CRISTO RAUL.ORG

READING HALL

THE DOORS OF WISDOM

CHAPTER IX.

Clement VII and Italy at War with Charles V.—The Raid of the Colonna.

The exorbitant demands made by the victor of Pavia were followed by a natural reaction; this took the shape of the great coalition known as the League of Cognac. To the Italians, in whom thoughts of nationality were stirring, the long-wished-for moment seemed to have come to grasp their freedom and independence. In the opinion of Giberti the war was not undertaken on behalf of affronted honour, nor for revenge, nor to establish the supremacy of this or that city—the stake was the freedom or the perpetual slavery of Italy; never had a more favourable opportunity been given than now to clip the wings of the ever-threatening eagle.

The Pope’s confidant had deceived himself in a matter of the gravest consequence. In the first place, the stipulations agreed to at Cognac were of such a character that, even in case of success, far more influence would accrue to France in the affairs of Italy than would be compatible with the real independence of that sorely tried country. Still more prejudicial was the diversity of personal aims among the members of the League. The Italians hoped, with the help of France, to shake off the Spanish yoke, while Francis I really only wished to make use of the Italians in order to set at naught the Peace of Madrid. Lastly, as regards Francesco Sforza, hard pressed by the Spaniards and in extreme danger in the citadel of Milan, the conclusion of the League was premature, since the forces necessary for his relief were anything but ready;  in Rome these circumstances were completely overlooked. As soon as it was known for a certainty that the League was settled there was an outburst of strong warlike feeling throughout the city.

Orders were given without delay that the Papal troops should concentrate at Piacenza, and everything was done to hasten the advance of the Venetians and Swiss against Lombardy. Arrangements were made as if war against Charles had already been declared. In the first week of June, Guido Rangoni, Vittello Vitelli, and Giovanni de' Medici were enlisted in the service of Florence and of the Pope. Francesco Guicciardini, who had distinguished himself, under very difficult circumstances, as Governor of the ever-restless Romagna, undertook the post of Commissary-General with almost unlimited powers over the army. In Papal circles the most comprehensive plans were proposed for the expulsion of the Imperialists from Italy. The first necessity was to guarantee the safety of Rome and the Papal States prisoners were to be confined in the city itself; it was forbidden to carry arms; the Spaniards were closely watched; no one could travel through the Papal States or Florentine territory without special permission; no one was allowed to raise troops for the enemy. As a safe­guard against the Colonna there was a scheme for seizing Paliano and cutting it off from Naples by the help of the Conti and Gaetani. It was taken for granted that actual war would begin with the capture of the citadel of Milan by Papal and Venetian troops; this having been successful, the Milanese territory would be occupied as thoroughly as possible, and there the arrival of the French and Swiss would be awaited. But at the same time combined attack was to be made on the Imperialists from many other quarters: in Genoa by Andrea Doria; in Siena with the help of the exiles; in Naples by co-operation with the Orsini, and in Apulia by means of a Venetian fleet. There were further projects of obtaining aid from Savoy and the enemies of Charles in Germany. Moreover, to the Venetians was given the task of blockading the passes of the Alps so as to prevent the Imperialists being reinforced from Germany. By these united efforts it was hoped to break down the Emperor’s power, and to replace Italy in the position which she held prior to 1494.

The Pope, who on other occasions was so extraordinarily nervous and apprehensive, shared Giberti’s warlike spirit and his certainty of victory. Both, however, were gravely in error concerning friends and foes alike. They rated the strength of the former too high and that of the latter too low ; neither of them weighed the fact that the last thing for which the Papal finances were adequate was the cost of a war; both believed too easily that their hopes would be realized, and allowed themselves to be drawn into an undertaking the execution of which would have taxed to the utmost even the capacities of a Julius II.

As soon as Charles V became aware of the danger threatening him he determined to break through the enemy’s circle. Ugo de Moncada, already distinguished in the Spanish service by his craft and boldness, and hated for his cruelty towards his foes, was appointed to carry out the enterprise. The choice seemed unfortunate even to so sympathetic an Imperialist as Castiglione, for Moncada belonged to the “Exaltados”, whose policy aimed at the subjection of all Italy to Spanish military despotism.

Moncada first turned to Francesco Sforza in order to induce him to desert the League. On the failure of this mission he betook himself to Rome, which he reached on the 16th of June. He came, “with a barrelful of promises”, too late, for three days before, the College of Cardinals had approved the League of Cognac.

Charles had instructed Moncada to try to bring the Pope to terms in a friendly way, or else, following the suggestion of Cardinal Colonna, to compel him by raising insurrection in Rome, Siena, and Florence, and driving him from the city. The Imperial instruction, dated the 11th of June 1526, closed with the words: “If you are unsuccessful in gaining Clement, speak secretly to Cardinal Colonna, so that he may set in hand, as if on his own initiative, the matter recommended by his agents, and give him privily every support.” The representations and offers of Moncada and Sessa were quite ineffectual, as might have been foreseen from the explicit declaration made to the latter by Clement on the 9th of June. The Pope, prompted by Giberti, insisted on his treaty obligations. Without the consent of his allies, he could not come to terms with the Emperor. The proud Spaniards had not believed this to be possible, and, enraged at the blunt rejection of the ample inducements offered by them, they left the Vatican. On this occasion Sessa mounted a buffoon behind him whose grimaces gave expression to the Ambassador’s feelings. In accordance with the Emperor’s instructions, the Spanish envoys began at once to lay the train for a revolution in Rome.

The circumstances were exceptionally favourable to such a scheme. The Romans were exceedingly incensed by the many taxes necessitated by the preparations for war. When, in the last week of June, the butchers were laid under a fresh impost, they refused to pay and—a sufficiently significant circumstance—took refuge from the threatened arrests with the Imperial Ambassador. Sessa, in fact, forced the Papal police to withdraw without having attained their object. Meanwhile Rome was full of excitement, and two hundred Spaniards gathered round Sessa’s palace. The Government, in consequence, was weak enough to remove the tax, but the levy of troops for the protection of Rome continued. The Pope also called to his assistance the house of the Orsini, for he had not only the Roman populace to fear but the great Imperialist family of Colonna. To all appearances the latter had hitherto behaved peaceably;  but the ashes were smouldering, and it only needed a puff of wind to rekindle them into flame. Cardinal Colonna, Clement’s old enemy, could not forget that the latter had taken from him the tiara. Although this ambitious man had received the Vice-Chancellorship and numerous marks of favour from Clement, yet he thought himself insufficiently rewarded and, indeed, even placed in the background. Since the autumn of 1525 the breach between him and the Pope had become notorious. The Cardinal, in wrath and muttering threats of vengeance, had withdrawn to the strongholds of his family and there remained in spite of a Papal monition. The anti-Imperial policy of the Pope had raised his anger to the uttermost, and he repeatedly proposed to the Ambassadors of Charles to let loose a revolution against Clement in Rome, Siena, and Florence. The Emperor had yielded, and his representatives, Moncada and Sessa, protected by the right of nations, were now proceeding to enter more closely into the arrangements. On the 27th of June Moncada went to Gennezzano; Sessa, who had already, on the feast of SS. Peter and Paul, presented the palfrey, but without the usual tribute, went immediately afterwards to Naples to collect money and troops; both travelled with Papal passports.

While the Imperialists were thus acting secretly against the Pope, the latter had entered openly on his contest with Charles. His Brief of the 23rd of June 1526 brought this about. This document contained a complete account of the relations which had existed between the Emperor and Clement since the election of the latter. While endeavouring to justify his own policy he submitted the conduct of the Emperor to a criticism which was not only severe but perhaps immoderate. From the beginning of his pontificate he had made every reasonable attempt not only to maintain the general peace of Christendom, but especially to preserve friendly relations with Charles; but since these overtures had not been reciprocated, and had even been repelled, and the Emperor, either at the instigation of his advisers or from personal inclination and ambition, had determined to diminish and overpower the states of Italy and the Holy See, the Pope had been forced, after long delay and the final pressure of necessity, to declare a war of self-defence. In order to substantiate this position, Clement produced a long array of facts. While Cardinal he had been loyal to the Emperor, and had shirked no sacrifice on his account; likewise, after his elevation to the Papacy, although bound by his office to observe a strict neutrality, he had supported to the best of his power the Imperial interests in Italy, so far as was compatible with the due exercise of his functions as universal Father of Christians and with the interests of the Church.

The alliance with Francis had become a necessity owing to the pressure of circumstances and the strong persuasion of many persons. It had also been represented to him that by entering into the League he would secure great advantages. When the victory of Charles seemed to put an end to the war, he had at once concluded a treaty with him, assuring himself that thereby the greatest blessings would accrue to Italy and the whole of Christendom, and had given 100,000 ducats for the Imperial army, on condition of repayment in case the treaty should in any way be received with suspicion. Although the treaty had never been fully ratified, and the Emperor had thus left the Pope in the lurch, the latter had nevertheless, when informed of the secret intrigues concerning Pescara, apprised and warned Charles, thereby giving him evidence of his unchanging friendship. Again, when, to his sorrow and that of all Italy, Sforza lay besieged in Milan, and the Pope was pressed on all sides to take steps against Charles, the mission of Herrera had at once aroused the wish to come to a good understanding with the Emperor and caused all other counsels to be brushed aside. Herrera's proposals he had accepted almost without alteration ; and in a letter to Charles, written in his own hand, he had adjured him to disprove the charge of immoderate ambition by giving guarantees of peace to Italy, pardon to Sforza in the case of his surrender, and to afford protection to Clement himself.

In return, however, for all these and countless other marks of goodwill, the Pope received at the hands of the Imperialists only the most discourteous treatment. Clement VII could point to the calumnies and insults of the Imperial agents in Italy, in whose words Charles puts more trust than in his; the violence offered to his adherents in Siena, against which he had in vain called to the Emperor for aid; the non-fulfilment of the treaty with Lannoy, of which all the articles favourable to Charles had been complied with while those of advantage to the Pope had been discarded; the delay in repaying the 100,000 ducats; the quartering of Imperial troops on Papal territory contrary to the treaty stipulations and accompanied by brutal oppression on the part of the soldiery; the want of consideration shown in concealing from him the conditions of the negotiations with Francis I; the unjust treatment of Sforza, who had been condemned without any preliminary inquiry; the attacks on the ecclesiastical rights of the Holy See; the concealment from the Papal agents of Lannoy’s dealings with Francis; the long sojourn of Moncada in France; the attempt to snatch Parma from the Pope, and so forth. All these circumstances had, of necessity, filled Clement with deep distrust of the Emperor and induced him to transfer his friendship from the latter to other monarchs better disposed towards him. Therefore, when Moncada, late and after long delay, came to him with fresh proposals, their acceptance was no longer possible, and nothing was left for the Pope to do but to take up arms perforce, not as a personal attack on the Emperor, but to beat off a threatening servitude and to restore a general peace. Once more he adjured the Emperor not to force him into this hard necessity, and no longer to be led by the lust of power, but to give back rest and peace to Christendom, and so gain for himself praise as the most virtuous of princes.

The Pope at once felt that in this despatch he had gone too far. On the 25th of June, before the Cardinals gathered in Consistory, he produced the draft of a short letter to the Emperor, couched in gentler terms, in which he announced that his Nuncio, Baldassare Castiglione, would explain the reasons compelling him to protect by force of arms the freedom of Italy and the Apostolic See. The Cardinals gave their approval to this document, and, in a Consistory on the 4th of July they resolved that on the following Sunday, the 8th, the League should be formally made public. After solemn ratification by the Pope on the 5th the publication took place amid such pomp and ceremony that Carpi reported that he had never in his life seen such a festival held in Rome.

In the meantime the war in upper Italy had begun.

At first the position of the Imperialists was one of great danger. The Imperial generals, almost wholly without money, found themselves opposed to the superior forces of their enemies in the midst of a population driven to the extremities of hatred and downright despair by the cruelties of the Spanish tyranny. Everything turned on the use that the Leaguers made of this fortunate moment for seizing the citadel of Milan by a sudden assault. No one saw this more clearly than the Commissary-General of the Papal troops, Francesco Guicciardini. His plan was to move the troops swiftly and simultaneously on Milan, and to fall without delay on the Imperialists, even if the arrival of the Swiss and French did not take place; for to remain inactive would ruin all. Giberti was also of the same opinion, having already begun to feel anxious at the non-appearance of French help.

The Commander-in-Chief of the Venetians, Francesco Maria della Rovere, Duke of Urbino, took an entirely different view; he found Guicciardini’s plan much too bold, and would do nothing without the Swiss. In consequence of this division days were lost when every hour was precious. On the 21st of June Canossa wrote: “Our victory was assured, but is now so uncertain that I, for my part, have lost hope”.

While the allies were making excuses for their inaction, the Imperialists were able to repress a rising in Milan and to take measures for defence ; but their position was still very precarious, especially now that Pescara was gone, and they had not more than ten or eleven thousand men to set against the strong force of three-and-twenty thousand opposing them. On the 24th of June the Imperialists lost the town of Lodi through treachery. The passage of the Adda was now secured to the allies, and the conjunction of the Papal and Venetian troops might have taken place by the end of June. Giberti rejoiced; he saw in spirit the country of his birth freed from the Spaniard. As a matter of fact, no obstacle lay between the army of the League and the walls of Milan, where the people awaited them, in the anguish of suspense, as deliverers from the inhumanity of the Spaniards; the hapless Sforza still held out in the citadel. But the Duke of Urbino obstinately refused to give battle before the arrival of the Swiss, therefore his advance was very slow. His procrastination gave the Constable de Bourbon time to send money and fifteen hundred Spaniards to the help of the Imperialists. On the 7th of July the Duke of Urbino at last ventured on an attack; because he was not at once successful, he gave orders to fall back in spite of all Guicciardini’s counter­representations. His retreat was very like a flight. To such a leader might be applied in an altered form the saying of Caesar: “He came, saw, and fled.” After the arrival of five thousand Swiss the Duke made a fresh advance, but with extreme slowness. On the 22nd of July he took up a strong position before Milan; on the 24th he was still considering his plan of action when the news came that the garrison of the citadel, reduced to starvation, had surrendered to the Spaniards, who had begun to think of leaving the city. The strange conduct of the Duke of Urbino gave rise at the time to the suspicion that he wished to revenge himself on Clement VII for what he had undergone at the hands of Leo X.

Simultaneously with these occurrences an unfavourable turn occurred on the scene of war in central Italy. The possession of Siena was at stake, a city of peculiar importance owing to its situation between Rome, Florence, and Lombardy. There, after the battle of Pavia, the party friendly to the Pope, after having obtained a position of mastery with the help of the Duke of Albany, was overthrown and driven out. The new Ghibelline government was entirely on the Emperor’s side, who claimed the city as his own. On the advice of Salviati, Clement made an attempt to recover this important position, and at the beginning of July a simultaneous attack from five quarters was made on the Sienese territory. The Count of Pitigliano advanced from the Maremma, Virginio Orsini through the Val d’Orcia, the troops of Perugia and the Florentines through the Va. d’Arbia; the remainder of the Florentines through the Val dell’Elsa; the seaports being attacked by Andrea Doria, who succeeded in at once taking Talamone and Porto Ercole. On land also everything at first went well; but afterwards Ugo de Moncada had the good luck to delay the march on Siena by introducing negotiations for peace. In the meantime, the leaders of the expedition fell out among themselves, each one having a different object in view. But the fatal error was the General’s want of forethought in neglecting to make his camp sufficiently secure. On the 25th of July the Sienese made a sortie, took thirteen cannon and routed the besiegers.

The news of the failure of the attack on Siena reached Rome at the same time as that of the surrender of the citadel of Milan. The consternation was great, and Clement VII’s grief at these misfortunes in the field was proportionate to his previous confidence. He complained bitterly of the Duke of Urbino, the Venetians, and Francis I; he had been deserted, he declared, by those for whom he had placed himself in danger. Among the Emperor’s friends hopes arose that the Pope might be led to abandon the League.

The Pope’s complaints were only too well justified. The help promised from France had, at this time, not yet arrived. The time of year favourable to military operations had gone by, and the Italians waited in vain for the succour of their French allies. This made a deep impression everywhere; even so blind a partisan of France as Canossa began to have a glimmering notion that his country was being betrayed by Francis I. His position in Venice became intolerable; by the middle of July he was urgently asking for his recall. Clement VII thought that one more attempt must yet be made; on the 19th of July he sent Sanga, a confidant of Giberti’s, to the French King to remind him, by earnest representations, of his obligations, and if possible to move him to give more supplies of money, and especially to undertake an expedition against Naples. All was in vain; the fickle King seemed to have repented of all his martial zeal and was squandering his time and his revenues on the chase, gambling, and women. England, moreover, held coldly aloof; the Italians and the Pope were isolated.

The Duke of Urbino had in the meantime begun the siege of Cremona, but conducted it with his usual timidity and dilatoriness. On the 3rd of September the Marquis of Saluzzo at last arrived, bringing with him only four thousand five hundred Frenchmen. Guicciardini was now urgently calling on the Duke to raise the siege of Cremona in order that he might devote himself to the capture of Genoa, in Giberti’s opinion an object of the first importance. Before the city a fleet of Papal, Venetian, and French ships had assembled and the siege had begun; but capture was out of the question without the co-operation of land forces. The distress within the city had reached the highest pitch, and the appearance of the Duke’s army before the walls would certainly have led to the surrender of this stronghold, but he seemed only to seek for pretexts to avoid action. When Cremona at last capitulated, on the 25th of September, the League gained little thereby. In Rome, meanwhile, the certainty of victory had given place to fears of defeat; Giberti himself had well-nigh lost all heart. The war dragged on while the allies, and especially the Pope, were finding the want of money almost insupportable. On the 1st of August the secretary of the French Embassy, Raince, described the condition of Clement VII: “I was with his Holiness yesterday, and do not think that I ever before saw a man so distracted, depressed, and care­worn as he was. He is half ill with disappointment, and said to me several times that he had never thought he could have been treated in such a way. You have no idea what things are said about us by persons of high standing in the Curia, on account of our delays and our behaviour hitherto. The language is so frightful that I dare not write it. The ministers of his Holiness are more dead than alive. You can picture to yourself that the enemy will make use of the situation.”

To Moncada, who had never left the Colonna, the moment appeared to have come to carry out the Emperor’s advice, and to take vengeance on the Pope. The way in which he set to work betrayed the politician trained in the school of the Borgia. His plan was to lull Clement into security by means of a reconciliation with the Colonna, to bring about the disarmament of his troops, and then to fall upon the defenceless Pope.

The enterprise succeeded beyond all expectation. The first step of importance was to discover exactly the Pope’s feelings and position and to deceive him as regards the intentions of the Colonna. The sojourn of Moncada in the castles of this family was likely to arouse strong suspicion, therefore throughout July the Colonna maintained an appearance of perfect quiet. That he might keep in touch with affairs in Rome, Sessa, who had fallen ill at Marino, asked the Pope’s leave to return in order to have medical treatment. Clement VII, himself a sufferer at the time, gave his permission. In the Eternal City, where the plague was raging, Sessa's illness soon took a fatal turn but he still had time to show gratitude for the favour granted to him by letting the Colonna and Moncada know in what straits the Pope found himself, especially in his finances. The Colonna had been busily increasing their forces, but to outward appearance had kept perfectly quiet. On the 12th of August the Florentine envoy reported: “No anxiety is felt from the quarter of the Colonna nor from Naples. They are much more frightened for themselves on account of the Venetian fleet expected at Civita Vecchia”. On the 18th of August Sessa died. Shortly before, a fresh Ambassador from Francis had presented himself before Clement, the historian, Guillaume du Bellay, Sire de Langey. It was soon understood that he only brought general assurances of his master’s goodwill. The Florentine envoy who reports this adds: “Here all is quiet, and no suspicions are aroused”. Instead of bringing the expected help, the French agent produced fresh claims on behalf of Francis; he demanded a tenth of the Church revenues of France for his sovereign and a Cardinal’s hat for the Chancellor Du Prat. This must have put the Pope in great ill humour.

Moncada now held that the moment was propitious for entering into negotiations with Clement. At the same time, the Colonna were suddenly to assume a threatening attitude and take possession of Anagni. Moncada asked Clement to give him a free hand in the settlement of the affairs of Italy, but afterwards backed out of the transaction, leaving it to the Colonna alone to draw the Pope into the trap laid for him, since by a settlement of their quarrel Clement would not formally violate his pledges to the League. Vespasiano Colonna, son of Prospero, played the part of mediator. In him, from an early period, Clement VII had placed special confidence; hard pressed by want of money, he listened to the proposals of reconciliation made by Vespasiano in the name of his whole house. In spite of Giberti’s warnings a treaty with the Colonna, to which Moncada was a party , was signed on the 20th of August 1526; they undertook to evacuate Anagni and withdraw their troops into the kingdom of Naples. The Pope pardoned all past injuries, removed the monition against Cardinal Colonna, and guaranteed to the whole house the possession of their properties. On the 26th of August the secretary of the Spanish Embassy, Perez, wrote in triumph from Rome that the Pope, since his treaty with the Colonna, felt himself perfectly safe; he was in great want of money, and dissatisfaction in Rome was increasing.

Relying on the treaty, Clement, whose first object was to reduce expenditure, notwithstanding warnings of all sorts from those around him, cut down the garrison of Rome to five hundred men, and resumed his negotiations with the Ambassador of France. With a reference to the untrustworthy accounts given by Sanga, he complained bitterly that French support was slow in coming, and in order to stimulate Francis to some enthusiasm for the war, he proposed that the latter should have Milan as his share of the booty, thereby totally surrendering all thought of Italian independence.

While these discussions were taking place came the disastrous news of the total destruction of the Hungarian army by the Turks at Mohacs. Clement was profoundly shaken, and in a Consistory on the 19th of September 1526, spoke of going to Barcelona to treat of peace in person. Yet he was still anxious, first of all, to break the excessive power of the Emperor, who at that very moment was equipping his fleet with all energy and, according to reports current in Rome, was threatening to pass over into Italy and to renounce his obedience.

Clement had not yet recovered from the alarm caused by the Turkish victory when he was prostrated by the announcement that the Colonna, with more than five thousand men, had appeared at Anagni with the avowed intention of marching upon Rome. The Pope, who had hitherto refused to believe in the treachery of Vespasiano, gave orders that the gates of the city should be closed and that troops should be raised on the following morning. But it was already too late; the enemy, led by Vespasiano and Ascanio Colonna, as well as by Cardinal Pompeo, had marched with such furious speed —they must have covered sixty miles in four-and-twenty hours—that in the early morning of the 20th of September, they were already before the walls of the defenceless city. By a stratagem they got possession of the Porta S. Giovanni and two other gates and made their way, without meeting any hindrance, through the city as far as the SS. Apostoli. Their rendezvous was the Colonna palace, where they rested for three hours and refreshed themselves with food and drink. On hearing of the raid, the Pope, who was in deadly terror, sent two Cardinals to the Colonna, and two others to the Capitol to call upon the Romans for protection. These messengers effected nothing; the people, bitterly incensed by the recent taxation, attributing every hardship and irregularity of government to Clement himself, and hating him besides for his excessive parsimony, showed themselves much less inclined to take up arms than to allow the Colonna to proclaim themselves their masters. The latter had done no one any harm; it was much more likely that they had come to free Rome from Papal tyranny. This feeling, indeed, was so widespread that the cry for freedom found many echoes, and the Colonna were hailed with joy. Thus it was that the Romans quietly watched the inroad of these marauders as if it were a spectacle; they showed the same inaction when, towards midday, the wild hordes again set themselves in motion and advanced further into the city with shouts of “Empire, Colonna, Freedom!”. They took possession of the Ponte Sisto, moved quickly along the Lungara, stormed the Porta S. Spirito, stoutly defended by Stefano Colonna, who adhered to the Pope's service, and spread themselves in plundering parties over the Vatican quarter.

The Pope, who had at first intended, like Boniface VIII, to await his enemies seated on his throne, had, by midday, yielded to the persuasions of those around him and taken flight, by the covered way, to the castle of St. Angelo. The few Swiss who remained in the Vatican offered no serious resistance. Soon the Vatican, St. Peter’s, and a great portion of the Borgo were in the hands of the marauders, plundering and destroying unchecked. They shrank from no infamy or sacrilege. Relics, crosses, sacred vessels, and vestments were stolen, and even the altar of St. Peter was stripped of its costly ornaments and profaned. Soldiers were seen wearing the white garments and red cap of the Pope, and giving in mockery the solemn Papal blessing. “Such deeds of shame”, wrote a German, then dwelling in Rome, in his diary, “have not been heard of for centuries, and are an abhorrence to all Christian men”. A Venetian recalled a prediction that the altar of St. Peter would be plundered, and compared the ravages of the Colonna with those of the Turks.

The costliest loot was found in the Vatican, where Raphael’s tapestries and the Papal tiara fell into the plunderers’ hands. Girolamo Negri, Secretary of Cardinal Cornaro, has described in detail and as a spectator the havoc wrought in the Vatican and its precincts in the late afternoon of that horrible 20th of September 1526. “The Papal palace”, so recounts this eye-witness,” was almost completely stripped even to the bedroom and wardrobe of the Pope. The great and the private sacristy of St. Peter's, that of the palace, the apartments of prelates and members of the household, even the horse-stalls were emptied, their doors and windows shattered; chalices, crosses, pastoral staffs, ornaments of great value, all that fell into their hands, was carried off as plunder by this rabble; persons of distinction were taken prisoners. The dwelling and stable of Monsignor Sadoleto were plundered; he himself had taken refuge in St. Angelo. Almost all the apartments on the corridors were treated in like manner except those of Campeggio, which were defended by some Spaniards. Ridolfi lost everything; Giberti had removed some of his articles of value, but lost not a few. Among other damage, his porcelain, worth 600 ducats, was broken in pieces. Messer Paolo Giovio, in his History, will be able to recall misfortunes like those of Thucydides, although he, with a presentiment of harm, had concealed in the city, some days before, the best of his belongings. Members of the Emperor’s party, such as Vianesio Albergati and Francesco Chieregati, found that circumstance availed them nothing as regarded the safety of their persons or their property. Berni was plundered out and out; they searched for his correspondence with Giberti, which he had carried on as Sanga’s substitute, but had to desist owing to an alarm. The coffers of all the clerical offices, those of the Piombi, of the Secretariat, and so forth, were cleared out Very little, in short, was left uninjured. A good round sum for drink money saved the library.” While all the houses in the Borgo Vecchio were plundered, their inhabitants ill-treated and carried off as captives, the plunderers did not venture to molest the Borgo Nuovo. That was swept by the heavy artillery of the fortress, and everything that showed itself there or along the walls of the approach to St. Angelo was within range of fire. “At last,” says Negri in conclusion, “whether the enemy were tired out, or had had enough of pillage, or were afraid that the Romans might, after all, come to the rescue of the Pope, they withdrew in such disorder that a very small body of troops could have routed them and taken their booty from them. A few lingered behind the others as far as the Ponte Sisto, but afterwards betook themselves back to the haunts of the Colonna faction.” The total damage was estimated at 300,000 ducats.

The Pope had thought, for a moment, of acting on the defensive; but since the castle of St. Angelo, owing to the carelessness of the castellan, Guido de’ Medici, and the greed of the treasurer, Cardinal Armellini, was not sufficiently provided with either victuals or soldiers, he was forced that very evening to confer, through the Portuguese Ambassador, with Moncada. The latter, much to the disgust of Colonna, who had thought of besieging the Pope in St. Angelo, visited the Pontiff, handed back to him his silver staff and the tiara which had been stolen, and assured him that Charles had never sought the supremacy over Italy. Nevertheless, their negotiations had no result. On the following morning Moncada returned and had a long interview with the Pope, while the Cardinals waited in an adjoining room. The treaty which Clement, on the 2 1st of September, in spite of the counter-representations of Carpi and the Venetian envoys, considered himself forced to accept, was very unfavourable. The terms were: an armistice for four months; the Pope to withdraw his troops and fleet; full pardon for the Colonna and their dependents; their troops to accompany Moncada to Naples; as sureties Filippo Strozzi, the husband of Clarice de' Medici, and a son of Jacopo Salviati to be given as hostages to Moncada.

On the 22nd of September the Colonna, in great confusion and laden with precious spoils, withdrew to Grottaferrata. Their leaders, especially the Cardinal, were extremely dissatisfied; they had hoped to have become complete masters of Rome and to have deposed and perhaps killed the Pope. Moncada, on the other hand, who had sent the Emperor a triumphant account of the success of the raid, considered that his object, the disruption of the League, had been accomplished. He deceived himself; neither the Colonna nor the Pope intended to keep their treaty. The former protested, as they thought that Moncada had overreached them, while the latter could not get over the humiliation inflicted on him by his own vassals, and thought it his duty to vindicate his reputation by the punishment of the guilty on the first opportunity. Clement felt specially grieved at the ingratitude and disloyalty of Vespasiano Colonna, whom he had treated like a favoured son; nor was he less distressed by the behaviour of the Romans he even spoke of leaving Rome for a length of time in order that the inhabitants might know what Rome was without the Pope. The Cardinals, too, were highly indignant at the unheard-of acts of violence and sacrilege that had been committed, and called for summary punishment.

In such a state of feeling special representations, such as were now made to the Pope by the Venetian envoy, were hardly necessary. Domenico Venier pointed out in spirited terms that in the matter of cunning Moncada was no better than the Colonna; that preparations for war must be made, since the Emperor, on the first possible opportunity, would lead his army into Italy, now that he saw how easy it was to take possession of the city and bring the head of the Church into subjection. In Rome it was said that if the Pope submitted tamely to the unprecedented insult offered to him he might as well lay down the triple crown and withdraw from the world as a solitary. Guicciardini, the Commander-in-Chief of the Papal troops, was, on the contrary, most urgent in his counsels that he should adhere to this disgraceful treaty that had been extorted from him. Clement, as a matter of fact, soon showed that he had no inclination to do so. It was not his intention either to leave the Colonna unpunished or to withdraw from the League. He certainly ordered Guicciardini to withdraw across the Po, but he gave him secret instructions to leave as many troops as possible with Giovanni de’ Medici, who, as he was in the French service, was still a member of the League.

In order to get help from France and England, Clement sent, by the 24th of September, Paolo d’ Arezzo to Francis I and Girolamo Ghinucci to Henry VIII. At the same time he addressed personally to the French King, who had hitherto confined himself to empty promises, a long letter containing a harrowing account of the inroad of the Colonna, accompanied by the most pressing appeals for help. On the 26th of September a monition was published against participation in the raid. Two days later the Pope assembled the Cardinals in Consistory to discuss his own situation as well as that of Hungary. He declared himself ready for extremities; his own wish was to take part in the Turkish war or to proceed to Nice to arrange a peace between Francis and Charles. The majority, especially the older Cardinals, recommended that he should take his departure soon and go on board the galleys lying ready at Civita Vecchia, “with what ulterior thought in their heads, God knows!”, remarked the French Ambassador’s secretary. Farnese, on the contrary, who was considered the cleverest and most experienced of the Cardinals, raised objections which gave Clement so much ground for reflection that he again gave up his schemes of travel. The news from upper Italy also influenced him in this decision.

The determination of the Pope to remain in Rome necessitated measures to prevent another onset of the Colonna; this appeared to be all the more necessary as in the beginning of October they were again arming, and their friends were plundering boldly in the Campagna. But the task was a difficult one in view of the enormous expenses already caused by the war. A sale of seats in the Sacred College was proposed; Clement, however, who on this point felt much more strongly than his contemporaries, gave a decided refusal. A committee of Cardinals now made other proposals for raising the money required; the Roman and Tuscan clergy were to contribute; in that way the city would be fortified and garrisoned most expeditiously. By the 13th of October seven thousand men had been collected in Rome. In the presence of these preparations Moncada gave way to open threats which only strengthened the Pope in his determination to take measures of precaution. One night the whole garrison of Rome was given the alarm in order to prove with what rapidity the male population could assemble in the event of a second raid.

By the end of October Clement thought himself strong enough to undertake the chastisement of the Colonna. New and far-reaching promises of the French King, who had expressed his definite intention of entering Italy at the head of his forces to protect the Apostolic See, had filled him with confidence and courage. On the 7th of November the Cardinals, assembled in Consistory, determined to issue citations upon Pompeo Colonna and the other members of his house who had taken part in the raid. The Apostolic Chamber opened in due form the process against the collective participators in the raid. The proceedings against the Cardinal were held before the Consistory. As Pompeo, who was at Naples, disregarded the citation, but appealed to a Council, proceedings against him were begun on the 16th of November, ending, on the 21st, with sentence of deprivation of all his dignities.

The campaign against the Colonna had, meanwhile, begun before the expiration of the four months’ armistice agreed upon in the treaty of the 21st of September. Vitello Vitelli commanded the Papal troops, which advanced victoriously amidst frightful devastation: Marino, Montefortino, Gallicano, Zagarolo, and other places were taken and partly destroyed. Only Paliano and Rocca di Papa withstood all attacks.

The proceedings at the scene of war in Lombardy occupied the attention of the Pope no less than the fighting in the Campagna; there the allies, in spite of the withdrawal of the Papal forces, were still stronger than the Imperialists; yet the Duke of Urbino did nothing decisive, and the Marquis of Saluzzo maintained a like inactivity; thus time was given to Charles V to prepare himself. Important aid came to him from Germany through George von Frundsberg. The famous leader of the landsknechts pawned his towns and possessions in the Tyrol, even his beloved castle of Mindelheim, the cradle of his race, together with the personal ornaments of his wife. By this means he was able, it is true, to raise only 38,000 gulden; but none the less, when his trumpet sounded the rally, there streamed to him from all sides young men fit to carry arms, especially those of the new creed. “Many enemies, much honour”, said George ; he was determined with God’s help to come to the rescue of the Emperor and his people, since it was clear as day that the Pope was oppressing Charles, his noble army, and the house of Colonna. He held to it that it would be pleasing to God and mankind that the Pope, the instigator of the war, the Emperor’s greatest enemy, should be punished and hanged, should he have to do it with his own hand. Within three weeks more than ten thousand lusty soldiers, eager for plunder, had been gathered in the Southern Tyrol, each provided with the fee of a golden gulden. Stout and valorous captains such as Schertlin von Burtenbach and Conrad von Bemelberg likewise joined him.

The passes between the Lago di Garda and the Adige were held by the troops of the Duke of Urbino. But Frundsberg’s brother-in-law pointed out to the wild bands of landsknechts a way over the mountains between the lakes of Idro and Garda, a breakneck path where the men had to clamber like the chamois. By this passage they, on the 19th of November, reached the territory of Brescia without mishap, and thence, with little molestation from the enemy, into the confines—the so-called Serraglio—of Mantua. Here, enclosed on the west by ditches and a wall, on the south by the Po, and on the east by the Mincio, the landsknechts ought, according to the plans of the Marquis of Mantua, to have been entrapped and taken.

When Frundsberg, on the 23rd of November, reached Borgoforte, he found that the ships promised him by the Marquis were not there. As he saw that he had been deceived, he took care to secure the bridge of Governolo, the only egress from the Serraglio. Into what danger they had fallen the Germans found out for themselves when, on the following morning, the allies, commanded by the Duke of Urbino and Giovanni de' Medici, appeared at Borgoforte and tried to drive off Frundsberg’s troops from the narrow causeway leading to Governolo; but the landsknechts, armed with their hand guns, stood like a wall, turned at once to face the enemy, and when the latter drew near, made them retreat and drove them back. Thus they reached Governolo in safety, where money, provisions, and some artillery belonging to Ferrara fell into their hands. Duke Alfonso, who had been treating, for a long time, with both parties, went over finally to the side of the Emperor. At the very beginning of the fight the bold Giovanni de' Medici, the leader of the “Black Band”, was wounded, and on the 30th of November the man on whom the League and the Pope had placed all their hopes died of his wounds. Frundsberg, who had previously, on the 28th of November, effected his passage across the Po, now advanced on Guastalla; from this point he threatened the Papal forces encamped at Parma and Piacenza.

The news of the advance of the landsknechts, the accession of the Duke of Ferrara to the Imperialist side, and the fatal injuries of Giovanni de' Medici, reached Rome in the last days of November, when the city was in dangerous agitation owing to taxation, plague, and famine. Almost at the same time yet another alarming piece of intelligence arrived; Charles de Lannoy, with the Imperial fleet, was approaching the coasts of Italy. Clement now saw himself threatened from the sea, just as on the north he was exposed to the landsknechts bent on plunder and filled with hatred of the Pope. His fear was greater than ever, and he knew not whither to turn.

According to the report of the Milanese envoy Landriano on the 28th of November, Clement was most deeply affected by the desertion of the Duke of Ferrara to the Emperor. “The Pope”, wrote Landriano, “seemed struck dead. All the attempts of the Ambassadors of France, England, and Venice to restore him were in vain. Unless something unexpected takes place he will make a peace or someday take flight. He looks to me like a sick man whom the doctors have given up. From France nothing is heard, and this drives everyone to desperation”. A few days later the same envoy wrote in bitter derision that neither gold nor troops come from France, nor any news other than that the King is amusing himself well with dancing, “and we are more dead than alive. Here, in Bologna and Modena, we are arming in frantic haste, but it will avail nothing. The extreme necessity of the hour will force us to an agreement with the enemy”. The situation was such that even the Secretary of the French Embassy, Raince, admitted frankly that without speedy help from Francis I, the Pope could make no further resistance or stay longer in Rome. Clement himself had done all that was possible ; foreign help, in all probability, would now come much too late.

On the 30th of November the Cardinals consulted what was to be done. Three courses were proposed: pardon, flight, or an armistice. The opinions were divided; pardon was seen to be impossible, flight was ignominious and full of danger; it was determined as the best expedient to open negotiations. Quiñones, the General of the Franciscans, who was much beloved by the Emperor, was entrusted with the difficult mission, and by the 2nd of December he had started to meet Lannoy. The Pope waited with indescribable anxiety for further reports. All thought of flight from Rome seemed closed to him, for he knew that Cardinal Colonna would either summon him before a Council or procure his own election as antipope. Schonberg and his friends never ceased to work upon the harassed Pope by representing to him these dangers, while Carpi, Cardinal Trivulzio, Giberti, and the rest of the French party exerted themselves in the opposite direction. The fate of Florence lay nearest to Clement’s heart, for there disturbances had broken out and the advance of the landsknechts had caused many to flee, taking with them their wives, children, and goods.

In Rome also a panic of the same kind had arisen on the arrival of Lannoy in the harbour of San Stefano, from whence he could also march either on Florence or Rome. On the evening of the 29th of November Lannoy again set sail, and on the 1st of December he reached Gaeta. The galleys of the League which had been intended to hinder his approach reached San Stefano two days too late. “It really seems,” wrote the Secretary of the French Embassy, Raince, to Montmorency, “that all reasonable calculations are miscarrying, and that things could not turn out better than they are doing for the Imperialists.”

By a special Nuncio the Pope, on the 6th of December 1526, let Francis know what the dangers were into which he had fallen. All, except Giberti, were then advising the Pope to come to terms with the Emperor’s party. That even this partisan of France took the worst view of the situation is clear from his correspondence. “We are,” Giberti wrote on the 7th of December to the English Nuncio Gambara, “on the brink of ruin; fate has let loose upon us every kind of evil, so that it is impossible to add to our misery. It seems to me as if sentence of death had been passed upon us, and that we are only awaiting its execution, which cannot be long delayed.” But with the arrival of more favourable news concerning the help to be expected from France, Giberti at once changed his mind.

Clement, a prey to anxiety and impatience, had in the meantime sent Schonberg also to Naples to treat with Lannoy as to terms. The Pope himself was wavering : on the 11th of December he told the Florentine envoy that his heart was no longer in the war, since the allies were so tardy in their support and the conflict only increased the Emperor’s power. The conditions offered by Lannoy, which Quiñones brought back on the evening of the 12th of December, seemed to Giberti very hard and only acceptable in the last extremity. Lannoy demanded a six months’ truce, besides a war indemnity to be agreed upon later on, Ostia and Civita Vecchia or Parma and Piacenza being in the meantime held as preliminary guarantees; at the same time he seemed inclined to force on this exceptional peace by armed force. Still stronger pressure was used by Perez, the Secretary of the Spanish Embassy, acting probably on an understanding with Lannoy, who on the same day, the 12th of December, presented to the Pope with all official formality a series of documents setting forth with unprecedented harshness all the Emperor’s complaints of the Papal policy, and threatening Clement with a Council.