1527
The sack of Rome in 1527, painted by Johannes Lingelbach in the 17th century.Image: Johannes Lingelbach · Public domainworld · Europe
Imperial troops sack Rome
On 6 May 1527 an army serving the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V stormed the walls of Rome. The soldiers, German Landsknechts and Spanish infantry who had gone unpaid for months, had marched on the city on their own account, and their commander, Charles, Duke of Bourbon, was killed in the first assault. Without a leader they could obey, the troops plundered churches, palaces and homes for weeks, while Pope Clement VII took refuge in the Castel Sant’Angelo. Most of the Pope’s Swiss Guard died covering his escape, and new guardsmen are still sworn in on 6 May each year in their memory.
Source: Encyclopaedia Britannica: Sack of Rome (1527) ↗
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