ALEXANDER VI. (Rodrigo Borgia), (1431-1503), pope from 1492 until his death, is the most memorable of the corrupt and secular Popes of the Renaissance. He was born, Jan. 1, 1431, at Xativa, near Valencia ih Spain. He assumed the name of his mother's family, Borgia or Borja, on the elevation of his maternal uncle to the papacy as Calixtus III. (April 8, 5) • He studied law at Bologna, and after his uncle's election he was created suc cessively bishop, cardinal and vice-chancellor of the church. He served in the Curia under five Popes, and acquired much adminis trative experience, influence and wealth, although no great power; he was economical in his habits, though on occasion he displayed great splendour and lived in a fine palace. Of his many mistresses, the one for whom his passion lasted longest was Vannozza (Gio vanna) dei Cattani, born in 1442, and wife of three successive husbands. The connection began in 147o, and she bore him chil dren whom he openly acknowledged as his own : Giovanni, after wards Duke of Gandia (born 1474), Cesare, (born 1476), Lucrezia (born 1480), and Goffredo or Giuffre (born 1481 or 1482). Before his elevation to the papacy, Cardinal Borgia's passion for Vannozza diminished. Her place 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 loaded them with every honour.
On the death of Pope Innocent VIII., the three likely candi dates for the Holy See were Cardinals Borgia, Ascanio Sforza and Giuliano della Rovere. Borgia, by his great wealth, succeeded in buying the largest number of votes, including that of Sforza, and was elected Aug. Io, 1492, assuming the name of Alexander VI. At first his reign was marked by a strict administration of justice and an orderly method of Government, in contrast with the anarchy of the previous pontificate, as well as by great outward splendour. But he indulged his unbridled passion for endowing his relatives at the expense of the Church and of his neighbours. Cesare, then a youth of 16 and a student at Pisa, was made arch bishop of Valencia, his nephew Giovanni received a cardinal's hat, and for the Duke of Gandia and Giuffre 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 Cervetri and Anguillara, lately acquired by Virginio Orsini, head of that powerful and turbulent house, with the pecuniary help of Ferdi nand of Aragon, king of Naples (Don Ferrante). This brought Ferdinand of Aragon into conflict with Alexander, who conse quently made an alliance with the king's enemies, especially the Sforza family, lords of Milan.
In this he was opposed by Cardinal della Rovere, whose candi dature for the papacy had been backed by Ferdinand. Della Rovere, feeling that Rome was a dangerous place for him, forti fied himself in his bishopric of Ostia at the Tiber's mouth, while Ferdinand allied himself with Florence, Milan, Venice, and the Pope formed a league against Naples (April 25, and pre pared for war. Ferdinand appealed to. Spain for help ; but Spain was anxious to be on good terms with the pope to obtain a title over the newly discovered continent of America, and could not afford to quarrel with him.
Alexander meditated great marriages for his children. Lucrezia had been married to the Spaniard Don Gasparo de Procida, but the union was annulled, and in 1493 she was married to Giovanni Sforza, lord of Pesaro, the ceremony being celebrated at the Vatican with unparalleled magnificence. But in spite of the splendours of the court, the condition of Rome became every day more deplorable. The city swarmed with Spanish adventur ers, assassins, prostitutes and informers; murder and robbery were committed with impunity, heretics and Jews were admitted to the city on payment of bribes, and the pope himself shamelessly cast aside all show of decorum, living a purely secular and im moral life, and indulging in the chase, dancing, stage plays and indecent orgies. One of his boon companions was Jem, the brother of the Sultan Bayezid, detained as a hostage.
Alexander carried on a double policy, always ready to seize opportunities to aggrandize his family. But through the inter vention of the Spanish ambassador he made peace with Naples in July 1493 and also with the Orsini. In order to dominate the Sacred College more completely he created 12 new cardinals, among them his own son Cesare, then only 18 years old, and Alessandro Farnese, the brother of Giulia Bella, one of the Pope's mistresses. On Jan. Ferdinand died and was succeeded by his son Alphonso II. Charles of France now advanced formal claims on the Kingdom, and Alexander authorized him to pass through Rome ostensibly on a crusade against the Turks, without mentioning Naples. But when the French invasion became a reality he was alarmed, recognized Alphonso as king, and con cluded an alliance with him in exchange for various fiefs to his sons (July 1494) . Preparations for defence were made; but the pope was unable to defend Rome, and came to terms with the invader. Charles conquered Naples and was crowned king there on May 12, but a reaction set in. A league of the principal powers assembled a force in Italy which threatened Charles's retreat. He withdrew to France, and Ferdinand II., Alphonso's' son, was established at Naples with Spanish help.
Alexander availed himself of the defeat of the French to break the power of the Orsini. Virginio Orsini, who had been captured by the Spaniards, died a prisoner at Naples, and the pope con fiscated his property. But the rest of the clan still held out, and the papal troops sent against them under Guidobaldo, Duke of Urbino, and the Duke of Gandia were defeated at Soriano (Jan. 149 7) . Peace was made through Venetian mediation, the Orsini paying 50,00o ducats in exchange for their confiscated lands. The Orsini still remained very powerful, and Alexander could count on none but his 3,00o Spaniards.
Now occurred the first of those ugly domestic tragedies for which the house of Borgia remained infamous. On June 14 the Duke of Gandia, lately created Duke of Benevento, disappeared; the next day his corpse was found in the Tiber. Alexander, overwhelmed with grief, shut himself up in Castle St. Angelo. The rumour spread about that Cesare, the Pope's second son, was the author of the deed, and the search for the assassin then ceased. No doubt Cesare, who contemplated quitting the Church, was inspired by jealousy of Gandia's influence with the Pope. Violent and revengeful, he now became the most powerful man in Rome, and even his father quailed before him.
As he needed funds to carry out his various schemes, the Pope began a series of confiscations, of which one of the victims was his own secretary, in order to enrich him. The process was a simple one : any cardinal, nobleman or official who was known to be rich would be accused of some offence ; imprisonment and per haps murder followed at once, and then the confiscation of his property. The disorganization of the Curia was appalling, the sale of offices became a veritable scandal, the least opposition to the Borgia was punished with death, and even in that corrupt age the state of things shocked public opinion. The story of Alex ander's relations with Savonarola is narrated under the latter heading; it is sufficient to say here that the Pope's hostility was due to the friar's outspoken invectives against papal corruption and to his appeals for a General Council. Alexander, although he could not get Savonarola into his own hands, browbeat the Floren tine Government into condemning the reformer to death (May The Pope was unable to maintain order in his own dominions; the houses of Colonna and Orsini were at open war with each other, but after much fighting they made peace on a basis of alliance against the Pope. He had annulled Lucrezia's marriage with Sforza in 1497, and arranged her marriage to the Duke of Bisceglie, a natural son of Alphonso of Aragon. Cesare, who renounced his cardinalate, was sent on a mission to France at the end of the year, bearing a bull of divorce for the new king, Louis XII., in exchange for which he obtained the duchy of Valentinois (hence his title of Duca Valentino) and a promise of material assistance in his schemes to subjugate the feudal prince lings of Romagna; he married a princess of Navarre. In spite of the remonstrances of Spain and of the Sforza, Alexander allied himself with France in Jan. 1499 and was joined by Venice. By the autumn Louis was in Italy and expelled Lodovico Sforza from the Milanese. In order to consolidate his possessions still further now that French success seemed assured, the Pope determined to deal drastically with 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, nominated gon f aloniere of the Church, and strong in French favour, proceeded to attack the turbulent cities one by one (for details see BORGIA, CESARE). 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. This year was a jubilee year, and crowds of pilgrims flocked to the city from all parts of the world, bringing money for the purchase of indulgences, so that Alexander was able to furnish Cesare with funds for his enterprise. In the north the pendulum swung back once more and the French reoccupied Milan in April, causing the downfall of the Sforza much to Alexander's gratification.
But there was no end to the Vatican tragedies, and in July the Duke of Bisceglie, whose existence was no longer advantageous, was murdered ; this left Lucrezia free to contract another mar riage. The Pope, ever in need of money, now created 12 new cardinals, from whom he received 120,000 ducats ; and fresh con quests for Cesare were considered. But while a crusade was talked of, the real object was central Italy, and in the autumn Cesare, favoured by France and Venice, set forth with io,000 men to complete his interrupted enterprise. On his return to Rome (June 1501) Cesare was created Duke of Romagna. Louis XII. now concluded a treaty with Spain for the division of the Neapolitan kingdom, which was ratified by the Pope on June 25, Frederick being formally deposed. The French army proceeded to invade Naples, and Alexander took the opportunity, with the help of the Orsini, to reduce the Colonna to obedience. In his absence he left Lucrezia as regent, offering the astounding spec tacle of a Pope's natural daughter in charge of the Holy See. Shortly afterwards he induced Alphonso d'Este, son of the Duke of Ferrara, to marry her (Jan. 1502).
As France and Spain were quarrelling over the division of Naples and the Campagna barons were quiet, Cesare set out once more in search of conquests (see BORGIA, CESARE). As soon as Alexander heard the news of Cesare's successes (1502) he de coyed Cardinal Orsini to the Vatican and cast him into a dungeon, where he died. His goods were confiscated, his aged mother was turned into the street, and numbers of other members of the clan in Rome were arrested, while Giuffre Borgia led an expedi tion 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. Three more high personages fell victims to the Borgias' greed this year, viz., Cardinal Michiel, who was poisoned in April, and J. da Santa Croce, who had helped to seize Cardinal Orsini and Troches or Troccio, one of the family's most faithful assassins; all these murders brought immense sums to the pope. About Cardinal Ferrari's death there is more doubt; he probably died of fever, but the Pope confiscated his goods.
The war between France and Spain for the possession of Naples dragged on, and Alexander was ever intriguing, ready to ally him self with whichever power promised at the moment most advan tageous terms. Cesare was preparing for another expedition into central Italy in July 1503, when, in the midst of all these projects and negotiations both he and his father were taken ill with fever. The occurrence was, of course, attributed to poison, although it was merely the result of malaria, at that time very prevalent in Rome. On Aug. 18 Alexander died at the age of 72. His death was followed by scenes of wild disorder, and Cesare, being himself ill, sent Don Michelotto, his chief bravo, to seize the Pope's treasures before the demise was publicly announced. Alexander's successor on the chair of St. Peter was Francesco Todeschini-Piccolomini, who assumed the name of Pius III.
Alexander VI. has become almost a mythical character, and countless legends and traditions are attached to his name. His career shows no great political ideas, and his one thought was family aggrandizement. While it is unlikely that he meditated making the papacy hereditary in the house of Borgia, he certainly gave away its temporal estates to his children as though they be longed to him. The secularization of the church was carried to a pitch never before dreamed of, and it was clear to ell Italy that he regarded the papacy as an instrument of worldly schemes with no thought of its religious aspect. During his pontificate the church was brought to its lowest level of degradation. The con dition of his subjects was deplorable, and if Cesare's rule in Romagna was an improvement on that of the local tyrants, the people of Rome have seldom been more oppressed than under the Borgia. Alexander was not the only person responsible for the general unrest in Italy and the foreign invasions, but he was ever ready to profit by them. Even if we do not accept all the stories of his murders and poisonings and immoralities as true, there is no doubt that his greed and his essentially vicious nature led him to commit a great number of crimes. For many of the mis deeds attributed to him, Cesare was responsible, but of others the Pope cannot be acquitted. The one pleasing aspect of his life is 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 and a curious contrast, characteristic of the age, is afforded by the fact that a family so steeped in vice and crime could take pleasure in the most exquisite works of art.
BIBLIOGRAPHY.-The chief contemporary authorities for this reign Bibliography.-The chief contemporary authorities for this reign are: the diary of Alexander's master of ceremonies, Johannes Burchar dus, edited by L. Thuasne (Paris, 1883-84), which is characterized by accuracy and by a candour often amounting to gross indecency; the despatches of Giustiniani, the Venetian ambassador, edited by P. Villari (Florence, 1876), which are based on the most accurate in formation ; and Paolo Cappelli's "Diarii" in E. Alberi's Relazioni, series ii., iii. Among modern works the most important are: F. Gregorovius's Geschichte der Stadt Rom (3rd ed., Stuttgart, i88i), a work of immense research and admirable synthesis, giving a very unfavourable view of the Borgia ; A. von Reumont's Geschichte der Stadt Rom (Berlin, 1867-7o), also a valuable book; M. Creighton's History of the Papacy (London, 1897) is very learned and accurate, but the author is more lenient towards Alexander ; F. Gregorovius's Lucrezia Borgia (Stuttgart, 1874) contains a great deal of information on the Borgia family ; P. Villari's Machiavelli (English translation, new ed., 1892) deals with the subject at some length. Of the Catholic writers, L. Pastor, Geschichte der Papste (Freiburg, i. B., 1886), should be consulted, for although the author tries to extenuate the pope to some extent, on the whole he is fair. See also Rafael Sabatini, The Life of Cesare Borgia; G. Portigliotti, The Borgias, trans. by Bernard Miall (1928) .