The Borgias

by Paul Strathern

  As ever, I would like to thank my long-term agent Julian Alexander, to whom this work is dedicated. Also his assistant Ben Clark, who remains ever-helpful. I would particularly like to thank the staff at the several libraries and record offices I have consulted both in the UK and abroad, who have provided me with so much helpful information and guidance. As always, without the unfailingly helpful staff at Humanities 2 in the British Library this book would not have been possible.

  SOURCES

  PROLOGUE: THE CROWNING MOMENT

  p. 2 ‘the world’s first blood transfusion’ See Jacalyn Duffin, History of Medicine: A Scandalously Short Introduction (Toronto, 1999), p. 171.

  p. 2 ‘to take for nourishment . . . ’ Gerard Noel, The Renaissance Popes: Culture, Power and the Making of the Borgia Myth (London, 2006) p. 70.

  p. 2 ‘Since the fall . . . ’ F. Guicciardini, Storia d’Italia, ed. Panigada (Bari, 1929) I, p. 2.

  p. 3 ‘begat eight boys . . . ’ Epigram of the contemporary poet Marullus, cited in Latin in Ludwig Pastor, History of the Popes, trans. F. I. Antrobus, 40 vols (London, 1950 edn) Vol. 5, p. 240.

  p. 3 ‘Rather than the death . . . ’ Innocent VIII’s words were recorded by the contemporary Roman diarist Stefano Infessura. See, for instance, Christopher Hibbert, The House of Borgia (London, 2009) p. 34. (In some later references, I have used the Folio Society (2017) edition of this work.)

  p. 3 ‘hardly a day passed . . . ’ See Pastor, History of the Popes, Vol. 5, pp. 318–9.

  p. 3 ‘the needle of . . . ’ From the Italian ago di balancia, which literally translates as ‘needle of the balancing scales’, but the more poetic version referring to a compass has become the popularly accepted English translation. See, for instance, the entry on the Medici family by the renowned Italian Renaissance scholar Pasquale Villari in the celebrated 1911 edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica, Vol. 18, p. 33.

  p. 4 ‘a black cross which . . . ’ et seq.: for the full context and sources of these citations see my Death in Florence (London, 2011), pp. 114, 132.

  p. 6 ‘They were twenty-three . . . ’ See Peter De Roo, Material for a History of Pope Alexander VI, His Relatives and His Time (Bruges, 1924), Vol. 2, p. 314. Other sources give differing numbers. Although De Roo is not always reliable, owing to his zeal to defend Alexander VI from his detractors, he does in this case appear to have undertaken more extensive archival research in this matter.

  p. 8 ‘handsome, of a pleasant . . . ’ Gasparo di Verona, cited Pastor, History of the Popes, Vol. 2, p. 451.

  p. 8 ‘possessed singular cunning . . . ’ et seq., Francesco Guicciardini, The History of Italy, trans. S. Alexander (London, 1969), Book 1, p. 10.

  p. 8 ‘numerous abbeys in Italy . . . ’ et seq., Jacopo da Volterra, cited Sarah Bradford, Cesare Borgia (London, 1976), p. 26.

  p. 8 ‘He possesses more . . . ’ Cited Hibbert, The House of Borgia, p. 33.

  p. 8 ‘unbecoming behaviour at . . .’ See Pastor, History of the Popes, Vol. 2, p. 452, who cites Pius II’s letter from ‘The Secret Archives of the Vatican’.

  p. 9 ‘squint-eyed and . . . ’ See various refs, including Maria Bellonci, Lucrezia Borgia (Milan, 1952 edn), p. 27; Sarah Bradford, Lucrezia Borgia (London, 2004), p. 16; Bradford, Cesare Borgia, p. 32.

  p. 9 ‘during that time he . . . ’ Sigismondo de’ Conti, cited ibid., Vol. 5, pp. 386–7.

  p. 10 ‘four mules laden . . . ’ et seq., see Stefano Infessura, Diario della città di Roma, ed. O Tommasini (Rome, 1890), p. 282.

  p. 10 ‘primarily [Borgia’s] election . . . ’ Guicciardini, The History of Italy (1969 edn), p. 5.

  p. 11 ‘it was a measure of . . . ’ Marion Johnson, The Borgias (London, 1981) p. 87.

  p. 11 ‘We have for Pope . . . ’ et seq., cited Hibbert, The House of Borgia, p. 30. p. 11 ‘Flee, we are . . . ’ Variations of this remark were widely reported. See, for instance, Michael Mallett, The Borgias: The Rise and Fall of a Renaissance Dynasty (London, 1969), p. 120.

  p. 12 ‘as a good and . . . ’ Cited Johnson, The Borgias, p. 89.

  p. 13 ‘Power and Fortune’: A reference to Niccolò Machiavelli’s prescription for political success: ‘Virtù e Fortuna’. Open to several translations. The one I have chosen here is more appropriate in this general context. As we shall see, in the course of this work, other interpretations may appear more relevant in particular instances, such as ‘Force and Chance’ or ‘Guts and Luck’.

  CHAPTER 1: ORIGINS OF A DYNASTY

  p. 17 ‘The election to the papacy . . . ’ Gerard Noel, The Renaissance Popes (New York, 2006), p. 23.

  p. 18 ‘Old wood to burn, old wine . . . ’ et seq. These sayings appear in various forms in a number of works: see, for instance, G. J. Meyer, The Borgias (New York, 2013), p. 22.

  p. 21 ‘Cattle grazed in the . . . ’ See Ferdinand Gregorovius, History of the City of Rome in the Middle Ages, trans. Annie Hamilton (London, 1900–2 edn), Vol. 2, p. 276 et seq.

  p. 22 ‘By the time of the conclave . . . ’ See Hibbert, The House of Borgia, p. 12.

  p. 22 ‘by far the most intelligent . . . ’ John Julius Norwich, The Popes: A History (London, 2011), p. 242.

  p. 23 ‘in such poor health that . . . ’ Hibbert, The House of Borgia, p. 12.

  p. 24 ‘the wooden table where . . . ’ Giovanni Rucellai ed il suo zibaldone, ed. A. Perosa, 2 vols (London, 1981), Vol. 1, pp. 70–72.

  p. 24 ‘is seated in a chair of . . . ’ See Norwich, The Popes, pp. 63–4, citing the fifteenth-century Adam of Usk in his Chronicle (British Library Add. MS 10104).

  p. 25 ‘Duos habet et bene . . . ’ Fernand Leroy, Histoire de Naître: d’enfantiment primitif à l’accouchement (Brussels, 2002), pp. 100–1.

  p. 26 ‘Deeply pious, dry as dust . . . ’ Norwich, The Popes, p. 242.

  p. 27 ‘an appreciation for the arts and sciences . . . ’ Alexander VI, drawing on material from De Roo.

  p. 28 ‘he built galleys in the . . . ’ Norwich, The Popes, p. 242.

  p. 29 ‘Your majesty should . . . ’ et seq., cited Meyer, The Borgias, p. 45.

  p. 30 ‘I believe . . . the Pope has . . . ’ et seq., Antonio da Trezzo (14 February 1458) to Francesco Sforza, cited Pastor, History of the Popes, Vol. 2, p. 469n.

  p. 30 ‘Jewels, table services, church . . . ’ et seq., see Noel, Renaissance Popes, p. 26.

  p. 31 ‘The Pope shows signs of being pleased . . . ’ Antonio da Pistoia (4 July 1458) to Francesco Sforza, cited Pastor, History of the Popes, Vol. 2, pp. 559–61, doc. 52.

  CHAPTER 2: THE YOUNG RODRIGO

  p. 34 ‘when eight years old . . . ’ De Roo, Alexander VI, Vol. 2, p. 10.

  p. 34 ‘Vatican records show Rodrigo . . . ’ See Meyer, The Borgias, p. 58.

  p. 35 ‘the most eminent and . . . ’ Contemporary citation, see De Roo, Alexander VI, Vol. 2, p. 29.

  p. 35 ‘the most eminent and judicious . . . ’ cited De Roo, Alexander VI, Vol. 2, p. 29.

  p. 35 ‘[Rodrigo Borgia] is handsome, of a . . . ’ Gasparo da Verona, cited Pastor, History of the Popes, Vol. 2, p. 451.

  p. 36 ‘What he lacked was the . . . ’ et seq., see Norwich, The Popes, pp. 354–5.

  p. 36 ‘he seems to have preferred . . . ’ see Mary Hollingsworth, The Borgia Chronicles (London, 2011), p. 170.

  p. 37 ‘in him were combined rare . . . ’ cited Pastor, History of the Popes, Vol. 2, p. 449.

  p. 37 ‘Rodrigo did not take holy . . . ’ et seq., see Mallett, The Borgias, p. 97.

  p. 38 ‘the other cardinals hoped to deceive . . . ’ Aeneas Silvius Piccolomini, The Secret Memoirs of a Renaissance Pope, eds F. A. Gragg and L. C. Gabel (London, 1988), pp. 66–7.

  p. 39 ‘not only a quantity of mildly pornographic . . . ’ See Norwich, The Popes, pp. 244–5.

  p. 40 ‘kept them in fear of death . . . ’ et seq., Piccolomini, The Secret Memoirs of a Renaissance Pope (London, 1960 edn), pp. 32–4.

  p. 41 ‘There were so many people . . . ’ et seq., cited Pas
tor, History of the Popes, Vol. 2, pp. 83–4.

  p. 42 ‘That evening in the church . . . ’ ibid., Vol. 2, pp. 501–2, doc. 5.

  p. 42 ‘his condition is such . . . ’ ibid., Vol. 2, p. 348n.

  p. 43 ‘You traitorously used our money . . . ’ Letter from Callixtus III to King Alfonso of Naples, dated 1456. See ibid., Vol. 2, pp. 365–6.

  p. 43 ‘There was a bitter argument in . . . ’ Piccolomino, Memoirs, p. 71.

  p. 43 ‘The pope died today at nightfall . . . ’ See Pastor, History of the Popes, Vol. 2, p. 563, doc. 54.

  p. 45 ‘This meant the loss . . . ’ Noel, Renaissance Popes, p. 29.

  p. 45 ‘It was common talk that . . . ’ et seq., Aeneas Piccolomini, Memoirs of a Renaissance Pope (London, 1960 edn), pp. 79–87. All descriptions of the conclave, with the exception of the two mentioned below, come from these pages.

  p. 46 ‘This may have been Cardinal Calindrini . . . ’ Noel, Renaissance Popes, p. 29.

  p. 48 ‘This shocking scene was . . . ’ et seq., ibid., p. 31.

  p. 48 ‘the father of several . . . ’ et seq, including citations, see Hibbert, The House of Borgia, pp. 18–19.

  p. 49 ‘The palace is splendidly decorated . . . ’ Ascanio Sforza, cited Mallett, The Borgias, p. 96.

  p. 50 ‘Anyone who used this great . . . ’ Meyer, The Borgias, p. 91.

  CHAPTER 3: RODRIGO BORGIA EMERGES IN HIS TRUE COLOURS

  p. 53 ‘trussing up a Papal emissary . . . ’ Robert Hughes Spectator 7 August 2013

  p. 54 ‘We have learned that three days . . . ’ This letter is cited in varying lengths and translations. See Pastor, History of the Popes, Vol. 2, p. 452; Mallett, The Borgias, p. 98; Hollingsworth, Borgias, p. 85; Meyer, The Borgias, p. 102; et al.

  p. 55 ‘the first light thrown . . . ’ Pastor, History of the Popes, Vol. 2, p. 452.

  p. 55 ‘the usual polish of . . . ’ et seq., see Meyer, The Borgias, p. 103.

  p. 56 ‘fell seriously ill . . . ’ Piccolomini, Memoirs, p. 161.

  p. 58 ‘The priesthood is derided by . . . ’ See Hollingsworth, Borgias, p. 84, citing Piccolomini, Memoirs.

  p. 59 ‘amateur crusaders from . . . ’ Meyer, The Borgias, p. 112.

  p. 60 ‘The vice-chancellor is sick . . . ’ See Pastor, History of the Popes, Vol. 2, p. 455n.

  p. 61 ‘in high standing’ Cited Hollingsworth, Borgias, p. 97.

  p. 62 ‘yesterday [Cardinal Rodrigo Borgia] was seen . . . ’ ibid., p. 100.

  p. 63 ‘his extensive collections of . . . ’ Noel, Renaissance Popes, p. 50.

  p. 63 ‘dark and damp, and . . . ’ See Hollingsworth, Borgias, p. 105.

  p. 63 ‘a monster of cruelty and . . . ’ See Meyer, The Borgias, p. 127.

  p. 63 ‘unworthy of the . . . ’ See Johann Kirsch, ‘Pope Formosus’, Catholic Encyclopedia (London, 1909 edn).

  p. 63 ‘his two weaknesses . . . ’ See Norwich, The Popes, p. 246.

  p. 64 ‘After the boys’ race he . . . ’ Platina, Vitae Pontificum, p. 380, reprint in Vol. 3, Part 1, Rerum Italicarum Scriptores (Citta di Castello, 1923–4).

  p. 64 ‘after an immoderate feasting . . . ’ Noel, Renaissance Popes, p. 53.

  p. 66 ‘a monument of medieval cuisine . . . ’ See ‘Bartolomeo Platina’ in John Dickie, Delizia! The Epic History of the Italians and their Food (London, 2008), p. 67.

  p. 67 ‘No account of how he . . . ’ See Meyer, The Borgias, p. 140.

  p. 69 ‘A fearful storm arose at . . . ’ De Roo, Alexander VI, Vol. 2, p. 204.

  p. 71 ‘the son of a cardinal . . . ’ Cited Hollingsworth, Borgias, p. 130.

  CHAPTER 4: THE WAY TO THE TOP

  p. 74 ‘brilliant suite’ et seq., Pastor, History of the Popes, Vol. 4, p. 279.

  p. 74 ‘The wars in France . . . ’ ibid., p. 280.

  p. 74 ‘the scarcity of bread . . . ’ et seq., De Roo, Alexander VI, pp. 220–3.

  p. 77 ‘he was content to . . . ’ Cited in the most illuminating work on the conspiracy: Lauro Martines, April Blood: Florence and the Plot against the Medici (London, 2003), p. 158.

  p. 77 ‘pledge of the great love’ et seq., cited Bradford, Cesare Borgia, p. 23.

  p. 79 ‘There is substantial . . . ’ Colin Heywood, ‘Mehmed II’, Encyclopedia of the Ottoman Empire (New York, 2009), p. 368.

  p. 81 ‘working hard for support’ et seq., cited Hollingsworth, Borgias, p. 140.

  p. 81 ‘And so, rivals as they were . . . ’ Norwich, The Popes, p. 251.

  p. 82 ‘He slept almost continuously . . . ’ See Noel, Renaissance Popes, p. 70.

  p. 83 ‘Who would not make sacrifices . . . ’ Christopher Lascelles, Pontifex Maximus: A Short History of the Popes (Horley, 2017), p. 186.

  p. 85 ‘Of the worldly Cardinals . . . ’ Pastor, History of the Popes, Vol. 5, p. 362.

  p. 85 ‘he never missed . . . ’ Sigismondo de’ Conti, cited ibid., pp. 386–7.

  CHAPTER 5: A NEW POPE IN A NEW ERA

  p. 89 ‘I am pope! . . . ’ Hibbert, The House of Borgia, p. 30.

  p. 90 ‘The town which gave Law . . . ’ Pope Alexander VI, Statua et novae reformations Urbis Romae (Book IV, folio 1).

  p. 90 ‘Alexander VI . . . rode through Rome . . . ’ See Tuchman, March of Folly, p. 77, drawing on several contemporary sources.

  p. 91 ‘began most admirably’ Cited Meyer, The Borgias, p. 182.

  p. 92 ‘Giulia la bella’ et seq., see citations Bradford, Lucrezia Borgia, p. 35; Tuchman, March of Folly, p. 77; Hibbert, The House of Borgia.

  p. 92 ‘the Bride of Christ’ et seq., see Will Durant, The Renaissance (New York, 1953), pp. 412–3; Hibbert, The House of Borgia, p. 27; Bradford, Lucrezia Borgia.

  p. 92 ‘We have heard that you . . . ’ Cited Hibbert, The House of Borgia, p. 27.

  p. 96 ‘The great hall, known as the Sala Reale . . . ’ This description is mainly taken from Johann Burchard, At The Court Of The Borgia, ed. and trans. Geoffrey Parker (Bath, 1996 edn), pp. 64–7. For clarity, I have at certain points interwoven other translations and citations, which appear in Hibbert, The House of Borgia, pp. 37–9 and Hollingsworth, Borgias, pp. 183–5.

  p. 96 ‘As only an ecclesiastic . . . ’ et seq., Geoffrey Parker’s footnote to Burchard, Court of the Borgias, p. 65.

  p. 96 ‘When all the ladies . . . ’ et seq., ibid., p. 65 et al, including Johannes Burchard, Liber Notarum (Paris, 2003 edn), pp. 82, 96; as well as Hollingsworth, Borgias, p. 184, and Hibbert, The House of Borgia, p. 39, citing Infessura.

  p. 98 ‘the rest were candidates for . . . ’ Hollingsworth, Borgias, p. 187.

  p. 99 ‘He brought back parrots . . . ’ ibid., p. 178.

  p. 101 ‘impatient, arrogant and spiteful’ Such views were widespread. See in this instance Christopher Hibbert, Florence: Biography of a City (London, 1993), p. 149.

  p. 101 ‘the Sword of the Lord . . . ’ et seq., see Donald Weinstein, Savonarola and Florence (Princeton, 1970), pp. 87–96.

  p. 101 ‘Besides hunting, which . . . ’ et seq., Jacob Burkhardt, The Civilization of the Renaissance in Italy, trans. S. Middlemore (London, 1928 edn), Book 1, Vol. 5, pp. 36–7.

  p. 102 ‘white marriage’ Cited Meyer, The Borgias, p. 205.

  p. 103 ‘The new pope no longer saw his daughter’s . . . ’ Bradford, Lucrezia Borgia, p. 24.

  p. 103 ‘Juan, duke of Gandia . . . had been sent . . . ’ et seq., see Meyer, The Borgias, p. 204.

  p. 104 ‘the handsomest man in Italy’ Cited Michael Mallett, entry on ‘Cesare Borgia’, Encyclopædia Britannica (2002 edn).

  p. 104 ‘he had gained such profit . . . ’ Cited Bradford, Cesare Borgia, p. 24.

  p. 105 ‘Giovanni, legitimate son . . . ’ see ibid., p. 24.

  p. 105 ‘The day before yesterday . . . ’ The Ferrarese ambassador, cited ibid., pp. 30–1.

  CHAPTER 6: ‘THE SCOURGE OF GOD’

  p. 107 ‘Those who professed to tell . . . ’ Guicciardini, Storia d’Italia, 1.9, cited Hollingsworth, Borgias, p. 195.
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  p. 108 ‘the greatest peace . . . ’ See F. Guicciardini, Storia d’Italia, ed. Panigada (Bari, 1929), Vol. 1, p. 2.

  p. 108 ‘he seemed more like . . . ’ Guicciardini, The History of Italy, trans. Sidney Alexander, p. 49.

  p. 108 ‘His prodigious sexual appetite was . . . ’ See Paul Strathern, Death in Florence (London, 2011), p. 169. This and the preceding description derive from a host of contemporary sources.

  p. 110 ‘Charles delayed his own . . . ’ See Meyer, The Borgias, p. 225.

  p. 112 ‘On 30 January news arrived . . . ’ Le Journal de Jean Burchard, trans. Joseph Turmel (Paris, 1932), p. 218. Johann Burchard’s Diarium sine rerum urbanarum commentarii (1483–1506) was written in Latin, and a three-volume version was published by Louis Thuasne in 1883–5. This, and the Latin translation by Enrico Celani (1907–13), have various (differing) lacunae. The most reliable and readily available collation of these is Joseph Turmel’s French translation, each of whose entries have a numbered references to Celani and Thuasne, for those who wish to check the original Latin sources.

  p. 113 ‘All these Italians . . . ’ Various versions of this remark appear in a range of sources, including Guicciardini. It is said to have been overheard by Cardinal Giuliano della Rovere.

  p. 113 ‘On their way into the city . . . ’ et seq., Burchard, Journal, cited Hibbert, The House of Borgia, p. 56.