The Last Stand – The 1527 Sack of Rome – Sabaton History 044 [Official]

I'm indy neidell I'm Pär Sundström and I'm here to talk about the Crusades they were so exciting times and I can't imagine the last stand in their Crusader times it was like so damn cool to be a crusader at that time cuz they just They are the most important thing in some other life Crusaders Crusades all of that Crusades we say and more physics We're gonna do more Crusades Hey, did you know that the Knights of the Templar order might have founded Switzerland? When pope clement v declared in the early 1300s that all templar knights were heretics and should be killed many of them fled France Taking their huge Treasury with them the Templars shrewd bankers may have brought their treasure and their military Expertise to a loose confederation of poor farmers just over the French border Well, ok, that may actually be just a myth, but what if it was true, right? I mean, I mean look at the Swiss flag quite similar to the Templars cross if you swap the colors, right? Just saying anyhow I will get back to factual history now over 200 years later to Rome November 15 23 the whole Vatican seemed like like one big building site trying to reinvent itself with classical palaces and basilica's the city was quite cosmopolitan Where pilgrims and travelers mingled with people from all over Europe? But the mood just now was tense hushed voices spoke of the ongoing Deadlock within the Conclave of Cardinals trying to choose a new pope busy feet shuffled under the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel where Michelangelo's new ceiling frescoes barely got any attention, so Focused was everyone on the decision at hand Several seemingly suitable cardinals were proposed but none could win and it looked like it would all come down to the two candidates supported by the two great powers in the European world Okay for centuries Italy and the Vatican had been the real-life chess board for the ambitions of kings By now a new crisis was developing between Francis the first to France and Holy Roman Emperor Charles v Charles was pretty much the most powerful ruler in Europe since the days of Charlemagne 700 years earlier and that certainly went to his head He saw himself not only as divinely appointed ruler but as the one and only Christian ruler of Europe whose Duty it was to Dominate France and then unite Christendom under his banner Giulio de Medici was the papal candidate Charles supported on November 16th. He was elected and became Pope Clement the seventh Everything seemed perfect But as it would soon turn out Clement the seventh Papa C would actually be one of the worst in history and this is really saying something but it began By Clement trying to be a good Pope Pope Leo the tenth Clements predecessor had been very popular in the Italian peninsula and for a simple reason He behaved less like a pope and more like an old Roman Emperor He was a lavish spender and a playboy who threw wild parties and extravagant banquets unlike Leo Clemens wanted to reign with scholars and clerics with with fasts and actual religious obligations Surprisingly has made him deeply unpopular with the clergy in Rome now Now this was a problem. But but he still had the Emperor on his side, right? I mean, all he had to do was not agitate his royal benefactor, which he promptly did Charles was fighting a war against France in northern Italy and rumors reached his ears that Clement had been secretly in contact with the cities of Venice and Milan to form a defensive pact with Rome in case things went bad for the Holy Roman Empire Charles was a bit irritated by that back door dealing but okay fair enough, you know plans for the future, right? Okay He understood But when secret peace negotiations between Clement and France were suddenly not so secret anymore Charles was furious. This this was outright treason fuming with anger He even proclaimed that this this Martin Luther guy and all the news actually might have had a point with his hatred for the papacy Remember we are right at the beginning of the Reformation and Luther had only been condemned as an outlaw by Charles two years ago Okay After the decisive battle of Pavia in 1525 where the French received a complete Mauling by the Imperial forces with Francis even being captured Charles gave his commander in Italy Constable bourbon another task with 5,000 Spanish troops. He should go south and have a little chat with the Pope but Georg von thun's Berg the famous German military commander would rather see Clement hanging for his treachery and he himself raised over 10,000 gentleman lands conecta out of his own pocket And while the Spaniards were relatively disciplined the lands connected were emphatically not soldiers for hire loyal only to their pay and many won over by Martin Luther's words They were all too eager to get their hands on the wealth of the Catholic Church In early 1527 Bourbons 5,000 Spanish and frundsberg 10,000 Germans linked up with other mercenaries eager for loot But then frundsberg suffered a stroke and returned north now a bourbon Stranded in Italy and trying to control both companies for which he didn't really have the money was left with only one option moved swiftly forward and loot Rome So by May the 5th around 20,000 Imperials were knocking on Rome's front door the spirito gate Bourbon himself wearing a bright white cloak over his armor ordered his troops to build ladders and scale the walls They were fired upon by our foe Bashir's and light artillery and took heavy losses the fortified cities Could not be easily stormed at the time not without heavy artillery and Bourbons army had none and while the garrison of Rome defended its walls Pope Clement could still rely on the elite soldiers of the Italian black bands and his personal protectors the 189 men strong Swiss Guard Swiss mercenaries were extraordinarily good soldiers and highly valued all across Europe But while the defenders were busy pouring boiling liquid onto the massive attackers a dense fog suddenly fell It became so thick but the men could barely see each other and the defenders on the walls were were firing blindly Realising his chance bourbon ran forward holding one of the ladders himself and urging his troops onward But he was hit and killed instantly news of his death spread rapidly and the initial confusion in the ranks of the attackers turned into a lust for revenge for killing their leader and more importantly their paymaster the Imperials surged forward and their numbers Overwhelmed the defenders with the gates then thrown open for the rest of the Imperials the defense of Rome collapsed the invaders swarmed over the city and with bourbon dead there was there was no authority to even try to Restrain them if that was even possible by this point The black bands were routed while the Swiss Guard gathered at the obelisk in front of st Peter's readying themselves for a last stand near the teutonic cemetery It was their duty to fight and die for the Pope's safety And so they did armed with Hal birds and swords in their hands and faith in their hearts They waited for the final battle on the steps of st. Peter's Stand firm therefore having girded your loins with truth and having put on the breastplate of righteousness and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace in addition to all Taking up the shield of faith Not that much is known about the actual fighting Heavily outnumbered they stood true to their vows and formed a defensive wall of Hal birds in front of st. Peters in a fight They could not hope to win the men of the Swiss Guard were gradually overwhelmed and slaughtered Still their sacrifice gave the Pope enough time to escape through a secret passage Accompanied by 42 survivors of the 189 they ran across the Paseo de Bourgh go up to the Castel Sant'Angelo More and more of the guard died along the way fending off the pursuing Imperials the last few still standing made it into the Castella with the Pope and then They could fire heavy artillery and Falcon nets into the mass of attackers preventing the Costello from being overwhelmed The Pope and those closest to him were safe. Thanks to the sacrifice of the Swiss Guard But a horrible massacre was unfolding down below as the Imperials the mercenaries made their way through the city No one was spared their wrath not women not children Not the clergy nor the holy sites monks and priests were brutally killed Nuns were raped on sacred altars people were cut Beaten and branded their teeth and nails pulled out for the information about their valuables Sources speak of molten lead being poured down throats and severed testicles in the streets Tombs were looted Holy relics were carried away often by famous artists and noblemen who now served as Porter's for the soldiers from high above Pope Clement was forced to look upon the destruction that he was unable to prevent. He grew a beard as a sign of mourning It would take until February 15 28 that the last of the barbaric invaders had left Rome what they left behind Was a city in ruins with dead by the thousands floating in the river It would take decades for Rome to recover The city's population was reduced by some 80 Percent and it is seen by many as the end of the Italian Renaissance But the sack of Rome Affected more than just the city afterwards Clement was no longer able to oppose Charles's ambitions and a Religious power shift away from the Pope and toward the Emperor had lasting consequences for all of Europe for example the Pope at Charles Direction Refused to annul the marriage of Charles aunt Catherine of Aragorn to England's Henry the eighth which kicked off the English Reformation The split in continental Europe between Protestant and Catholic was made permanent by the sack and Martin Luther even pointed out Christ reigns in such a way that the emperor who persecutes Luther for the Pope is forced to destroy the Pope for Luther and while that's a bit general the power of the papacy was diminished afterwards even as the Inquisition grew under Charles's son Philip the second the rift between Catholic and Protestant would call in the thirty years war about which Sabaton wrote several songs on the Corollas rex album and as for their heroic fighting of the Swiss Guard It would go down in history as one Of the great last stands and left them with the everlasting gratitude of the papacy and to this day the Swiss Guard Still in their traditional garb nearly 500 years later serves as the honor guard of the Pope So I know a bunch of people are gonna be wondering why we started this episode with Crusades Crusades Crusades Crusades But it's not about the Crusades now. It's a meme became a meme. I guess somebody misunderstood the song or too many people who started misunderstanding the song so our lovely Sabbath on fans instead of bashing them and you know, Trolling them on the internet made memes about them instead now. I do have a whole bunch of memes of yours Yeah, there's been a few over the years you think this one and well the wind is ours Oh, yeah, but that's that's see. I knew that one. I didn't know this one though It's even sometimes going only in in text form. You don't even need the answer. Sometimes you are on Reddit reading about a totally different topic and then somebody has rights and then the wings are so right. Yeah Comments a lot over over the last what at eight months or so we've been doing this show or more than that now I've been fortunate enough fortunate enough to have a couple of memes done about me more with the Great War because it was longer than World War two one and my favorite one and we're gonna put a picture of It in here we were at the Tank Museum Bovington and David Willy the director of the tech museum They're very eloquent guy knows his stuff that the popular he's really good camera We you know, we were doing interviews and stuff and somebody got this photo of it and they put this But um and what about what about the actual song itself beyond the memes Beyond the memes. What's actually the first song written we had the Chris One of the most popular from that album really nice vibe to it. I don't know where it is It's really Sabbath on if you listen to it You know it you don't even have to wait for the sort of the vocals to start you would know It's a Sabbath on song only from you mean from this part right here That's the part you mean yeah, I think you've pretty much got that so what could you say I mean not what you want to say, but could you say if you had to say could you pick a single? Ten-second thing of a Sabbath on song a day. That's us and that defines us or that's too much Um, no I can but it's not gonna be this song. It's gonna be okay, we are through the gates of hell as we make our way to heaven through the Nazi lines and on the choir dream we Can hear that, too? Yeah, you got man they get they get a bonus today They get all kinds of oh, yeah, you kid, you know, we're starting to spoil you guys. Yeah You know, it's not too long. It's only a couple months away before this channel would be a year old. Oh, yeah, that's right I know we started the first episode came out February 7th. Oh, it feels so much shorter than that. I can tell you Yeah, but we've done dozens of episodes and we've got dozens more. It's kind of cool Yeah Hopefully we'll be able to do one of every summer I will I would like that very much and if you guys have anything special You'd like to see for our one-year anniversary when it comes we may as well start talking about that now They're gonna start asking for bloopers. You know that Well, we don't have any bloopers. Do I delete it or else? I'll eat it all out My life is a blooper Okay. No, we do have some great bloopers. I mean none that involved him. They only involve power exactly Actually, he had me funny if we only release pair bloopers as our thing ladies Really Okay. Well as long as we're getting off topic, I suppose that is it for today for Sabbath on history? Yeah, it is I guess. Alright. Well, we'll see you next time rock and roll Alright that's it for this week. Thank you for watching and hopefully you can help us out here now So we want to keep this going it's a lot of fun to do but it takes some doing So you need to click on notifications? You get a subscribe and if you can we would love it if you become a patreon and help us out So hopefully until we meet again next week

Channel: Sabaton History

Views: 229,271

Rating: 4.9867587 out of 5

Keywords: Sabaton, Sabaton History, TimeGhost, Indy Neidell, World War Two, Documentary, Historian, History, War, Powermetal, Band, Pär Sundstrom, Joakim Broden, Rome, Holy Roman Empire, 1527, Sack of Rome, Pope Clement, Papal States, Reformation, Renaissance, Italian Renaissance, Martin Luther, Charles V, Luther, Pope, Clement, Clement VII, Italian Wars, Mercenaries, Swiss Guard, The Last Stand, Vatican City, Vatican, Papacy, Landknechts, Charles de Bourbon, Italy, France, Christianity, Catholic, Protestant

Id: vZ6wr90FNvI

Length: 16min 42sec (1002 seconds)

Published: Thu Dec 05 2019

Reddit Comments

[u/M4cerator]

Almost certainly haha

[u/TheSpiffingGerman]

He could be anyone of us