Francis I, Charles V and the Roman barons

Francis I and Charles V adopted the same policies towards the Roman barons as fifteenth-century Italian princes and republics had done, employing them as military commanders, expecting to use them to exert influence, if not pressure, on the popes, and to have access through them to the Guelf and Ghibelline factions that looked to the barons for leadership. This was most evident during the pontificate of Clement VII, in the period culminating in the Sack of Rome in 1527. The failure of Francis’s attempt to recover the kingdom of Naples in 1528-9, and the consolidation of Charles’s rule there, caused them to develop different approaches to their use of the barons. Charles expected Roman barons who were his subjects by virtue of their Neapolitan estates to put their resources in the Papal States at his service. Francis continued to employ Roman barons as commanders, and valued the opportunity to use their influence in Rome, but for him, the potential use of their lands and fortresses was a secondary consideration.