Sack of Rome
May 6, 1527
Unpaid imperial troops, many of them Lutheran landsknechts, stormed Rome and spent eight days murdering, raping, and desecrating churches. Pope Clement VII cowered in the Castel Sant'Angelo as his Swiss Guards were butchered on the steps of Saint Peter's. The Italian Renaissance was effectively over. Artists and scholars scattered across Italy, paradoxically spreading the Renaissance ideas the sack had devastated.
In context
Also in 1527 (4 other events on record)
- Khanwa: Babur Defeats the Rajputs · South Asia · War
- Henry VIII Seeks His Great Matter · Europe · Religion
- Paracelsus Burns Galen · Europe · Science
- Cabot's Son Sebastian Sails · South America · Exploration
Before and after in Europe
Before and after in War
Era
Renaissance (1501–1650), one of 715 events from that era on Saeculum.