May 6, 1527

Sack of Rome (1527)

Imperial troops storm and begin sacking Rome

The army's commander was killed while climbing Rome's wall, just as the assault began — and the loss of command helped unleash the sack.

Morning of 6 May 1527, from the Janiculum

On the morning of 6 May 1527, Charles, Duke of Bourbon, launched assaults from the Janiculum area against Rome's Vatican-side defences.

Bourbon was mortally struck while scaling the defences at Porta del Torrione. Spanish mercenaries then broke through that gate while German Landsknechte entered the Borgo and the St Peter's area.

His was an underpaid army of German, Spanish and Italian troops, marching on a vulnerable Rome during the War of the League of Cognac after pay, plunder and leverage against Clement VII's anti-Habsburg policy.

147 of 189

Of the 189 Pontifical Swiss Guards, Vatican sources say 147 died defending Clement VII while 42 escorted him into Castel Sant'Angelo.

Their commander Kaspar Röist was wounded and then killed at home in front of his wife, according to the Guard's official history.

By nightfall Rome had been breached, organized restraint had largely collapsed, and the looting, killings, kidnapping, ransom-taking and sacrilege had begun. The pillage ran for a week, and many artists afterwards left the city.

What did not happen that day

Charles V was not there. The attackers were troops in his service, but the mutinous army was operating with severely weakened command, and Bourbon — who led the approach and the initial attack — died during the breach rather than directing the sack.

Clement VII did not make peace on 6 May. He stayed besieged in Castel Sant'Angelo and capitulated about a month later, on a date variously given as 5 or 6 June; he agreed to pay 400,000 ducats.

Benvenuto Cellini later claimed he had fired the shot that killed Bourbon. The claim comes from his own autobiography and cannot be independently verified.

Sources

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What the sources leave uncertain

Cellini’s claim to have fired the fatal shot at Bourbon comes from his own later autobiography and cannot be verified.
Civilian death totals and claims that the population fell to precisely 10,000 vary greatly and often combine deaths, disease, famine, captivity, and flight.
Sources variously date Clement VII’s formal capitulation to 5 or 6 June; either date is a month after the 6 May assault.