This lightning session will illuminate some of the conflicts and controversies of the year 1527 through a series of evocative snapshots. Contributors will consider how Erasmus interpreted the Sack of Rome; how biblical study and Anabaptist persecution coexisted in 1527 Zurich; how the Sack interrupted the antiquarian and philological work of Roman humanists; how it functioned as part of collective memory in the Holy Roman Empire; how the theology faculties of continental universities were crafting arguments that would prove relevant to Henry VIII's divorce debacle; how Incan and colonial historical records provide unique challenges of historical reconstruction; and how universities were laying the groundwork for breakthroughs in the natural sciences. Because each speaker will only talk for a few minutes, there will be ample time for discussion among the panelists and with the audience about 1527 as a year of rupture and intellectual ferment.