The Borgias: The Rise and Fall of the Borgia Family - See U in History

in renaissance rome a powerful family stood out for being steeped in sin and immorality we are talking about the borgia family this family gave birth to two popes and became famous for his nepotism depravity and desire for power the borgias have a dark reputation which includes bribery sex and nepotism but this milieu elected two popes who belonged to the powerful clan it was one of the most influential families of the 15th and 16th centuries with spanish origins but it was in rome that they achieved fame its four main members are remembered as examples of wickedness and greed two of them are popes callixtus iii alfonso borgia alexander vi rodrigo borgia cardinal cesare borgia and we cannot forget lucrezia borgia cesare's sister and symbol of female cruelty the most famous branch of the borgia family began with alfonso de borgia [Music] 1378-1458 the son of a family of average status in valencia spain alfonso entered university and studied canon and civil law where he showed talent after completing his education he began to rise in the hierarchy of the local church after representing his diocese and national affairs alfonso was chosen as secretary to king alfonso v of aragon and became deeply involved in politics sometimes being envoy to the monarch alfonso quickly became vice chancellor a trusted advisor and then regent when the king decided to conquer naples by showing his skills as an administrator he also promoted his family even interfering in a murder trial to ensure the safety of his relatives when the king conquered naples alfonso took up residence in the italian city in 1439 alfonso represented aragon at a council to try to unite the eastern and western churches although he failed he was impressed with his skills when the king finally negotiated papal approval for his rule in naples in return he was to defend rome against central italian rivals alfonso was chosen cardinal in 1444 as a reward he moved to rome in 1445 at the age of 67 and changed the spelling of his name to borgia it may sound strange but alfonso was honest and restrained the next generation aborgias would be very different his nephews were taken to rome the youngest rodrigo was given to the church and studied canon law in italy where he became known as a womanizer an older nephew pedro louise joined the military command things would change with the election of alfonso to the papacy on april the 8th 1455 shortly after being made a cardinal alfonso was elected pope in large part this was due to the fact that he did not belong to any major faction and seemed destined to have a short reign due to his age he chose the name callixtus iii as he was spanish callixtus had many enemies in rome and he began his rule carefully to avoid confronting rome's factions although his first ceremony was interrupted by a riot however the king of aragon summoned the new pope for a crusade and he refused causing a rift between the king and callixtus the third calyxus did not want to divert his attention his goal was to promote his family and establish his bases in rome to do this he resorted to nepotism nepotism is the term used to denote the favoring of relatives or close friends over more qualified people especially in renowned positions the word originally only applied to the pope's relations with his relatives particularly with the cardinal nephew nepotism was not uncommon in the papacy in fact it allowed popes to create a base of supporters callixtus appointed his nephew rodrigo and his older brother pedro cardinals at the age of 20 acts that scandalized rome given the youth of the two boys and the subsequent debauchery rodrigo was talented and successful pedro was given a commanding position in the army and promotions and wealth increased rodrigo became second in the church hierarchy and pedro became duke and mayor while other family members received various positions when king alfonso died pedro was chosen to control naples which was again under rome's control critics believed that callixtus intended to offer naples to pedro however pedro failed to conquer the city and fled from his enemies dying shortly thereafter a malaria calixis did not live much longer dying in 1458 rodrigo borgia who at 27 was already one of rome's most influential cardinals was responsible for starting the inquisition in spain while a cardinal in valencia this brought more than thirteen thousand jewish converse to trial between 1480 and 1492. in the conclave after callixtus's death rodrigo was the youngest cardinal but he played a key role in the election of the new pope pius ii the change worked and for a young foreigner who had lost his patron rodrigo became an important ally of the new pope and was chosen as vice chancellor rodrigo was a man of great talent and perfectly capable of fulfilling the role but he also loved women wealth and glory he did not follow the example of his uncle callistus and began to acquire benefits and land to secure his position he bought castles bishoprics and money some accounts say that rodrigo was very handsome and remarkable orator women were extremely attracted to him with some saying that even iron and magnet did not match such a close relationship the cardinal tried to maintain an image that would please the political circles of the catholic church but he was eventually admonished by popeyes ii after the latter became aware of his promiscuous behavior the religious man secretly maintained several relationships with women and even had some bastard children you may be wondering could the pope have children as a cardinal rodrigo was supposed to live in celibacy but that didn't stop him from having several mistresses and fathering several children even as pope he was not the only priest to have children but the way he openly acknowledged many of them and sought to make them have a successful career was considered unusual behavior for even the most corrupt cardinals of the time his most famous sons were caesar who was born in 1475 and a daughter named lucrezia who was born in 1480 in 1464 pope pius ii died until he became pope rodrigo went through complex times in 1469 he was sent to approve or refuse the marriage between ferdinand and isabella of castile after approving the union he won the support of the catholic kings rodrigo's ambition was to reach the papal throne and he worked hard to secure his allies in 1492 with the death of innocent the eighth rodrigo pulled all his efforts and bribed several figures with this he was finally elected pope alexander vi and it is no lie that he bought the papacy even before he assumed the papacy rodrigo began to show his strength by revealing how his term would be during the conclave that elected him rome was going through a period of extreme violence there were hundreds of murders after being elected he wanted to resolve the situation he had the bandits identified ordered their houses destroyed and hung them where they lived so that they would be exposed and serve as an example to the population on august 26th when he was named pope he had the city at peace and at his feet the first beneficiaries of the pope's ascension were his sons cesare became a cardinal in 1493 several family members arrived in rome and were rewarded and thus the borgias became a kind of plague in italy to try to pacify the italian region he attempted to resort to his diplomatic talents his daughter lucrezia only 12 years old married giovanni svarsa a descendant of a rich family from milan but the marriage did not last long her husband ran away and filed for divorce claiming that there was incestuous and fair between alexander and lucrezia these rumors persist to this day the treatment of opponents of the borgia family was peculiar if anyone interfered with their political interests they were not shy about killing them one of the most common practices was poisoning as a rule a lethal substance was added to the enemy's food or drink alexander vi became known as the poison pope in 1494 king charles viii of france invaded rome and conquered naples having the support of a wealthy italian family the orsini the pope called upon his son giovanni who was residing in spain to have him command the holy league troops against the orsini however young giovanni was murdered on the night of june the 14th 1497 his father initiated a major investigation but a week later abruptly interrupted it although the orsini family had several motives for killing giovanni the related rumors that his brother cesare borgia had committed the murder leading the pope to end the investigations with giovanni's death cesare was the future for alexander as the other borgia were either dying or too weak the pope was able to ally himself with the new french king louis xii cesare also married a member louis family and received an army as a dowry the young man only 23 years old began a remarkable military career and was the model prince for machiavelli alexander analyzed the situation of the papal states which were plunged into chaos after the first french mission he eventually took military action he asked cesare who was in milan with his army to pacify large areas of central italy for the borgias at first cesare was successful but he was dependent on the help of french soldiers with military success in central italy cesare gained more and more power and began to take revenge on those who had slandered him including lucrezia's second husband with this she married for a third time now to the duke of ferrara despite being a political arrangement lucrezia was happy in her third marriage and received a comfortable life at court where she became a patron of the arts everything seemed favorable for the borgias however in mid-1503 at the age of 73 alexander died of malaria although some believed he was poisoned when cesare found out that his father had died his kingdom was not yet consolidated as he was fighting large foreign armies in the north and south and he was also deeply ill in addition his enemies quickly returned from exile to threaten his lands when cesare was no longer able to coerce the papal conclave he withdrew from rome he still tried to face political articulations contrary to the borgia but his cities were conquered and his sources of income dried up cesare was arrested and taken to spain from where he fled and returned to the italian peninsula but the clanstein life would not last long after killing countless enemies he was assassinated in 1507 at the age of 31. the last remnant of the borgia's great power within the catholic church was extinguished lucrezia survived malaria and the loss of her father and brother her personality made her reconciled with her husband family and state she held positions at court acting as regent she died in 1519. no borgia ever managed to be as powerful as alexander but there were many lesser figures with religious and political offices such as francis borgia who died in 1572 and was ordained a saint by francis's time the importance of his family was waning and by the end of the 18th century it had disappeared alexander and the borgias became famous for their corruption cruelty and murder but what alexander did as pope was not exactly new in fact he just took things to another level the orgies and incest are part of the legends that were intended to belittle the borgias originating from the family's enemies the pope had an intense sex life some sources suggest that cesare was attracted to his sister but when we see lucrezia's trajectory it is hard to believe in incest the moral values were different we must take this into consideration in order not to commit an anachronism and judge what happened through our current perspective some practices such as murdering and poisoning were used by all tyrants in the region in the case of borgias the aggravating factor was to concentrate secular and religious powers these facts coupled with exaggerated artistic productions without serious historical research caused speculation about the family to grow a lot yes they committed reprehensible acts but they lived in a context in which killing rivals marrying daughters for interest or selling ecclesiastical positions was not strange but common they were not an aberration in the reality of the renaissance they just followed a pattern you

Channel: See U in History / Mythology

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Keywords: history, mythology, The Borgias: The Rise and Fall of the Borgia Family - See U in History, the borgias, borgia, rodrigo borgia, cesar brgia, ceasar borgia, Lucrezia borgia, alexander vi, Calixtus III, borgia popes, story of the borgias, vatican, pope history, rome, naples, medieval history

Id: W5JzEaStAc4

Length: 15min 1sec (901 seconds)

Published: Wed Jul 21 2021