Lecturer: Sarah Dunant
By the 1520s Rome, fuelled by the wealth of the catholic church, was the great centre of the renaissance. But in 1527 the unthinkable happened and for only the second time in her history, the city was invaded by an army of unpaid and half starving mercenaries. Many were German Lutherans with an intense hatred of Catholics and the Pope, who they saw as ruling over a cesspit of corruption and pornography. (Spoiler alert: they were not wrong). Palaces and homes were occupied, their owners killed and tortured to reveal treasure. Convents and monasteries were sacked, inmates raped and murdered, art and relics destroyed.
