Deemed "the most unfortunate of the popes", Clement VII's reign was marked by a rapid succession of political, military, and religious struggles—many long in the making—which had far-reaching consequences for Christianity and world politics.
Elected in at the end of the Italian Renaissance , Clement came to the papacy with a high reputation as a statesman. The complex political situation of the s thwarted Clement's efforts. Clement's problems were exacerbated by souring relations with Charles V in , which led to the violent Sack of Rome , during which Clement was imprisoned.
After escaping confinement in the Castel Sant'Angelo , Clement—with few economic, military, or political options remaining—compromised the Church's and the Papal States' independence by allying with his former jailer, Charles V. In contrast to his tortured pontificate, Clement was personally respectable and devout, possessing a "dignified propriety of character", "great acquirements both theological and scientific", as well as "extraordinary address and penetration—Clement VII, in serener times, might have administered the Papal power with high reputation and enviable prosperity.
But with all of his profound insight into the political affairs of Europe, Clement does not seem to have comprehended the altered position of the Pope" in relation to Europe's emerging nation-states and Protestantism.
Clement left a significant cultural legacy in the Medici tradition. Giulio de' Medici's life began under tragic circumstances. On 26 April —exactly one month before his birth—his father, Giuliano de Medici brother of Lorenzo the Magnificent was murdered in the Florence Cathedral by enemies of his family, in what is now known as the " Pazzi conspiracy ".
