the Borgia family
|
Borja (better known by the Italian spelling of the name, Borgia) was an influential Spanish family during the Renaissance. Callixtus III was a Borgia and a pope. His nephew, Alexander VI, also a pope, was notorious for his unpontifical private life.
His unorthodox life in which several lovers where implied trough his years gave birth to the various and later notorious Alexander's illegitimate children included Cesare Borgia, a political operator and intriguer, and Lucrezia Borgia, married to the Duke of Ferrara and a patron of learning and art. The Borgias legendarily poisoned people to gain political advantage and wealth, although little documentary evidence for this exists. A later member of this family, Francis Borgia, was canonized as a saint.
|
Although the Borgia family is closely associated with the Italian Renaissance, they were of Spanish origin and the name is of Valencian/Catalan origin; the family used the Valencian language among themselves, for privacy, even in Italy. There is a town in Spain called Borja which is the seat of the Camp de Borja comarca, in the province of Zaragoza in Aragon. But the Borjas themselves were Valencian.
Alexander VI created for Giovanni Borgia the title duke of Gandía, a Valencian fief he purchased from King Ferdinand II of Aragon.
Cesare Borgia
|
Like nearly all aspects of Cesare Borgia's life, the date of his birth is a subject of conflict.
However, it is accepted that he was born in Rome between 1474 and 1476 to Cardinal Rodrigo de Lanzol y Borja, and his mistress Vannozza de' Cattanei, of whom documents are sparse. The Borgia family originally came from Spain (Valence) and rose in the mid 15th century, when Cesare's great uncle Alonso Borgia (1378-1458), bishop of Valencia, was elected Pope Callixtus III in 1455. Cesare's father, later known as Pope Alexander VI was the first pope who openly recognized the children he had with his lover Vanozza de' Cattanei.
However, Stefano Infessura writes that Cardinal Rodrigo Borgia first falsely claimed Cesare to be the legitimate son of another man, the nominal husband of Vannozza de' Cattanei although Pope Sixtus IV granted Cesare a release from the necessity of proving his birth in a papal bull.
more?