The Borgias

by Paul Strathern

  Callixtus III would turn out to be made of much sterner stuff than his electors had bargained for, and, despite his surprise at being elected, he quickly began leaving his stamp on the Holy See. One of the new pope’s first demands was to see the account books. These he scrutinized, and was horrified at the extravagances they revealed. Why, his predecessor Nicholas V had, during his eight-year reign, run up debts of no less than 70,432 florins.* ‘See how the treasures of the Church have been wasted!’ Callixtus III exclaimed on entering the Vatican Library for the first time. Such a treasury of rare manuscripts, books and works of art he regarded as superfluous to the offices and purposes of the Holy See. Callixtus III may have been a man of great spiritual refinement, but he had little regard for art. This did not mean that he was a philistine, more that his aesthetic taste was limited. Fortunately, in this field he had come to rely upon the advice of his favourite sister Isabella, the mother of Rodrigo Borgia. Isabella ensured that despite the new pope’s restriction on funds, the building of a number of Renaissance-style churches in Rome continued. Having suffered from years of neglect during the Great Schism with Avignon, Rome was desperately in need of some modern Christian grandeur amongst the rubble and towering ruins of pagan Ancient Rome. Isabella also persuaded Callixtus III to use Spanish artists. Most notable of these was Juan Rexach, whose modern influence stemmed from the Flemish School. These artists were the first to propagate the use of oil paint, which would in turn have a transformative effect on Renaissance art. Characteristically, Callixtus III was more concerned with the newly expanding city itself and improving its urban conditions. It was during his reign that the Campo de’ Fiori (‘Field of Flowers’), across the Tiber a mile or so south of the Vatican, was paved over to become a piazza. This led to a regeneration of a neglected part of the city, and the piazza itself would soon become renowned for the aristocratic palaces built around its edges.

  Even so, the reign of Callixtus III would be characterized by an absence of the usual ostentatious display. At the same time many papal treasures would be sold off, and this income put to good use. None would be exempt from this new austerity, even the Pope himself. An example would be set: the papal household would cut out all public extravagances. (As we have seen, his nephew Rodrigo Borgia, the future Pope Alexander VI, would quickly grasp the propaganda value of such a gesture amongst his more deprived flock in the city of Rome, and beyond, as word of the Pope’s priestly frugality spread. However, consistent observance of such niceties would prove another matter where Alexander VI was concerned, as we shall see.)

  Despite Callixtus III’s insistence upon austerity, this was not to be his overriding concern:

  Deeply pious, dry as dust and crippled by gout,* Callixtus devoted himself to two consuming ambitions. The first was to organize a European crusade that would deliver Constantinople from the Turks; the second was to advance the fortunes of his family and compatriots.

  Callixtus III was the first Spanish pope of the Roman Catholic Church, and as such was deeply resented by the leading aristocratic families of Rome, such as the Orsini and the Colonna, from amongst whom the popes were frequently elected. Not only did these families have a xenophobic distaste for this ‘Catalan’, but they were determined to do what they could to obstruct (or even to disobey) his wishes, anticipating that his reign would soon be over. Only by appointing loyal Spaniards to senior posts around him could Callixtus III be sure that his orders would be followed. Unlike so many previous popes of the period, he had remained faithful to his vow of chastity, and thus had no immediate family, no illegitimate sons upon whom he could rely by appointing them to positions of power. So instead he was forced to turn to his cousins, nephews and other Spanish relatives he knew he could trust.

  Rodrigo’s elder brother Pedro Luis Borgia was made Duke of Spoleto, Captain-General of the Papal Forces, and governor of the formidable Castel Sant’Angelo. This was the fortress which guarded the strategic Ponte Sant’Angelo across the Tiber from historic Rome to the district of Trastevere (Trans-Tiber). Much of Trastevere was occupied by the Vatican, which nonetheless remained within the protection of the ancient city walls. With Pedro Luis Borgia ensuring the loyalty of the Papal Forces, this served to secure Callixtus III against any menace from personal forces owned or hired by the antagonistic aristocratic families of Rome, such as the Orsini, the Savelli and the Colonna.

  Upon ascending to the papal throne, Callixtus III had of course been required to divest himself of all his previous posts, including the important and lucrative bishopric of Valencia. This he passed on to his nephew Rodrigo Borgia, whose intelligence and social skills had already come to the Pope’s notice. The twenty-four-year-old Rodrigo Borgia had by now exhibited ‘an appreciation for the arts and sciences and an immense amount of respect for the Church’. He had also become highly regarded during his law studies at the University of Bologna. Rodrigo Borgia would quickly make himself invaluable in the Vatican, carrying out his uncle’s orders and many of his administrative duties, especially when the ailing pontiff was incapacitated with gout.

  Although Callixtus III was hardly in rude health, and well knew that his reign would be short, he was determined to leave his mark by setting the Church back on its way to recovery. The fall of Constantinople, just two years previously, to the twenty-one-year-old Sultan Mehmed the Conqueror, had wrought a traumatic effect throughout western Christendom. For over a thousand years Constantinople had been the capital of the Byzantine Empire (Eastern Orthodox Christendom). But now the world had changed. The whole of Europe stood under threat from the energetic and ambitious Mehmed the Conqueror, whose Ottoman army continued to press on through the Balkans, moving ever closer to Italy. Callixtus III realized that an immediate response was required. Utilizing monies gained from selling off some of the Vatican treasures, ‘he built galleys in the boatyards of the Tiber, despatched preachers across the continent to sell indulgencies and imposed swingeing taxes throughout Western Christendom’. Venice was worried: the Ottoman advance was having a disastrous effect on the eastern Mediterranean trade upon which it relied, while its imperial possessions, such as Corfu, Crete and several strategic Aegean islands, all lay exposed. Likewise, Hungary felt threatened by the Ottoman advance west from Constantinople.

  Others, however, both amongst the city states of Italy and further afield throughout Europe, were less inclined to join forces for a crusade to confront the advancing Ottoman army. Quite simply, Europe was now tired after mounting three centuries of crusades against the ‘infidel’. Countries were more concerned with their own affairs: France was still recovering from the Hundred Years War against England, while the scattered German states of the Holy Roman Empire remained in disarray.

  Nonetheless, Callixtus III managed to collect 70,000 ducats, which enabled him to assemble on the Tiber a fleet of twenty-seven galleys, manned by 1,000 sailors and 5,000 soldiers, armed with 300 canons. This he placed under the command of Cardinal Trevisano, ordering him to sail and join up with the forces of King Alfonso at Naples. Here, despite Cardinal Trevisano’s outrage, King Alfonso refused to allow his fleet to join in the crusade against the Ottomans. In fact, he refused to recognize that his former ‘secretary’ was now his liege lord. King Alfonso was not only the rightful king of Naples, which occupied the whole of southern Italy, but also ruled Sicily, Sardinia and Aragon. Pope Callixtus III, on the other hand, was barely tolerated in Rome and had but a precarious hold on the Papal States to the north.

  In retaliation against King Alfonso’s betrayal, Callixtus III declared that he would refuse to ratify King Alfonso’s illegitimate son Ferrante as his rightful heir. At the same time he wrote to King Alfonso, threatening: ‘Your Majesty should know that a pope can depose kings.’ King Alfonso responded angrily: ‘Your Holiness should know that, should we wish, we shall find a way of deposing a pope.’

  Meanwhile, Callixtus III had ordered that all monies collected throughout Europe for the new crusade should be directed to the Hungarian command
er János Hunyadi, allowing him to assemble a formidable force. In the summer of 1456 Hunyadi marched south into the Balkans, and on 22 July managed to relieve the Serbian capital Belgrade, where the Orthodox population was under siege from the Ottomans. Had Belgrade fallen, the whole of Eastern Europe, and even Venice itself, would have been under threat. But Hunyadi did much more than relieve the siege, he then chased after the Ottoman army, which was retreating in disarray, and even managed to inflict a wound on Sultan Mehmed the Conqueror. This was the greatest defeat that Sultan Mehmed would ever receive, and when news of Hunyadi’s victory reached Rome, Callixtus III decreed that a miracle had taken place. He ordered 22 July to be celebrated annually as a permanent feature of the liturgical calendar.

  By now Cardinal Trevisano had sailed from Naples and set up base in Rhodes. From here he launched a series of attacks throughout the Aegean, capturing Corinth and even taking the Acropolis in Athens. He then began advancing through the Aegean Islands, before he encountered the Ottoman fleet off Lesbos. Here he successfully outmanoeuvered the Turks, inflicting a damaging, though not fatal, defeat on the Ottoman navy.

  Unfortunately, neither Hunyadi nor Trevisano had sufficient resources to follow up on their victories. Callixtus III’s appeals to western Christendom continued to fall on deaf ears, and the Ottomans prevented any serious threat to Constantinople. But Callixtus III had at least demonstrated one important lesson to his young nephew Rodrigo Borgia: the Ottomans may have presented a distinct threat, but they were far from being invincible. Given sufficient unity, it was not beyond the bounds of possibility that one day the combined forces of western Christianity could retake Constantinople and drive the Ottomans from their empire in the Levant. Rodrigo Borgia would certainly have discussed such matters with his uncle, and indeed, according to a rumour heard by Antonio da Trezzo, a Milanese diplomat: ‘I believe . . . the Pope has created his nephew Pedro Luis the Emperor of Constantinople.’ Adding, lest his master Francesco Sforza of Milan did not grasp the seriousness of his news: ‘This is not a joke.’ Such rumours may have been more than a little premature, but there is no doubting the fact that they sowed the seeds of an idea in the mind of the young, and still impressionable, Rodrigo Borgia.

  In early 1456 Callixtus III appointed three new Spanish cardinals, one of which was his talented, twenty-five-year-old nephew Rodrigo Borgia. This incurred considerable opposition amongst the Italian and French members of the College of Cardinals. But Callixtus III was a determined man and a year later he made Cardinal Rodrigo Borgia Vice-Chancellor of the College of Cardinals. This important administrative post had in fact been vacant since 1453, its decisions evidently taken either by the Pope himself or a senior member of the Curia, the papal administration. Yet by now Callixtus III was ageing fast and all but permanently confined to his bed. He needed to delegate some of his authority, so that he could concentrate on his main objective. And this he remained as determined as ever to fulfil, pressing hard for a full-scale European crusade against the Ottoman Turks. Nothing was to be spared in order to finance this endeavour: ‘Jewels, table services, church vessels and other precious objects from the papal treasure were sold.’ On seeing Nicholas V’s silver salt cellars, Callixtus gave the order, ‘Sell them for the crusade, earthenware is good enough for me.’ Despite his youth and inexperience Cardinal Rodrigo Borgia proved highly effective at organizing Callixtus III’s fundraising for his crusade, as well as following his uncle’s orders to appoint Spanish clerics to important posts within the Vatican. This was by no means an easy task, meeting much local resistance. As a result, Callixtus III’s Catalans succeeded in gaining only a foothold in the Curia, with around one fifth of its staff being Spanish. On the other hand, the Catalans quickly took over almost all the important posts in the papal household: the chief secretary, controller of the household, papal doctors, chief treasurer, even the cook and the like, all soon became Spanish.

  At the end of June 1458 news arrived from Naples that King Alfonso had unexpectedly died at the age of sixty-two. Callixtus III immediately seized his opportunity: he may have been well into his late seventies, and with all the outward appearances of piety, but as we have seen in his attempts to raise troops for his crusade, he had his determined side. And when this was thwarted he could be ruthless towards anyone he held responsible – most notably towards his former mentor King Alfonso of Naples. According to a report written by envoy Antonio de Pistoia to his master in Milan:

  The Pope shows signs of being pleased at the death of the king [Alfonso of Naples] and of being resentful of his behaviour while he lived. For, the moment the news [of his death] arrived, he sent a soldier to the house of the king’s ambassador with orders to arrest him and take him to Castel Sant’Angelo. But the said ambassador, who had news of the death of the king earlier and fortunately had been informed of the Pope’s intentions, had left immediately, leaving most of his possessions, which Callixtus III then seized.

  These assets would not have been seized for personal gain, but would have been added to the exchequer for funding the crusade. But Callixtus III was not content with such small fry. Shortly afterwards, he signed a papal bull declaring that as King Alfonso had died without leaving a legitimate heir, the Kingdom of Naples therefore reverted to its liege lord: it was now Papal Territory. It was rumoured that Callixtus III intended to name his nephew Pedro Luis Borgia, the Captain-General of the Papal Forces, as the new king of Naples. Meanwhile, in Naples itself, King Alfonso’s illegitimate son, the thirty-eight-year-old Ferrante, declared himself king. By now the ageing Callixtus III was frailer than ever, worn down by his efforts to galvanize Europe into a crusade, and at the same time battling those who opposed his attempts to further Spanish influence within the Vatican. Before he could take action against Ferrante in Naples, Callixtus III died on 6 August 1458 at the age of seventy-nine.

  Upon hearing this news, the citizens of Rome flooded the streets, chanting with glee against the hated ‘Catalans’, whose hold on the papacy now appeared to be over. Sensing which way the wind was blowing, Pedro Luis Borgia fled the Castel Sant’Angelo and took refuge in the fortress at the port city of Civitavecchia, some fifty miles to the north-west of Rome. The newly appointed Vice-Chancellor Cardinal Rodrigo Borgia was now left on his own, his only allies the despised clique of ‘Catalans’ who had been infiltrated into the Vatican.

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  * That is, around the same time as the founding of the Sorbonne in Paris, but twenty-six years earlier than the University of Oxford.

  * This small hillside city, just outside Sparta, remains to this day an almost perfectly preserved Byzantine relic.

  † As distinct from the Catholic cross with its longer lower vertical arm, the Greek Orthodox cross has arms of equal length.

  * The medieval term of measurement known as a braccia was taken from an arm’s length. It varied from time to time and place to place, and was usually between 26 and 28 inches, though it could on occasion be only 18 inches long.

  * The golden florin (fiorino d’oro) was the first currency to be widely accepted throughout European trading centres. The gold ducat, which was minted in Venice, was directly modelled upon the florin. Their values fluctuated against each other, but as a rule of thumb one can view their value as approximately equal during this period.

  * This often excruciating arthritis particularly attacked the leg joints and the toes. In a traditional saying, which dates back to at least medieval times, it has been known as ‘the disease of kings, and the king of diseases’. It was prevalent amongst the upper classes, and was often ascribed to overindulgence, particularly in fortified wines. This was not the case with Callixtus III (or indeed the Medici family of Florence, who were widely known to suffer from this disease). At this time, when fruit and fresh vegetables were largely unavailable in winter, the lower classes were reduced to surviving on root vegetables such as turnips and the like. These were regarded as little better than cattle fodder by the upper classes. However, suc
h vegetables did in fact produce some semblance of a balanced diet. Meanwhile, the upper classes confined themselves to succulent meats and other delicacies freshly killed from the hunt. The lack of vegetables (and associated vitamins) led to a build-up of uric acid, which formed painful, needle-like crystals on the joints and toes, even afflicting an ascetic such as Callixtus III.

  CHAPTER 2

  THE YOUNG RODRIGO

  THE ALL-BUT-ACCIDENTAL, YET IN the event very decisive, papacy of Callixtus III opened the eyes of young Rodrigo Borgia as to what could be done. Besides providing him with a blueprint for future dreams of empire, it had also raised him to such a senior position that there was even a possibility he might himself one day fulfil such dreams. Yet who precisely was this young man within whom there hatched such overweening ambition?

  Rodrigo de Borja was born on 1 January 1431 in the small town of Xàtiva near Valencia, in the Kingdom of Aragon. As we know, his mother was Isabella de Borja, Callixtus III’s trusted younger sister. Isabella in fact married her cousin Jofrè de Borja,* thus enabling a male Borja to take over the family estate which Callixtus III would have inherited had he not entered the Church. It is possible that this genetic proximity played a part in Rodrigo de Borja’s preternaturally close relationship with his offspring, and indeed the singular psychology of several of his children. (He was to have no less than eight acknowledged children, by three different women.)