Clement VII’s papacy (1523-1534) was marked by political turmoil. He supported Francis I of France against the Emperor Charles V which resulted in the sack of Rome by the Emperor’s troops in 1527.  The occupying force imprisoned the Pope in the Castel Sant’Angelo, Rome, during which time he grew his distinctive beard. He also opposed the prospect of King Henry VIII of England’s divorce from Catherine of Aragon, which was to precipitate the Reformation in England. In common with his Medici predecessor as Pope, his cousin Giovanni de’ Medici (Leo X 1513-1521), he was an enlightened patron of the arts.

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