This article containsGame of Thronesspoilers.
Well yes and no.
The papacy subsequently moved to Avignon and under French supervision for the better part of the next century.
And there is plenty of historical context for that, which likely influenced George R.R.
Francis finally accepted the call he had resisted after apparently hearing the voice of God twice in his dreams.
Initially, he rebuked the Lord, saying, I know I shall be a great prince.
He resigned himself to live in poverty afterwards.
He even got that knotted rope.
In short, it was the beginning of the Renaissance.
…This did not go over well in some circles.
Enter Girolamo Savonarola, the unofficial patron saint of fire-breathing bigotry and conservative fanaticism.
Savonarola had pursued a career in medicine (by medieval standards) before he became a Dominican friar.
However, like so many frustrated fanatics, his early life did not work out as he had planned.
Finally, in 1475 he fled to Bologna and studied to become a Dominican friar.
He first came to Florence as a lecturer and teacher at the Convent of San Marco in 1482.
For Savonarola and his followers, the spread of syphilis in Italy was the result of transgressors and sodomites.
Many in Florences new middle class and old money dubbed Savonarolas followers to be Piagnoni, or Weepers.
Works of Dante and Botticelli, Ovid and Lorenzo di Credi, were cast to the flames.
Botticelli was even forced to personally hand over his own art to the enveloping smoke.
The friar complied for some months before returning to his book burning ways.
An enraged Florentine mob stormed the friars convent, and Savonarola and his two closest supporters were arrested.
Under torture, Savonarola confessed that he fabricated his visions and prophecies.
