parents (1989, 1996, 2000, 2004, 2009); Foundations of Mental Health
Counseling (1986, 1996); Counseling: Theory, Process and Practice (1977); The Counselor’s Hand-
book (1974); Introduction to the Counseling Profession (1991, 1997, 2001, 2005, 2009); and In-
troduction to Group Work (1992, 1998, 2002, 2006, 2010). His research has appeared in the
Journal of Counseling Psychology, Journal of Counseling & Development, Association for Coun-
selor Education and Supervision Journal, Journal of Educational Research, Counseling and Human
Development, Arizona Counselors Journal, Texas Counseling Journal, and AMACH Journal.
 meet the contributors

Walter Breaux III, PhD, LMFT, LPC, NCC, is an associate professor of counseling at Co-
lumbus State University. He is an award-winning and acclaimed corporate trainer and
mental health consultant specializing in conflict transformation and the sociopolitical
development of cultural systems. Dr. Breaux completed his PhD in counselor education
at the University of New Orleans. He received a master’s in mental health counseling
and a bachelor of science in psychology from Xavier University of Louisiana. Dr. Breaux
is a licensed professional counselor and marriage and family therapist currently practic-
ing in Columbus, Georgia.
Jonathan W. Carrier, MS, is a doctoral candidate in counseling psychology at the Univer-
sity of Louisville. His published work has covered numerous topics within counseling
and psychology, including behavioral interventions, group counseling, suicide assess-
ment, and adolescent employment. In addition to his scholarly writing, he regularly
presents research at regional and national conferences. His current research focuses on
the relationship of adolescent employment to peer drug use, family functioning, and
psychological well-being. He hopes to obtain a professorship in counselor education or
counseling psychology upon the completion of his doctorate.
Roxane L. Dufrene, PhD, is an associate professor and coordinator of the counseling edu-
cation program in the Department of Educational Leadership, Counseling, and Founda-
tions at the University of New Orleans. She holds a doctorate in counselor education,
with a minor in research from Mississippi State University and a master’s in counseling
psychology from Nicholls State University. Dr. Dufrene is a licensed professional coun-
selor, a licensed marriage and family therapist, and a national certified counselor. She
serves on the Louisiana Licensed Professional Counselor Board of Examiners and the
editorial boards of the Journal of College Counseling and the Louisiana Counseling Associa-
tion Journal. Dr. Dufrene is also certified in critical incident stress management, is an
approved supervisor, has Louisiana appraisal privilege, and is an American Red Cross

xiii
Other documents randomly have
different content
The Project Gutenberg eBook of Rebels and
Reformers: Biographies for Young People
This ebook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States
and most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no
restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it
under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this
ebook or online at www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the
United States, you will have to check the laws of the country where
you are located before using this eBook.

Title: Rebels and Reformers: Biographies for Young People

Author: Baron Arthur Ponsonby Ponsonby

Dorothea Ponsonby

Release date: May 6, 2021 [eBook #65267]

Language: English

Credits: Turgut Dincer and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team

at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from
images generously made available by The Internet Archive)

*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK REBELS AND

REFORMERS: BIOGRAPHIES FOR YOUNG PEOPLE ***
 SAVONAROLA
By Fra Bartolomeo
 REBELS AND
REFORMERS
BIOGRAPHIES FOR
YOUNG PEOPLE

BY

ARTHUR & DOROTHEA PONSONBY

ILLUSTRATED

NEW YORK
HENRY HOLT AND COMPANY
1919

To

Elizabeth

and
Matthew
 INTRODUCTION
This book is intended for young people who are beginning to take an
interest in historical subjects, and it may also be acceptable to those
who are too busy with their daily work to find much time or
opportunity for continuing, as they would like a full course of study.
Many people have not the leisure to read a three-volume biography,
and so they miss knowing anything at all about some of the great
figures in history.
We have tried here to tell quite simply the story of the lives of a
dozen great men, some of whom may not be very familiar.
There are many books about men of action—soldiers, sailors, and
explorers—but it is not so easy to find any simple account of men
who have used their minds and their pens, rather than the sword, in
the work for the betterment of their country to which they have
devoted their lives.
We have chosen men who are not actually connected with one
another in any way. But although they lived in different lands and in
different centuries, they are linked by the same qualities; the same
strain runs through them all of fearlessness, moral courage, and
independence of character. Most of them were accounted rebels in
their day, but the rebel of one century is often the hero of the next.
Though there may be a strong resemblance in the aims of these
men, their personalities are different. For instance, there could not
be two men more unlike one another than Voltaire and Tolstoy, yet
they both devoted their energy and their genius to fighting
superstition and shams. Most of our heroes recognized no authority
but that of their own conscience, and each of them helped in his
way the advance of progress in his country and in the mind of
humanity.
The twelve men chosen are not all perhaps the most famous, or
what is commonly called the “greatest,” that might have been
selected. But that is one of the reasons we have written about them.
While every one knows the story of Galileo, but few may have read
about Tycho Brahe; Luther is a familiar figure and Savonarola,
perhaps, only a name; many lives have been written of President
Lincoln, but some have never read of William Lloyd Garrison;
Garibaldi is renowned, but Mazzini’s work for Italy has not often
been described.
We have done no more than just mention the political, scientific, or
literary accomplishments of these men or their philosophy and
religious thoughts, because we have wanted only to tell the story of
their lives. Struggles, difficulties, and dangers which have to be
encountered, ideas, ambitions, and even personal habits and
peculiarities, all make the true story of a man’s life inspiring and
attractive. Ideas are the mainspring of action. The original thoughts
of great minds and the unflinching resolve of courageous souls have
done far more for the advancement of mankind than any deeds of
physical prowess, violence, or force. Those of the younger
generation to whom will fall the task of correcting some of the many
faults and errors of their predecessors should remember in their
work that they must rely on the wonderful power of thought, on
knowledge of the lessons of the past, and on a clear vision of the
future.
Maybe some of our readers will find these lives sufficiently
interesting to induce them to read more of these men in the great
books which have been written about them. If so, we shall feel that
we have succeeded in our object.
A. P.
D. P.
 CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
Introduction vii
I. Savonarola (1452–1498) 3
II. William the Silent (1533–1584) 27
III. Tycho Brahe (1546–1601) 59
IV. Cervantes (1547–1616) 79
V. Giordano Bruno (1548–1600) 99
VI. Grotius (1583–1645) 121
VII. Voltaire (1694–1778) 147
VIII. Hans Andersen (1805–1875) 173
IX. Mazzini (1805–1872) 201
X. William Lloyd Garrison (1805–1879) 223
XI. Thoreau (1817–1862) 245
XII. Tolstoy (1828–1910) 269
Bibliography 311
 ILLUSTRATIONS
Savonarola Frontispiece
By Fra Bartolomeo
FACING PAGE
William the Silent 28
Tycho Brahe 60
Cervantes 80
Giordano Bruno 99
Grotius 122
Voltaire 148
Hans Christian Andersen 174
Mazzini 202
From portrait by Felix Moscheles
William Lloyd Garrison 224
Thoreau 246
Tolstoy 270
From Aylmer Maude’s “Life of Tolstoy.” Constable, London

REBELS AND REFORMERS

 I

SAVONAROLA

1452–1498
Should the whole army of my enemies be arrayed against me, my heart will not quake: for
Thou art my refuge and wilt lead me to my latter end.

Most of us are very easily persuaded to do what every one else

does, because it is so much less trouble. It is disagreeable to be
sneered at or abused. Now and again we may do something because
we know it to be right at the risk of causing displeasure, but it is
very hard to keep on through a lifetime fighting against popular
opinion or opposing those who are considered our superiors and
whom all the world look up to as set in authority over us. The orders
of those in command, those who govern, those who set the fashion,
and those who have riches with all the laws and traditions behind
them, are what is called authority. If you defy authority from
stupidity, obstinacy, or perversity, it is merely foolish; but if you defy
authority because you are convinced that what you think is right, it
is a very difficult thing to do; and in doing it you are likely to make
far more enemies than friends. It is much easier to accept things as
they are, to think of your own enjoyment first and foremost, and let
others do the wrangling while you look on. But the mere spectators
in life are no help to any one, not even to themselves. Life is conflict.
It is to the fighters who, with a clear vision of better things, have
bravely fought the evil around them that we owe any changes for
the better in the history of the world.
Savonarola, the Italian monk, was by no means a spectator; he was
a fighter of the most strenuous type. Historians may differ in their
accounts of his character and his work. But one thing is certain: few
men have lived a life of such vigorous activity or one that was so
filled with exciting incidents: few men have stood by their
convictions with such courage and persistence or suffered more
cruelly for their opinions. He spent the best part of his life fighting
authority, upsetting public opinion, and defying his superiors. He was
defeated in the end because those who were for the moment
stronger than he killed him. But perhaps his death, as in other cases
that may occur to you, was his greatest triumph. Men may kill the
body of their victim, but they cannot kill the spirit he has roused by
his influence and example. That lives on when all his persecutors are
dead and forgotten.
Girolamo Savonarola was born in Ferrara, a town in Northern Italy, in
the year 1452. He was the third of five brothers and he had two
sisters. His grandfather was a physician and a man of learning, and
his father was a courtier of no great importance. Girolamo was
devoted to his mother, and he corresponded with her all through his
eventful life. As a boy he seems to have been very serious and
reserved—one of those boys whom other boys do not understand.
He did not like playing with other children, but preferred going out
for long rambles by himself. It was arranged by his family that he
should be a doctor, like his grandfather; but as he grew up and
began to think deeply about everything he saw around him, he
became appalled at the cruelty and wickedness and frivolity of the
society in which he lived, and his mind was filled with doubts and
misgivings. Poets, players, fools, court flatterers, knights, pages,
scholars, and fair ladies were entertained in the great red-brick
castle of Ferrara, and below in the dark dungeons lay, confined and
chained, prisoners who had incurred the Duke’s displeasure. It was
in the precincts of this palace that young Girolamo gained his first
experience of life.
When he was nineteen he fell in love with a girl of the Strozzi family,
but he was rejected with disdain and told he was not sufficiently well
born to aspire to one of such noble birth. This added to the
bitterness of his heart, and his disgust for the world increased. For
two years he struggled with himself, uncertain whether he should
obey his parents or follow his own inclinations; and he prayed daily,
“Lord, teach me the way my soul should walk.” At last, in despair, he
abandoned his medical studies, left home, and fled secretly to a
Dominican monastery at Bologna, where he became a monk. Villari
the historian describes the touching scene on the very eve of his
departure: “He was sitting with his lute and playing a sad melody;
his mother, as if moved by a spirit of divination, turned suddenly
round to him and exclaimed mournfully, ‘My son, this is a sign we
are soon to part.’ He roused himself and continued, but with a
trembling hand, to touch the strings of the lute without raising his
eyes from the ground.” The next day he was gone. He wrote from
Bologna to tell his father of his determination to renounce the world,
where virtue was despised and vice held in honor. In the convent he
began at once to wear himself to a shadow by acting as a servant
and humbling himself by a life of the severest simplicity and
discipline. In “The Ruin of the World,” a poem he wrote when he was
twenty, he says, “The world is in confusion; all virtue is extinguished
and all good manners. I find no living light abroad, nor one who
blushes for his vices.”
It was not Savonarola’s young imagination that made him think the
world so very wicked. He was particularly observant, and noted
carefully all that was passing not only in Ferrara but in the rest of
Italy, and specially in Rome. At that time, indeed, while there were
many men of learning, great princes, great artists, and great ladies,
the people as a whole despised religion and led frivolous lives, given
up to every sort of dissipation. Vice, corruption, and robbery were
common both in the Church and outside, and all classes were
degraded by the low tone of morals.
After six quiet years in the convent, during which he wrote several
poems showing his horror at the immorality of the world as he saw
it, he was sent on a mission back to Ferrara. But he attracted no
attention there, for “no man is a prophet in his own country.” Shortly
afterwards he was recalled and sent to the Dominican Convent of
San Marco in Florence. This building is still carefully preserved
because of the beautifully designed frescoes which were painted on
the walls of the refectory, sacristy, and chapter house, as well as in
the cells on the upper floor, by the artist-monk Fra Angelico, who
died in 1455, not many years before Fra Girolamo made San Marco
his headquarters and home.
In appearance, Savonarola was a man of middle height, with gaunt
features, heavy black brows, a large mouth, heavy jaw, and a
protruding underlip. This may sound unattractive, but features alone
do not make a face. It was his expression by which those who came
in contact with him were fascinated. His rugged features were
beautified by a look of gentle sympathy and benevolence mixed with
firm determination, and his eyes flashed with the fire of a deep and
passionate enthusiasm. The portrait given here is by Fra Bartolomeo,
a friend who came under the influence of Savonarola and was
deeply impressed by his life and death.
In his great humility he was not at first aware that he had any
special power over other men. While traveling one day he found
himself among a lot of rough boatmen and soldiers who were
indulging in coarse language and blasphemous oaths. What could a
young monk do in the midst of such a crew? Yet in half-an-hour
Savonarola had eleven of them kneeling at his feet and imploring
forgiveness. Such incidents as this must have revealed to him the
extraordinary influence he could wield. Curiously enough, his first
sermon in the great Church of San Lorenzo in Florence was an entire
failure. With his awkward gestures and unimpressive manner he
could not even hold his congregation, which gradually dwindled
away and left the church.
For two years he continued to preach to a few listless people in the
empty aisles of San Gemignano. All the time, no doubt, he was
aware that the power was growing in him and he was awaiting his
opportunity. Suddenly the moment came, and one day at Brescia he
burst out and became as it were transformed. Awestruck crowds
then flocked to hear him, and his wonderful oratory and penetrating
eloquence developed quickly, and soon pierced into the very souls of
his congregations. It often happened that men climbed walls and
swarmed on the pillars to catch sight of his striking features and
hear the deep tones of his thrilling voice. He practised no tricks of
rhetoric, but his whole being was poured out in a vehement tempest
of eloquence, at one moment melting his audience to tears, at
another freezing them with terror. The scribe himself who wrote
down many of the sermons breaks off at times with the words,
“Here I was so overcome with weeping that I could not go on.”
The gift of oratory is a very powerful, but in some ways a very
dangerous gift. The influence of the written word or the moral
example is slow, but far more likely to be permanent. An orator or
preacher witnesses the immediate effect of his words on his hearers,
yet he often forgets that his influence may cease the moment his
audience withdraws from his presence. But power such as was
possessed by this strange Italian monk is very rare. Some people
were almost mesmerized, and stories of supernatural events began
to be told about him: a halo of light was seen round his head, and
his face was said to shine so as to illuminate the whole church. In
addition to his gifts as a passionate preacher, Savonarola’s pen was a
considerable help to him, and he published a collection of his
writings. “The Triumph of the Cross” was his principal work; but all
he wrote was inspired by extreme piety and by his ardent desire to
bring mankind nearer to God. He also showed wisdom and judgment
in council in solving difficult theological problems.
Pico di Mirandola, a great scholar and a nobleman, was so much
struck by his extraordinary qualities that he urged Lorenzo de Medici,
who was at the time Lord of Florence, to invite him to come and stay
in the Tuscan capital; this accordingly was done. But no one
suspected that the humble monk who trudged on foot through the
gateway of the city was one day to be the practical ruler of Florence.
He was in his thirty-ninth year when he was elected Prior of San
Marco.
Lorenzo, known as the Magnificent, was perhaps the most eminent
of the Medici family, who for some years were practically rulers of
Florence. Although he had a council who nominally conducted the
affairs of State, he generally managed to have it filled by men who
were favorable to his policy and his aims, and so he gradually
became complete master of the city. He was cruel, unscrupulous,
and ambitious, and under his rule the people were deprived of much
of their liberty. But as an Italian historian says, “If Florence was to
have a tyrant she could never have found a better or a more
pleasant one.” While on the one hand he was oppressing the people
and persecuting those whom he suspected to be his enemies, on the
other hand he encouraged festivities and reveling, song and dance,
and general merriment.
In the previous century a very great change had come over Europe.
The period is known as the Renaissance, which means re-birth. The
darkness of the Middle Ages had passed, and there was a great
revival of learning, a reawakening of art and science, and new ideas
about religion and philosophy began to be discussed. The art of
printing, which had only lately been invented, made it possible for
copies of the works of the great classical authors to be distributed
and widely read, and in Italy some of the most eminent writers,
painters, and sculptors had come to the front. Greek was taught at
the universities, and professors traveled about lecturing to crowded
classes on the great masterpieces of Greek literature and philosophy,
which till then had been left neglected and forgotten. In the
sixteenth century, therefore, the influence and results of the
movement were very apparent.
By his wealth, by his splendor, and by his patronage of art and
literature, Lorenzo de Medici did much to make Florence the center
of the civilized world. He himself was the leading spirit among artists
and men of letters who assembled around him. He spoke fluently
about poetry, music, sculpture, and philosophy, and actually used to
sing his own carnival songs in the streets to an admiring throng.
It was to this brilliant and powerful man, who was the chief authority
in the State, that Savonarola from the first refused to show any
respect whatsoever. He declared that his election as Prior was due to
God, not to Lorenzo. He saw, moreover, that while Lorenzo was
interested in art and learning, the people of Florence were badly
governed and had no freedom or independence. Although the very
Convent of San Marco, of which he was the head, had been enriched
by the bounty of Lorenzo, the Prior declined to do homage to him, or
even to visit him, and whenever Lorenzo walked in the gardens of
the monastery he carefully avoided him, saying that his intercourse
was with God, not with man. Lorenzo, however, was anxious to add
this remarkable monk to the select society he had gathered about
him, and to have him join the interesting discussions on art, letters,
and philosophy which took place at his banquets and assemblies.
But Savonarola regarded him as an enemy of the people and of true
religion; and even when Lorenzo came to Mass at San Marco he paid
no attention to him, and though he found a number of gold coins in
the alms-chest, obviously the gift of Lorenzo, he would not take the
money for the convent, but sent it away to be distributed among the
poor. Savonarola did not believe in the Church being rich except in
the spiritual sense; in fact, the greed of the Church for actual riches
was what he constantly denounced.
Within the year, however, the Prince and the priest were destined to
meet, for Lorenzo on his deathbed sent for the Prior of San Marco.
One account tells how Savonarola came and, standing by the
bedside, bade Lorenzo repent of his sins and give up his wealth, but
refused him absolution because the dying man hesitated to restore
their liberties to the people of Florence. While some thought that the
wise and great prince was very prudent and lenient with the
impossible, fanatical monk, others were inclined to suspect that he
was more probably afraid of him.
Lorenzo’s son, Piero de Medici, succeeded his father, but he was too
weak and incompetent a man to count, and Savonarola, who
continued with increasing vehemence to denounce the guilt and
corruption of mankind, strengthened his own influence and control
over the people. Piero became alarmed and had him removed from
Florence, so that for a time he was obliged to preach outside at
Prato and Bologna. But soon he returned, journeying on foot over
the Apennines, and he was welcomed back with rapture at San
Marco. He at once set about reforming the convent, he opened
schools, and he continued to preach and to prophesy. He began to
see visions and to hear mysterious voices, hallucinations not
unnatural to a man in a state of such intense spiritual exaltation or
mental excitement. He was a believer in dreams and revelations, and
the trances which followed his fasts were the cause of many of his
prophetic utterances. At the same time he perceived with
astonishing foresight the inevitable course of national events. He
foretold the coming of “the Sword of God,” which he declared he
saw bent toward the earth while the sky darkened, thunder pealed,
lightning flashed, and the whole world was devastated by famine,
bloodshed, and pestilence. Thus would the sons of guilty Italy be
swept down and vanquished. Shortly afterwards, it so happened that
Charles VIII, King of France, brought an army across the Alps,
descended into Italy, and advanced on Florence.
This brought on a crisis in the city. The panic-stricken Piero de
Medici, uncertain how to act, went out at last himself to meet the
French King, fell prostrate before him, and accepted at once the
hard terms he laid down. His cowardice was the signal for Florence
to rise up in fury. Piero was deposed, and other ambassadors, of
whom Savonarola was one, were commissioned to confer with
Charles. The King was much impressed by the Dominican preacher,
but nevertheless he entered the city and imperiously demanded the
restoration of the Medici as rulers. The Florentines boldly refused.
“What,” asked Charles, “if I sound my trumpets?” “Then,” answered
Gino Capponi, one of the magistrates, “Florence must toll her bells.”
The idea of a general insurrection startled the King, and after a
further conference with Savonarola he left the city.
The Medici had fallen for the moment, Charles VIII had withdrawn,
Florence was now free. It was not to the Medici family, to their
magistrates, or to their nobles that the people turned in their good
fortune, but to the Prior of San Marco, who, they considered, was
chiefly responsible for the favorable turn events had taken. After
seventy years of subjection to the Medici the people had forgotten
the art of self-government. Partly in gratitude, partly in confidence,
and partly in awe, they chose Savonarola as their ruler, and he
became the lawgiver of Florence. He began by exercising his power
with discretion and justice. His first thought was for the poor, for
whom collections were made. He proposed also to give more
employment to the needy and lighten the taxation that weighed too
heavily upon them. His whole scheme was inspired by his deep
religious feeling. “Fear God,” was his first command to the people
whom he summoned to meet him in the Cathedral. Then he
exhorted them to prefer the republic to their own selfish interests.
He promised a general amnesty to political offenders and the
establishment of a General Council. He had studied the principles of
government and desired to set up a democratic system, that is to
say, to give the people the responsibility of governing themselves
instead of submitting to the aristocratic rule of a prince and his
nobles. With all his enthusiasm and apparent fanaticism, he showed
himself in many ways to be a practical man of affairs. His preaching
continued to be his chief method of exercising his influence. The
maintenance of the constitution, he told the people, depended on
God’s blessing: its head was Jesus Christ Himself. His aim was to
establish there and then practical Christianity such as Christ taught,
so that Florence might become the model city of the world. Men may
scoff and say this was the impossible dream of a madman. But it is
better to aim too high and fail than to accept, as many people do, a
low standard because it is too difficult and too much trouble to fight
against a vicious public opinion.
The immediate effect of Savonarola’s teaching was that the citizens
of Florence began suddenly to lead lives of strict simplicity,
renouncing frivolity, feasting, and gambling, and even dressing with
austere plainness, discarding their jewels and ornaments. The
carnival of 1497 was celebrated by “a bonfire of the vanities” in the
great square of the town. Priceless manuscripts and precious folios
were hurled from the windows into the street and collected in carts
with other articles by troops of boys dressed in white. A huge
pyramid twenty feet high was erected in the Piazza. At the bottom of
it were stacked masks and dresses and wigs; on the step above,
mirrors, puffs, curling-tongs, hair-pins, powder and paint. Still higher
were lutes, mandolines, cards, chessmen, balls, dice; then came
drawings and priceless pictures and statues in wood and colored wax
of gods and heroes. Towering higher than anything else, on the top
a figure of Satan was enthroned, a monstrous puppet, filled with
gunpowder and sulphur, with goat’s legs and a hairy skin. At nightfall
a great procession accompanied Savonarola to the spot. Four monks
with torches set fire to the pyramid, and as it crackled and blazed
the people danced and yelled and screamed round it, while drums
and trumpets sounded and bells pealed from the church towers. This
was the very crude method by which Savonarola sought to abolish
the luxury and the vanity which he considered were degrading the
lives of the people.
While Savonarola was at the height of his power and fame, filling the
cathedral with dense crowds who flocked to hear him, his enemies
were already engaged in plotting his downfall. He had succeeded in
destroying the authority of the Medici in Florence itself, but there
was another and a stronger authority outside with whom he had still
to reckon, and this was the Pope.
It is difficult to believe now, when a venerable and respected
ecclesiastic, living in quiet retirement at Rome, represents the head
of the Roman Catholic Church, that at the end of the fifteenth
century a series of men held that office who were Italian princes,
many of whom had for their chief purpose the enrichment of
themselves and their families by means of treachery and violence. It
happened that the very worst of these, a member of the Borgia
family, whose infamous career of crime is notorious in history, was
Pope at this time under the name of Alexander VI. A conflict was
inevitable between this unscrupulous prince and the high-minded
priest who desired to free the Church from the corrupt state which
money, intrigue, and worldliness had brought it.
Alexander VI tried first by bribery to silence the daring preacher. He
offered him the red hat of a cardinal, but Savonarola replied, “No hat
will I have but that of a martyr reddened with my own blood.” The
Pope was joined by the Duke of Milan in attempting to deprive the
Prior of his power. He invited Savonarola to Rome, at first
courteously, but when a refusal came he repeated his commands
peremptorily and at last accompanied by threats, but still Savonarola
refused to obey. As he continued to preach both in Florence and in
other towns, Alexander became alarmed lest the strength of his
voice might shake even the power of Rome. An unsuccessful attempt
was made on his life. The citizens of Florence were already
beginning to grow weary of the austere regulations imposed upon
them. The city became sharply divided into two political factions.
The supporters of Savonarola are called the Piagnoni, his enemies
the Arrabbiati. Even the children joined in and greeted each other
with showers of pebbles. One day the Prior was insulted in the
cathedral, where an ass’s skin was spread over the cushion of the
pulpit and sharp nails were fixed in the board on which he would
strike his hand.
Then at last, with great ceremonial, an order from the Pope was
read excommunicating him, that is to say, expelling him from the
Church. But still Savonarola took no notice whatever, declaring that a
man so laden with crime and infamy as Alexander was no true Pope.
He continued to preach and even to celebrate Mass in the cathedral.
At the next carnival, amidst extraordinary excitement and reveling,
he ordered a second bonfire of vanities, in which many costly objects
were again destroyed. His sermons contained hostile references to
the Pope, whose life and career were openly described, and he went
so far as to address letters to the great sovereigns of Europe,
including Henry VII of England, bidding them call a council to
depose Alexander VI. One of these letters was intercepted and sent
to Rome by the Duke of Milan.
After a brief period of comparative quiet, during which Florence was
visited by the plague, a conspiracy for the restoration of the Medici
was discovered. Five leading citizens were found to be mixed up in
the plot, one of them a much respected old man called Bernardo del
Nero. All five were seized and put to death. It was said that had
Savonarola raised his voice he might anyhow have obtained mercy
for Bernardo. But he remained silent, and so increased the number
of his enemies and the exasperation of Pope Alexander.
Meanwhile, in the city itself another dispute arose. A bitter feud had
long existed between the Order of the Franciscan monks and the
Order of the Dominicans. The Franciscans having heard that
Savonarola would go through fire to prove the truth of his prophetic
gifts, he was challenged from the pulpit of Santa Croce to put his
miraculous powers to the test. He dismissed the proposal with
contempt, but one of his over-zealous followers accepted, and a trial
by fire was arranged. Savonarola no doubt saw the folly of the whole
proceeding. He dared not refuse, but he hesitated, and was accused
of showing cowardice. On April 7, 1498, two piles were erected in
the Piazza. They were forty yards long and five feet high, and
composed of faggots and broom that would easily blaze up. The
stacks were separated by a narrow path of two feet, down which the
two priests were to pass. Every window was full; even the roofs
were packed; and it seemed as if the whole population of the city
had crowded to the spot. The two factions were assembled in an
arcade called the Loggia dei Lanzi. Disputes arose between them.
The Dominicans insisted that their champion should carry the Host
with him into the flames. This the Franciscans declared was
sacrilege. The mob, who had come to witness the barbarous
spectacle, some of them hoping to see a miracle, were impatient
and disappointed, and when, after hours of waiting, a shower of rain
came and finally put an end to the farce, they became infuriated.
You may think that people were very superstitious in those days, to
believe that men could walk through fire or that a man could
prophesy and that his face could shine with light. They were indeed
very superstitious, especially about religious happenings. But I rather
think many people still suffer from this weakness, although it may be
in a different way. Superstition is the sign of a shallow and
uneducated mind, or a mind that is unbalanced, and it will be a long
time before there are no people of that sort in the world. It is not
surprising, therefore, that these Florentines should have been
aroused to fury by this ridiculous business. They probably thought
they were being made fools of, and were ashamed, too, that they
had taken the whole thing seriously. Anyhow, some one had to pay.
Savonarola and his followers hurried back to their convent and only
just managed to escape. Although from the pulpit of the church the
Prior attempted to give his explanation of the events, it was clear
that from that moment his power was at an end. The fickle
Florentines, ready for the next sensation and prepared to submit
with light-hearted indifference to whatever faction was the most
powerful at the moment, drew away from their prophet and lawgiver
and deserted him. His enemies had gained the upper hand, and the
Council, completely hostile to him, eventually decreed his
banishment.
Meanwhile the mob collected outside St. Mark’s. They threw a volley
of stones at the windows of the church, which was filled with people.
There was a panic. The convent gates were closed and barred.
Some of the monks had secretly brought in arms, helmets, halberts,
crossbows, and a barrel of gunpowder.
Savonarola strongly disapproved of this, and as he passed through
the cloisters with the Sacrament he bade them lay down their arms.
Some of them obeyed him. By the evening the mob had set fire to
the doors. They succeeded in scaling the walls and getting into the
cloisters and chapel. Here Savonarola was found praying before the
altar, and one of his friends, Fra Domenico, stood by him armed with
an enormous candlestick to guard him from the blows of his
assailants. In the midst of the turmoil and confusion, a traitorous
monk declared that the shepherd should lay down his life for his
flock. Immediately Savonarola gave himself up to the armed party
which had been sent to arrest him. His two most faithful friends, Fra
Domenico and Fra Silvestro, accompanied him. As he went he called
out: “My brethren, remember never to doubt. The work of the Lord
is ever progressive, and my death will only hasten it.”
As he came out into the street the mob greeted him with a shout of
ferocious joy. It was night, and the faces of the threatening, yelling
men in the torchlight must indeed have been terrifying. So great was
their fury that the guards could with difficulty protect him as they led
him and his companions to the great palace known as the Palazzo
Vecchio, where they were cast into a dungeon.
The account of Savonarola’s torture is most tragic and terrible. He
found that he simply could not bear the agony. While his limbs were
stretched and twisted on the rack his courage and his senses forsook
him, and he acknowledged himself guilty of any crime laid to his
charge. The torture lasted for three days, and in the intervals he
withdrew all he had said. “My God,” he cried, “I denied Thee for fear
of pain.” Finally his judges, who were drawn from his bitterest
enemies, condemned him to death. The Pope Alexander, who on
hearing the news praised his well-beloved Florentines as true sons of
the Church, wanted his enemy to be brought to Rome that he might
see him suffer death before him. But the Arrabbiati were determined
that his end should come in Florence itself. His two fellow-monks
received the same treatment as he did. Fra Domenico showed great
courage, and under the most cruel torture no syllable could be
extracted from him which could hurt his master. Fra Silvestro, on the
other hand, collapsed at the very sight of the rack, and acquiesced
in every accusation brought against his master or himself.
On his last night in this world, though worn with weakness and
racked by torture, nevertheless Savonarola slept a peaceful sleep
with his two companions, and spoke a few touching words imploring
the pardon of God for any sins he might have committed. The
scaffold was erected on the Piazza and connected with the
magistrates’ platform by a wooden bridge. As the three unfortunate
Dominicans stepped over the planks, cruel boys thrust pointed sticks
through the crevices to prick their bare feet. The first ceremony was
to degrade them and deprive them of their robes. This was done by
the papal nuncio. Then Savonarola, after witnessing the fate of his
two friends, was taken himself and placed on the center beam of the
huge cross, from the arms of which his disciples’ bodies were
already dangling. A shudder of horror seemed to seize the multitude,
and a voice was heard calling out, “Prophet, now is the time to
perform a miracle.” There was a silence as he neared the place. He
stood for a moment looking down on the crowd and his followers
expected him to speak. But he said no word. The halter was
fastened round his neck, light was set to the faggots, and in a few
moments the great preacher, the lawgiver of Florence, was burned
alive, amidst jests and taunts and curses, on the very spot where
shortly before the vanities had blazed. The last words that passed
his lips as the flames reached him were: “The Lord suffered as much
for me.” His ashes were cast into the river Arno so that no trace of
him might remain. Not many years after, with curious inconsistency,
the Church wanted to canonize—that is, to make a saint of the man
whom she had burned. This, however, was never done.
If we trust some of the accounts handed down to us, Savonarola can
be accused of having shown weakness in the face of torture; he can
be accused of having been too ambitious for political power and of
having, in the fear of losing his authority, allowed without protest the
execution of innocent men who were charged with conspiracy; he
can be accused of having traded on the reputation of being a
prophet who saw visions and to whom miraculous events occurred.
He certainly placed too much confidence in the permanent effect of
his eloquent preaching, and deluded himself in trusting in the loyalty
of the people whom he had apparently moved. He may, no doubt,
be called a fanatic—that is to say, a wild, odd man, who disregards
every one and everything in his zeal to pursue the object he has in
view. Such people are not frightened of making fools of themselves,
and their peculiarities and their strange behavior can be very easily
ridiculed. But apart from the contradictory accounts, and the
incomplete records of history, we have Savonarola’s actual sermons
and writings, without which he might indeed have been condemned
as a charlatan. In them we can read in his own stirring language of
his noble intentions and lofty aspirations, of his vigorous and single-
minded pursuit of what he believed to be right, and of his
uncompromising hatred of worldliness, wickedness, and crime. He
was not immediately connected with the great movement known as
the Reformation, in which Luther a few years later was the principal
figure, when the Protestants broke off from the Roman Catholic
Church. But Luther declared Savonarola to have been the precursor
of his doctrine. And, indeed, his strong protest against the
immorality and corruption of the Papacy and his fervent desire to
increase the spiritual rather than the material authority of the
Church—that is to say, its influence over men’s minds rather than its
worldly power—helped to lay the foundations on which the great
Reformers built. At the same time it must not be supposed that he
himself had any desire to alter the creeds and traditions of the
Roman Church.
A very fine description of Savonarola is introduced by one of our
great novelists, George Eliot, in the story of “Romola.” Referring to
his martyrdom, she says:
Power rose against him not because of his sins but because of his greatness, not
because he sought to deceive the world but because he sought to make it noble.
And through that greatness of his he endured double agony: not only the reviling
and the torture and the death-throe, but the agony of sinking from the vision of
glorious achievement into that deep shadow where he could only say, “I count as
nothing: darkness encompasses me: yet the light I saw was the true light.”

A. P.
 II
WILLIAM THE SILENT
1533–1584
Je maintiendrai

William of Orange of Nassau, or William the Silent as he is known, was

an extraordinarily interesting man, if only from the fact that
everything about him, from his titles and his circumstances to his
character, was a contradiction. For one thing, the name “Silent” gives
quite a wrong impression of him. It sounds as though he might have
been taciturn, shy, or difficult to get on with, but he happened to be
particularly easy and sympathetic, delightful as a companion, and
eloquent in speech. How this misnomer came about will be related
later.
William of Orange took his title from the smallest of his lands, a tiny
province in France, near Avignon, of which he was the sovereign
prince. He was a German count and a Flemish magnate; a Lutheran
by birth, he was educated as a Catholic, but died a Calvinist. His
character was just as varied and full of contrasts as his
circumstances, so he interests and appeals to a great number of
people, and we are agreed that he is one of the most lovable and
heroic characters in history.
William was born in 1533 in the German castle of Dillenburg, the
eldest of twelve children. His mother, Juliana of Stolberg, was a
woman of great character—a wise woman and religious in the truest
sense of the word. To the end of her life she was the adviser of her
sons and a support and comfort to her many children. Several of
them inherited her character, and principally William of Orange
himself, and another, Louis. William’s father, also called William, was
a good man who had gone through hard times, and who had finally,
slowly but surely embraced the Protestant religion. He appears to us
to be rather a washed-out edition of his remarkable son.
Orange spent the first eleven years of his life at Dillenburg. The
great fortress rose from a rocky bend of a river, with towers and
battlements and gateways such as one sees in mediæval pictures,
and could hold a thousand people. Here all his mother’s children
were born, and she managed her huge household in such a way as
to become quite celebrated as the best mother and housewife in the
country.
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