entered the city in triumph on the following morning. The
Pope and the Orsini, completely taken by surprise, offered little or no
resistance. According to some writers, it was Pompeo Colonna's daring
plan to murder the Pope, force his own election to the Pontificate by
arms, destroy the Orsini, and open Rome to Charles the Fifth; and when
the Colonna advanced on the same day, by Ponte Sisto, to Trastevere, and
threatened to attack Saint Peter's and the Vatican, Clement the Seventh,
remembering Sciarra and Pope Boniface, was on the point of imitating
the latter and arraying himself in his Pontifical robes to await his
enemy with such dignity as he could command. But the remonstrances of
the more prudent cardinals prevailed, and about noon they conveyed him
safely to Sant' Angelo by the secret covered passage, leaving the
Colonna to sack Trastevere and even Saint Peter's itself, though they
dared not come too near to Sant' Angelo for fear of its cannons. The
tumult over at last, Don Ugo de Moncada, in the Emperor's name, took
possession of the Pope's two nephews as hostages for his own safety,
entered Sant' Angelo under a truce, and stated the Emperor's conditions
of peace. These were, to all intents and purposes, that the Pope should
withdraw his troops, wherever he had any, and that the Emperor should be
free to advance wherever he pleased, except through the Papal States,
that the Pope should give hostages for his good faith, and that he
should grant a free pardon to all the Colonna, who vaguely agreed to
withdraw their forces into the Kingdom of Naples. To this humiliating
peace, or armistice, for it was nothing more, the Pope was forced by the
prospect of starvation, and he would even have agreed to sail to
Barcelona in order to confer with the Emperor; but from this he was
ultimately dissuaded by Henry the Eighth of England and the King of
France, 'who sent him certain sums of money and promised him their
support.' The consequence was that he broke the truce as soon as he
dared, deprived the Cardinal of his hat, and, with the help of the
Orsini, attacked the Colonna by surprise on their estates, giving orders
to burn their castles and raze their fortresses to the ground. Four
villages were burned before the surprised party could recover itself;
but with some assistance from the imperial troops they were soon able to
face their enemies on equal terms, and the little war raged fiercely
during several months, with varyin