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- Rodrigo Borgia had such a wild party that he got a reprimand from the pope. Born in Xàtiva, near Valencia, Rodrigo Borgia was a career churchman and power player.
- Alexander VI (Rodrigo Borgia) operated a pilgrim scam. There have certainly been mixed views of Pope Alexander VI over the years. While he won praise from several of his papal successors, one 19th-century historian called him a ‘satanic priest’ who surrounded himself in the Vatican with ‘harlots, sorcerers, and bravos [hitmen]’.
- Alexander once insisted on sleeping with his son’s would-be bride. Pope Alexander was nearly 40 when he fell for the 28-year-old Vannozza dei Cattanei, mother of Lucrezia and Cesare and two of their siblings.
- Cesare Borgia liked to use prisoners as target practice. Cesare was handsome and a highly capable military leader and administrator, but he was also a ruthless tyrant.
The House of Borgia (/ ˈbɔːr (d) ʒə / BOR-zhə, BOR-jə; [2][3][4] Italian: [ˈbɔrdʒa]; Spanish and Aragonese: Borja [ˈboɾxa]; Valencian: Borja [ˈbɔɾdʒa]) was a Spanish noble family, which rose to prominence during the Italian Renaissance. [5]
Sep 27, 2024 · Borgia Family, descendants of a noble line, originally from Valencia, Spain, that established roots in Italy and became prominent in ecclesiastical and political affairs in the 1400s and 1500s. The house of Borgias produced two popes and many other political and church leaders.
- The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
- The Rise of The Borgias
- Calixtus III: The First Borgia Pope
- Rodrigo: Journey to The Papacy
- Alexander VI: The Second Borgia Pope
- Juan Borgia
- The Rise of Cesare Borgia
- The Wars of Cesare Borgia
- The Fall of The Borgias
- Lucrezia The Patron and The End of The Borgias
- The Borgia Legend
The most famous branch of the Borgia family originated with Alfonso de Borgia (1378–1458, and or Alfons de Borja in Spanish), the son of a middling status family, in Valencia, Spain. Alfons went to university and studied canon and civil law, where he demonstrated talent and after graduation began to rise through the local church. After representing...
On April 8th, 1455, shortly after being made a cardinal, Alfons was elected Pope, largely because he belonged to no major factions and seemed destined for a short reign due to age. He took the name Calixtus III. As a Spaniard, Calixtus had many ready-made enemies in Rome, and he began his rule carefully, keen to avoid Rome’s factions, even though h...
In the conclave following Calixtus’s death, Rodrigo was the most junior cardinal, but he played a key role in electing the new Pope—Pius II—a role that required courage and gambling his career. The move worked, and for a young foreign outsider who had lost his patron, Rodrigo found himself a key ally of the new pope and confirmed Vice-Chancellor. T...
Alexander had widespread public support and was capable, diplomatic, and skilled, as well as rich, hedonistic, and concerned with ostentatious displays. While Alexander at first tried to keep his role separate from family, his children soon benefited from his election, and received huge wealth; Cesare became a cardinal in 1493. Relatives arrived in...
Alexander now turned on a Roman family who stayed loyal to France: the Orsini. The command was given to Alexander’s son Duke Juan, who was recalled from Spain, where he had earned a reputation for womanizing. Meanwhile, Rome echoed to the rumors of the excesses of the Borgia children. Alexander meant to give Juan first the vital Orsini land, and th...
Juan had been Alexander’s favorite and his commander: that honor (and the rewards) were now diverted to Cesare, who wished to resign his cardinal’s hat and marry. Cesare represented the future to Alexander, partly because the other male Borgia children were dying or weak. Cesare secularized himself fully in 1498. He was immediately given replacemen...
Alexander looked at the condition of the Papal States, left in disarray after the first French invasion, and decided military action was needed. He thus ordered Cesare, who was in Milan with his army, to pacify large areas of central Italy for the Borgias. Cesare had early success, although when his large French contingent returned to France, he ne...
As the alliance with France now seemed to be holding Cesare back, plans were made, deals struck, wealth acquired and enemies murdered to take a change of direction, but in mid-1503 Alexander died of malaria. Cesare found his benefactor gone, his realm not yet consolidated, large foreign armies in the north and south, and himself also deeply ill. Fu...
Lucrezia also survived malaria and the loss of her father and brother. Her personality reconciled her to her husband, his family, and her state, and she took up court positions, acting as regent. She organized the state, saw it through war, and created a court of great culture through her patronage. She was popular with her subjects and died in 151...
Alexander and the Borgias have become infamous for corruption, cruelty, and murder. Yet what Alexander did as pope was rarely original, he just took things to a new extreme. Cesare was perhaps the supreme intersection of secular power wielded to spiritual power in Europe’s history, and the Borgias were renaissance princes no worse than many of thei...
The most notable Borgia after Lucrezia was St Francis Borgia (1510-74). He was the great-grandson of Pope Alexander VI via the murdered Juan Borgia’s son. Francis is famous for the most un-Borgia reason: he was such a good Christian that he became a saint.
Oct 5, 2023 · The Borgias were notoriously ruthless and power-hungry, willing to kill anyone who got in their way. At least, that’s how their enemies described the powerful family of Renaissance Europe. While Pope Alexander VI led the family, his illegitimate son Cesare Borgia was his right-hand man.
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Jul 23, 2013 · Blood & Beauty breaks new ground, showcasing the redoubtable Borgias, a family that exerted outsized influence briefly but devastatingly over the handful of 15th and 16th century city-states...
