Pope Alexander VI: Encyclopedia II - Pope Alexander VI - Nepotism and opposition

Pope Alexander VI - Nepotism and opposition

Borgia's elevation did not at the time excite much alarm, and at first his reign was marked by a strict administration of justice and an orderly method of government in satisfactory contrast with the anarchy of the previous pontificate, as well as by great outward splendour. But it was not long before his unbridled passion for endowing his relatives at the expense of the Church and of his neighbours became manifest. For this object he was ready to commit any crime and to plunge all Italy into war. Alexander had four children by his mistress (Vannozza di Cattani), three sons and a daughter: Giovanni, Cesare, Goffredo (or Giuffre)and Lucreza. Cesare, then a youth of seventeen and a student at Pisa, was made archbishop of Valencia, Giovanni received a cardinal's hat in addition to the dukedom of Gandia. For the dukes 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 Ferdinand II of Aragon, king of Naples (Don Ferrante). This brought the latter into conflict with Alexander, who determined to revenge himself by making an alliance with the king's enemies, especially the Sforza family, lords of Milan.

In this he was opposed by Cardinal della Rovere, whose candidature for the papacy had been backed by Ferdinand. Della Rovere, feeling that Rome was a dangerous place for him, fortified 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, 1493) and prepared 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. (The title was eventually divided between Spain and Portugal along a Demarcation Line and duly granted in the Bull Inter caetera, May 4, 1493. This and other related bulls are known collectively as the Bulls of Donation.) Alexander mediated great marriages for his children. Lucrezia had been promised to the Spaniard Don Gasparo de Procida, but on her father's elevation to the papacy the engagement was cancelled, and in 1493 she was married to Giovanni Sforza, lord of Pesaro, the ceremony being celebrated at the Vatican Palace 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 adventurers, 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 immoral life, and indulging in the chase, dancing, stage plays and indecent orgies. One of his close companions was Cem, the brother of the sultan Bayezid II, detained as a hostage. The general political outlook in Italy was of the gloomiest, and the country was on the eve of the catastrophe of foreign invasion. At Milan Lodovico Sforza (il Moro) ruled, nominally as regent for the youthful duke Gian Galeazzo, but really with a view to making himself master of the state.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Nepotism and opposition", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki