20
the Borgias. “So many bizarre stories have been handed down about this
hot-blooded . . . family that it is impossible, after five centuries, to know
where the line of credibility should be drawn,” says William Manchester,
historian at Wesleyan College in Connecticut. “Much of what we have is
simply what was accepted as fact at the time.”
6
e Borgias traced their roots to Spain. Cesare’s grandfather, Jofré de
Borja y Escrivà, was a nobleman from the Spanish city of Valencia. Ce-
sare’s father was Roderic Llançol i de Borja, who served as the archbishop
of Valencia and, in 1492, ascended to the papacy as Pope Alexander VI.
Alexander is considered to have been a corrupt pope—it is said he won
the papacy by bribing seventeen of the twenty-two cardinals who cast their
votes in the papal election. After his election as pope, one of the Medicis,
Lorenzo de’ Medici, had this to say about Alexander: “Now we are in the
power of a wolf, the most rapacious perhaps
that this world has ever seen. And if we do
not flee, he will inevitably devour us all.”
7
Indeed, during his eleven-year papacy
Alexander is considered to have been primar-
ily interested in enhancing his personal for-
tune. In describing the wealth of Alexander,
the Vatican secretary Jacopo da Volterra, writes,
His papal office, his numerous abbeys in Italy and Spain, and his
three bishoprics in Valencia, Porto, and Cartagena, yield him a
vast income, and it is said that the office of Vice-Chancellor alone
brings him in 8000 gold florins. His plate, his pearls, his stuffs em-
broidered with silk and gold, and his books in every department of
learning are very numerous and all are of a magnificence worthy of
a king or pope. I need not mention the innumerable bed-hangings,
the trappings for his horses . . . nor his magnificent wardrobe, nor
the vast amount of gold coin in his possession.
8
Alexander died at the age of seventy-three amid rumors that he was
poisoned by his enemies. He is said to have left behind as many as eleven
illegitimate children.
WORDS IN CONTEXT
florins
Gold coins minted in
the city of Florence.
