Alexander VI

Pope Alexander VI (, , ; born Roderic Llançol i de Borja; epithet: ''Valentinus'' ("The Valencian"); – 18 August 1503) was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 11 August 1492 until his death in 1503.

Born into the prominent Borja family in Xàtiva in the Kingdom of Valencia under the Crown of Aragon, he was known as Roderic de Borja, and he is commonly referred to by the Italianized form as Rodrigo Borgia. He studied law at the University of Bologna. He was ordained deacon and made a cardinal in 1456 after the election of his uncle as Pope Callixtus III, and a year later he became vice-chancellor of the Catholic Church. He proceeded to serve in the Roman Curia under the next four popes, acquiring significant influence and wealth in the process. In 1492, Rodrigo was elected pope, taking the name Alexander VI.

Alexander's papal bulls of 1493 confirmed or reconfirmed the rights of the Spanish crown in the New World following the finds of Christopher Columbus in 1492. During the second Italian war, Alexander VI supported his son Cesare Borgia as a condottiero for the French king. The scope of his foreign policy was to gain the most advantageous terms for his family.

Alexander is one of the most controversial of the Renaissance popes, partly because he acknowledged fathering several children by his mistresses. As a result, his Italianized Valencian surname, ''Borgia'', became a byword for libertinism and nepotism, which are traditionally considered as characterizing his pontificate.

Birth and family

Roderic de Borja was born c. 1431, in the town of Xàtiva near Valencia, one of the component realms of the Crown of Aragon, in what is now Spain. He was named for his paternal grandfather, Rodrigo Gil de Borja y Fennolet. His parents were Jofré Llançol i Escrivà (died bef. 24 March 1437) and his Aragonese wife and distant cousin Isabel de Borja y Cavanilles (died 19 October 1468), daughter of Juan Domingo de Borja y Doncel. He had a younger brother, Pedro. His family name is written ''Llançol'' in Valencian and ''Lanzol'' in Castillian. Roderic adopted his mother's family name of Borja in 1455 following the elevation to the papacy of maternal uncle Alonso de Borja (Italianized to Alfonso Borgia) as Callixtus III. His cousin and Callixtus's nephew Luis de Milà y de Borja became a cardinal.

Gerard Noel writes that Rodrigo's father was Jofré de Borja y Escrivà, making Rodrigo a Borja from his mother and father's side. However, Cesare, Lucrezia and Jofre were known to be of Llançol paternal lineage. G. J. Meyer suggests that Rodrigo would have likely been uncle (from a shared female family member) to the children, and attributes the confusion to attempts to connect Rodrigo as the father of Giovanni (Juan), Cesare, Lucrezia, and Gioffre (Jofré in Valencian), who were surnamed ''Llançol i Borja''.

Appearance and personality

Peter de Roo gives a flattering summary of contemporary descriptions of Alexander, relating him to have been "of a medium complexion, with dark eyes and
slightly full lips, of robust health"; in later life, he reports that "his aspect as declaredto be venerable and far more
august than an ordinary human appearance", and that he was "so familiar with Holy Writ, that his speeches were fairly sparkling with well-chosen texts of the Sacred Books".

Career

Overview

Roderic de Borja's career in the Church began in 1445 at the age of 14, when he was appointed sacristan at the Cathedral of Valencia by his influential uncle, Alfons Cardinal de Borja, who had been appointed a cardinal by Pope Eugene IV the previous year. In 1448, de Borja became canon at the cathedrals of Valencia, Barcelona, and Segorbe. His uncle, Cardinal de Borja, persuaded Pope Nicholas V to allow young de Borja to perform this role ''in absentia'' and receive the associated income, so that de Borja could travel to Rome. While in Rome, Rodrigo Borgia (as his name was usually spelled in Italian) studied under Gaspare da Verona, a humanist tutor. He then studied law at Bologna where he graduated, not simply as Doctor of Law, but as "the most eminent and judicious jurisprudent."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.
volumes 1–5
/ref>

The election of his uncle, Alfons Cardinal de Borja, as Pope Callixtus III in 1455 enabled Borgia's appointments to other positions in the Church. These nepotistic appointments were characteristic of the era. Each pope during this period found himself surrounded by the servants and retainers of his predecessors who often owed their loyalty to the family of the pontiff who had appointed them. In 1455, he inherited his uncle's post as bishop of Valencia, and Callixtus appointed him Dean of Santa Maria in Xàtiva. The following year, he was ordained deacon and created cardinal-deacon of San Nicola in Carcere. Rodrigo Borgia's appointment as cardinal only occurred after Callixtus III asked the cardinals in Rome to create three new positions in the College of Cardinals, two for his nephews Rodrigo and Luis Juan de Milà, and one for the Prince Jaime of Portugal.

In 1457, Callixtus III assigned the young Cardinal de Borja (or Borgia in Italian) to go to Ancona as a Papal legate to quell a revolt. Borgia was successful in his mission, and his uncle rewarded him with his appointment as vice-chancellor of the Holy Roman Church. The position of vice-chancellor was both incredibly powerful and lucrative, and Borgia held this post for 35 years until his own election to the papacy in 1492. At the end of 1457, Rodrigo Cardinal Borgia's elder brother, Pedro Luis Borgia, fell ill, so Rodrigo temporarily filled Pedro Luis' position as captain-general of the papal army until he recovered. In 1458, Cardinal Borgia's uncle and greatest benefactor, Pope Callixtus, died.

In the papal election of 1458, Rodrigo Borgia was too young to seek the papacy himself, so he sought to support a cardinal who would maintain him as vice-chancellor. Borgia was one of the deciding votes in the election of Cardinal Piccolomini as Pope Pius II, and the new pope rewarded Borgia not only with maintaining the chancellorship but also with a lucrative abbey benefice and another titular church. In 1460, Pope Pius rebuked Cardinal Borgia for attending a private party which Pius had heard turned into an orgy. Borgia apologized for the incident but denied that there had been an orgy. Pope Pius forgave him, and the true events of the evening remain unknown. In 1462, Rodrigo Borgia had his first son, Pedro Luis, with an unknown mistress. He sent Pedro Luis to grow up in Spain. The following year, Borgia acceded to Pope Pius's call for cardinals to help fund a new crusade. Before embarking to lead the crusade personally, Pope Pius II fell ill and died, so Borgia would need to ensure the election of yet another ally to the papacy to maintain his position as vice-chancellor.

On the first ballot, the conclave of 1464 elected Borgia's friend Pietro Barbo as Pope Paul II. Borgia was in high standing with the new pope and retained his positions, including that of vice-chancellor. Paul II reversed some of his predecessor's reforms that diminished the power of the chancellory. Following the election, Borgia fell ill of the plague but recovered. Borgia had two daughters, Isabella (*1467) and Girolama (*1469), with an unknown mistress. He openly acknowledged all three of his children. Pope Paul II died suddenly in 1471.

While Borgia had acquired the reputation and wealth to mount a bid for the papacy in this conclave, there were only three non-Italians, making his election a near-impossibility. Consequently, Borgia continued his previous strategy of positioning himself as kingmaker. This time, Borgia gathered the votes to make Francesco della Rovere (the uncle of future Borgia rival Giuliano della Rovere) Pope Sixtus IV. Della Rovere's appeal was that he was a pious and brilliant Franciscan friar who lacked many political connections in Rome. He seemed to be the perfect cardinal to reform the Church, and the perfect cardinal for Borgia to maintain his influence. Sixtus IV rewarded Borgia for his support by promoting him to cardinal-bishop and consecrating him as the Cardinal-Bishop of Albano, requiring Borgia's ordination as a priest. Borgia also received a lucrative abbey from the pope and remained vice-chancellor. At the end of the year, the pope appointed Borgia to be the papal legate for Spain to negotiate a peace treaty between Castile and Aragon and to solicit their support for another crusade. In 1472, Borgia was appointed to be the papal chamberlain until his departure to Spain. Borgia arrived in his native Aragon in the summer, reuniting with family and meeting with King Juan II and Prince Ferdinand. The pope gave Cardinal Borgia discretion over whether to give dispensation for Ferdinand's marriage to his second cousin Isabella of Castile, and Borgia decided in favour of approving the marriage. The couple named Borgia to be the godfather of their first son in recognition of this decision. The marriage of Ferdinand and Isabella was critical in the unification of Castile and Aragon into Spain. Borgia also negotiated peace between Castile and Aragon and an end to the civil wars in the latter Kingdom, gaining the favour of the future King Ferdinand - who would go on to promote the interests of the Borgia family in Aragon. Borgia returned to Rome the following year, narrowly surviving a storm that sank a nearby galley that was carrying 200 men of the Borgia household.

Back in Rome, Borgia began his affair with Vannozza dei Cattenei which would yield four children: Cesare in 1475, Giovanni in 1474 or 1476, Lucrezia in 1480, and Gioffre in 1482. In 1476, Pope Sixtus appointed Borgia to be the cardinal-bishop of Porto. In 1480, the pope legitimized Cesare as a favour to Cardinal Borgia, and in 1482, the pope began to appoint the seven-year-old to church positions, demonstrating Borgia's intention to use his influence to promote his children. Contemporaneously, Borgia continued to add to his list of benefices, becoming the wealthiest cardinal by 1483. He also become Dean of the College of Cardinals in that year. In 1484, Pope Sixtus IV died, necessitating another election for Borgia to manipulate to his advantage.

Borgia was wealthy and powerful enough to mount a bid, but he faced competition from Giuliano della Rovere, the late pope's nephew. Della Rovere's faction had the advantage of being incredibly large as Sixtus had appointed many of the cardinals who would participate in the election. Borgia's attempts to gather enough votes included bribery and leveraging his close ties to Naples and Aragon. However, many of the Spanish cardinals were absent from the conclave and della Rovere's faction had an overwhelming advantage. Della Rovere chose to promote Cardinal Cibo as his preferred candidate, and Cibo wrote to the Borgia faction wanting to strike a deal. Once again, Borgia played kingmaker and conceded to Cardinal Cibo who became Pope Innocent VIII. Again, Borgia retained his position of vice-chancellor, successfully holding this position over the course of five papacies and four elections.

In 1485, Pope Innocent VIII nominated Borgia to become the Archbishop of Seville, a position that King Ferdinand II wanted for his own son. In response, Ferdinand angrily seized the Borgia estates in Aragon and imprisoned Borgia's son Pedro Luis. However, Borgia healed the relationship by turning down this appointment. Pope Innocent, at the urging of his close ally Giuliano della Rovere, decided to declare war against Naples, but Milan, Florence, and Aragon chose to support Naples over the pope. Borgia led the opposition within the College of Cardinals to this war, and King Ferdinand rewarded Borgia by making his son Pedro Luis the Duke of Gandia and arranging a marriage between his cousin Maria Enriquez and the new duke. Now, the Borgia family was directly tied to the royal families of Spain and Naples. While Borgia gained the favour of Spain, he stood opposed to the pope and the della Rovere family. As a part of his war opposition, Borgia sought to obstruct an alliance negotiation between the papacy and France. These negotiations were unsuccessful and in July 1486, the pope capitulated and ended the war. In 1488, Borgia's son Pedro Luis died, and Juan Borgia became the new duke of Gandia. In the following year, Borgia hosted the wedding ceremony between Orsino Orsini and Giulia Farnese, and within a few months, Farnese had become Borgia's new mistress. She was 15, and he was 58. Borgia continued to acquire new benefices with their large streams of income, including the bishopric of Majorca and Eger in Hungary. In 1492, Pope Innocent VIII died. Since Borgia was 61, this was likely his last chance to become pope.

Archbishop of Valencia

When his uncle Alonso de Borja ( bishop of Valencia) was elected Pope Callixtus III,
he "inherited" the post of bishop of Valencia. Sixteen days before the death of Pope Innocent VIII, he proposed Valencia as a metropolitan see and became the first archbishop of Valencia. When Rodrigo Borgia was elected pope as Alexander VI following the death of Innocent VIII, his son Cesare Borgia "inherited" the post as second archbishop of Valencia. The third and the fourth archbishops of Valencia were Juan de Borja and Pedro Luis de Borja, grandnephews of Alexander VI. Gaetano Moroni, ''Dizionario di Erudizione Storico-Ecclesiastica da S. Pietro sino ai nostri giorni''
vol. 6, p. 50

Election to the papacy

There was change in the constitution of the College of Cardinals during the course of the 15th century, especially under Sixtus IV and Innocent VIII. Of the 27 cardinals alive in the closing months of the reign of Innocent VIII no fewer than 10 were cardinal-nephews, eight were crown nominees, four were Roman nobles and one other had been given the cardinalate in recompense for his family's service to the Holy See; only four were able career churchmen.

On the death of Pope Innocent VIII on 25 July 1492, the three likely candidates for the Papacy were the 61-year-old 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. Mallett shows that Borgia was in the lead from the start and that the rumours of bribery began after the election with the distribution of benefices; Sforza and della Rovere were just as willing and able to bribe as anyone else. The benefices and offices granted to 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.Johann Burchard, ''Diaries 1483–1492'' (translation: A.H. Matthew, London, 1910)

The leading candidates in the first ballot were Oliviero Carafa of Sforza's party with nine votes, and Giovanni Michiel and Jorge Costa, both of della Rovere's party with seven votes each. Borgia himself gathered seven votes. However, Borgia convinced Sforza to join with his camp through the promise of being appointed vice-chancellor as well as bribes that included benefices and perhaps four mule-loads of silver. With Sforza now canvassing for votes, Borgia's election was assured. Borgia was elected on 11 August 1492 and assumed the name of Alexander VI (due to confusion about the status of Pope Alexander V, elected by the Council of Pisa). Many inhabitants of Rome were happy with their new pope because he was a generous and competent administrator who had served for decades as vice-chancellor.

Early years in office

In contrast to the preceding pontificate, Pope Alexander VI adhered initially to strict administration of justice and orderly government. Before long, though, he began endowing his relatives at the Church's and at 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 Alexander into conflict with Ferdinand I of Naples as well as with 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 Alexander formed a league against Naples (25 April 1493) and prepared for war.

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. Alexander, in the bull ''Inter caetera'' on 4 May 1493, divided the title between Spain and Portugal along a demarcation line. This became the basis of the Treaty of Tordesillas.

French involvement

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" Sforza (the Moor, so-called because of his swarthy complexion), the ''de facto'' Duke of Milan, who needed French support to legitimise his rule. As King Ferdinand I of Naples was threatening to come to the aid of the rightful duke Gian Galeazzo Sforza, the husband of his granddaughter Isabella, Alexander encouraged the French king in his plan for the conquest of Naples.

But Alexander, 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 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, 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. Alexander authorised him to pass through Rome, ostensibly on a crusade against the Ottoman Empire, without mentioning Naples. But when the French invasion became a reality Pope Alexander VI became alarmed, recognised 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 Romagna and attack Milan, while the fleet was to seize Genoa. Both expeditions were badly conducted and failed, and on 8 September Charles VIII crossed the Alps and joined Ludovico 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).

Alexander 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 defence, 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. Alexander now feared that Charles might depose him for simony, and that the king would summon a council to nominate a new pope. Alexander was able to win over the bishop of Saint-Malo, who had much influence over the king, by making him a cardinal. Alexander agreed to send Cesare as legate to Naples with the French army; to deliver Cem Sultan, held as a hostage, 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. Ferdinand was abandoned by all and also had to escape, and the Kingdom of Naples was conquered with surprising ease.

French in retreat

A reaction against Charles VIII soon set in, for all the European powers were alarmed at his success. On 31 March 1495 the Holy League was formed among the pope, the emperor, Venice, Ludovico 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 League at Fornovo and 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.

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, 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 a major domestic tragedy for the house of Borgia. On 14 June, his son the Duke of Gandia, who was lately created Duke of Benevento and had a questionable lifestyle, disappeared; the next day, his corpse was found in the Tiber. Alexander, 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. Every effort was made to discover the assassin. No conclusive explanation was ever reached, and it may be that the crime was simply as a result of one of the Duke's sexual liaisons.

Crime

There is no evidence that the Borgias resorted to poisoning, judicial murder, or extortion to fund their schemes and the defense of the Papal States. The only contemporary accusations of poisoning were from some of their servants, extracted under torture by Alexander's bitter enemy Della Rovere, who succeeded him as Pope Julius II.

Savonarola

The debased state of the Curia was a major scandal. Opponents, such as the powerful 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 Savonarola's denunciations were related to him. Nevertheless, he appointed Sebastian Maggi

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