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Lucrezia Borgia

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Lucrezia BorgiaTemplate:Efn (18 April 1480 – 24 June 1519) was an Italian noblewoman of the House of Borgia who was the illegitimate daughter of Pope Alexander VI and Vannozza dei Cattanei. She was a former governor of Spoleto.

Her family arranged several marriages for her that advanced their own political positions, including to Giovanni Sforza, Lord of Pesaro and Gradara, Count of Cotignola; Alfonso of Aragon, Duke of Bisceglie and Prince of Salerno; and Alfonso I d'Este, Duke of Ferrara. Alfonso of Aragon was an illegitimate son of the King of Naples, and tradition has it that Lucrezia's brother Cesare may have had him murdered after his political value waned.

Notorious tales about her family have cast Lucrezia as a femme fatale, a controversial role in which she has been portrayed in many artworks, novels, and films.

Early life

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File:Lucrezia-Borgia.jpg
Purported portrait of Lucrezia as Saint Catherine of Alexandria in a fresco by Pinturicchio. The "Hall of the Saints" within the Borgia Apartments in the Vatican, circa 1494.

Template:See also Lucrezia Borgia was born on 18 April 1480 at Subiaco, near Rome.<ref>Sarah Bradford: Lucrezia Borgia, Penguin Group, 2004, p. 16</ref> Her mother was Vannozza dei Cattanei, one of the mistresses of Lucrezia's father, Cardinal Rodrigo de Borgia (later Pope Alexander VI).<ref name=":0">Template:Cite news</ref>

During her early life, Lucrezia Borgia's education was entrusted to Adriana Orsini de Milan, a close confidant of her father. Her education would primarily take place in the Palazzo Pizzo de Merlo, a building adjacent to her father's residence. Unlike most educated women of her time, for whom convents were the primary source for knowledge, her education came from within the sphere of intellectuals in the court and close relatives, and it included a solid grounding in the Humanities, which the Catholic Church was reviving, at the time. She was a thoroughly accomplished princess, fluent in Spanish, Catalan, Italian, and French, which prepared her for advantageous marriage to any European monarch or prince, and literate in both Latin and Greek. She would also become proficient in the lute, poetry, and oration. The biggest testament to her intelligence is her ability in administration, as later on in life, she took care of Vatican City correspondence and governance of Ferrara.Template:Citation needed

List of marriages

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First marriage: Giovanni Sforza (Lord of Pesaro and Gradara)

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File:Giovanni Sforza coin.jpg
Coin showing Giovanni Sforza

On 26 February 1491, a matrimonial arrangement was drawn up between Lucrezia and the Lord of Val D'Ayora, in the Kingdom of Valencia, Don Cherubino Joan de Centelles (d. 1522). The arrangement was annulled, less than two months later, in favor of a new contract engaging Lucrezia to Don Gaspare Aversa, Count of Procida (1476–1534).<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> When Rodrigo became Pope Alexander VI, he sought to be allied with powerful, princely families and founding dynasties of Italy. He, therefore, called off Lucrezia's previous engagements and arranged for her to marry Giovanni Sforza, a member of the House of Sforza who was Lord of Pesaro and titled Count of Catignola.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Giovanni was an illegitimate son of Costanzo I Sforza and, therefore, a Sforza of the second rank. He married Lucrezia on 12 June 1493 in Rome.<ref name=":0" />

Before long, the Borgia family no longer needed the Sforzas, and the presence of Giovanni Sforza, in the papal court, was superfluous. The Pope needed new, more advantageous political alliances, so he might have covertly ordered the execution of Giovanni: the generally accepted version is that Lucrezia was informed of this by her brother, Cesare, and she warned her husband, who fled Rome.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Alexander asked Giovanni's uncle, Cardinal Ascanio Sforza, to persuade Giovanni to agree to an annulment of the marriage. Giovanni refused and accused Lucrezia of paternal incest.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> The pope asserted that his daughter's marriage had not been consummated and was, thus, invalid. Giovanni was offered her dowry, in return for his cooperation.<ref>{Some sources state that Giovanni returned the dowry. See, Durant, Will. "The Renaissance" Simon and Schuster (1953), page 429, Template:ISBN. See also Bradford, Sarah, "Lucrezia Borgia: Life, Love and Death in Renaissance Italy" Penguin Books (2005), Part 1, Ch. 3}</ref> The Sforza family threatened to withdraw their protection, should he refuse. Giovanni finally signed confessions of impotence and documents of annulment, before witnesses.

Purported affair with Pedro Calderon

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There has been speculation that during the prolonged process of the annulment, Lucrezia consummated a relationship with someone, perhaps Alexander's chamberlain Pedro Calderon (sometimes called Perotto).<ref name=Burchard-328>Template:Cite book</ref> In any case, families hostile to the Borgias would later accuse her of being pregnant, at the time her marriage was annulled for non-consummation. She is known to have retired to the cloistered Convent of Saint Sixtus in Vecchio where she was given sanctuary by the Mother Superior in June 1497, to await the outcome of the annulment proceedings, which were finalized in December of the same year.

The bodies of Pedro Calderon<ref name=Burchard-328/> and a maid, Pantasilea, were found in the Tiber in February 1498. In March 1498, the Ferrarese ambassador claimed that Lucrezia had given birth, but this was denied by other sources. A child was born, however, in the Borgia household, the year before Lucrezia's marriage to Alfonso of Aragon. He was named Giovanni but is known to historians as the "Infans Romanus.”

In 1501, two papal bulls were issued, concerning the child, Giovanni Borgia. In the first, he was recognized as Cesare's child from an affair, before his marriage. The second contradictory bull recognized him as the son of Pope Alexander VI. Lucrezia's name is not mentioned in either, and rumours that she was his mother have never been proven. The second bull was kept secret, for many years, and Giovanni was assumed to be Cesare's son. This is supported by the fact that in 1502, he became Duke of Camerino, one of Cesare's recent conquests, hence the natural inheritance of the Duke of Romagna's oldest son. Giovanni went to stay with Lucrezia in Ferrara, after Alexander's death, where he was accepted as her half-brother.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Second marriage: Alfonso d'Aragon (Duke of Bisceglie and Prince of Salerno)

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File:PinturicchioAlfonso.jpg
Duke Alfonso of Aragon by Pinturicchio.

Following her annulment from Sforza, Lucrezia was married to the Neapolitan Alfonso of Aragon, the half-brother of Sancha of Aragon, who was the wife of Lucrezia's brother Gioffre Borgia. The marriage was a short one.<ref name=":0" />

They were married in 1498, making Lucrezia the Duchess consort of Bisceglie and Princess consort of Salerno. Lucrezia, not her husband, was appointed governor of Spoleto, in 1499; Alfonso fled Rome, shortly afterwards, but he returned at Lucrezia's request, only to be murdered in 1500.<ref>James A. Patrick, Renaissance and Reformation, Volume 1, Marshall Cavendish, 2007, p. 124</ref>

It was widely rumoured<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> that Lucrezia's brother, Cesare, was responsible for Alfonso's death, as he had recently allied himself (through marriage) with France, against Naples. Lucrezia and Alfonso had one child, Rodrigo of Aragon, who was born in 1499 and predeceased his mother, in August 1512, at the age of 12.<ref name=":0" />

Third marriage: Alfonso d'Este (Duke of Ferrara)

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File:Battista Dossi, ritratto di Alfonso I d'Este - Modena.jpg
Alfonso d'Este

After the death of Lucrezia's second husband, her father, Pope Alexander VI, arranged a third marriage. Then, she married Alfonso I d'Este, Duke of Ferrara, in early 1502 in Ferrara. She had eight children, during this marriage, and was considered a respectable and accomplished Renaissance duchess, effectively rising above her previous reputation and surviving the fall of the Borgias, following her father's death.<ref>Roberto Gervaso, I Borgia, Milano, Rizzoli, 1977, p. 362, pp. 375–380.</ref>

Neither partner was faithful: beginning in 1503, Lucrezia enjoyed a long relationship with her brother-in-law, Francesco II Gonzaga, Marquess of Mantua.<ref>Lucrezia Borgia: Life, Love and Death in Renaissance Italy, Sarah Bradford, Viking, 2004</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Francesco's wife was the cultured intellectual Isabella d'Este, the sister of Alfonso, to whom Lucrezia had made overtures of friendship, to no avail. The affair between Francesco and Lucrezia was passionate, more sexual than sentimental, as can be attested in the fevered love letters the pair wrote one another.<ref>Marek, pp.166–67</ref> It has been claimed that the affair ended, when Francesco contracted syphilis and had to end sexual relations with Lucrezia.<ref>Marek (1976) p. 169</ref> This last assertion is troublesome, as Francesco had contracted syphilis before 1500, as it was known that he passed the disease onto his eldest son, Federico Gonzaga, who was born in 1500. Francesco did not meet Lucrezia until 1502.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Lucrezia also had a love affair with the poet Pietro Bembo, during her third marriage. Their love letters were deemed "the prettiest love letters in the world" by the Romantic poet Lord Byron, when he saw them in the Ambrosian Library of Milan on 15 October 1816.<ref name=Spectator>Viragos on the march, The Spectator, 25 June 2005, by Ian Thomson, a review of Viragos on the march by Gaia Servadio. I. B. Tauris, Template:ISBN.</ref><ref name=Caxtonian>Pietro Bembo: A Renaissance Courtier Who Had His Cake and Ate It Too, Ed Quattrocchi, Caxtonian: Journal of the Caxton Club of Chicago, Volume XIII, No. 10, October 2005.</ref> On the same occasion, Byron claimed to have stolen a lock of Lucrezia's hair – "the prettiest and fairest imaginable"<ref name=Caxtonian /> – that was also held there on display.<ref name="Byron Chrono">The Byron Chronology: 1816–1819 – Separation and Exile on the Continent Template:Webarchive.</ref><ref name=Nichol>Byron by John Nichol.</ref><ref name="Byron Letter">Letter to Augusta Leigh, Milan, 15 October 1816. Lord Byron's Letters and Journals, Chapter 5: Separation and Exile Template:Webarchive.</ref>

File:Veneto - Portrait of an Unidentified Young Lady - National Gallery.jpg
Possible portrait by Bartolomeo Veneziano (c. 1510)<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Lucrezia met the famed French soldier, the Chevalier Bayard, while the latter was co-commanding the French allied garrison of Ferrara, in 1510. According to his biographer, the Chevalier became a great admirer of Lucrezia's, considering her a "pearl on this Earth".<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

After a long history of complicated pregnancies and miscarriages, on 14 June 1519, Lucrezia gave birth to her tenth child, which she named Isabella Maria, in honor of Alfonso's sister, Isabella d'Este. The child was sickly, and fearing she would die unbaptised, Alfonso ordered her to be baptized, immediately, with Eleonora Pico della Mirandola and Count Alexandro Serafino as godparents.

Lucrezia had become very weak, during the pregnancy, and fell seriously ill, after the birth. After seeming to recover for two days, she worsened, again, and died on 24 June of the same year. She was buried in the convent of Corpus Domini.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Appearance

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File:1520 Veneto Idealbildnis einer Kurtisane als Flora anagoria.JPG
Portrait of a Woman by Bartolomeo Veneto, traditionally presumed to be Lucrezia Borgia.

She is described as having heavy blonde hair that fell past her knees, a beautiful complexion, hazel eyes that changed colour, a full, high bosom, and a natural grace that made her appear to "walk on air".<ref>George R. Marek The Bed and the Throne: the Life of Isabella d'Este, Harper & Row, 1976, Template:ISBN p. 142</ref> These physical attributes were highly appreciated, in Italy due to its parallel descriptions of the Roman goddess of arts, Minerva. Another description said, "her mouth is rather large, the teeth brilliantly white, her neck is slender and fair, and the bust is admirably proportioned."<ref>The Times Arts section p. 14, 31 January 2011</ref>

One painting, Portrait of a Youth by Dosso Dossi at the National Gallery of Victoria, was identified as a portrait of Lucrezia in November 2008.<ref>NGV's Renaissance mystery woman revealed, The Age, 25 November 2008. Retrieved 25 November 2008.</ref><ref>Template:Cite news </ref><ref>Infamous Renaissance woman subject of mystery portrait – Australian Broadcasting Corporation 26 November 2008. Retrieved 26 November 2008.</ref><ref>Gallery unveils portrait of infamy, The Sydney Morning Herald, 26 November 2008. Retrieved 26 November 2008.</ref><ref>Portrait of Renaissance femme fatale Lucrezia Borgia found at NGV, The Age, 26 November 2008. Retrieved 26 November 2008.</ref> This painting may be the only surviving formal portrait of Lucrezia Borgia; however, doubts have been cast on that attribution.<ref>Art detective says the brother did it, The Age, 27 November 2008</ref> Several other paintings, such as Veneto's fanciful portrait, have also been said to depict her, but none have been accepted by scholars, at present.

According to Mandell Creighton in his History of the Papacy:

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Black legend

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File:02 Corpus Domini Ferrara - Sala del Coro o sala delle Clarisse - Tombe estensi.jpg
The conjoined tomb of Alfonso I d'Este and Lucrezia Borgia, Ferrara.
File:Firma de “Lucretia de Borgia” en una carta a su cuñada Isabella Gonzaga (marzo de 1519).png
Signature of Lucrezia Borgia in a letter to her sister-in-law Isabella Gonzaga, March 1519

Several rumours have persisted, throughout the years, primarily speculating as to the nature of the extravagant parties<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> thrown by the Borgia family. One example is the Banquet of Chestnuts. Many of these allegations concern accusations of Lucrezia's involvement in incest, poisoning, and murder. For example, it was rumoured that Lucrezia was in possession of a hollow ring that she used to poison drinks. However, no historical basis for these accusations exists, beyond the attacks of her enemies.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

A modern 20th-century British painting by Frank Cadogan Cowper that hangs in the Tate Britain art gallery in London portrays Lucrezia taking the place of her father, Pope Alexander VI, at an official Vatican meeting. This apparently documents an event, although the moment depicted (a Franciscan friar kissing Lucrezia's feet) was invented by the artist.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Children

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Lucrezia was mother to seven or eight known children:

  1. A miscarriage / stillborn daughter (16 February 1499);<ref>Johannes Burchard Pope Alexander VI and his court; extracts from the Latin diary of Johannes Burchardus, New York, F. L. Brown, 1921 p. 105</ref>
  2. Rodrigo of Aragon (1 November 1499 – August 1512), son by Alfonso of Aragon;<ref>Johannes Burchard Pope Alexander VI and his court; extracts from the Latin diary of Johannes Burchardus, New York, F. L. Brown, 1921 p. 110</ref>
  3. A stillborn daughter (1502), first child by d'Este;
  4. Alessandro d'Este (1505–1505);
  5. Ercole II d'Este, Duke of Ferrara (5 April 1508 – 3 October 1559);
  6. Ippolito II d'Este (25 August 1509 – 1 December 1572). Archbishop of Milan and later Cardinal;
  7. Alessandro d'Este (1514–1516);
  8. Leonora d'Este (3 July 1515 – 15 July 1575), a nun and composer;
  9. Francesco d'Este, Marquess of Massalombarda (1 November 1516 – 2 February 1578);
  10. Isabella Maria d'Este (born and died on 14 June 1519).<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Complications at birth caused the death of Lucrezia ten days later.

Giovanni Borgia, "infans Romanus" ("Child of Rome," c. 1498–1548) had his paternity acknowledged by Alexander and Cesare, in two Papal bulls, but it was rumoured that he was the child of Lucrezia and Pedro Calderon. The child (identified, in later life, as Lucrezia's half-brother) was most likely the result of a liaison between Rodrigo Borgia (Pope Alexander VI, Lucrezia's father) and an unknown mistress and was not Lucrezia's child.<ref>Sarah Bradford: Lucrezia Borgia, Penguin Group, 2004, p. 68 and 114</ref>

The Italian historian Maria Bellonci claims that Lucrezia gave birth to three children who did not survive infancy, one by Alfonso of Aragon and two by Alfonso d'Este. She is also thought to have had at least four miscarriages.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

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Literature and opera

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In fiction

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  • In the Marvel Comics comic book Avengers West Coast No. 98 (September 1993), the demon Satannish resurrected Borgia as the supervillain Cyana. As a nod to her reputation for poisoning her lovers in life, Cyana could fatally poison people with sharpened nails or a kiss.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
  • The Family by Mario Puzo; published October 2001 Template:ISBN
  • Gregory Maguire retells the story of Snow White with Lucrezia as the woman who poisons her, in his novel Mirror, Mirror; published October 2003 Template:ISBN
  • The Borgia Bride by Jeanne Kalogridis; published 31 January 2005
  • Kathleen McGowan refers to "Lucrece", as one of the many unjustly vilified women, in her book The Expected One. She refers in particular to Frank Cadogan Cowper's painting Lucretia Borgia Reigns in the Vatican in the Absence of Pope Alexander VI on display at the Tate Gallery in London.<ref>McGowan, Kathleen, The Expected One(2007), p. 190, (Template:ISBN)</ref>
  • Blood and Beauty by Sarah Dunant; Template:ISBN; Template:ISBN; Harper Collins Publishers Ltd | 8 July 2013 |
  • The Pope's Daughter by Dario Fo, translated from Italian by Antony Shugaar; Template:ISBN. Translation copyright (c) 2015 by Europa Editions
  • The Vatican Princess by C.W. Gortner; published 9 February 2016
  • In the Name of the Family by Sarah Dunant; Template:ISBN; Virago Press 2017
  • 남편을 내 편으로 만드는 방법 (How to get my husband on my side) by Spice&Kitty (novel and manhwa), 2021 (ongoing), includes references to her. For example, the main character is named Rudbeckia(Ruby) De Borgia, who is possessed by a transmigrator, and attempts to prevent the assassination attempt on the king's niece, Ellen De Omerta and her brother, Enzo De Borgia, by marrying into the De Omerta family in her brother's stead, to Iske/ Izek De Omerta. the main character also has an overly obsessive brother named Cesare which is the same name as one of Lucrezi Borgia's brothers.
  • In the fictional fantasy universe Warhammer Fantasy, the character Lucrezzia Belladonna is a reference to Lucrezia Borgia. Lucrezzia is known for having poisoned several of her former lovers.

Film and television

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Music

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See also

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Notes

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References

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Further reading

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