Does this Renaissance duchess, daughter of a scandalous pope, deserve her infamous reputation?
The word “Borgia’’ has come to define a particular kind of Renaissance decadence. Associated with sexual and violent scandals at the heart of the papacy, the Borgia family was dominated by three infamous figures, Pope Alexander VI and his two most prominent children: Cesare and Lucrezia.
Celebrated in her time as a beautiful young woman with long, blonde hair and a fair complexion, Lucrezia is often regarded as the original femme fatale. She is largely known today as a notorious figure, surrounded by rumours of incest, murders and even poisonings. However, is her infamy justified or has Lucrezia Borgia been wrongly maligned by history?
THE POPE’S DAUGHTER
A Spanish noble family, the Borgias rose to prominence in Italy when Cardinal Alfonso de Borgia was elected as Pope Callixtus III in 1455. Although Callixtus only reigned for three years until his death in 1458, Borgia influence in Rome continued under his nephew, Rodrigo Borgia. A cardinal like his uncle, Rodrigo was himself elected as pope in 1492 and took the regnal name of Alexander VI.
As the head of the Roman Catholic Church, popes were sworn to a vow of celibacy, but this held little meaning to the lascivious Alexander who had several mistresses. While serving as a cardinal, he had a long-term relationship with an Italian tavern landlady called Vannozza dei Cattanei. With Vannozza, the then Rodrigo sired four children during the 1470s-80s.
Of the four children, three were boys (Cesare, Giovanni and Goffredo) while the third-born child was a girl: Lucrezia.
Born near Rome in 1480, Lucrezia was treated as a princess – despite her illegitimacy – and she received a superb education from the intellectuals of the papal court. Fluent in four languages, (Spanish, Italian, French and Catalan), Lucrezia could also read Latin and Greek and was proficient in music and literature.
Although she was highly educated, Lucrezia’s primary purpose was to be married to a suitable nobleman to continue her family’s ambitions. At the age of just 13, she was married in 1493 to Giovanni Sforza, Lord of Pesaro and Gradara. Theirs was not a love match and the marriage was annulled in 1497 on the grounds of Sforza’s alleged impotence.
However, before the annulment, Sforza accused Lucrezia of incest with her father. This was the first
