nd the host profaned. "Never," says
Casale, "was so much cruelty and sacrilege."[485]

[Footnote 483: _Ven. Cal._, iii, 413.]

[Footnote 484: _Sp. Cal._, ii., 898.]

[Footnote 485: _L. and P._, iv., 2510.]

It was soon thrown into the shade by an outrage at which the whole
world stood aghast. Charles's object was merely to render the Pope his
obedient slave; neither God nor man, said Moncada, could resist with
impunity the Emperor's victorious arms.[486] But he had little control
over his own irresistible forces. With no enemy to check them, with no
pay to content them, the imperial troops were ravaging, pillaging,
sacking cities and churches throughout Northern Italy without let or
hindrance. At length a sudden frenzy seized them to march upon (p. 171)
Rome. Moncada had shown them the way, and on 6th May, 1527, the
Holy City was taken by storm. Bourbon was killed at the first assault;
and the richest city in Christendom was given over to a motley,
leaderless horde of German, Spanish and Italian soldiery. The Pope
again fled to the castle of St. Angelo; and for weeks Rome endured an
orgy of sacrilege, blasphemy, robbery, murder and lust, the horrors of
which no brush could depict nor tongue recite. "All the churches and
the monasteries," says a cardinal who was present, "both of friars and
nuns, were sacked. Many friars were beheaded, even priests at the
altar; many old nuns beaten with sticks; many young ones violated,
robbed and made prisoners; all the vestments, chalices, silver, were
taken from the churches.... Cardinals, bishops, friars, priests, old
nuns, infants, pages and servants--the very poorest--were tormented
with unheard-of cruelties--the son in the presence of his father, the
babe in the sight of its mother. All the registers and documents of
the Camera Apostolica were sacked, torn in pieces, and partly
burnt."[487] "Having entered," writes an imperialist to Charles, "our
men sacked the whole Borgo and killed almost every one they found...
All the monasteries were rifled, and the ladies who had taken refuge
in them carried off. Every person was compelled by torture to pay a
ransom.... The ornaments of all the churches were pillaged and the
relics and other things thrown into the sinks and cesspools. Even the
holy places were sacked. The Church of St. Peter and the papal palace,
from the basement to the top, were turned into stables for horses