The emperor Charles V., irritated against the pope, Clement VII., his
mortal enemy, charged the duke of Bourbon, in 1527, to seek every means
in his power to avenge him upon the pontiff. The duke was a renegade
Frenchman, of considerable military skill, and a restless disposition.
He had quarrelled with his master, Francis I., and was deemed of so
much consequence as to be countenanced by Francis’s rival, Charles
V., and to be intrusted with the highest military command he could
confer. The duke was at the head of fourteen thousand men, who loved
and adored him, and who swore, Brantôme says, “to follow him wherever
he went, were it to the devil.” Followed by these troops, he marched
towards Rome, and immediately laid siege to it. The soldiers, animated
by the desire of pillage, mounted to the assault with incredible
energy, Bourbon encouraging them by his example. But as this prince,
with characteristic ambition, was endeavouring to be the first upon the
ramparts, he was killed by a musket-shot. The fall of the general, so
far from relaxing the valour of his soldiers, excited their vengeance;
they rushed more fiercely to the assault of the walls, they mowed down
their defenders like grass, quickly made themselves masters of Rome,
and committed the most frightful ravages.
This superb city, taken so many times by the barbarians, was never
pillaged with more fury than it was by the hands of Christians. The
Pope took refuge in the castle of St. Angelo, and was besieged with
such rancour, that a woman was hung for passing up to him a basket of
lettuce by a cord suspended from the castle. Cardinal Pulci, who was
shut up with the Pope, made an attempt to escape, which cost him his
life. He had scarcely left the castle when he fell from his horse; his
foot hung in the stirrup, and the animal dragged him at speed over the
bridge of the castle. After being blockaded for a month, and reduced
to great want of provisions, the Pope was forced to capitulate with
the prince of Orange, who had succeeded the duke of Bourbon in the
command of the imperial troops. He agreed to pay four hundred thousand
ducats, and to place himself at the disposal of the Emperor. Charles V.
affected regret at the detention of the Pontiff.
Eight days before this event, a man dressed as a hermit, of about
sixty years of age, went through the streets of Rome, about midnight,
sounding a handbell, and pronouncing with a loud voice the following
words: “The anger of God will soon fall upon this city!” The Pope
obtained nothing from the examination he made of this man; the severest
tortures could draw no more from him than this terrifying oracle: “The
anger of God will soon fall upon this city!” When the prince of Orange
became master of the city, he liberated him from prison, and offered
him a considerable sum of money. He, however, refused reward, three
days after disappeared, and was never again heard of.
The imperial army left Rome, loaded with a booty of more than eighteen
millions of crowns, every private soldier having an immense sum. The
obsequies of the duke of Bourbon were celebrated with great pomp, and
his body was conveyed to Gaeta.