# 195 - Italian Wars 12 - The sack of Rome (again) and the end of the Sforza (1526 - 1530) Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/a-history-of-italy-1607818/195-italian-wars-12-the-sack-of-rome-again-and-the-end-of-the-sforza-1526-1530 Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/a-history-of-italy-1607818/195-italian-wars-12-the-sack-of-rome-again-and-the-end-of-the-sforza-1526-1530.md Podcast: [A History of Italy](https://stenobird.com/podcast/a-history-of-italy-1607818) Published: 2025-10-07T13:00:00+00:00 Episode link: https://www.sentiremedia.com/show/ahistoryofitalypodcast/ Audio file: https://mgln.ai/e/p28996/episodes.captivate.fm/episode/0bdc9280-b25a-4406-9e06-6415a2a075e5.mp3 Processing state: not_requested JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/a-history-of-italy-1607818/episodes/195-italian-wars-12-the-sack-of-rome-again-and-the-end-of-the-sforza-1526-1530 Duration seconds: 1127 ## Resource 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… ## Actions - request_transcript: `POST https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/a-history-of-italy-1607818/episodes/195-italian-wars-12-the-sack-of-rome-again-and-the-end-of-the-sforza-1526-1530/transcription-requests` — Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode. - read_markdown: `GET https://stenobird.com/podcast/a-history-of-italy-1607818/195-italian-wars-12-the-sack-of-rome-again-and-the-end-of-the-sforza-1526-1530.md` — Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource. A page view does not enqueue transcription. Agents should invoke `request_transcript` explicitly when they need this episode processed. ## Transcript Full transcripts are not published on public pages unless there is a clear rights basis.