Episode
195 - Italian Wars 12 - The sack of Rome (again) and the end of the Sforza (1526 - 1530)
- Podcast
- A History of Italy
- Published
- Oct 7, 2025
- Duration seconds
- 1127
- Processing state
not_requested- Canonical source
- https://www.sentiremedia.com/show/ahistoryofitalypodcast/
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Summary
In this episode, we pick up with Emperor Charles V consolidating his power over Italy after the Battle of Pavia (1525) , where the French king Francis I was captured. The uneasy Italian states, including Pope Clement VII (Giulio de’ Medici) , soon realized they had traded one master for another and formed the League of Cognac (1526) — an anti-imperial alliance including France, Venice, Florence, the Papal States, Milan , and under English protection, Henry VIII . The league’s formation was steeped in intrigue, false pretenses, and even secret dealings with the Turks. One of Charles’s own commanders, the Marquis of Pescara , pretended to side with the league while feeding the emperor inside information. Meanwhile, Giovanni dalle Bande Nere , the famed mercenary from the Medici-Sforza line, met his end in battle, struck by artillery supplied by the duplicitous Duke of Ferrara . His death marked the fading of Italy’s old mercenary tradition — and one of its most charismatic figures. When the pope attempted to back away from the alliance, Charles’s allies struck at Rome. The Sack of Rome (1527) followed — a devastating episode where mutinous Landsknechts , many of them fervent Lutherans, unleashed horrific violence on the city. For days, the Eternal City was ravaged: thousands slaughtered, churches desecrated, art looted, and the Renaissance dream in Rome brutally extinguished. Pope Clement VII barely escaped to Castel Sant’Angelo , thanks to the sacrifice of his Swiss Guards. In the chaos that followed, the Papal States collapsed , local lords reclaimed their territories, and the Medici were expelled from Florence , where a new republic was declared — wi…