Lucrezia Borgia (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 position, 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
Lucrezia Borgia was born on 18 April 1480 at Subiaco, a town near Rome.Bradford, Sarah. (2004) Lucrezia Borgia, Penguin Group. p. 16, 68, 114. Her mother was Vannozza dei Cattanei, a mistress of her father, Cardinal Rodrigo de Borgia (later Pope Alexander VI). She had three full siblings: Cesare Borgia, Giovanni Borgia, and Gioffre Borgia, although Gioffre's paternity was later contested. Lucrezia's father acknowledged her as his child, and consulted an astrologer after her birth, who foretold a remarkable future. During her early life, Lucrezia's education was entrusted to Carlo Canale and then to Adriana Orsini de Milan. Orsini was a confidant of Lucrezia's father and was his first cousin.
Lucrezia's education primarily took 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 of knowledge, Lucrezia's humanist education came from the sphere of intellectuals in the court and close relatives, and included a solid grounding in the Humanities, which the Catholic Church was reviving at the time. She was fluent in Spanish, Valenciano, Italian, and French and literate in both Latin and Greek. She also became proficient in poetry and oration, and could play the lute and zither, embroider and dance. 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.
List of marriages
First marriage: Giovanni Sforza (Lord of Pesaro and Gradara)
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 favour of a new contract engaging Lucrezia to Don Gaspare, Count of Aversa (1476–1534).
When Lucrezia's father Rodrigo became Pope Alexander VI in August 1492, he sought to be allied with powerful, princely families and founding dynasties of Italy. Therefore, he called off Lucrezia's previous engagements. Cardinal Ascanio Sforza said: "There are many who long to marry into the Pope's family via his daughter, and he lets many think they have a chance. Even the king of Naples aspires to win her hand!"
The Pope arranged for Lucrezia to marry condottiero Giovanni Sforza, a member of the House of Sforza who was the Lord of Pesaro and titled Count of Catignola. Giovanni was the nephew of the Duke of Milan as an illegitimate son of Costanzo I Sforza. He was a Sforza of the second rank and belonged to a cadet branch of the family. They married by proxy on 12 June 1493 in Rome, when Lucrezia was aged 13. She was outfitted in brocade and jewels for the wedding ceremony.
On 31 May 1494, Lucrezia departed from Rome with a retinue of ladies and gentlemen and accompanied by Giulia Farnese and Adriana Mila. She moved to her husband's palace in Pesaro, where local poets celebrated her with their madrigals, she negotiated the marriage of one of her Spanish ladies-in-waiting, and she exchanged visits with the highly literate court of the Dukes of Urbino.
Before long, the Borgia family no longer needed the Sforzas, and the Pope may have covertly ordered the execution of Giovanni Sforza. Lucrezia was likely informed of this by her brother, Cesare, and she warned her husband, who then fled from Rome.
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, spreading the rumour that the pope wanted his daughter to return to Rome so that he could have sex with her. This rumour endured through the centuries, partly due to the writings of Florentine historian Francesco Guicciardini and verses by Giovanni Pontano and Jacopo Sannazaro, and Lucrezia's reputation was tainted. The pope, however, asserted that his daughter's marriage had not been consummated and was, thus, invalid. Giovanni was offered her dowry in return for his cooperation.{Some sources state that Giovanni returned the dowry. See, Durant, Will. "The Renaissance" Simon and Schuster (1953), page 429, . See also Bradford, Sarah, "Lucrezia Borgia: Life, Love and Death in Renaissance Italy" Penguin Books (2005), Part 1, Ch. 3} The Sforza family threatened to withdraw their protection, should he refuse. Giovanni finally signed confessions of impotence and documents of annulment before witnesses, despite how his first wife had died in childbirth.
Purported affair with Pedro Calderon
Historians have speculated that during the prolonged process of the annulment, Lucrezia consummated a relationship with someone, perhaps Alexander's chamberlain Pedro Calderon (sometimes called Perotto). In any case, families hostile to the Borgias would later accuse her of being pregnant at the time her marriage was annulled. She is known to have retired to the cloistered Convent of Saint Sixtus Vecchio in Rome 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. In the convent, in mid-June, she received news of the murder of her brother Giovanni, whose killer was never officially discovered.
The bodies of Pedro Calderon and a maid, Pantasilea, were found in the Tiber river in February 1498. In March 1498, the Ferrarese ambassador claimed that Lucrezia had given birth, but this was denied by other sources. However, a child was born 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” (Child of Rome).
In 1501, two papal bulls were issued concerning 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 rumors 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 he became Duke of Camerino in 1502, which was to be inherited by the Duke of Romagna's oldest son. After Alexander's death, Giovanni went to stay with Lucrezia in Ferrara, where he was accepted as her half-brother.
Second marriage: Alfonso d'Aragon (Duke of Bisceglie and Prince of Salerno)
Despite the scandal of the annulment of her marriage to Giovanni Sforza, Lucrezia was married for a second time to the Neapolitan Alfonso of Aragon, Duke of Bisceglie and Prince of Salerno of the House of Trastámara. He was the illegitimate son of Alfonso II King of Naples and his mistress Trogia Gazzella. Alfonso was also the half-brother of Sancha of Aragon, Princess of Squillace and wife of Lucrezia's younger brother Gioffre Borgia.
Lucrezia's father gave the Duchy of Spoleto and 40,000 ducats as her dowry. It was also part of the agreement that the couple would remain in Rome for at least one year and not be forced to live permanently at the Kingdom of Naples until her father's death. Lucrezia's marriage was a short one.
Lucrezia and Alfonso were married on 21 July 1498 in the Vatican, with the celebrations being held behind closed doors in the Borgia apartments. Lucrezia became the Duchess consort of Bisceglie and Princess consort of Salerno and the marriage was said to be happy, with Lucrezia supporting her husband in a dispute with her father on the legality of the marriage of Alfonso's aunt Beatrice of Naples to Vladislaus II, King of Bohemia and Hungary.
In 1499The papal brief is dated August 15, 1499, Archivio di Stato di Spoleto, Reformationes, year 1499, fol, 93. Lucrezia was appointed as Governor of Spoleto, a role usually reserved solely for cardinals, becoming the first female governor in the Papal States in a territory crucial for the passage from the Tyrrhenian to the Adriatic Sea. She also reportedly lost her first baby with Alfonso in February 1499.
Alfonso fled Rome for Naples shortly afterwards due to the changing alliances of the Borgias, while Lucrezia was again pregnant. His flight incensed the Pope, who sent troops after him but failed to find him. He returned to Rome at Lucrezia's request only to be murdered on 15 July 1500. At the top of the steps before the entrance to St. Peter's Basilica, Alfonso was attacked by three hired killers armed with halberds and swords. He was stabbed in the head, right arm, and leg. Those who found him took him to the chamber of the Borgia Tower where he was cared for by his doctors from Naples, his half-sister Sancha and Lucrezia. While recovering from his injuries, Alfonso was strangled to death in his bed by a servant, possibly Micheletto Corella.
It was widely rumoured that Lucrezia's brother, Cesare, was responsible for Alfonso's death, as he had recently allied himself with France through his marriage to Charlotte d'Albret (sister of King John III of Navarre) in May 1499, against Naples.
Lucrezia and Alfonso had one child, Rodrigo of Aragon, named for his maternal grandfather, the Pope. He was born in 1500 and was baptized in the presence of many cardinals, ambassadors, and prelates from all over Italy. His godfather was Francesco Borgia, Archbishop of Cosenza, while Cardinal Carafa of Naples performed the baptismal rite in the Sistine Chapel. Rodrigo died in 1512 of a disease in Bari, Apulia, at the age of 12. Lucrezia withdrew to a convent to grieve for a month after her son died.
After her second husband's death, Lucrezia acted as her father's private secretary in the Vatican, which involved opening his letters, informing him of the contents and replying to any which required an immediate response. Lucrezia was not accused of taking any undue advantage of this powerful position and was referred to as "wise, discreet and generous' by the Venetian ambassador, Polo Capello.
Lucrezia's father and brother Ceasare began arrangements for a third marriage. Five months after Alfonso's death, an engagement was announced for Lucrezia to Francesco Orsini, Duke of Gravina, but the plan was abandoned by her father. By January 1501, the Pope was pursuing a match for Lucrezia with the son of Ercole I d'Este, Duke of Ferrara. The d'Este family was one of the oldest and most powerful in Italy.
Third marriage: Alfonso I d'Este (Duke of Ferrara)
Lucrezia married Alfonso I d'Este by proxy in Rome on 30 December 1501, with his brother Ferrante d'Este standing in for the groom, then in person on 2 February 1502 in Ferrara. Lucrezia's progress from Rome to Ferrara was through the Apennine Mountains and she both rode on horseback and was carried in a sedan chair, and was accompanied by ladies, retainers, musicians, and her brother Cesare.