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Lot 217
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Sack of Rome - First 16th C. Transcription of Jacopo Buonparte's Famous Account "Sacco Di Roma" (Sack of Rome); He was Related to Napoleon!
Sack of Rome - First 16th C. Transcription of Jacopo Buonparte's Famous Account "Sacco Di Roma" (Sack of Rome); He was Related to Napoleon!
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Description:

Rome Sack of

First 16th C. Transcription of Buonparte's Account "Sacco Di Roma" (Sack of Rome)

 

A lovely bound manuscript circa 16th century, 8" x 11." Bound in hard boards from a later unknown date, which show expected edge wear. Contains 56 leaves of manuscript representing 112 pages, of an accounting of the Sack of Rome, with a reference at the end of the book that the original author was Jacques Buonaparte (Jacopo Buonaparte), and that this was a first extraction of the original. Manuscript titled "Sacco Di Roma … Clement VII de Medici L'Anno 1527" (Pope Clement VII). Excellent bright condition with a few scant handling marks.

 

A fantastic transcription manuscript of Jacopo Buonaparte's accounting of the Sack of Rome, with a note at the end of the book that this is the  first copy to have been extracted from the original archives of the Buonaparte family at St. Miniato in Tuscany. The inscription to the front of the book was written much later in another hand, and was inscribed in French, whereas the entire accounting of the Sack of Rome manuscript is in Italian. The front inscription in French reads:

 

"To my much respected friend M. [Theodore Lyman, Citizen of Boston, A. Nibby gives this manuscript of the story of the Sack of Rome by Jacques Buonaparte, extracted from the archives of the Buonaparte family at S. Miniato in Tuscany.

"The character of the handwriting in this manuscript proves that it had been written in the 16th Century. Some one says at the end of the work that the author of it is Jacques Buonaparte and that the handwritten manuscript is at S. Miniato in the family archives . They add again that this is the first copy to have been extracted. M. Nibby received the manuscript from the Comte de St. Leu in 1817."

 

History shows that Jacopo Buonaparte of San Miniato was a friend and advisor to Medici Pope Clement VII. Further research documents that Jacopo was also a witness to and wrote an account of the sack of Rome, which is one of the most important historical documents recounting that event. The San Miniato branch of the Buonapartes extinguished with Jacopo in 1550, thus his accounting would obviously predate his death, but after the military event, thus making the original manuscript dated between 1527-1550. This first extraction has been dated 16th century based on the manuscript content and character of the handwriting.

 

The Buonaparte family lineage (later called Bonaparte) were patricians in the Italian towns of Sarzana, San Miniato and Florence. The various family lineages were all related, however the San Miniato branch extinguished with Jacopo in 1550. The most famous of the Buonaparte lineage was none other than Napoleon, the French military leader of Italian heritage who had risen to notability out of the French Revolution and who in 1804 transformed the First French Republic into the First French Empire.

 

Although Rome technically was sacked 6 times, this sacking dated 6 May 1527, and was considered by scholars to mark the end of the Italian Renaissance. This military event was carried out in Rome (then part of the Papal States) by the mutinous troops of Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor. It marked a crucial imperial victory in the conflict between Charles and the League of Cognac (1526–1529)—the alliance of France, Milan, Venice, Florence and the Papacy.

“They wept a lot; all of us are rich.” That was how one of the participants summed up the events of May 1527, when a mutinous army under the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V savaged the city of Rome. The imperial troops were fresh off a campaign against the League of Cognac—with whom Pope Clement VII was allied—but they hadn’t been paid in months. To keep them on the march, their commander, the Duke of Bourbon, had promised them a chance to plunder Rome. The impoverished soldiers arrived on May 6 and launched an assault. The Duke was killed during the fighting, but his men breached the defensive walls and poured into the city. The Vatican’s Swiss Guard was all but annihilated during a famous last stand near St. Peter’s Basilica. Pope Clement, meanwhile, was forced to escape via a secret tunnel and barricade himself in the impregnable Castel Sant’Angelo. Once inside Rome, the leaderless army devolved in a bloodthirsty mob. Buildings were looted and burned; men and children were tortured and killed; and women—even Catholic nuns—were raped or auctioned off at public markets. By the time the imperial army finally left the city, Rome was stripped bare and half of its 55,000 inhabitants were either dead or homeless. The cultural blow was equally severe. Scores of artists had been killed, and many priceless artworks were destroyed or missing. Some scholars have since used the 1527 sacking as the official end date of the Italian Renaissance.

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