The sack of Rome, 1527

Published by Macmillan , 1972, hardcover, ustrated, index, 343 pages, some minor wear to dustjacket otherwise condition: basically as new.

The sack of Rome shocked the Christian world. Following the battle of Pavia, Pope Clement VII joined the French-led League of Cognac to resist the threatened Habsburg domination of Europe. Emperor Charles V appealed to the German diet for support and raised an army, which entered Italy in 1527 and joined the imperial forces from Milan, commanded by the duke of Bourbon. This army marched on Rome, hoping to detach the pope from the league. The many Lutherans in its ranks boasted that they came with hemp halters to hang the cardinals and a silk one for the pope. Rome fell on 6 May 1527, Bourbon being killed in the first assault. Discipline collapsed, and the city was savagely pillaged for a week before some control was restored. Judith Hook's book is a classic narrative history of these events and one of the first to appear in English.

The Sack of Rome is one of the most important events in history. After Charles V destroyed Rome, the Pope wasn't about to mess with him again. So when Henry VIII asked for an annulment of his marriage to Charles' aunt Catherine, guess what the Pope said?