Akademik

(Giulio de' Medici; r. 1523-1534)

   Clement VII was the illegitimate son of Giuliano de' Medici, who was killed in the Pazzi Conspiracy. In 1513, he was appointed archbishop of Florence and cardinal by his cousin, Pope Leo X, who, in 1517, also made him his vice-chancellor. Having attained the throne in 1523, Clement was faced with the struggle between France and Spain for control over Northern Italy. In 1524, he allied himself with Francis I of France, but, when Francis was captured in Pavia in the following year, he had no choice but to seek the protection of Charles V. In 1526, in an effort to limit Charles' power, the pope again changed sides, joining the League of Cognac with France, Milan, Florence, and Venice. In retaliation, Charles sacked Rome (1527) and took Clement prisoner. The pope was released after he agreed to allow Charles to occupy several cities in the Papal States. In 1529, Clement allied himself with Charles against the Protestants in Germany and the Turks, who were then advancing on Vienna. In 1530, he crowned Charles Holy Roman Emperor in exchange for the reinstatement of Medici rule in Florence. Clement was the patron of Pietro Aretino and Niccoló Machiavelli. He commissioned from Michelangelo the Laurentian Library (1524-1534) and New Sacristy of San Lorenzo (1519-1534) in Florence, as well as the Transfiguration (1517; Rome, Pinacoteca Vaticana) from Raphael.