DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.42863#0287
DEATH OF BOURBON
259
him into the neighbouring chapel, where he breathed
his last half an hour later, still repeating the words,
“ Rome! a Rome! ”1 Benvenuto Cellini, it is
well known, claimed to have fired the shot which
took such fatal effect, and his boast receives some
support from the statement of an eye-witness, that
Bourbon was shot by one of the Pope’s goldsmiths,
who stood on the wall and singled him out as a
person of importance.
The Spanish troops, maddened at seeing their
leader fall, returned to the attack with fresh courage ;
a breach was made in the walls near Santo Spirito,
and the wild hordes of soldiery burst upon the ill-
fated city. The Pope was in St. Peter’s kneeling
before the altar, when the news reached him that the
foes were in the Borgo. He saw the Swiss guards
flying before the landsknechte, and heard the cries of
“ Spagna ! Impero ! ” which rang through the streets,
as his attendants hurried him along the passage to
the Castello. Thirteen Cardinals followed in his
steps, and Paolo Giovio threw his purple mantle over
the Pope, lest his white robes should attract attention
as he crossed the wooden bridge into Sant’ Angelo.2
One old Cardinal, Armellini, was drawn up in a
basket after the portcullis had been let down.
Another, the aged Cardinal Pucci, was dragged
half dead with fright and exhaustion, through a
window.3 The English and French envoys, Gregory
Casale and Alberto Pio of Carpi, had already taken
refuge there, and were joined later in the afternoon
by Renzo da Ceri, who, after a vain attempt to defend
1 Gregorovius, Rom, viii. 526.
2 P. Giovio, Vita P. Colonna.
3 Gregorovius, op. cit., viii. 526.
259
him into the neighbouring chapel, where he breathed
his last half an hour later, still repeating the words,
“ Rome! a Rome! ”1 Benvenuto Cellini, it is
well known, claimed to have fired the shot which
took such fatal effect, and his boast receives some
support from the statement of an eye-witness, that
Bourbon was shot by one of the Pope’s goldsmiths,
who stood on the wall and singled him out as a
person of importance.
The Spanish troops, maddened at seeing their
leader fall, returned to the attack with fresh courage ;
a breach was made in the walls near Santo Spirito,
and the wild hordes of soldiery burst upon the ill-
fated city. The Pope was in St. Peter’s kneeling
before the altar, when the news reached him that the
foes were in the Borgo. He saw the Swiss guards
flying before the landsknechte, and heard the cries of
“ Spagna ! Impero ! ” which rang through the streets,
as his attendants hurried him along the passage to
the Castello. Thirteen Cardinals followed in his
steps, and Paolo Giovio threw his purple mantle over
the Pope, lest his white robes should attract attention
as he crossed the wooden bridge into Sant’ Angelo.2
One old Cardinal, Armellini, was drawn up in a
basket after the portcullis had been let down.
Another, the aged Cardinal Pucci, was dragged
half dead with fright and exhaustion, through a
window.3 The English and French envoys, Gregory
Casale and Alberto Pio of Carpi, had already taken
refuge there, and were joined later in the afternoon
by Renzo da Ceri, who, after a vain attempt to defend
1 Gregorovius, Rom, viii. 526.
2 P. Giovio, Vita P. Colonna.
3 Gregorovius, op. cit., viii. 526.