Back احتلال روما (1527) Arabic Рабаванне Рыма (1527) Byelorussian Разграбване на Рим (1527) Bulgarian Preizhadeg Roma (1527) Breton Saqueig de Roma (1527) Catalan Sacco di Roma Czech Sacco di Roma German Λεηλασία της Ρώμης (1527) Greek Disrabado de Romo (1527) Esperanto Saco de Roma Spanish

Sack of Rome (1527)

For other uses, see Sack of Rome.

Sack of Rome
Part of the War of the League of Cognac

The sack of Rome in 1527, by Johannes Lingelbach, 17th century (private collection)
Date6 May 1527; 496 years ago
Location
Rome, Papal States
Belligerents

Mutinous troops of Charles V:

Commanders and leaders
Strength
[1]

20,000+ (mutinous)

  • 14,000 German Landsknechte
  • 6,000 Spanish soldiers
  • Unclear number of Italian mercenaries
Casualties and losses
1,000 militiamen killed
458 Swiss Guards killed[1]		 Unknown
45,000 civilians dead, wounded, or exiled[2][3]

The Sack of Rome, then part of the Papal States, followed the capture of the city on 6 May 1527 by the mutinous troops of Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, during his war with the League of Cognac, known as the War of the League of Cognac. Despite being ordered not to storm the city, with Charles V intending to only use the threat of military action to make Pope Clement VII come to his terms, a largely unpaid Imperial army formed by 14,000 Germans, many of them Lutheran, 6,000 Spaniards and some Italian contingents occupied the scarcely defended Rome and began looting, slaying and holding citizens for ransom in excess without any restraint.[4] Clement VII took refuge in Castel Sant'Angelo after the Swiss Guard were annihilated in a delaying rearguard action; he remained there until a ransom was paid to the pillagers.

Benvenuto Cellini, eyewitness to the events, described the sack in his works. It was not until February 1528 that the spread of a plague and the approach of the League forces under Odet de Foix forced the army to withdraw towards Naples from the city. Rome's population had dropped from 55,000 to 10,000 due to the atrocities, famine, an outbreak of plague and flight from the city. The subsequent loss of the League army during the Siege of Naples secured a victory in the War of the League of Cognac for Charles V. The Emperor denied responsibility for the sack and came to terms again with Clement VII. On the other hand, the Sack of Rome further exacerbated religious hatred and antagonism between Catholics and Lutherans.

  1. ^ a b Clodfelter, Micheal (2017). Warfare and Armed Conflicts: A Statistical Encyclopedia of Casualty and Other Figures, 1492–2015, 4th ed. McFarland. ISBN 9780786474707.
  2. ^ Watson, Peter – Boorstin, Op. cit., p. 180 [full citation needed].
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference dailyhistory was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ Eggenberger, David (1985). An Encyclopedia of Battles: Accounts of Over 1,560 Battles from 1479 B.C. to the Present. Courier Corporation. p. 366. ISBN 978-1-4503-2783-1.