Caspar Röist (13 July 1478 – 6 May 1527) was a Swiss papal official and

commander Commander (commonly abbreviated as Cmdr.) is a common naval officer rank as well as a job title in many army, armies. Commander is also used as a rank or title in other formal organizations, including several police forces. In several countri ...

of the papacy's

Swiss Guard The Pontifical Swiss Guard,; ; ; ; , %5BCorps of the Pontifical Swiss Guard%5D. ''vatican.va'' (in Italian). Retrieved 19 July 2022. also known as the Papal Swiss Guard or simply Swiss Guard,Swiss Guards , History, Vatican, Uniform, Require ...

. He died whilst commanding it in its

last stand A last stand, or final stand, is a military situation in which a body of troops holds a defensive position in the face of overwhelming and virtually insurmountable odds. Troops may make a last stand due to a sense of duty; because they are d ...

during the sack of Rome in 1527. A native of

Zürich Zurich (; ) is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich. , the municipality had 448,664 inhabitants. The ...

, and son of mayor of Zürich and colonel of the Swiss Guard

Marx Röist Marx Röist (7 August 1454–15 June 1524) was a member of the political elite of Zürich, and from 1517 the second commander of the Papal Swiss Guard. Biography The son of a wealthy patrician and city councillor, Heinrich Röist, he serve ...

(1454–1524), Röist was a student in

Basel Basel ( ; ), also known as Basle ( ), ; ; ; . is a city in northwestern Switzerland on the river Rhine (at the transition from the High Rhine, High to the Upper Rhine). Basel is Switzerland's List of cities in Switzerland, third-most-populo ...

in 1494, and is recorded as a judge in Zürich during 1500–1505. He married Anna Meyer of Knonau in 1500, and later Elisabeth Klingler, likely in 1517. He served in the papal guard in the rank of a captain as a deputy in the absence of his father during 1518–1524, and after the death of his father as commander from August 1524 until his death. Politically, the years of the service of Kaspar Röist were among the hardest, particularly in the diplomatic tensions between the

Holy See The Holy See (, ; ), also called the See of Rome, the Petrine See or the Apostolic See, is the central governing body of the Catholic Church and Vatican City. It encompasses the office of the pope as the Bishops in the Catholic Church, bishop ...

and the

Holy Roman Empire The Holy Roman Empire, also known as the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation after 1512, was a polity in Central and Western Europe, usually headed by the Holy Roman Emperor. It developed in the Early Middle Ages, and lasted for a millennium ...

in 1527 which resulted in the sack of Rome, perpetrated by

Landsknechts The (singular: , ), also rendered as Landsknechts or Lansquenets, were German mercenaries used in pike and shot formations during the early modern period. Consisting predominantly of pikemen and supporting foot soldiers, their front line was f ...

, Spanish, and Italian mercenaries in the pay of the

Emperor Charles V Charles V (24 February 1500 – 21 September 1558) was Holy Roman Emperor and Archduke of Austria from 1519 to 1556, King of Spain (as Charles I) from 1516 to 1556, and Lord of the Netherlands as titular Duke of Burgundy (as Charles II) fr ...

who was determined to reassert their supremacy over the Church of the Empire. During the assault on Rome, Kaspar Röist had fortified himself at the head of the 189 recruits in the Teutonic Cemetery, around the central obelisk in the cemetery desperately trying to resist but to no avail, covering the flight of

Pope Clement VII Pope Clement VII (; ; born Giulio di Giuliano de' Medici; 26 May 1478 – 25 September 1534) was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 19 November 1523 to his death on 25 September 1534. Deemed "the most unfortunate o ...

Castel Sant'Angelo Castel Sant'Angelo ( ), also known as Mausoleum of Hadrian (), is a towering rotunda (cylindrical building) in Parco Adriano, Rome, Italy. It was initially commissioned by the Roman Emperor Hadrian as a mausoleum for himself and his family. ...

. Röist was wounded during this battle and later sought refuge in his house, but was followed by the troops, who killed him in front of his wife.

References

* *R. Walpen, ''Die Päpstliche Schweizergarde'' (2006), 64–71. Military personnel from Zurich People from the Papal States Swiss military personnel killed in action Commanders of the Swiss Guard 1478 births 1527 deaths 16th-century Swiss nobility {{Switzerland-mil-bio-stub