Sack of Rome

The Sack of Rome, then part of the Papal States, on 6 May 1527 was carried out by the mutinous troops of Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor during the War of the League of Cognac. The largely Protestant German Landsknechts, mutinying over unpaid wages, entered the city of Rome and sacked it in a manner reminiscent of the barbarian pillages committed 1,100 years earlier. Spanish soldiers and Italian mercenaries also took part in the sack. The sack debilitated the League of Cognac, an alliance formed by France, Milan, Venice, Florence and the Papacy against Charles V. Pope Clement VII took refuge in Castel Sant' Angelo, where he remained until a ransom was paid to the pillagers. Benvenuto Cellini, eyewitness to the events, described the sack in his works.

The growing power of Holy Roman Emperor Charles V alarmed Pope Clement VII, who perceived Charles as attempting to dominate the Catholic Church and Italy. In an effort to free both from Imperial domination , Clement VII formed an alliance with Charles V's arch-enemy, King Francis I of France, which came to be known as the League of Cognac.

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