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Dromo's Den
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[Up] [Dromo's Den] Caesar Borgia Biography BORGIA, An Italian family of Spanish origin which acquired great eminence after the elevation of Alfonso Borgia to the papacy as Calixtus III in 1455. He had previously been a councilor of the King of Aragon. He died in 1458.-RODRIGO BORGIA, nephew of the foregoing, ascended the papal throne in August, 1492, under the name of Alexander VI (q.v.). Before his elevation to the papacy he had a number of children by a Roman woman named Vanozza (Giovanna de' Catanei), of whom the most celebrated were Cesare and Lucrezia.-CESARE Or CAESAR BORGIA was one of the most noted men of the times, and his character, like that of his father, has been the subject of much historical controversy. He had early received high ecclesiastical preferment, and his father, soon after becoming Pope, made him Cardinal. The assassination of his brother Giovanni, Duke of Benevento and Count of Terracina and Pontecorvo, has been laid to Caesar's charge, but with no evidence save that Caesar succeeded him. He obtained the duchy and counties for himself and was permitted by his father to resign the purple and to devote himself to the profession of arms. He was sent, in 1498, to France, to convey to Louis XII a bill of divorce from his consort Jeanne, on the ground of no consummation. Louis rewarded him, in his royal gratitude, with the Duchy of Valentinois, a bodyguard of 100 men, 20,000 livres of yearly revenue, and a promise of support in his schemes of ambition. In 1499 Caesar married a sister of the King of Navarre and accompanied Louis XII to Italy, where he undertook the conquest of the Romagna for the Holy See. But before the conquest was completed, Caesar was compelled to desist on account of the defeat of his French allies in the northern part of Italy. In 1501 he was named by his father Duke of Romagna. In the same year he wrested the Principality of Piombino from Jacopo d' Appiano, but failed in an attempt to acquire Bologna and Florence. He took Camerino and caused Giulio di Varano, the lord of that town, to be strangled along with his two sons. By treachery as much as by violence he made himself master of the Duchy of Urbino. A league of Italian princes was formed to resist him, but he kept them in awe by force until he succeeded in winning some of them over by advantageous offers, employed them against the others, and then treacherously murdered them on the day of the victory (Dec. 31, 1502) at Sinigaglia. He now seized their possessions and seemed to have removed every obstacle in the way of becoming King of Romagna and of Umbria, when, on Aug. 17, 1503, his father died, probably of malaria, though at the time there were rumors of poison. Caesar, also, who was a party to the design, had himself partaken of the poison, and the consequence was a severe illness. Enemies rose against him on all hands, and one of the most inveterate of them ascended the papal throne as Julius II. Caesar was arrested and conveyed to the castle of Medina del Campo, in Spain, where he lay imprisoned for two years. At length he contrived to make his escape to the King of Navarre, whom he accompanied in the war against Castile, and was killed on March 12, 1507, by a missile from the castle of Biano. With all his intrigue and cruelty, Borgia was temperate and sober. He loved and patronized learning and possessed in a remarkable degree a ready and persuasive eloquence. Machiavelli, who was at one time dazzled by the energy and ability of Caesar and believed that he was capable of unifying Italy, has delineated his character in his Principe. The New International Encyclopaedia, Vol. III (New York: Dodd, Mead & Co., 1920) 548. |