Chapter IV: , VII (134)

And Clement hastened to prove the sincerity of his renewed
friendship by a professional contribution to the success of
their new alliance, in the welcome shape of a plenary
absolution from all observance of the oaths so sworn. … On
the 22nd of May following [at Cognac], the Pope entered into a
formal league with Francis [called 'Holy' for the reason that
the Pope was a party to it]. Venice joined her troops to those
of the Ecclesiastical States, and they marched together to the
support of the Milanese, who had risen in revolt against the
Emperor. Assistance had also been promised by Henry of
England, who had stipulated, however, that he should not be
named as a party to the alliance, but only considered as its
protector. This was the most strenuous and most united attempt
Italy had yet made to rid herself of the domination of the
stranger, and patriotic hopes beat high in several Italian
hearts. … It may be easily imagined that the 'Most Catholic'
monarch [Charles V.] felt towards Clement at this time in a
manner which led him to distinguish very nicely between the
infallible head of the universal Church and the sovereign of
the Ecclesiastical States. … Though he retained the utmost
respect and reverence for the vicegerent of heaven, he thought
that a little correction administered to the sovereign of Rome
would not be amiss, and nothing could be easier than to find
means ready to his hand for the infliction of it. The Colonnas
were of course ready for a rebellion on the slightest
encouragement. … So when Don Ugo di Moncada, Charles's
general at Naples, proposed to the Colonnas to join him in a
little frolic at Clement's expense, the noble and most
reverend members of that powerful family jumped at the
proposal. … The united forces of the Viceroy and the
Colonnas accordingly one morning entered Rome, altogether
without opposition, and marched at once to the Vatican.
{1839}
They completely sacked, not only the Pope's palace, and the
residences of many gentlemen and prelates, but also, says the
historian [Varchi], 'with unheard-of avarice and impiety,'
robbed the sacristy of St. Peter of everything it contained.
Clement had barely time to escape into the castle of St.
Angelo; but as he found there neither soldiers nor ammunition,
nor even food for above three days, … he consented to a
treaty by which the Pope agreed to pardon the Colonnas freely
for all they had done against him; to take no steps to revenge
himself on them; to withdraw his troops from Lombardy; and to
undertake nothing in any way, or under any pretext, against
the Emperor." As a hostage for the fulfilment of this treaty,
Pope Clement gave his dear friend Filippo Strozzi; but no
sooner was he delivered from his captors than he hired seven
"black companies" of adventurers and 2,000 Swiss, and began a
furious war of extermination upon the Colonnas and all their
dependents. At the same time he wrote private letters to the
heads of his "Holy League," "warning them to pay no heed to
any statement respecting a treaty made by him with the
Emperor, and assuring them of his intention to carry on the
war with the utmost energy." A little later, however, this
remarkable Holy Father found it convenient to make another
treaty with the Viceroy of Naples, for the release of his
friend Strozzi, which bound him still more to friendly
relations with the Emperor. This latter treaty, of March,
1527, "would seem in some sort to imply the reconciliation
once again of the Pope and the Emperor." But Charles had
already set forces in motion for the chastisement of the
faithless Pope and his allies, which either he could not or
did not care to arrest. "The Constable Bourbon, whom the gross
injustice of Francis I., and the intolerable persecution of
his infamous mother, Louise de Savoie, had driven to abandon
his country and allegiance [see FRANCE: A. D. 1520-1523], …
was now … marching southwards, with the imperial troops, to
chastise the different members of the League against the
Emperor, which Clement, as has been seen, had formed. George
Frundsberg, a German leader of reputation, had also crossed
the Alps with 15,000 men,—'all Lutherans and Lanzknechts,' as
the Italians write with horror and dismay,—and had joined
these forces to the Spaniards under Bourbon. … The combined
force was in all respects more like a rabble rout of brigands
and bandits than an army; and was assuredly such as must, even
in those days, have been felt to be a disgrace to any
sovereign permitting them to call themselves his soldiers.
Their pay was, as was often the case with the troops of
Charles V., hopelessly in arrear, and discipline was of course
proportionably weak among them. … The progress southward of
this bandit army … filled the cities exposed to their inroad
with terror and dismay. They had passed like a destroying
locust swarm over Bologna and Imola, and crossing the
Apennines, which separate Umbria from Tuscany, had descended
into the valley of the Arno not far from Arezzo. Florence and
Rome both trembled. On which would the storm burst? That was
the all-absorbing question. Pope Clement, with his usual
avarice-blinded imbecility, had, immediately on concluding the
above-mentioned treaty with the Neapolitan viceroy, discharged
all his troops except a body-guard of about 600 men. Florence
was nearly in as defenceless a position"; but a small army of
the League, under the Duke of Urbino, was at Incisa, and it
was "probably the presence of this army, little as it had
hitherto done to impede the progress of the enemy, which
decided Bourbon eventually to determine on marching towards
Rome. It seems doubtful how far they were in so doing,
executing the orders, or carrying out the wishes, of the
Emperor. … Upon the whole we are warranted in supposing that
Bourbon and Frundsberg would hardly have ventured on the
course they took, if they had not had reason to believe that
it would not much displease their master. … On the 5th of
May [1527] Bourbon arrived beneath the walls of Rome. … On
the evening of the 6th of May the city was stormed and given
over to the unbridled cupidity and brutality of the soldiers.
… Bourbon himself had fallen in the first moments of the
attack."

_T. A. Trollope,
History of the Commonwealth of Florence,
book 10, chapter 3 (volume 4)._

ALSO IN:
_T. A. Trollope,
Filippo Strozzi,
chapter 7._

_W. Robertson,
History of the Reign of Charles V.,
book 4 (volume 2)._

_L. von Ranke,
History of the Reformation in Germany,
book 4, chapters 1-3._

ITALY: A. D. 1527.
The Sack of Rome by the Spanish and German Imperialists.

"Bourbon fell at the first assault; but by evening the Vatican
suburb was in the hands of the enemy. Clement, who was even
best informed of the state of things, had not anticipated such
an issue. He scarcely saved himself by flight from the Vatican
to the castle of St. Angelo, whither the fugitive population
hurried, as the shipwrecked crew of an entire fleet hastens to
a single boat which cannot receive them. In the midst of the
thronging stream of men, the portcullis was lowered. Whoever
remained without was lost. Benvenuto Cellini was at that time
in Rome, and was among the defenders of the walls. He boasted
that his ball had destroyed Bourbon. He stole fortunately into
the citadel, before it was closed, and entered the Pope's
service as bombardier. Even at this last moment, Clement might
have saved Rome itself, which, situated on the opposite shore
of the river, had not yet been entered by the enemy. They
offered to spare it for a ransom; but finding this too high,
and awaiting hourly Urbino's army, to which, though nothing
was yet to be seen of it, he looked as a deliverer in the time
of need, he would hear nothing of it. And thus the undefended
city fell into the hands of the imperialists. Almost without
resistance they entered Trastevere, a small quarter of the
city lying to the west of the Tiber; and then crossing the
bridges, which no one had demolished, they pressed forwards
into the heart of Rome. It was the depth of the night.
Benvenuto Cellini was stationed on the tower of the castle of
St. Angelo, at the foot of the colossal angel, and saw the
flames bursting forth in the darkness, and heard the sorrowful
cry all around. For it was late before the soldiers began to
cast off all restraint. They had entered quietly. The Germans
stood in battalions. But when they saw the Spaniards broken up
and plundering, the desire was aroused in them also; and now a
spirit of emulation appeared, as to which nation could outdo
the other in cruelty. The Spaniards, it is asserted by
impartial Italians, carried the day.
{1840}
There had been no siege, no bombardment, no flight of any
great extent; but as if the earth had opened, and had
disgorged a legion of devils, so suddenly came these hosts.
Everything was in a moment abandoned to them. We must
endeavour to conceive what kind of men these German soldiers
were. They formed an intermediate class between the prime and
the refuse of the people. Gathered together by the hope of
booty, indifferent what end was assigned them, rendered wild
by hunger and tardy pay, left without a master after the death
of their commander, they found themselves unrestrained in the
most luxurious city of the world—a city abounding with gold
and riches, and at the same time decried for centuries in
Germany, as the infernal nest of the popes, who lived there as
incarnate devils, in the midst of their Babylonian doings. The
opinion that the pope of Rome, and Clement VII. in particular,
was the devil, prevailed not only in Germany, but in Italy and
in Rome the people called him so. In the midst of plague and
famine he had doubled the taxes and raised the price of bread.
What with the Romans, however, was an invective arising from
indignation, was an article of faith among the Germans. They
believed they had to do with the real antichrist, whose
destruction would be a benefit to Christendom. We must
remember, if we would understand this fury of the German
soldiery, in whose minds, as in those of all Germans, Lutheran
ideas at that time prevailed, how Rome had been preached and
written upon in the north. The city was represented to people
as a vast abyss of sin; the men as villains, from the lowest
up to the cardinals; the women as courtesans; the business of
all as deceit, theft, and murder; and the robbing and deluding
of men that had for centuries been emanating from Rome, was
regarded as the universal disease from which the world was
languishing. Thither for centuries the gold of Germany had
flowed; there had emperors been humbled or poisoned; from Rome
every evil had sprung. And thus, while satiating themselves
with rapine and murder, they believed a good work was being
done for the welfare of Christendom, and for the avenge of
Germany. Never, however—this we know—does the nature of man
exhibit itself more beast-like, than when it becomes furious
for the sake of ideas of the highest character. Before the
castle of St. Angelo, which, carefully fortified with walls
and fosses, alone afforded resistance, the German soldiers
proclaimed Martin Luther as pope. Luther's name was at that
time a war-cry against pope and priestcraft. The rude
multitude surmised not what Luther desired when he attacked
the papacy. In front of St. Peter's church, they represented
an imitation of the papal election with the sacred garments
and utensils. They compelled one priest to give extreme
unction to a dying mule. One protested that he would not rest
until he had consumed a piece of the pope's flesh. It is true,
Italians for the most part relate this, but the German reports
themselves do not deny the excessive barbarity which was
permitted. Ten millions of precious metal was carried away.
How much blood did this money involve, and what was done to
those from whom it was taken? Fewer were put to death than
were plundered, says one of the records, but what does that
imply? It is true, the Germans often quarrelled with the
Spaniards, because the horrors which they saw them practise
were too terrible for them. Otherwise the sparing of human
life was less an act of clemency than of covetousness.
Prisoners of war were at that time regarded as slaves; they
were carried away as personal property, or a ransom was
extorted. … This system was carried to a great pitch in
Rome. The possessors of palaces were obliged to purchase their
ransom, the Spanish cardinals as well as the Italian—no
difference was made. Thus at least escape was possible. …
And as the people were treated, so were the things. Upon the
inlaid marble floor of the Vatican, where the Prince of Orange
took up his abode—the command of the army devolving upon him
after Bourbon's death—the soldiers lighted their fire. The
splendid stained glass windows, executed by William of
Marseilles, were broken for the sake of the lead. Raphael's
tapestries were pronounced excellent booty; in the paintings
on the walls the eyes were put out; and valuable documents
were given as straw to the horses which stood in the Sistine
Chapel. The statues in the streets were thrown down; the
images of the Mother of God in the churches were broken to
pieces. For six months the city thus remained in the power of
the soldiery, who had lost all discipline, Pestilence and
famine appeared. Rome had more than 90,000 inhabitants under
Leo X.; when Clement VII. returned a year after the conquest,
scarcely a third of that number then existed—poor, famished
people, who had remained behind, because they knew not whither
to turn. All this lay on the conscience of the man who now for
months had been condemned to look down upon this misery from
the castle of St. Angelo, in which the Spaniards held him
completely blockaded, and where pestilence and want of
provisions appeared just as much as down below in Rome. At
last, after waiting day after day, he saw Urbino's army
approaching from afar: their watch-fires were to be perceived;
and every moment he expected that the duke would attack and
deliver the city. But he moved not. It is thought he intended
now to avenge the rapine which the Medici under Leo. X. had
carried on against him. … After having rested for some time
in sight of the city, in which the imperialists had opened
their intrenchments round the castle of St. Angelo for a
regular siege, he withdrew back again to the north, and left
the pope to his fate."

_H. Grimm,
Life of Michael Angelo,
chapter 10, section 3 (volume 2)._

ALSO IN:
_Benvenuto Cellini,
Life,
translated by J. A. Symonds,
book 1, sections 34-38 (volume 1)._

_Benvenuto Cellini,
Life,
translated by T. Roscoe,
chapter 7._

_J. S. Brewer,
The Reign of Henry VIII.,
chapter 25 (volume 2)._

ITALY: A. D. 1527-1529.
Siege and captivity of the Pope.
New league against the Emperor.
French invasion and disastrous siege of Naples.
Genoese independence recovered.
Treaties of Barcelona and Cambrai.
Francis renounces all pretensions beyond the Alps.
Charles V. supreme.

Shut up in Castle St. Angelo, the Pope, Clement VII.,
"deprived of every resource, and reduced to such extremity of
famine as to feed on asses' flesh, was obliged to capitulate
on such conditions as the conquerors were pleased to
prescribe. He agreed to pay 400,000 ducats to the army; to
surrender to the emperor all the places of strength belonging
to the Church; and, besides giving hostages, to remain a
prisoner himself until the chief articles were performed. …
The account of this extraordinary and unexpected event was no
less surprising than agreeable to the emperor.
{1841}
But in order to conceal his joy from his subjects, who were
filled with horror at the success and crimes of their
countrymen, and to lessen the indignation of the rest of
Europe, he declared that Rome had been assaulted without any
order from him. He wrote to all the princes with whom he was
in alliance, disclaiming his having had any knowledge of
Bourbon's intention. He put himself and court into mourning;
commanded the rejoicings which had been ordered for the birth
of his son Philip to be stopped; and, employing an artifice no
less hypocritical than gross, he appointed prayers and
processions throughout all Spain for the recovery of the
pope's liberty, which, by an order to his generals, he could
have immediately granted him. … Francis and Henry [of France
and England], alarmed at the progress of the imperial arms in
Italy, had, even before the taking of Rome, entered into a
closer alliance; and, in order to give some check to the
emperor's ambition, had agreed to make a vigorous diversion in
the Low Countries. The force of every motive which had
influenced them at that time was now increased; and to these
was added the desire of rescuing the pope out of the emperor's
hands, a measure no less politic than it appeared to be pious.
This, however, rendered it necessary to abandon their hostile
intentions against the Low Countries, and to make Italy the
seat of war. … Besides all … public considerations, Henry
was influenced by one of a more private nature: having begun,
about this time, to form his great scheme of divorcing
Catharine of Aragon, towards the execution of which he knew
that the sanction of papal authority would be necessary, he
was desirous to acquire as much merit as possible with
Clement, by appearing to be the chief instrument of his
deliverance. … Henry … entered so eagerly into this new
alliance, that, in order to give Francis the strongest proof
of his friendship and respect, he formally renounced the
ancient claim of the English monarchs to the crown of France,
which had long been the pride and ruin of the nation; as a
full compensation for which he accepted a pension of 50,000
crowns, to be paid annually to himself and his successors. The
pope, being unable to fulfil the conditions of his
capitulation, still remained a prisoner. … The Florentines
no sooner heard of what had happened at Rome, than they ran to
arms … and, declaring themselves a free state, reëstablished
their ancient popular government.

See FLORENCE: A. D.1502-1569.

The Venetians, taking advantage of the calamity of their ally,
the pope, seized Ravenna, and other places belonging to the
church, under pretext of keeping them in deposite." On the
other hand, Lannoy, Charles' viceroy at Naples, "marched to
Rome, together with Moncada and the Marquis del Guasto, at the
head of all the troops which they could assemble in the
kingdom of Naples. The arrival of this reinforcement brought
new calamities on the unhappy citizens of Rome; for the
soldiers, envying the wealth of their companions, imitated
their license, and with the utmost rapacity gathered the
gleanings which had escaped the avarice of the Spaniards and
Germans. There was not now any army in Italy capable of making
head against the imperialists." But the troops who had enjoyed
months of license and riotous pillage in Rome could not be
brought back to discipline, and refused to quit the perishing
city. They had chosen for their general the Prince of Orange,
who "was obliged to pay more attention to their humours than
they did to his commands. … This gave the king of France and
the Venetians leisure to form new schemes, and to enter into
new arrangements for delivering the pope, and preserving the
liberties of Italy. The newly-restored republic of Florence
very imprudently joined with them, and Lautrec … was …
appointed generalissimo of the league. … The best troops in
France marched under his command; and the king of England,
though he had not yet declared war against the emperor,
advanced a considerable sum towards carrying on the
expedition. Lautrec's first operations [1527] were prudent,
vigorous and successful. By the assistance of Andrew Doria,
the ablest sea-officer of that age, he rendered himself master
of Genoa, and reëstablished in that republic the faction of
the Fregosi, together with the dominion of France. He obliged
Alexandria to surrender after a short siege, and reduced all
the country on that side of the Tessino. He took Pavia, which
had so long resisted the arms of his sovereign, by assault,
and plundered it with … cruelty. … But Lautrec durst not
complete a conquest which would have been so honourable to
himself and of such advantage to the league. Francis … was
afraid that, if Sforza were once reëstablished in Milan, they
[his confederates] would second but coldly the attack which he
intended to make on the kingdom of Naples. … Happily the
importunities of the pope and the solicitations of the
Florentines, the one for relief, and the other for protection,
were so urgent as to furnish him with a decent pretext for
marching forward. … While Lautrec advanced slowly towards
Rome, the emperor" came to terms with the pope, and Clement
obtained his liberty at the cost of 350,000 crowns, a tenth of
the ecclesiastical revenues of Spain, and an agreement to take
no part in the war against Charles. The latter next made
overtures to the French king, offering some relaxation of the
treaty of Madrid; but they were received in a manner that
irritated even his cold temper. He, in turn, provoked his
antagonist, until a ridiculous exchange of defiances to
personal combat passed between them. Meantime "Lautrec
continued his operations, which promised to be more decisive.
His army, which was now increased to 35,000 men, advanced by
great marches towards Naples." The remains of the imperial
army retreated, as he advanced, from Rome, where it had held
riot for ten months, and took shelter behind the
fortifications of the Neapolitan capital. Lautrec undertook
(April, 1528) the siege of Naples, with the co-operation of
the Genoese admiral, Doria, who blockaded its port. But he was
neglected by his own frivolous king, and received little aid
from the Pope, the king of England, or other confederates of
the league. Moreover, Doria and the Genoese suffered treatment
so insolent, oppressive and threatening, from the French court
that the former opened negotiations with the emperor for a
transfer of his services. "Charles, fully sensible of the
importance of such an acquisition, granted him whatever terms
he required.
{1842}
Doria sent back his commission, together with the collar of
St. Michael, to Francis, and, hoisting the imperial colours,
sailed with all his galleys towards Naples, not to block up
the harbour of that unhappy city, as he had formerly engaged,
but to bring them protection and deliverance. His arrival
opened the communication with the sea, and restored plenty in
Naples, which was now reduced to the last extremity; and the
French … were soon reduced to great straits for want of
provisions." With the heat of summer came pestilence; Lautrec
died, and the wasted French army, attempting to retreat, was
forced to lay down its arms and march under guard to the
frontiers of France. "The loss of Genoa followed immediately
upon the ruin of the army in Naples." Doria took possession of
the town; the French garrison in the citadel capitulated
(September 12, 1528), and the citadel was destroyed. "It was
now in Doria's power to have rendered himself the sovereign of
his country, which he had so happily delivered from
oppression." But he magnanimously refused any preeminence
among his fellow citizens. "Twelve persons were elected to
new-model the constitution of the republic. The influence of
Doria's virtue and example communicated itself to his
countrymen; the factions which had long torn and ruined the
state seemed to be forgotten; prudent precautions were taken
to prevent their reviving; and the same form of government
which hath subsisted with little variation since that time in
Genoa, was established with universal applause." In Lombardy,
the French army, under St. Pol, was surprised, defeated and
ruined at Landriano (June, 1529), as completely as the army in
Naples had been a few months before. All parties were now
desirous of peace, but feared to seem too eager in making
overtures. Two women took the negotiations in hand and carried
them to a conclusion. "These were Margaret of Austria,
dutchess dowager of Savoy, the emperor's aunt, and Louise,
Francis's mother. They agreed on an interview at Cambray, and,
being lodged in two adjoining houses, between which a
communication was opened, met together without ceremony or
observation, and held daily conferences, to which no person
whatever was admitted." The result was a treaty signed August
5, 1529, known as the Peace of Cambray, or "the Ladies'
Peace," or "Peace of the Dames." By its terms, Francis was to
pay 2,000,000 crowns for the ransom of his sons; restore such
towns as he still held in the Milanese; resign and renounce
his pretensions to Naples, Milan, Genoa, and every other place
beyond the Alps, as well as to Flanders and Artois; and
consummate his marriage with the emperor's sister, Eleanora.
On the other hand, the emperor only agreed not to press his
claims on Burgundy, for the present, but reserved them, in
full force. Another treaty, that of Barcelona, had already, in
1529, been concluded between the emperor and the pope. The
former gave up the papal states which he occupied, and agreed
to reëstablish the dominion of the Medici in Florence; besides
giving his natural daughter in marriage to Alexander, the head
of that family. In return he received the investiture of
Naples, absolution for all concerned in the plundering of
Rome, and the grant to himself and his brother of a fourth of
the ecclesiastical revenues throughout their dominions.

_W. Robertson,
History of the Reign of Charles V.,
books 4-5._

ALSO IN:
_F. P. Guizot,
Popular History of France,
chapter 28._

_C. Coignat,
Francis I. and his Times,
chapter 9._

_G. B. Malleson,
Studies from Genoese History,
chapter 1._

ITALY: (Southern): A. D. 1528-1570.
Naples under the Spanish Viceroys.
Ravages of the Turks along the coast.
Successful revolt against the Inquisition.
Unsuccessful French invasion under Guise.

"After the memorable and unfortunate expedition of Lautrec, in
1528, Philibert of Chalons, Prince of Orange, who commanded
the Imperial army, exercised the severest vengeance [in
Naples] on the persons and estates of all those nobles who had
joined the French, or who appeared to demonstrate any
attachment towards that nation. … These multiplied … acts
of oppression received no effectual redress during the short
administration [1529-1532] of Cardinal Colonna, who succeeded
to the Prince of Orange. … In the place of Cardinal Colonna
was substituted Don Pedro de Toledo, who governed Naples with
almost unlimited powers, during the space of near 21 years.
His viceroyalty, which forms a memorable Epocha in the annals
of the country, demands and fixes attention. We are impressed
with horror at finding, by his own confession, … that during
the progress of his administration, he put to death near
18,000 persons, by the hand of the executioner. Yet a fact
still more extraordinary is that Giannoné, himself a
Neapolitan, and one of the ablest as well as most impartial
historians whom the 18th century has produced, not only
acquits, but even commends Toledo's severity, as equally
wholesome and necessary," on account of the terrible
lawlessness and disorder which he found in the country. "The
inflexible and stern character of the viceroy speedily
redressed these grievances, and finally restored order in the
capital. … All the provinces experienced equal attention,
and became the objects of his personal inspection. The
unprotected coasts of Calabria and of Apulia, subject to the
continual devastation of the Turks, who landed from their
gallies, were fortified with towers and beacons to announce
the enemy's approach. … Repeated attempts were made by
Solyman II., Emperor of the Turks, either alone or in
conjunction with the fleets of France, to effect the conquest
of Naples, during this period: but the exertions of Toledo
were happily attended with success in repulsing the Turkish
invaders. … In no part of the middle ages … were the
coasts of Naples and Sicily so frequently plundered, ravaged,
and desolated, as at this period. Thousands of persons of both
sexes, and of all conditions, were carried off by Barbarossa,
Dragut, Sinan, and the other Bashaws, or admirals of the
Porte. Not content with landing on the shores and ravaging the
provinces, their squadrons perpetually appeared in sight of
Naples; laid waste the islands of Ischia and Procida, situate
in its immediate vicinity; attacked the towns of Pouzzoli and
Baiæ; and committed every outrage of wanton barbarity. … The
invasion of 1552, when Dragut blocked up the harbour of
Naples, with 150 large gallies, during near four weeks, spread
still greater consternation; and if the fleet of France had
arrived, as had been concerted, it is more than probable that
the city must have fallen into their hands. But the delays of
Henry II., Solyman's ally, proved its preservation. The
Turkish admiral, corrupted by a present of 200,000 ducats,
which the Viceroy found means of conveying to him, retired and
made sail for Constantinople. …
{1843}
The administration of Toledo … was … completely subverted
from the moment that he attempted [1546] to introduce the
Inquisition. … The Neapolitans, patient under every other
species of oppression, instantly revolted. … They even
forgot, in the general terror, the distinction of ranks; and
the Barons united with their fellow-citizens to oppose that
formidable tribunal. The Viceroy, returning to the capital,
reinforced by 3,000 veteran Spaniards, determined
nevertheless, to support the measure. Hostilities took place,
and the city, during near three months, was abandoned to
anarchy, while the inhabitants, having invested the castle,
besieged their governor. … The Emperor, convinced by
experience of the impracticability of success in his attempt,
at length desisted." Toledo died in 1553, and "was succeeded
by the Cardinal Pacheco, as Viceroy; and the abdication of
Charles V., in the following year, devolved on his son Philip
II. the sovereignty of Naples. Alarmed at the preparations
made by Henry II., King of France, in conjunction with Paul
IV., who had newly ascended the papal throne, Philip
dispatched Ferdinand, Duke of Alva, to the aid of his
Neapolitan subjects; and to the vigorous measures embraced by
him on his arrival was due the safety of the kingdom.

See FRANCE: A. D. 1547-1559.

… The administration of the Duke of Alcala, to whom Philip
delegated the supreme power soon after the recall of Alva
[1558], lasted near 12 years, and was marked by almost every
species of calamity."

_Sir N. W. Wraxall,
History of France, 1574-1610,
chapter 9 (volume 2)._

"The march of the Mareschal of Lautrec was the last important
attempt of the French to reconquer Naples. … Spain remained
in possession of this beautiful country for two centuries. …
Their [the Spaniards'] ascendancy was owing as well to an iron
discipline as to that inveterate character of their race, the
firmness of purpose which had gradually developed itself in
the long struggle for the country which they wrenched inch by
inch from their tenacious enemies. The Neapolitans found that
they had in the Spaniards different rulers from the French."

_A. de Reumont,
The Carafas of Maddaloni:
Naples under Spanish Dominion,
book 1._

ITALY: A. D. 1529.
Siege of Florence by the Imperial forces.
Reinstatement of the Medici.

See FLORENCE: A. D. 1502-1569.

ITALY: A. D. 1530-1600.
Under the Spanish domination, and the Papacy of the
Counter-Reformation.
The Inquisition.
The Jesuits.
The Vice-regal rule.
Deplorable state of the country.

"It will be useful, at this point, to recapitulate the net
results of Charles's administration of Italian affairs in
1530. The kingdom of the Two Sicilies, with the island of
Sardinia and the Duchy of Milan, became Spanish provinces, and
were ruled henceforth by viceroys. The House of Este was
confirmed in the Duchy of Ferrara, including Modena and
Reggio. The Duchies of Savoy and Mantua and the Marquisate of
Montferrat, which had espoused the Spanish cause, were
undisturbed. Genoa and Siena, both of them avowed allies of
Spain, the former under Spanish protection, the latter subject
to Spanish coercion, remained with the name and empty
privileges of republics. Venice had made her peace with Spain,
and though she was still strong enough to pursue an
independent policy, she showed as yet no inclination, and had,
indeed, no power, to stir up enemies against the Spanish
autocrat. The Duchy of Urbino, recognised by Rome and
subservient to Spanish influence, was permitted to exist. The
Papacy once more assumed a haughty tone, relying on the firm
alliance struck with Spain. This league, as years went by, was
destined to grow still closer, still more fruitful of results.
Florence alone had been excepted from the articles of peace.
It was still enduring the horrors of the memorable siege when
Clement left Bologna at the end of May. … Finally, on August
12, the town capitulated. Alessandro de' Medici, who had
received the title of Duke of Florence from Charles at
Bologna, took up his residence there in July 1531, and held
the State by help of Spanish mercenaries under the command of
Alessandro Vitelli. … Though the people endured far less
misery from foreign armies in the period between 1530 and 1600
than they had done in the period from 1494 to 1527, yet the
state of the country grew ever more and more deplorable. This
was due in the first instance to the insane methods of
taxation adopted by the Spanish viceroys, who held monopolies
of corn and other necessary commodities in their hands, and
who invented imposts for the meanest articles of consumption.
Their example was followed by the Pope and petty princes. …
The settlement made by Charles V. in 1530, and the various
changes which took place in the duchies between that date and
the end of the century, had then the effect of rendering the
Papacy and Spain omnipotent in Italy. … What they only
partially effected in Europe at large, by means of S.
Bartholomew massacres, exterminations of Jews in Toledo and of
Mussulmans in Granada, holocausts of victims in the Low
Countries, wars against French Huguenots and German Lutherans,
naval expeditions and plots against the state of England,
assassinations of heretic princes, and occasional burning of
free thinkers, they achieved with plenary success in Italy.
… It is the tragic history of the eldest and most beautiful,
the noblest and most venerable, the freest and most gifted of
Europe's daughters, delivered over to the devilry that issued
from the most incompetent and arrogantly stupid of the
European sisterhood, and to the cruelty, inspired by panic, of
an impious theocracy. When we use these terms to designate the
Papacy of the Counter-Reformation, it is not that we forget
how many of those Popes were men of blameless private life and
serious views for Catholic Christendom. When we use these
terms to designate the Spanish race in the sixteenth century,
it is not that we are ignorant of Spanish chivalry and
colonising enterprise, of Spanish romance, or of the fact that
Spain produced great painters, great dramatists, and one great
novelist in the brief period of her glory. We use them
deliberately, however, in both cases; because the Papacy at
this period committed itself to a policy of immoral,
retrograde, and cowardly repression of the most generous of
human impulses under the pressure of selfish terror; because
the Spaniards abandoned themselves to a dark fiend of
religious fanaticism; because they were merciless in their
conquests and unintelligent in their administration of
subjugated provinces; because they glutted their lusts of
avarice and hatred on industrious folk of other creeds within
their borders; because they cultivated barren pride and
self-conceit in social life; because at the great epoch of
Europe's reawakening they chose the wrong side and adhered to
it with fatal obstinacy. …
{1844}
After the year 1530 seven Spanish devils entered Italy. These
were the devil of the Inquisition, with stake and
torture-room, and war declared against the will and soul and
heart and intellect of man; the devil of Jesuitry, with its
sham learning, shameless lying, and casuistical economy of
sins; the devil of vice-royal rule, with its life-draining
monopolies and gross incapacity for government; the devil of
an insolent soldiery, quartered on the people, clamorous for
pay, outrageous in their lusts and violences; the devil of
fantastical taxation, levying tolls upon the bare necessities
of life, and drying up the founts of national well-being at
their sources; the devil of petty-princedom, wallowing in
sloth and cruelty upon a pinchbeck throne; the devil of
effeminate hidalgoism, ruinous in expenditure, mean and
grasping, corrupt in private life, in public ostentatious,
vain of titles, cringing to its masters, arrogant to its
inferiors. In their train these brought with them seven other
devils, their pernicious offspring: idleness, disease,
brigandage, destitution, ignorance, superstition,
hypocritically sanctioned vice. These fourteen devils were
welcomed, entertained, and voluptuously lodged in all the
fairest provinces of Italy. The Popes opened wide for them the
gates of outraged and depopulated Rome. … After a tranquil
sojourn of some years in Italy, these devils had every where
spread desolation and corruption. Broad regions, like the
Patrimony of S. Peter and Calabria, were given over to
marauding bandits; wide tracts of fertile country, like the
Sienese Maremma, were abandoned to malaria; wolves prowled
through empty villages round Milan; in every city the
pestilence swept off its hundreds daily; manufactures,
commerce, agriculture, the industries of town and rural
district, ceased; the Courts swarmed with petty nobles, who
vaunted paltry titles, and resigned their wives to cicisbei
and their sons to sloth; art and learning languished; there
was not a man who ventured to speak out his thought or write
the truth; and over the Dead Sea of social putrefaction
floated the sickening oil of Jesuitical hypocrisy."

_J. A. Symonds,
Renaissance in Italy: The Catholic Reaction,
part 1, chapter 1._

ITALY: A. D. 1536-1544.
French invasion of Piedmont.
French and Turkish siege of Nice.
Turkish ravages on the coast.
The Treaty of Crespy.

See FRANCE: A. D. 1532-1547.

ITALY: A. D. 1545-1556.
Creation of the duchy of Parma and Placentia,
under the rule of the House of Farnese.

See PARMA: A. D. 1545-1592.

ITALY: A. D. 1559-1580.
End of the French occupation of Savoy and Piedmont.
The notable reign of Emanuel Philibert.

See SAVOY AND PIEDMONT: A. D. 1559-1580;
and FRANCE: A. D. 1547-1559.

ITALY: A. D. 1559-1600.
Peace without Prosperity.
Foreign and domestic Despotism.
Exhaustion and helplessness of the country.

"From the epoch of the treaty of Château Cambresis [1559] to
the close of the 16th century, Italy remained, in one sense,
in profound and uninterrupted peace. During this long period
of 41 years, her provinces were neither troubled by a single
invasion of foreign armies, nor by any hostilities of
importance between her own feeble and nerveless powers. But
this half century presented, nevertheless, anything rather
than the aspect of public happiness and prosperity. Her
wretched people enjoyed none of the real blessings of peace.
Subject either to the oppressive yoke of their native despots,
or to the more general influence of the arch-tyrant of Spain,
they were abandoned to all the exactions of arbitrary
government, and compelled to lavish their blood in foreign
wars and in quarrels not their own. While France, torn by
religious and civil dissensions, sank for a time from her
political station among the powers of the continent, and was
no longer capable of affording protection or exciting
jealousy, Philip II. was left free to indulge in the peninsula
all the obdurate tyranny of his nature. … The popes were
interested in supporting his career of bigotry and religious
persecution; the other powers of Italy crouched before him in
abject submission. To feed the religious wars, in which he
embarked as a principal or an accessory, in the endeavour to
crush the protestant cause in France, in the Low Countries,
and in Germany, he drained Italy of her resources in money and
in men. … While the Italian soldiery fought with the courage
of freemen, they continued the slaves of a despot, and while
the Italian youth were consumed in transalpine warfare, their
suffering country groaned under an iron yoke, and was
abandoned a prey to the unresisted assaults of the infidels.
Her coasts, left without troops, or defences in fortifications
and shipping, were insulted and ravaged by the constant
descents of the corsairs of Turkey and Barbary. Her maritime
villages were burnt, her maritime population dragged off into
slavery; and her tyrants, while they denied the people the
power of defending themselves, were unable or careless also to
afford them protection and safety."

_G. Procter,
History of Italy,
chapter 9._

ITALY: A. D. 1569.
Creation of the Grand Duchy of Tuscany.

See FLORENCE: A. D. 1502-1569.

ITALY: A. D. 1597.
Annexation of Ferrara to the States of the Church.

See PAPACY: A. D. 1597.

ITALY: A. D. 1605-1607.
Venice under the guidance of Fra Paolo Sarpi.
Successful contest of the Republic with the Papacy.

See VENICE: A. D. 1606-1607;
and PAPACY: A. D. 1605-1700.

ITALY: A. D. 1620-1626.
The Valtelline War.

See FRANCE: A. D. 1624-1626.

ITALY: A. D. 1627-1631.
Disputed succession to the Duchy of Mantua.
War of France with Spain, Savoy and the Emperor.

"About Christmas in the year 1627, Vincenzo II., Duke of
Mantua, of the house of Gonzaga, died without issue. His next
of kin, beyond all controversy, was Charles Gonzaga, Duke of
Nevers, whose family had settled in France some fifty years
before, and acquired by marriage the dukedoms of Nevers and
Rethel. Although there was a jealousy on the part both of
Austria and Spain that French influences should be introduced
into Upper Italy, there seems to have been no intention, in
the first instance, of depriving Charles of his Italian
inheritance. … But … when the old Duke Vincenzo's days
were evidently numbered, Charles's son, the young Duke of
Rethel, by collusion with the citizens, arrived at Mantua to
seize the throne which in a little while death would make
vacant."
{1845}
At the same time, he took from a convent in the city a young
girl who represented whatever claims might exist in the direct
native line, and married her, the pope granting a
dispensation. "Both the King of Spain and the Emperor … were
incensed by conduct which both must needs have regarded as
indicative of hostility, and the latter as an invasion of his
feudal rights. Spain flew to arms at once. The emperor
summoned the young duke before his tribunal, to answer the
charges of having seized the succession without his
investiture, and married his ward without his consent. …
Charles, supported by the promises of Richelieu, refused to
acknowledge the emperor's rights of superiority, or to submit
to his jurisdiction."

_B. Chapman,
History of Gustavus Adolphus,
chapter 8._

"The emperor … sequestered the disputed territory, and a
Spanish army invaded Montferrat [embraced in the dominions of
the Duke of Mantua] and besieged Casale, the capital. Such was
the paramount importance attached by Richelieu to his
principle of opposition to the house of Austria, that he
induced Louis to cross the Alps in person with 36,000 men, in
order to establish the Duke of Nevers in his new possessions.
The king and the cardinal forced the pass of Susa in March,
1629, in spite of the Duke of Savoy, who was another
competitor for Montferrat, and so decisive was the superiority
of the French arms that the duke immediately afterward signed
a treaty of peace and alliance with Louis, by which he
undertook to procure the abandonment of the siege of Casale
and the retreat of the Spaniards into their own territory.
This engagement was fulfilled, and the Duke of Nevers took
possession of his dominions without farther contest. But the
triumph was too rapid and easy to be durable."

_N. W. Jervis,
Students' History of France,
chapter 19._

"The Spaniards remained, however, in Milaness, ready to burst
again upon the Duke of Mantua. The king was in a hurry to
return to France, in order to finish the subjugation of the
Reformers in the south, commanded by the Duke of Rohan. The
cardinal placed little or no reliance upon the Duke of Savoy.
… A league … was formed between France, the republic of
Venice, the Duke of Mantua, and the Duke of Savoy, for the
defence of Italy in case of fresh aggression on the part of
the Spaniards; and the king, who had just concluded peace with
England, took the road back to France. Scarcely had the
cardinal joined him before Privas when an Imperialist army
advanced into the Grisons and, supported by the celebrated
Spanish general Spinola, laid siege to Mantua. Richelieu did
not hesitate: he entered Piedmont in the month of March, 1630,
to march before long on Pignerol, an important place
commanding the passage of the Alps; it, as well as the
citadel, was carried in a few days. … The Duke of Savoy was
furious, and had the soldiers who surrendered Pignerol cut in
pieces. The king [Louis XIII.] had put himself in motion to
join his army. … The inhabitants of Chambéry opened their
gates to him; Annecy and Montmélian succumbed after a few
days' siege; Maurienne in its entirety made its submission,
and the king fixed his quarters there, whilst the cardinal
pushed forward to Casale [the siege of which had been resumed
by Spinola] with the main body of the army. Rejoicings were
still going on for a success gained before Veillane over the
troops of the Duke of Savoy, when news arrived of the capture
of Mantua by the Imperialists. This was the finishing blow to
the ambitious and restless spirit of the Duke of Savoy. He saw
Mantua in the hands of the Spaniards, 'who never give back
aught of what falls into their power' … ; it was all hope
lost of an exchange which might have given him back Savoy; he
took to his bed and died on the 26th of July, 1630, telling
his son that peace must be made on any terms whatever." A
truce was arranged, followed by negotiations at Ratisbon, and
Casale was evacuated by both parties—the Spaniards having
had possession of the city, while the citadel was held by the
French. "It was only in the month of September, 1631, that the
states of Savoy and Mantua were finally evacuated by the
hostile troops. Pignerol had been given up to the new Duke of
Savoy, but a secret agreement had been entered into between
that prince and France: French soldiers remained concealed in
Pignerol; and they retook possession of the place in the name
of the king, who had purchased the town and its territory, to
secure himself a passage into Italy. … The affairs of the
emperor in Germany were in too bad a state for him to rekindle
war, and France kept Pignerol."

_F. P. Guizot,
Popular History of France,
chapter 41._

"The peace left all parties very nearly in the condition in
which they were when the war began; the chief loser was the
emperor, who was now compelled to acknowledge De Nevers as
Duke of Mantua and Montserrat; and the chief gainer was the
Duke of Savoy, whose territories were enlarged by the addition
of Alba, Trino, and some portions of the territory of
Montserrat which lay nearest to his Piedmontese dominions.
France; too, made some permanent acquisitions to compensate
her for the cost of the war. She eluded the stipulation which
bound her to evacuate Casal, and Victor Amedée subsequently
suffered her to retain both that fortress and Pignerol, such
permission, as was generally believed, … having furnished
the secret reason which influenced Richelieu to consent to the
duke's obtaining the portion of Montserrat already mentioned,
the cardinal thus making the Duke of Mantua furnish the
equivalent for the acquisitions made by Louis."

_C. D. Yonge,
History of France under the Bourbons,
chapter 7 (volume 1)._

ITALY: A. D. 1631.
Annexation of Urbino to the States of the Church.

See PAPACY: A. D. 1605-1700.

ITALY: A. D. 1635.
Italian alliances of Richelieu against the Spaniards in Milan.

See GERMANY: A. D. 1634-1639.

ITALY: A. D. 1635-1659.
Invasion of Milanese by French and Italian armies.
Civil war and foreign war in Savoy and Piedmont.
The extraordinary siege of Turin.
Treaty of the Pyrenees.
Restoration of territory to Savoy.

"Richelieu … having obtained the alliance of the Dukes of
Savoy, Parma, and Mantua, and having secured the neutrality of
the Republics of Venice and Genoa, now bent all his efforts to
expel the Spaniards from Milan, which was at that time but
weakly defended. … In 1635, a French army of 15,000 men was
accordingly assembled in Dauphiny, and placed under the
command of Mareschal Crequi. Having crossed the Alps, it
formed a junction with 8,000 troops under the Duke of Parma,
and 12,000 under the Duke of Savoy, to whom the supreme
command of this formidable army of 35,000 men was entrusted.
{1846}
Such a force, if properly employed, ought to have proved
sufficient to overwhelm the Dutchy of Milan, in its present
unprotected condition. … But the confederates were long
detained by idle disputes among themselves, their
licentiousness and love of plunder." When they did advance
into Milanese, their campaign was ineffective, and they
finally "separated with mutual disgust," but "kept the field,
ravaging the open and fertile plains of Milan. They likewise
took possession of several towns, particularly Bremi, on the
Po. … On hearing of the distress of Milan, the King of Spain
took immediate steps for the relief of that bulwark of his
Italian power. In 1636 he appointed to its government Diego
Guzman, Marques of Leganez, who was a near relative of
Olivarez. … He had not long entered on the government
intrusted to him when he succeeded in expelling the enemy from
every spot in Milan, with exception of Bremi, which they still
retained. Milan having been thus delivered, Leganez
transferred the theatre of war to the States of the Duke of
Parma, and completely desolated those fertile regions,"
compelling the Duke to renounce his French alliance (1637).
"The Duke of Savoy, Victor Amadeus, did not long survive these
events; and it was strongly suspected, both in Spain and
Italy, though probably on no just grounds, that he had been
poisoned. … The demise of the Duke of Mantua occurred nearly
about the same period; and on the decease of these two
princes, the Court of Spain used every exertion to detach
their successors from the French confederacy. Its efforts
succeeded, at least to a certain extent, with the
Dutchess-dowager of Mantua. … But the Dutchess of Savoy, …
being the sister of Louis XIII., could not easily be drawn off
from the French interests. Olivarez [the Spanish minister],
despairing to gain this princess, excited by his intrigues the
brothers of the late Duke [Cardinal Maurice and Prince Thomas]
to dispute with her the title to the regency." Leganez, now
(1638) laid siege to Bremi, and Marshal Crequi, in attempting
to relieve the place, was killed by a cannon shot. "By the
loss of Bremi, the French were deprived of the last receptacle
for their supplies or forces in the Dutchy of Milan; and in
consequence of the death of Crequi, they had now no longer any
chief of their own nation in Italy. The few French nobility
who were still in the army returned to their own country, and
the soldiery dispersed into Montferrat and Piedmont. Leganez,
availing himself of this favourable posture of affairs,
marched straightway into Piedmont, at the head of an army of
20,000 men. … He first laid siege to Vercelli, which, from
its vicinity to Milan, had always afforded easy access for the
invasion of that dutchy, by the French and Savoyards." A new
French army, of 13,000 men, under Cardinal La Valette, was
sent to the relief of the place, but did not save it from
surrender. "After the capture of Vercelli, the light troops of
Leganez ravaged the principality of Piedmont as far as the
gates of Turin."

_J. Dunlop,
Memoirs of Spain, from 1621 to 1700,
volume 1, chapter 4._