character, pushed many Corsican immigrants toward crime; many Corsicans were active as thieves and robbers, both in the city and in the Roman Campagna. Although the Corsicans were certainly not the most turbulent group of immigrants in the city, the reputation they gained in this way was so bad that the Papacy issued numerous laws against them, among them the decree issued in 1475 by Pope Sixtus IV (r.1471–84) that forbade Corsicans from settling in the city unless they were able to pay a caution of two hundred ducati each and explicitly promised in advance not to bear weapons, or that issued in 1500 under Pope Alexander VI (r.1493–1503), which ordered the expulsion of all the Corsicans from Rome and the Papal States. In practice, though, all of these decrees went unenforced, and their only effect was to improve group morale of the Corsicans in Rome, which began to integrate successfully into 16th-century Roman society. In Renaissance Italy, Corsicans had the reputation of being courageous men; in the Gallery of Maps in the Vatican, painted between 1580 and 1583, Italian cartographer Ignazio Danti wrote in the cartouche above the map of the island: "Corsica has received four major gifts from Nature: its horses, its dogs, its proud and courageous men and its wines, most generous, that princes hold in the highest esteem!". Consequently, it was not difficult for Corsicans to find employ as soldiers in the service of the popes, often attaining officer rank and high social status. These mercenaries formed the nucleus of a Corsican militia that preceded the establishment in 1506 of the better known and still existing Swiss Guard. Between 1468 and 1471, four companies of heavy cavalry composed of Corsican knights were enrolled by the Pope. During the reigns of Popes AlexanderVI and Julius II (r.1503–13), these companies were reinforced. In 1528, after the rout of Marshal Lautrec in Naples, the remains of the French army moved north through the Papal States. Among them were Corsican bands in the service of France, amounting to 3,000 men. Six hundred of them stopped in Rome, and there took service under Clement VII (r.1523–34). Among these troops were the compagnie di ventura (mercenary bands) of Condottieri Sampiero Corso and Raffaello Corso. In 1543 the members of the Corsican militia living in Trastevere asked the Pope for permission to establish the Arciconfraternita della Madonna del Carmine, with its seat in