Editing Lucrezia Borgia (section)

==List of marriages==

===First marriage: Giovanni Sforza (Lord of Pesaro and Gradara)===
[[File:Giovanni Sforza coin.jpg|upright=0.7|thumb|Coin showing [[Giovanni Sforza]]]]
On 26 February 1491, a matrimonial arrangement was drawn up between Lucrezia and the [[Lord]] of [[Valle de Ayora|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>{{cite book|last=Bellonci|first=Maria|title=Lucrezia Borgia|year=2000|publisher=Phoenix Press|location=London|isbn=1-84212-616-4|page=[https://archive.org/details/lifetimesoflucre0000bell/page/18 18]|url=https://archive.org/details/lifetimesoflucre0000bell/page/18}}</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>{{cite book|last=Bellonci|first=Maria|title=Lucrezia Borgia|year=2000|publisher=Phoenix Press|location=London|isbn=1-84212-616-4|page=[https://archive.org/details/lifetimesoflucre0000bell/page/23 23]|url=https://archive.org/details/lifetimesoflucre0000bell/page/23}}</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 Borgia|Cesare]], and she warned her husband, who fled Rome.<ref>{{cite book|last=Bellonci|first=Maria|title=Lucrezia Borgia|year=2003|publisher=Mondadori|location=Milan|isbn=978-88-04-45101-3|pages=121–122}}</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>{{cite book|last=Bellonci|first=Maria|title=Lucrezia Borgia|year=2003|publisher=Mondadori|location=Milan|isbn=978-88-04-45101-3|pages=139–141}}</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, {{ISBN|0-671-61600-5}}. 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===
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>{{cite book|last=Thurmel|first=Joseph|title=Le Journal de Jean Burchard, Évêque et Cérémoniaire au Vatican|year=1923|publisher=Les Éditions Reider|location=Paris|page=328}}</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 [[San Sisto Vecchio|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 river|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 (1481–1500)|Alfonso of Aragon]]. He was named [[Giovanni Borgia (Infans Romanus)|Giovanni]] but is known to historians as the "''Infans Romanus.”''

In 1501, two [[papal bull]]s 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>{{Cite book|title=Lucrezia Borgia|last=Lucas|first=Emma|publisher=New World City|year=2014}}</ref>

===Second marriage: Alfonso d'Aragon (Duke of Bisceglie and Prince of Salerno)===
[[File:PinturicchioAlfonso.jpg|thumb|Duke [[Alfonso of Aragon (1481-1500)|Alfonso of Aragon]] by [[Pinturicchio]].]]
Following her annulment from Sforza, Lucrezia was married to the [[Naples|Neapolitan]] [[Alfonso of Aragon (1481–1500)|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, ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=i6ZJlLHLPY8C&pg=PA124 Renaissance and Reformation, Volume 1]'', Marshall Cavendish, 2007, p. 124</ref>

It was widely rumoured<ref>{{cite book|last=Bradford|first=Sarah|title=Lucrezia Borgia. La storia vera|year=2005|publisher=Mondadori|location=Milan|isbn=88-04-55627-7|pages=85–88}}</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)===
[[File:Battista Dossi, ritratto di Alfonso I d'Este - Modena.jpg|thumb|left|upright|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>{{cite web|url=http://observer.guardian.co.uk/review/story/0,6903,1334580,00.html|title=Observer review: Lucrezia Borgia by Sarah Bradford|author=David Jays|work=The Guardian|date=24 October 2004|access-date=22 January 2015}}</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 II Gonzaga, Duke of Mantua|Federico Gonzaga]], who was born in 1500. Francesco did not meet Lucrezia until 1502.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Isabella d'Este and Francesco Gonzaga : power sharing at the Italian Renaissance Court|last=P.|first=Cockram, Sarah D.|date=2013|publisher=Ashgate Publishing Ltd|isbn=9781409448310|location=Farnham|oclc=855504802}}</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 [[Romanticism|Romantic]] poet [[Lord Byron]], when he saw them in the [[Biblioteca Ambrosiana|Ambrosian Library]] of [[Milan]] on 15 October 1816.<ref name=Spectator>''[https://www.spectator.co.uk/2005/06/viragos-on-the-march 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, {{ISBN|1-85043-421-2}}.</ref><ref name=Caxtonian>[http://www.caxtonclub.org/reading/2005/oct05.pdf ''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">[http://www.rc.umd.edu/reference/chronologies/byronchronology/1816.html The Byron Chronology: 1816–1819 – Separation and Exile on the Continent] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190223124538/http://www.rc.umd.edu/reference/chronologies/byronchronology/1816.html |date=23 February 2019 }}.</ref><ref name=Nichol>[https://www.fulltextarchive.com/page/Byron2/#p72 ''Byron''] by [[John Nichol (biographer)|John Nichol]].</ref><ref name="Byron Letter">Letter to [[Augusta Leigh]], Milan, 15 October 1816. ''Lord Byron's Letters and Journals'', [http://engphil.astate.edu/gallery/byron6.html Chapter 5: Separation and Exile] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080509081118/http://engphil.astate.edu/gallery/byron6.html |date=9 May 2008 }}.</ref>
[[File:Veneto - Portrait of an Unidentified Young Lady - National Gallery.jpg|thumb|upright|Possible portrait by [[Bartolomeo Veneziano]] (c. 1510)<ref>{{cite book|last=Bellonci|first=Maria|title=Lucrezia Borgia|year=2003|publisher=Mondadori|location=Milan|isbn=978-88-04-45101-3|page=613}}</ref>]]
Lucrezia met the famed French soldier, the [[Pierre Terrail, seigneur de Bayard|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>{{Cite book|title=The Chevalier Bayard|last=Shellabarger|first=Samuel|author-link=Samuel Shellabarger|publisher=eNet Press|year=1971|pages=165}}</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 [[Duchy of Mirandola|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, Ferrara|Corpus Domini]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.comune.fe.it/lucrezia/index_ing.htm|title=Ferrara 2002 Anno di Lucrezia Borgia|publisher=Comune di Ferrara|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090616102541/http://www.comune.fe.it/lucrezia/index_ing.htm|archive-date=16 June 2009}}</ref>