When Cardinal Giulio de’ Medici was elected pope as Clement VII, on 19 November 1523, many expected that he would be an important ally to Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, in his struggle against Francis I, King of France. After all, the Cardinal had been the leader of the philo-imperial movement at the Roman Curia for quite some time, for he believed that a concerted effort with the Emperor was necessary not only to oppose the spread of Lutheranism but also to rid the Church of the French presence in Lombardy, as Francis's seizure of the Duchy of Milan, in 1515, had resulted in a serious constraint on any further expansion of the papal dominions in the Po Valley. In the last period of the pontificate of Leo X – the previous Medici pope – the Cardinal supported the creation of an anti-French alliance with Charles (May 1521). The military operations, in which he participated in person as Pontifical Legate, led to the expulsion of the French from Milan – where Francesco Sforza was proclaimed duke – and the papal occupation of Piacenza and Parma, in the autumn of 1521. Similarly, during the brief pontificate of Adrian VI (1522–3), the Cardinal played an active role in convincing the Pope to sign another anti-French alliance with the Emperor in August 1523. More generally, as Guicciardini writes in The History of Italy (XVI, i),

In light of all this, it is not surprising that Charles looked at Cardinal de’ Medici as a most reliable friend and supported his election with all his influence (and quite a lot of money).