The Sack of Rome

The Emperor, Charles V, by Titian

One of the most notable dates in my historical calendar is the Sack of Rome by renegade troops of the Holy Roman Empire on May 6, 1527.

Charles V, invictissimus imperator, caesar augustus romanorum cuius maiestas etc., etc.... was the only Holy Roman Emperor to have truly reigned over an Empire. Through the manipulations of the great Habsburg,his grandfather Maximilian, the Holy Roman Empire had come to include the lands of the Electors but also the Spanish Empire (with its overseas colonies and their gold) and Burgundy (with much of what today is BE-NE-LUX).

It is a shame that these were times of dreadful turmoil. The Reformation was gaining momentum and on top of that the Empire had to fight wars on many fronts as many of its enemies joined in impossible alliances to attack its might.

One of these unthinkable alliances was the League of Cognac, between France, Venice, Milan and Florence. (How on earth would Milan ever ally with Venice and both of them with the Papal States...)

In any case the italians have always been woefully pathetic in war since the decline and fall of the Roman Empire. Their condottieri (mercenary war leaders) did not so much as fight as put up a nice show of manoeuvre and nice uniforms. And although France traditionally fielded the heaviest, better equipped and noblest cavalry in the world, as Agincourt had shown, it was not enough.

Against them, the Emperor had the Landsknechte. An exceptional mercenary fighting force, the ruthless Landskechte had been organised by Maximilian under the command of the tirolean Georg von Frundsberg.

Georg von Frundsberg, lord of Mindelheim

The armies met in 1525 at Pavia, near Milan, where the alliance troops were decimated by the imperial forces that employed arquebus handguns in what was considered the first modern battle.

The Imperial victory was so complete that the french king himself was taken prisoner.

However the batlle was followed by 2 years of inconclusive campaigning during which the army drew closer to Rome (popular belief has it that during that time Frundsberg carried a golden rope to hang the Pope with).

Delays in payment, harassment from the Bande Nere, the only effective italian fighting force, under the command of Giovanni de' Medici (Giovanni delle Bande Nere) without a conclusive battle (even though Giovanni was eventually killed by a serpentine - or falconet - cannonball ) and a stroke that forced Frundsberg to retire undermined discipline in the Imperial army to the point of mutiny. They forced their commander, Charles III (Duke of Bourbon and Constable of France - how he fought against the french king? Well, it's the Rennaisance... duh...) to lead them to Rome.

The city's pathetic defences held a bit more than the lifetime of an exceptionally unstable nucleus under heavy neutron bombardment.

However, the Swiss Guard ( Cohors Pedestris Helvetiorum a Sacra Custodia Pontificis ) of the Pope (Clemens VII) gave their life to ensure that the Pope has enough time to flee to the Castello Sant' Angelo through a secret corridor (the now famous Passetto di Borgo).

The end of the passetto entering the Castello Sant' Angelo

The head of the defenders of the Castello Sant' Angelo was none other than the flamboyant jeweller and sculptor Benvenuto Cellini (whose statue Perseus is one of the greatest masterpieces of sculpture). Cellini, in his autobiography does more credit to himself than he (or any other italian) deserves for his role in the defence of the city and even claims responsibility for the death of Charles III.

Cellini's statue at the Galleria degli Uffizi ( in Florence...)

In any case, a fearful sack ensued. Villas and churches were plundered, women raped, works of art destroyed and even though the Emperor was shamed by the conduct of his troops, he would never again get any lip from the Pope whose obedience after his ransom was ensured, to the point of causing the schism with the English Church, because of his denial to annull Henry VIII's marriage to Catherine of Aragon in order to marry Anne Boleyn (because Catherine was the Emperor's aunt).

And then you ask me why I love the Rennaisance and the italians.... :-)

PS I: In a notable twist of fate, Martin Luther wrote: "Christ reigns in such a way that the Emperor who persecutes Luther for the Pope is forced to destroy the Pope for Luther" (Luther Werke 49:169)

PS II: Anathema sit on the Colonna family which sided with the Imperials to sack the Holy City, anathema, anathema, anathema...

PS III: If you have a piece of golden rope, well, now you know what to do with it: Go to Rome and hang the Pope!!!



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