The Borgias: Power and Fortune

by Paul Strathern

Overview

The glorious and infamous history of the Borgia family—a world of saints, corrupt popes, and depraved princes and poisoners—set against the golden age of the Italian Renaissance.

The Borgia family have become a byword for evil. Corruption, incest, ruthless megalomania, avarice and vicious cruelty—all have been associated with their name. And yet, paradoxically, this family lived when the Renaissance was coming into its full flowering in Italy. Examples of infamy flourished alongside some of the finest art produced in western history.

This is but one of several paradoxes associated with the Borgia family. For the family which produced corrupt popes, depraved princes and poisoners, would also produce a saint. These paradoxes which so characterize the Borgias have seldom been examined in great detail. Previously history has tended to condemn, or attempt in part to exonerate, this remarkable family. Yet in order to understand the Borgias, much more is needed than evidence for and against. The Borgias must be related to their time, together with the world which enabled them to flourish. Within this context the Renaissance itself takes on a very different aspect. Was the corruption part of the creation, or vice versa? Would one have been possible without the other?

In this way, the Borgia too represent the greatest aspirations of the Renaissance. Condemning the Borgia is as futile as attempting to exonerate them. Their leadership and their depravity must both be taken into account, for it would appear that they are both part of the same picture. In the nineteenth century the German philosopher Nietzsche would outline his theory of the Will to Power. In the ensuing century this idea would be hijacked by the Fascists and put into ruthless practice. The Borgia were no Fascists, nor were they thinkers of the calibre of Nietzsche: yet it is arguable that they united both the idea and the practice of the Will to Power some four centuries prior to Nietzsche’s conception of this guiding human principle. Telling the story of the Borgias becomes both an illustration and an exemplary analysis of the strengths and flaws of this evolutionary idea.

The primitive psychological forces which first played out in the amphitheaters of ancient Greece: hubris, incest, murder, the bitter rivalries and entanglements of doomed families, the treacheries of political power, the twists of fate—they are all here. Along with the final, tragic downfall. All these elements are played out in full in the glorious and infamous history of the Borgia family.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781643136110
Publisher:	Pegasus Books
Publication date:	12/08/2020
Series:	Italian Histories
Pages:	400
Sales rank:	448,158
Product dimensions:	5.40(w) x 8.20(h) x 1.10(d)

About the Author

Paul Strathern is a Somerset Maugham Award-winning novelist, and his nonfiction works include The Venetians, Death in Florence, The Medici, Mendeleyev's Dream, The Florentines, Empire, and The Borgias, all available from Pegasus Books. He lives in England.

Table of Contents

Maps ix

Abbreviated Borgia Family Tree xi

Dramatis Personae xiii

Prologue: The Crowning Moment 1

1 Origins of a Dynasty 17

2 The Young Rodrigo 33

3 Cardinal Rodrigo Borgia Emerges in His True Colours 53

4 The Way to the Top 73

5 A New Pope in a New Era 89

6 'The Scourge of God' 107

7 The Best of Plans… 123

8 A Crucial Realignment 139

9 A Royal Connection 155

10 Il Valentino's Campaign 177

11 Biding Time 195

12 The Second Romagna Campaign 209

13 The Borgias in excelsis 223

14 Cesare Strikes Out 241

15 Changing Fortunes 257

16 Cesare Survives 275

17 Borgia's 'Reconciliation' 289

18 Lucrezia in Ferrara 307

19 The Unforeseen 313

20 Desperate Fortune 329

Epilogue 339

Acknowledgements 342

Sources 343

Illustrations 363

Index 365

Editorial Reviews

"Rich in telling details. The Borgias’ ambition was boundless; their legacy proved to be enormous. Not without reason did Machiavelli make Cesare the hero of The Prince."

Economist

"Strathern continues his investigation into powerful Italian clans, following The Medici with this equally engaging and informative history of a notorious family. To be immersed in this group biography is to visit a particularly exciting and consequential period in European history in all its high drama and richness of character. A magnet for all who are intrigued by this infamous clan and everyone versed in European history who is looking for a new perspective, this is an outstanding account."

Booklist

"Historians who seek a wide readership, while giving their readers the drama they crave, must honor the historical record in all its complexity. The Borgias presents just such a nuanced account. Authoritative and well-written. Strathern has an admirable talent for the biographical sketch, particularly of artists and writers."

Wall Street Journal

"Rich in telling details. The Borgias’ ambition was boundless; their legacy proved to be enormous. Not without reason did Machiavelli make Cesare the hero of The Prince."

Economist

06/03/2019

In this accessible look behind the curtain, novelist and historian Strathern (The Medici: Power, Money, and Ambition in the Italian Renaissance) lays out the history of the infamous Italian clan, whose members included popes and political leaders during the Renaissance. Strathern follows the family line, beginning with the first Borgia pope, Callixtus III, Alfons de Borja (1378–1458); through his nephew Roderigo’s appointment to his papacy as Pope Alexander VI in 1492; to the death of his great-nephew Cesare Borgia, who inspired Machiavelli’s The Prince. While Strathern acknowledges it’s difficult to separate truth “from the exaggerations of rumor and gossip,” depravity and power are linked inextricably with this family’s history—the seven cardinal sins appear in abundance. Financial shenanigans multiply, from “the first time that the papacy had simply been bought outright” and transactions that resemble today’s off-shore banking to Alexander VI’s confiscation of all Jewish property. The Borgia reputation for prolific, promiscuous, and sometimes incestuous sexual misconduct is amply delineated. Alliances with city-states (Florence, Genoa, Naples, Venice) and nations (France) come and go, as do battles, and passages on the intrigues of papal conclaves and diplomatic machinations are lucidly rendered. Strathern makes a tangled and thorny history readable in this solid, workmanlike book. (Aug.)

Publishers Weekly

"Strathern continues his investigation into powerful Italian clans, following The Medici with this equally engaging and informative history of a notorious family. To be immersed in this group biography is to visit a particularly exciting and consequential period in European history in all its high drama and richness of character. A magnet for all who are intrigued by this infamous clan and everyone versed in European history who is looking for a new perspective, this is an outstanding account."

Booklist

"Historians who seek a wide readership, while giving their readers the drama they crave, must honor the historical record in all its complexity. The Borgias presents just such a nuanced account. Authoritative and well-written. Strathern has an admirable talent for the biographical sketch, particularly of artists and writers."

Wall Street Journal

The Medicihighlights [the family’s] literary accomplishments in detail, as well as the story of how the Medici became the Renaissance’s most influential family.

The New York Times [Praise for The Medici]

Rich in incident and character, this engrossing narrative offers impressive portraits of dynastic figures who usher in a new era aflame with individualistic ambition. Lineal history pulsing with epoch-making energy.

Booklist [Praise for The Medici]

★ 2019-05-27
Strathern's (The Medici: Power, Money and Ambition in the Italian Renaissance, 2016, etc.) latest venture into Renaissance Italy proves just as exciting as his previous histories.

Rodrigo Borgia (1431-1503), his son, Cesare, and daughter, Lucretia, are the central characters, following in the footsteps of Rodrigo's uncle, Pope Callixtus III. Rodrigo was by all accounts rich, charming, and an excellent administrator, but he was also impious, avaricious, and cruel. Callixtus appointed him Vice Chancellor, giving him the power of the purse in the Vatican. He held that post through multiple papacies until he became Pope Alexander VI in 1492. He had one ambition: to unify Italy under a Borgia hereditary papacy centered in Rome. Cesare was groomed to take his place, first as a cardinal and then as head of the Papal Forces. Alexander's diplomatic machinations and Cesare's brash but effective soldiering made that a possibility. Alexander's diplomacy came down to being friendly to both Spanish and French forces as they fought over Naples and supporting Venetian, Florentine, and Siennese governments while undermining everyone else. Rodrigo even married Cesare to a woman raised at the French court of Louis XII. With Louis' help and the Papal Forces, Cesare managed to take almost all the Romagna under his protection. Strathern points to an "inappropriate closeness" in the family. Rodrigo trusted Lucretia above everyone; he not only put her in charge of a province, but also let her administer the papacy in his absence. Cesare's manic jealousy of Lucretia was powerful, and rumors of his siring of her child and murders of her lover and husband complete that picture of a dangerous man. One of the author's great strengths has always been his ability to keep the many assorted players from confusing readers, and that holds true in his latest.

Strathern's smooth narrative and comprehensive insight bring the Borgias to life for scholars and amateurs alike.

Kirkus Reviews