A History of the Papacy from the Great Schism to the Sack of Rome, Vol. VI, by Mandell Creighton. Part I.

This final volume of the History of the Papacy begins with the rise of Martin Luther and with the final years of Leo X's papacy. Leo never really grappled with Luther's calls for reform and his successors, Adrian VI and Clement VII, were equally ineffectual in preventing the establishment of the Protestant Church in Germany.

The political sky darkened as the rivalry between Francis I and Charles V spilled over the Alps into Italy. The army of Charles V, unpaid, ill-fed, and mutinous moved relentlessly southward until Rome itself fell defenseless. Bishop Creighton writes: "Brutalized by hardships, by poverty, by suffering; of different nations, Germans, Spaniards, Italians; they were held together by no common bond save that of boundless cupidity, and wild desire."

The sack of Rome lasted eight days, but it was followed by nine months of occupation, violence and extortion.

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