CHARLES V (1500 - 1558)
Pope Clement VII
Troops attack Rome!
On May 8, 1527 Charles' Spanish and German troops marched against the Pope. Led by the Duke of Bourbon, who was a Frenchman, the troops staged an eight day war. When the battle was over the Pope was captured (he would be a prisoner for 6 months) and over 12,000 people were injured or killed.
Why did Carlos attack the Pope? The Pope was after all the leader of the Catholic church which Carlos had always defended. There was however a lot going on at this time.
The current Pope was not Adrian VI, Carlos' old teacher, but rather Clement VII. Clement VII was the son of a powerful Italian family. Rather than just concern himself with religion, Clement decided to help his family by entering into a treaty to unite Italian princes with the King of France. He planned to have them attack Carlos.
Carlos had to attack the Pope or he risked being attacked himself. He hoped that by capturing Rome and the Pope that he could strengthen his control over Europe.
By 1529, Carlos controlled the Pope, was the King of Italy, and had once again a peace treaty with France. This peace treaty was called the "ladies peace", because it was negotiated by the mother of Francis and Margaret of Austria who was the Emperor's aunt.
|Carlos's aunt and the King of France's mother sign a
treaty between their countries.
|Carlos after being crowned Holy Roman Emperor|
In February 1530, the Pope met Charles in Bologna, Italy. Here the Pope crowned him the Holy Roman Emperor. Charles now dominated the Church and Europe. He had just turned 30 years old.
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