Sack of Rome
Rome, Italy
What happened
On 6 May 1527, an army serving Emperor Charles V broke into Rome. The soldiers had not been paid, and they attacked even though they had not been ordered to storm the city. Their commander, the Duke of Bourbon, was killed at the city walls, and without him the soldiers looted Rome for months, while Pope Clement VII escaped to the fortress of Castel Sant'Angelo, protected by his Swiss Guard.
Why it matters
Rome had been Europe's leading center of Renaissance art and learning, and many artists and scholars left the damaged city; historians often call the sack the end of the High Renaissance in Rome. It also shifted power from the Pope to the Emperor and deepened the split between Catholics and Protestants.
What came next
Clement surrendered on 6 June 1527 and agreed to pay a large ransom, but the army did not leave Rome until February 1528, when plague spread and an opposing army approached. Afterward Clement avoided opposing Charles V, and he refused King Henry VIII's request to end his marriage to Catherine of Aragon, Charles's aunt, which helped lead to the English Reformation.
Did you know?
To honor the Swiss Guard's stand in 1527, new members of the Pope's Swiss Guard are still sworn in every year on 6 May.
Timeline
- 20 April 1527The Duke of Bourbon's army leaves Arezzo and marches toward Rome.
- 5 May 1527The army reaches the walls of Rome.
- 6 May 1527The army storms the city; the Duke of Bourbon is killed and Pope Clement VII escapes to Castel Sant'Angelo.
- 6 June 1527Clement VII surrenders and agrees to pay a ransom.
- February 1528With plague spreading and an opposing army approaching, the soldiers finally leave Rome.