Pope Alexander VI (Spanish: Alejandro VI, or Alexander Sextus), born Roderic Llançol i de Borja (Spanish: Rodrigo Lanzol; 1 January 1431 – 18 August 1503) was pope (Bishop of Rome) from 1492 until his death in 1503. He is one of the most controversial of the Renaissance popes, and his Italianized surname Borgia became a byword for libertinism and nepotism, which are traditionally considered as characterizing his papacy. However, his reputation is mostly drawn from his enemies, the Italian prelates and barons whose power he subverted. Two of Alexander's successors, Sixtus V and Urban VIII, described him as one of the most outstanding popes since St. Peter.[3] His reputation rests more on his considerable skills as a diplomat, politician and civil administrator rather than as a pastor, although regarding the latter he was no more or less effective than any of the other renaissance pontiffs.[4]
Rodrigo Llançol was born on 1 January 1431 in the town of Xàtiva in the Kingdom of Valencia, one of the component realms of the Crown of Aragon, in present-day Spain. His parents were the Valencian Jofré Llançol i Escrivà (died bef. 24 March 1437) and his wife and distant cousin the Aragonese Isabel de Borja y Cavanilles (died 19 October 1468). His family name is written Llançol in Valencian and Lanzol in Spanish. Rodrigo adopted his mother's family name of Borja in 1455 following the elevation to the papacy of his maternal uncle Alonso de Borja (Italianized to Alfonso Borgia) as Calixtus III.[5]
Papal styles of
Pope Alexander VI |
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| Reference style |
His Holiness |
| Spoken style |
Your Holiness |
| Religious style |
Holy Father |
| Posthumous style |
None |
Rodrigo Borgia studied law at Bologna where he graduated, not simply as Doctor of Law, but as "the most eminent and judicious jurisprudent."[6] After the election of his uncle as Pope Calixtus III, he was ordained deacon and created Cardinal-Deacon of San Nicola in Carcere at the age of twenty-five in 1456, and the following year he was appointed vice-chancellor of the Holy Roman Church, nepotistic appointments characteristic of the age. In 1468 he was ordained to the priesthood and in 1471 he was consecrated bishop and appointed Cardinal-Bishop of Albano.[1] Having served in the Roman Curia under five popes – Pius II, Paul II, Sixtus IV and Innocent VIII – Rodrigo Borgia acquired considerable administrative experience, influence and wealth.[7]
On the death of Pope Innocent VIII on 25 July 1492, the three likely candidates for the Papacy were cardinals Borgia, seen as an independent candidate, Ascanio Sforza for the Milanese, and Giuliano della Rovere seen as a pro-French candidate. It was rumoured but not substantiated that Borgia succeeded in buying the largest number of votes and Sforza, in particular, was bribed with four mule-loads of silver.[8] This was portrayed in the Showtime TV series The Borgias (2011) but is a popular falsehood about Pope Alexander. Mallett however shows that Borgia was in the lead from the start and that the rumours of simony began after the election with the distribution of benefices, and that Sforza and della Rovere were just as willing and able to bribe as anyone else.[9] The benefices and offices granted Sforza, moreover, would be worth considerably more than four mule-loads of silver. Johann Burchard, the conclave's master of ceremonies and a leading figure of the papal household under several popes, recorded in his diary that the 1492 conclave was a particularly expensive campaign. Della Rovere was bankrolled to the cost of 200,000 gold ducats by King Charles VIII of France, with another 100,000 supplied by the Republic of Genoa.[10] Borgia was elected on 11 August 1492, assuming the name of Alexander VI (due to confusion about the status of Pope Alexander V elected by the Council of Pisa). Giovanni di Lorenzo de' Medici (later Pope Leo X) is rumored to have sharply criticized the election and issued the much quoted warning:
Now we are in the power of a wolf, the most rapacious perhaps that this world has ever seen. And if we do not flee, he will inevitably devour us all.
[11]
This is a popular misquotation. What Medici is actually said to have stated is;
Flee, we are in the clutches of the world.
[12]
Such a criticism however, particularly by the very youthful Giovanni, is believed to be highly unlikely: "Precocious though he was, the cardinal would scarcely have made this observation when sixteen years of age."[13]
In contrast to the preceding pontificate, Pope Alexander VI adhered initially to strict administration of justice and orderly government. Before long, however, he began endowing his relatives at the church's and his neighbours' expense. Cesare Borgia, his son, while a youth of seventeen and a student at Pisa, was made Archbishop of Valencia, and Giovanni Borgia inherited the Spanish Dukedom of Gandia, the Borgias' ancestral home in Spain. For the Duke of Gandia and for Gioffre, also known as Goffredo, the Pope proposed to carve fiefs out of the papal states and the Kingdom of Naples. Among the fiefs destined for the duke of Gandia were Cerveteri and Anguillara, lately acquired by Virginio Orsini, head of that powerful house. This policy brought Ferdinand I, King of Naples, into conflict with Pope Alexander VI, who was also opposed by Cardinal della Rovere, whose candidature for the papacy had been backed by Ferdinand. Della Rovere fortified himself in his bishopric of Ostia at the Tiber's mouth as Pope Alexander VI formed a league against Naples (25 April 1493) and prepared for war.[citation needed]
Coat of Arms of Pope Alexander VI Borgia – Castel Sant'Angelo, Rome.
Ferdinand allied himself with Florence, Milan, and Venice. He also appealed to Spain for help, but Spain was eager to be on good terms with the papacy to obtain the title to the recently discovered New World. Pope Alexander VI, in the bull Inter Caetera, 4 May 1493, divided the title between Spain and Portugal along a demarcation line. (This and other related bulls are known collectively as the Bulls of Donation.)[citation needed]
Pope Alexander VI made many alliances to secure his position. He sought help from Charles VIII of France (1483–1498), who was allied to Ludovico "Il Moro" [The Moor, so called because of his swarthy complexion] Sforza, the de facto Duke of Milan who needed French support to legitimize his rule. As King Ferdinand I of Naples was threatening to come to the aid of the rightful duke Gian Galeazzo, the husband of his granddaughter Isabella, Alexander VI encouraged the French king in his plan for the conquest of Naples.
But Pope Alexander VI, always ready to seize opportunities to aggrandize his family, then adopted a double policy. Through the intervention of the Spanish ambassador he made peace with Naples in July 1493 and cemented the peace by a marriage between his son Gioffre and Doña Sancha, another granddaughter of Ferdinand I. In order to dominate the Sacred College of Cardinals more completely, Alexander, in a move that created much scandal, created 12 new cardinals. Among the new cardinals was his own son Cesare, then only 18 years old. Alessandro Farnese (later Pope Paul III), the brother of one of the Pope's mistresses, the beautiful Giulia Farnese, was also among the newly created cardinals.
On 25 January 1494 Ferdinand I died and was succeeded by his son Alfonso II (1494–1495). Charles VIII of France now advanced formal claims on the Kingdom of Naples. Pope Alexander VI authorized him to pass through Rome, ostensibly on a crusade against the Turks, without mentioning Naples. But when the French invasion became a reality Pope Alexander VI became alarmed, recognized Alfonso II as king of Naples, and concluded an alliance with him in exchange for various fiefs for his sons (July 1494). A military response to the French threat was set in motion: a Neapolitan army was to advance through the Romagna and attack Milan, while the fleet was to seize Genoa. However, both expeditions were badly conducted and failed, and on 8 September Charles VIII crossed the Alps and joined Lodovico il Moro at Milan. The papal states were in turmoil, and the powerful Colonna faction seized Ostia in the name of France. Charles VIII rapidly advanced southward, and after a short stay in Florence, set out for Rome (November 1494).
Pope Alexander VI appealed to Ascanio Sforza and even to the Ottoman Sultan Bayazid II for help. He tried to collect troops and put Rome in a state of defense, but his position was precarious. When the Orsini offered to admit the French to their castles, Alexander had no choice but to come to terms with Charles. On 31 December Charles VIII entered Rome with his troops, the cardinals of the French faction, and Giuliano della Rovere. Pope Alexander VI now feared that Charles might depose him for simony, and that the king would summon a council to nominate a new pope. However, Pope Alexander VI was able to win over the bishop of Saint-Malo, who had much influence over the king, with a cardinal's hat. Pope Alexander VI agreed to send Cesare as legate to Naples with the French army, to deliver Cem to Charles VIII, and to give Charles Civitavecchia (16 January 1495). On 28 January Charles VIII departed for Naples with Cem and Cesare, but the latter slipped away to Spoleto. Neapolitan resistance collapsed, and Alfonso II fled and abdicated in favour of his son Ferdinand II. However, Ferdinand was abandoned by all and also had to escape, and the Kingdom of Naples was conquered with surprising ease.
A reaction against Charles VIII soon set in, for all the European powers were alarmed at his success. On 31 March 1495 a so-called Holy League was formed between the Pope, the emperor, Venice, Lodovico il Moro and Ferdinand of Spain. The League was ostensibly formed against the Turks, but in reality it was made to expel the French from Italy. Charles VIII had himself crowned King of Naples on 12 May but a few days later began his retreat northward. He met the allies at Fornovo, and after a drawn battle cut his way through them and was back in France by November. Ferdinand II was reinstated at Naples soon afterwards, with Spanish help. The expedition, if it produced no material results, demonstrated the foolishness of the so-called 'politics of equilibrium', the Medicean doctrine of preventing one of the Italian principates from overwhelming the rest and uniting them under its hegemony. Charles VIII's belligerence in Italy had made it transparent that the 'politics of equilibrium' did nothing but render the country unable to defend itself against a powerful invading force. Italy was shown to be very vulnerable to the predations of the powerful nation-states, France and Spain, that had forged themselves during the previous century. Alexander VI now followed the general tendency of all the princes of the day to crush the great feudatories and establish a centralized despotism. In this manner he was able to take advantage of the defeat of the French in order to break the power of the Orsini. From that time on, Alexander was able to build himself an effective power base in the Papal States.
Giovanni de Candia Borgia, 2nd Duke of Gandia, son of Alexander VI.
Castel Sant'Angelo is where Pope Alexander VI secluded himself after the death of his son Giovanni, the Duke of Gandia.
Virginio Orsini, who had been captured by the Spanish, died a prisoner at Naples, and the Pope confiscated his property. The rest of the Orsini clan still held out however, defeating the papal troops sent against them under Guidobaldo da Montefeltro, Duke of Urbino and Giovanni Borgia, Duke of Gandia, at Soriano (January 1497). Peace was made through Venetian mediation, the Orsini paying 50,000 ducats in exchange for their confiscated lands; the Duke of Urbino, whom they had captured, was left by the Pope to pay his own ransom. The Orsini remained very powerful, and Pope Alexander VI could count on none but his 3,000 Spanish troops. His only success had been the capture of Ostia and the submission of the francophile cardinals Colonna and Savelli.
Then occurred the first of those ugly domestic tragedies for which the house of Borgia remains notorious. On 14 June the Duke of Gandia, lately created Duke of Benevento, disappeared; the next day his corpse was found in the Tiber.
Pope Alexander VI, overwhelmed with grief, shut himself up in Castel Sant'Angelo. He declared that henceforth the moral reform of the Church would be the sole object of his life, a resolution he did not keep. Every effort was made to discover the assassin, and suspicion fell on various highly placed people. Enquiries suddenly ceased without explanation. Cesare was suspected but not until much later and he was never named in the immediate aftermath, nor would there have been any particular reason for him to commit such a crime. The Orsini, against whom Gandia had been involved in the recent campaign were the principal suspects at the time. Gandia had many other enemies. Ascanio Sforza for example had had a terrible row with him just a few days before the murder. No conclusive explanation was ever reached,[14] and it may be that the crime was simply as a result of one of Gandia's sexual liaisons.
There is no evidence that the Borgias resorted to poisoning, judicial murder and extortion to fund their schemes and the defence of the papal states. When cardinals died their wealth automatically reverted to the Church. The only contemporary accusations of poisoning were from some of the servants of the Borgias extracted under torture by Alexander's bitter enemy and successor Julius II.[15]
Because of his invectives against papal corruption,
Girolamo Savonarola was viewed with suspicion (but at first some tolerance) by Pope Alexander VI. He was eventually arrested and executed on 23 May 1498.
The debased state of the curia was a major scandal. Opponents such as the powerful demagogic Florentine friar Girolamo Savonarola launched invectives against papal corruption and appealed for a general council to confront the papal abuses. Alexander is reported to have been reduced to laughter when Savanarola's denunciations were related to him. However the hostility of Savonarola seems to have been political rather than personal, and the friar sent a touching letter of condolence to the Holy Father on the death of the Duke of Gandia; "Faith, most Holy Father, is the one and true source of peace and consolation... Faith alone brings consolation from a far-off country."[16] But eventually the Florentines tired of the friar's moralising and the Florentine government condemned the reformer to death (23 May 1498).[17] The houses of Colonna and Orsini, after much fighting between themselves, allied against the Pope, who found himself unable to maintain order in his own dominions
In these circumstances, Pope Alexander VI, feeling more than ever that he could only rely on his own kin, turned his thoughts to further family aggrandizement. He had annulled Lucrezia's marriage to Giovanni Sforza, who had responded to the suggestion that he was impotent with the counter-claim that Pope Alexander VI and Cesare indulged in incestuous relations with Lucrezia, in 1497, and, unable to arrange a union between Cesare and the daughter of King Frederick IV of Naples (who had succeeded Ferdinand II the previous year), he induced Frederick by threats to agree to a marriage between the Duke of Bisceglie, a natural son of Alfonso II, and Lucrezia. Cesare, after resigning his cardinalate, was sent on a mission to France at the end of the year, bearing a bull of divorce for the new French king Louis XII, in exchange for which he obtained the duchy of Valentinois (a duchy chosen because it was consistent with his already known nickname of Valentino), a promise of material assistance in his schemes to subjugate the feudal princelings of papal Romagna, and a marriage to a princess of Navarre.
Pope Alexander VI hoped that Louis XII's help would be more profitable to his house than that of Charles VIII had been. In spite of the remonstrances of Spain and of the Sforza, he allied himself with France in January 1499 and was joined by Venice. By autumn Louis XII was in Italy expelling Lodovico Sforza from Milan. With French success seemingly assured, the Pope determined to deal drastically with the Romagna, which although nominally under papal rule was divided into a number of practically independent lordships on which Venice, Milan, and Florence cast hungry eyes. Cesare, empowered by the support of the French, began to attack the turbulent cities one by one in his capacity as nominated gonfaloniere (standard bearer) of the church. But the expulsion of the French from Milan and the return of Lodovico Sforza interrupted his conquests, and he returned to Rome early in 1500.
While the enterprising explorers of Spain and Portugal were quick to enslave the indigenous peoples they met in Africa and the New World,[18] some popes spoke out against the practice. In 1435, Pope Eugene IV had issued an attack on slavery in his papal bull Sicut Dudum, which included the excommunication of all those who engaged in the slave trade. However, a form of indentured servitude was allowed, being similar to a peasant's duty to his liege lord in Europe.
In the wake of Columbus' landing in the New World, Pope Alexander was asked by the Spanish monarchy to confirm their ownership of these newly found lands.[19] The bulls issued by Pope Alexander VI : "Eximiae devotionis" (3 May 1493), "Inter Caetera" (4 May 1493) and "Dudum Siquidem" (23 September 1493), granted similar rights to Spain with respect to the newly discovered lands in the Americas as Pope Nicholas V had previously conferred with the bulls "Romanus Pontifex" and "Dum Diversas".[20] Morales Padron (1979) concludes that these bulls gave power to enslave the natives.[21] Minnich (2005) asserts that this "slave trade" was permitted to facilitate conversions to Christianity.[22] Other historians and Vatican scholars strongly disagree with these accusations and assert that Pope Alexander VI never gave his approval to the practice of slavery.[23] Other later popes, such as Pope Benedict XIV in Immensa Pastorium (1741), and Pope Gregory XVI in his letter In Supremo Apostolatus (1839), continued to condemn slavery.
Thornberry (2002) asserts that "Inter Caetera" was applied in the "Requerimiento" which was read to American Indians (who could not understand the colonizers' language) before hostilities against them began. They were given the option to accept the authority of the Pope and Spanish crown or face being attacked and subjugated.[24] In 1993, the Indigenous Law Institute called on Pope John Paul II to revoke "Inter Caetera" and to make reparation for "this unreasonable historical grief". This was followed by a similar appeal in 1994 by the Parliament of World Religions.[25]
The year 1500 was a jubilee year, and crowds of pilgrims flocked to the city from all parts of the world bringing money to donate as a part of the requirements to receive a certain indulgence, so that Pope Alexander VI was able to furnish Cesare with funds for his enterprise.[citation needed] In the north the pendulum swung back again in favour of the French, who reoccupied Milan in April, causing the downfall of the Sforza, much to Pope Alexander VI's satisfaction.
In July 1500, Lucrezia's husband the Duke of Bisceglie was assassinated apparently on Cesare's orders. As is so often the case with the Borgias they were again the subject of rumour and innuendo. It is unclear why Cesare should kill Bisceglie, although it is an undisputed fact the final murder was carried out by one of Cesare's men. Cesare stated that the murder was more an act of spontaneous manslaughter as Bisceglie had threatened him.[26] Bisceglie, part of the Naples royal house, was an embarrassment at that point as Alexander was making overtures to France.
The Pope, ever in need of money, now created twelve new cardinals, from whom he received 120,000 ducats, and considered fresh conquests for Cesare. There was talk of a crusade, but the real object was central Italy. In the autumn, Cesare, backed by France and Venice, set forth with 10,000 men to complete his interrupted business in the Romagna.
Cesare dispossessed the local despots of Romagna and set up an orderly and strong administration there. On his return to Rome in June 1501 Cesare was created Duke of Romagna. Louis XII, having succeeded in the north, determined to conquer southern Italy as well. He concluded a treaty with Spain for the division of the Neapolitan kingdom, which was ratified by the Pope on 25 June, Frederick being formally deposed. While the French army proceeded to invade Naples, Pope Alexander VI took the opportunity, with the help of the Orsini, to reduce the Colonna to obedience. In his absence on campaign he left Lucrezia as regent, providing the remarkable spectacle of a pope's natural daughter in charge of the Holy See. Shortly afterwards he induced Alfonso d'Este, son of the Duke of Ferrara, to marry Lucrezia, thus establishing her as wife of the heir to one of the most important duchies in Italy (January 1502). At about this time a Borgia of doubtful parentage was born: Giovanni, described in some papal documents as Pope Alexander VI's son and in others as Cesare's.
As France and Spain were quarreling over the division of Naples and the Campagna barons were quiet, Cesare set out again in search of conquests. In June 1502, he seized Camerino and Urbino, the news of whose capture delighted the Pope; but his attempt to draw Florence into an alliance failed. In July, Louis XII of France again invaded Italy and was at once bombarded with complaints from the Borgias' enemies. The Pope's diplomacy, however, turned the tide and gave a free hand in central Italy to Cesare in exchange for his promise to assist the French in the south.
A danger now arose in the shape of a conspiracy by the deposed despots, the Orsini, and of some of Cesare's own condottieri. At first the papal troops were defeated and things looked bleak for the house of Borgia. But a promise of French help quickly forced the confederates to come to terms. Cesare, by an act of treachery, then seized the ringleaders at Senigallia and put Oliverotto da Fermo and Vitellozzo Vitelli to death (31 December 1502). When Alexander VI heard the news, he lured Cardinal Orsini to the Vatican and cast him into a dungeon, where he died. His goods were confiscated, his aged mother turned into the street and many other members of the clan in Rome were arrested, while Alexander's son Goffredo Borgia led an expedition into the Campagna and seized their castles. Thus the two great houses of Orsini and Colonna, who had long fought for predominance in Rome and often flouted the Pope's authority, were subjugated and the Borgias' power increased. Cesare then returned to Rome, where his father asked him to assist Goffredo in reducing the last Orsini strongholds; this for some reason he was unwilling to do, much to his father's annoyance; but he eventually marched out, captured Ceri and made peace with Giulio Orsini, who surrendered Bracciano.
The war between France and Spain for the possession of Naples dragged on, and the Pope was forever intriguing, ready to ally himself with whichever power promised the most advantageous terms at any moment. He offered to help Louis XII on condition that Sicily be given to Cesare, and then offered to help Spain in exchange for Siena, Pisa and Bologna.
Cesare was preparing for another expedition in August 1503 when, after he and his father had dined with Cardinal Adriano da Corneto on 6 August, they were taken ill with fever a few days later. Cesare, whose skin allegedly peeled off[27] as a consequence of certain drastic measures to save him, eventually recovered; but the aged Pontiff apparently had little chance. Burchard's Diary provides a few details of the pope's final illness and death:[28]
Saturday, the 12th of August, 1503, the Pope fell ill in the morning. After the hour of vespers, between six and seven o'clock a fever appeared and remained permanently. On the 15th of August thirteen ounces of blood were drawn from him and the tertian ague supervened. On Thursday, the 17th of August, at nine o'clock in the forenoon he took medicine. On Friday, the 18th, between nine and ten o'clock he confessed to the Bishop Gamboa of Carignola, who then read mass to him. After his communion he gave the Eucharist to the Pope who was sitting in bed. Then he ended the mass at which were present five cardinals, Serra, Juan and Francesco Borgia, Casanova and Loris. The Pope told them that he felt very bad. At the hour of vespers after Gamboa had given him extreme unction, he died.
The pope was 72 years old.
As for his true faults, known only to his confessor, Pope Alexander VI apparently died genuinely repentant. The bishop of Gallipoli, Alexis Celadoni, spoke of the pontiff's contrition during his funeral oration to the electors of Alexander's successor, pope Pius III:[29]
When at last the pope was suffering from a very severe sickness, he spontaneously requested, one after another, each of the last sacraments. He first made a very careful confession of his sins, with a contrite heart, and was affected even to the shedding of tears, I am told; then he received in Communion the most Sacred Body and Extreme Unction was administered to him.
The interregnum witnessed again the ancient "tradition" of violence and rioting.[30] Cesare, too ill to attend to the business himself, sent Don Michelotto, his chief bravo, to seize the Pope's treasures before the death was publicly announced. The next day the body was exhibited to the people and clergy of Rome, but was covered by an "old tapestry" ("antiquo tapete"), having become greatly disfigured by the rapid but normal process of decomposition.
It has been suggested that, having taken into account the unusual level of decomposition, Alexander VI was accidentally poisoned to death by his son, Cesare, with cantarella (which had been prepared to eliminate Cardinal Adriano), although some commentaries doubt these stories and attribute the Pope's death to malaria, then prevalent in Rome, or to another such pestilence. The ambassador of Ferrara wrote to Duke Ercole that it was no wonder the Pope and the duke were sick because nearly everyone in Rome was ill because of bad air ("per la mala condictione de aere").[citation needed]
After a short stay, the body was removed from the crypts of St. Peter's and installed in a less well-known church, the Spanish national church of Santa Maria in Monserrato degli Spagnoli.[31]
Detail of fresco
Resurrection in the Borgia Apartment showing Alexander VI in prayer
Alexander VI was known for his patronage of the arts, and in his days a new architectural era was initiated in Rome with the coming of Bramante. Raphael, Michelangelo and Pinturicchio all worked for him.[32] He commissioned Pinturicchio to lavishly paint a suite of rooms in the Apostolic Palace in the Vatican, which are today known as the Borgia Apartment.
In addition to the arts, Alexander VI also encouraged the development of education. In 1495, he issued a papal bull at the request of William Elphinstone, Bishop of Aberdeen, and King James IV of Scotland, founding King's College, Aberdeen. King's College now forms an integral element of the University of Aberdeen.
Alexander VI, allegedly a marrano according to papal rival Giuliano della Rovere,[33] distinguished himself by his relatively benign treatment of Jews. After the 1492 expulsion of Jews from Spain, some 9,000 impoverished Iberian Jews arrived at the borders of the Papal States. Alexander welcomed them into Rome, declaring that they were "permitted to lead their life, free from interference from Christians, to continue in their own rites, to gain wealth, and to enjoy many other privileges." He similarly allowed the immigration of Jews expelled from Portugal in 1497 and from Provence in 1498.[34]
It has been noted that the alleged misdeeds of Alexander VI are similar in nature to those of other Renaissance princes, with the one exception being his position in the Church. As De Maistre said in his work Du Pape, "The latter are forgiven nothing, because everything is expected from them, wherefore the vices lightly passed over in a Louis XIV become most offensive and scandalous in an Alexander VI."[35]
Bohuslav Hasištejnský z Lobkovic, a Bohemian humanist poet (1461–1510) dedicated one of his Latin poems to Alexander:[36]
|
Epitaphium Alexandri Papae
|
Epitaph to Pope Alexander
|
- Cui tranquilla quies odio, cui proelia cordi
- et rixa et caedes seditioque fuit,
- mortuus hac recubat populis gaudentibus urna
- pastor Alexander, maxima Roma, tuus.
- Vos, Erebi proceres, vos caeli claudite portas
- atque Animam vestris hanc prohibete locis.
- In Styga nam veniens pacem turbabit Averni,
- committet superos, si petat astra poli.
|
- Who sacrificed quiet to hatred, with a warrior heart,
- who did not stop at quarrels, struggles and slaughters,
- is lying here in the coffin for all people to rejoice,
- thy supreme pontiff Alexander, oh, capital Rome.
- Ye prelates of Erebus and Heaven, close your doors
- and prohibit the Soul from entering your sites.
- He would disrupt the peace of Styx and disturb Avernus,
- and vanquish the Saints, if he enters the sphere of stars.
|
However, despite Julius II's hostility, the Roman barons and Romagna vicars were never again to be the same problem for the papacy and Julius' successes owe much to the foundations laid by the Borgias.[37] Unlike Julius, Alexander never made war unless absolutely necessary, preferring negotiation and diplomacy.[38]
Pope Alexander VI was the last but one non-Italian pope until the election of John Paul II in 1978.
Alexander VI kneeling in front of the
Madonna, said to be a likeness of Giulia Farnese. A copy of a lost or destroyed fresco by
Pinturicchio.
Of Alexander's many mistresses the one for whom his passion lasted longest was a certain Vannozza (Giovanna) dei Cattani, born in 1442, and wife of three successive husbands. The connection began in 1470, and she bore him four children whom he openly acknowledged as his own: Giovanni, afterwards duke of Gandia (born 1474), Cesare (born 1476), Lucrezia (born 1480), and Goffredo or Giuffre (born 1481 or 1482). His other children, Girolama, Isabella and Pedro-Luiz, were of uncertain parentage. Before his elevation to the papacy Cardinal Borgia's passion for Vannozza somewhat diminished, and she subsequently led a very retired life. Her place in his affections was filled by the beautiful Giulia Farnese (Giulia Bella), wife of an Orsini, but his love for his children by Vannozza remained as strong as ever and proved, indeed, the determining factor of his whole career. He lavished vast sums on them and lauded them with every honour. The atmosphere of Alexander's household is typified by the fact that his daughter Lucrezia lived with his mistress Giulia, who bore him a daughter, Laura, in 1492.
He is an ancestor of virtually all royal houses of Europe, mainly the southern and western ones, for being the ancestor of Doña Luisa de Guzmán, wife of King John IV of Portugal.
- The contemporary politician, political theorist and author Niccolò Machiavelli wrote his book of power politics The Prince in 1513, in which he refers to Alexander VI as a corrupt politician completely without honor.[39] "Alexander VI did nothing but deceive men..."[40]
- E. R. Chamberlin's 1969 book The Bad Popes documented the lives of eight of the most controversial popes, including Alexander.
- Alexander is one of six Popes of the Renaissance era profiled unfavorably by historian Barbara Tuchman in The March of Folly.
- Frederick Rolfe ("Baron Corvo") wrote Chronicles of the House of Borgia. This was a revisionist account, in which he argued that the Borgia family was unjustly maligned and that the accounts of poisoning were a myth.[citation needed]
- Alexander VI and his family are the subjects of Mario Puzo's final novel The Family, as well as Robert Rankin's humorous and fictionalized novel The Antipope.[citation needed]
- The Borgia Bride (2005) is a historical fiction by Jeanne Kalogridis, told from the perspective of Sancha of Aragon, married to the Pope's youngest son Gioffre Borgia.[citation needed]
- In March 2005, Heavy Metal published the first of a three part graphic novel biography of Alexander VI entitled Borgia, written by Alexandro Jodorowsky with art by Milo Manara. The story focuses mostly on the sexual indiscretions and acts of violent backstabbery carried out by the corrupt papal figure. The second part was released in July 2006 and the third in July 2009.[citation needed]
- Gregory Maguire makes strong references to Alexander VI and specifically his daughter in the 2003 novel, Mirror, Mirror.[41]
- Spanish author Javier Sierra writes of Pope Alexander VI in his novel, The Secret Supper.[citation needed]
- French author Alexandre Dumas' The Count of Monte Cristo mentions murder of Cardinal Spada by Alexander VI and his son. This is told by Abbé Faria to Edmond Dantes in the prison in relation to a treasure belonging to Cardinal Spada.[42]
- Italian authors Rita Monaldi and Francesco Sorti depict a totally different image of Pope Alexander VI in The Doubts of Salaì (2007). They reference sources which quote Alexander as an integral, hard-working functionary in the Roman Catholic Church. His infamous reputation would be largely attributed to falsified documents and the slander of his opponents.[citation needed]
- German author Friedrich Schiller refers to Borgia in "Der Verbrecher aus verlorner Ehre" referring to his less than favourable reputation, 'Stünde einmal, wie für die übrigen Reiche der Natur, auch für das Menschengeschlecht ein Linnäus auf, welcher nach Trieben und Neigungen klassifizierte, wie sehr würde man erstaunen, wenn man so manchen, dessen Laster in einer engen bürgerlichen Sphäre un in der schmalen Umzäugnung der Gesetze jetzt ersticken muss, mit dem Ungeheur Borgia in einer Ordnung beisammen fände.'[citation needed]
- Pope Alexander's diplomatic correspondence and intrigues with the Ottoman Turks, as well as Charles VIII's invasion of Italy, are depicted in the historical novel The Sultan's Helmsman.
- The introduction to The Bad Catholic's Guide to Good Living, by John Zmirak and Denise Matychowiak, is attributed to Pope Alexander, writing in 2005 from "The Seventh Terrace of Purgatory". In a postscript to the introduction, "Alexander" requests additional prayers for the sake of himself and several other popes stuck in Purgatory.
- Barnabe Barnes' 1606 play The Devil's Charter, performed at the Globe by the King's Men, dramatizes the life of Pope Alexander VI and his daughter Lucretia Borgia. In Barnes' play Alexander sells his soul to the devil in exchange for the papacy. Lucretia binds, gags, and stabs her husband onstage and later dies poisoned by her own cosmetics.
- Cesare and Lucrezia Borgia, a play by Robert Lalonde
- In the 1922 German silent film, Lucrezia Borgia, Alexander VI is played by Albert Basserman.
- Alexander is played by Lluís Homar in the 2006 Spanish film, Los Borgia.
- A Young Roderic de Borgia during the 1458 Conclave is played by Manu Fullola in the 2006 Canadian movie "The Conclave."
- In the 1935 French movie, Lucrezia Borgia, Alexander is portrayed by Roger Karl.
- The last of Walerian Borowczyk's Contes Immoraux (Immoral Tales) shows Jacopo Berenizi as Alexander VI, enjoying incest with Lucrezia and Cesare while Savonarola is arrested and burned.
- In the series of short films Assassin's Creed: Lineage, Rodrigo Borgia starts a conspiracy to destroy the Medici dynasty. In the first short film, he hires some assassins to kill the Duke of Milano, Galeazo Maria Sforza. He is played by Manuel Tadros.
- The papacy of Alexander VI was dramatized in the 1981 BBC series The Borgias, starring the veteran Italian actor Adolfo Celi as Pope Alexander.
- The Canadian sketch comedy History Bites parodied Pope Alexander VI by portraying him and his family as The Osborgias (done as a parody of The Osbournes).
- In the popular TV show, Alias, the character Milo Rambaldi was said to be Alexander VI's "chief architect."
- French premium-pay TV Canal+, Atlantique Productions and EOS Entertainment have started shooting a historical drama TV series on the Borgias due to broadcast in 2011. Borgia will recount the infamous family's rise to power and subsequent domination of the Vatican. John Doman will star as Rodrigo Borgia.
- Showtime presented The Borgias in 2011 with Jeremy Irons as Pope Alexander VI.
- In the 2012 season of the BBC childrens' series Horrible Histories, Alexander VI was dramatized by actor Jim Howick. The show parodied Pope Alexander as a mafia crime boss, and later as the father of an Addams Family-style dynasty of the Borgias. (The Addams Family theme song was also parodied, being renamed The Borgia Family.)
- In Assassin's Creed II (2009), Rodrigo Borgia is the main antagonist of the game, secretly associated with the Knights Templar. His character in the game is voiced by and modeled on Canadian actor Manuel Tadros. He also appears in the accompanying short film Assassin's Creed: Lineage.
- In Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood (2010), Borgia has a smaller role than his son, Cesare, the game's main antagonist. He is killed by Cesare, who, after becoming aware of his father's plot to assassinate him, forces his own poison apple in his mouth.
- ^ a b
"Pope Alexander VI" in the 1913 Catholic Encyclopedia.
- ^ Christopher Hibbert (2008). The Borgias and Their Enemies. Harcourt, Inc.. ISBN 978-0-15-101033-2.
- ^ Mallett ibid. p9
- ^ Mallett passim.
- ^ Catherine B. Avery, 1972, The New Century Italian Renaissance Encyclopedia, Appleton-Century-Crofts, ISBN 0-13-612051-2 ISBN 9780136120513 p. 189. [1]
- ^ Monsignor Peter de Roo (1924), Material for a History of Pope Alexander VI, His Relatives and His Time, (5 vols.), Bruges, Desclée, De Brouwer, volume 2, p. 29. [2] [3] volumes 1–5 (Note: Msrg. de Roo's 5 volume work has been hailed as "among the most completely documented books ever published." [4])
- ^ Barbara Tuchman (1984). The March of Folly. Alfred A. Knopf. ISBN 978-0-394-52777-2.
- ^ Peter de Rossa, Vicars of Christ, p.144.
- ^ Mallett, M. The Borgias (1969) Granada editn. 1981. pp123-6.
- ^ Johann Burchard, Diaries 1483–1492 (translation: A.H. Matthew, London, 1910)
- ^ James Reston, Dogs of God, New York, Anchor Books, 2005, p. 287.
- ^ Mallett ibid. p128
- ^ Studies in Church History, 1906, Reuben Parsons, New York and Cincinnati, F. Pustet & Co., Volume 3, p. 210, n. 1. [5]
- ^ Mallett ibid. pp162-6
- ^ Mallett ibid. p236
- ^ de la Bedoyere, M. The Meddlesome Friar. 1957 p24,
- ^ de la Bedoyere, ibid. passim.
- ^ "Encomienda or Slavery? The Spanish Crown's Choice of Labor Organization in Sixteenth-Century Spanish America." (PDF). Latin American Studies.
- ^ Stogre, p. 69-70
- ^ Raiswell, p. 469, "Black Africans in Renaissance Europe", P. 281, Luis N. Rivera, 1992, p. 25-28
- ^ cited by Luis N. Rivera, 1992, p. 28
- ^ "Black Africans in Renaissance Europe", P. 281
- ^ Patrick Madrid, "Pope Fiction"
- ^ Thornberry 2002, p. 65; Luis N. Rivera, 1992, p. 37
- ^ Thornberry 2002, p. 65
- ^ Mallet, ibid. pp185-7
- ^ "Cesare lay in bed, his skin peeling and his face suffused to a violet colour." The Borgias, 1981, Georgina Masson, Marion Johnson, Penguin, ISBN 0-14-139075-1 ISBN 9780141390758, p. 179. [6]
- ^ Johann Burchard, 1921, Pope Alexander VI and His Court: Extracts from the Latin Diary of Johannes Burchardus, F. L. Glaser, tr., N.L. Brown, New York, p. 179. [7]
- ^ Peter de Roo, 1924, Material for a History of Pope Alexander VI, vol. 5, p. 89, note. 112. [8] [9] (Word frequency and page number of specific words and phrases for all 5 vols. at HathiTrust [10]
Latin text: "Dum graviter aegrotaret, factorum conscientia punctus contrito dolentique animo ad lachrymas ut audio fusus, sacrosanctum communionis corpus sua sponte, dilutis prius diligentissima confessione peccatis, petierit, et alia sacramenta ..." Alexis Celadoni (Alexius Celadonius, Celadeni, 1451–1517), Bishop of Gallipoli, Italy (1494–1508), Alexii Celadeni Episcopi Gallipolitani Oratio ad sacrum cardinalium senatum ingressurum ad novum pontificem eligendum, Publisher: Rome: Johann Besicken, 1503. [11]
See also: "A Contemporary Oration on Pope Alexander VI", English Historical Review, 1892, vol. 7, pp. 311ff.; Archivum Historiae Pontificiae, 1976, Volume 14, p. 65.) [12]
- ^ "Throughout the Middle Ages a 'tradition' or 'custom' involving pillaging was attached to the death and election of high-ranking prelates." Joëlle Rollo-Koster, 2008, Raiding Saint Peter: Empty Sees, Violence, and the Initiation of the Great Western Schism (1378), Leiden; Boston: Brill, ISBN 90-04-16560-6 ISBN 9789004165601, Introduction, p. 1. [13] And as early as 633, "the Fourth Council of Toledo condemned the violence of the interregnum." The King's Body: Sacred Rituals of Power in Medieval and Early Modern Europe, Sergio Bertelli, 2001, Pennsylvania State Univ Pr, ISBN 0-271-02102-0 ISBN 978-0-271-02102-7, p. 41. [14]
Nor were the Romans alone guilty of such misbehavior. In the eleventh century, Peter Damian, writing to the clergy and people of Osimo, sharply reproved the "perverse and wholly detestable practice of certain people, who at the death of the bishop break in like enemies and rob his house, like thieves make off with his belongings, set fire to the homes of his estate, and with fierce and savage barbarity cut down his grape vines and orchards." Letter 35, Easter Synod, 1050. Letters 31–60, Owen J. Blum (Translator), 1990, Catholic University of America Press, ISBN 0-8132-0707-X ISBN 9780813207070, p. 61. [15]
- ^ Pope Alexander VI (1431–1503) – Find A Grave Memorial
- ^ The Encyclopædia Britannica, Eleventh Edition (1911)
- ^ Black Legend#Origin
- ^ James Carroll, Constantine's Sword, Boston, Houghton Mifflin, 2002, pp. 363–64.
- ^ Knights of Columbus Catholic Truth Committee, The Catholic encyclopedia: an international work of reference on the constitution, doctrine, discipline, and history of the Catholic Church, Volume 1, Encyclopedia Press, 1907, p. 294
- ^ Bohuslav Hasištejnský z Lobkovic: Carmina selecta, Praha 1996, p.14
- ^ Mallett ibid. p265
- ^ Mallet ibid passim..
- ^ Niccolò Machiavelli. "The Prince". Wikisource. pp. chapter XVIII. http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Prince/Chapter_XVIII.
- ^ The Prince, Chapter XVIII
- ^ Mirror, Mirror, Gregory Maguire (2003)
- ^ Alexandre Dumas, The Count of Monte Cristo, New York, Penguin Putnam Inc., 1996, pp. 155–160.
- "Pope Alexander VI" in the 1913 Catholic Encyclopedia.
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. - John Burchard, Diaries 1483–1492 (translation: A.H. Matthew, London, 1910)
- Eamon Duffy, Saints & Sinners: A History of the Popes (Yale Nota Bene, 2002)
- Peter de Rossa, Vicars of Christ: The Dark Side of the Papacy (Corgi, 1989)
- Encyclopædia Britannica, 11th edition.
- Borja or Borgia (in Spanish)
- DIARIO BORJA BORGIA (Spanish)
- "That the world may believe: the development of Papal social thought on aboriginal rights", Michael Stogre S.J, Médiaspaul, 1992, ISBN 978-2-89039-549-7
- "The Historical Encyclopedia of World slavery", Editor Junius P. Rodriguez, ABC-CLIO, 1997, ISBN 978-0-87436-885-7
- "Black Africans in Renaissance Europe", Thomas Foster Earle, K. J. P. Lowe, Cambridge University Press, 2005, ISBN 978-0-521-81582-6
- "A violent evangelism", Luis N. Rivera, Luis Rivera Pagán, Westminster John Knox Press, 1992, ISBN 978-0-664-25367-7
- "Indigenous peoples and human rights", Patrick Thornberry, Manchester University Press, 2002, ISBN 978-0-7190-3794-8
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