In 1494, this state of things was violently shaken.

The Florentines expelled the Medici, who had begun to throw off their mask and to assume the airs of sovereignty; then they reconstituted their Commonwealth as nearly as they could upon the model of Venice, and to this new form of government Savonarola gave a quasi-theocratic complexion by naming Christ the king of Florence.[2] But the internal elements of the discord were too potent for the maintenance of this regime.

The Medici were recalled; and this time Florence fell under the shadow of Church-rule, being controlled by Leo X.and Clement VII., through the hands of prelates whom they made the guardians and advisers of their nephews.

In 1527 a final effort for liberty shed undying luster on the noblest of Italian cities.

The sack of Rome had paralyzed the Pope.