Image via WikipediaAuthor: DanieleOn January 22, 1506 is the official birthday of the Pontifical Swiss Guard, because on this day, at twilight, a group of one hundred and fifty Swiss, commanded by Captain Kaspar von Silenen, the canton of Uri, entered through Porta del Popolo to first time in the Vatican, where they were blessed by Pope Julius II. The prelate John Burchard of Strasbourg, the papal master of ceremonies and lead author of a famous chronicle of his time, noted the event in his diary. Indeed, even before, Sixtus IV had concluded an alliance with the Confederates 14 79, by means of a treaty which provided the opportunity to recruit mercenaries. He built housing for them near the church of S. Pelle-grin, the present Via del Pellegrino. Innocent VIII (1484-1492) under the old treaty renewed, wanted to use them against the Duke of Milan. Even Alexander VI will use the Confederate soldiers during the alliance of the Borgias with the King of France. At the time of the powerful Borgia family originated in Italy the great wars that saw the Swiss in the foreground, sometimes allies of France and sometimes supporters of the Holy See or the Holy Roman Empire of the Germanic nation.
