Caesar Borgia: A Study of the Renaissance

by John Leslie Garner

When a youth, as he was about to embark on a ship for the Orient, he received news of his uncle’s election to the Papacy; promptly perceiving the opportunities for advancing his fortunes offered him by this event, he changed his plans, and assiduously devoted himself to the study of theology, for which he had no aptitude, and in 1440 he was made Cardinal of San Marco.

His Eminence was a stupid but handsome man, tall of figure, majestic, and exceedingly vain of his personal appearance in ecclesiastical pageants. On his election he wanted to assume the name Formoso, the Handsome, but was dissuaded by the cardinals, who also prevented him from taking the name San Marco, which was the battle-cry of the Republic of Venice, consequently Piero Barbo called himself Paul II. and was duly consecrated September 16, 1464.

During the conclave he had sworn to prosecute the war against the Turks; to reform the Curia; to summon a council at the end of the year; to limit the number of cardinals to twenty-four; and not to appoint any one under thirty years of age, or any one who was ignorant of law and theology, or any of his nephews, to the cardinalate. These promises were exacted by the members of the Sacred College for the protection of their traditional privileges. They also secured his permission to meet twice a year to assure themselves that the agreement was being observed.

Their efforts, however, to reduce the monarchical Papacy to an oligarchy failed. The Pope promptly found a way out of the difficulty by presenting the cardinals for their signature a document which purported to be a copy of the original agreement, but which was in fact very different. Out of complaisance some promptly signed it, Bessarion under the Pope’s coercion, while Carvajal was the only one who persisted in his refusal. Among the cardinals created by Paul II. were his kinsmen Marco Barbo, Giovanni Michiel and Battista Zeno.

The Pope himself, according to Corio, was wholly given over to sensual pleasures; he filled his palace with concubines, says Attilius Alexius, and turned night into day, so that it was exceedingly difficult to obtain an audience with him. The licentiousness of his court and the corruption of his clergy were scandalous. He was noted for a vulgar love of display and took a childish delight in showing himself to the Romans on all public occasions. He desired to be thought astute in all ways, but was merely duplicit. He was wholly unable to retain the friendship of other potentates. He, however, did much to embellish the city, in spite of the fact that he was exceedingly avaricious. He was fond of the table, gluttonous, and a valiant drinker. Although comparatively young, his life was terminated by apoplexy, July 26, 1471, following a supper consisting of two huge watermelons.

In the conclave which assembled August 6, 1471, for the selection of his successor Cardinal Bessarion just missed the throne, being defeated by Francesco della Rovere, who owed his success to Borgia, Orsini, and Gonzaga, and also to the zeal of his attendant in the conclave, Fra Pietro Riario. In return for his support Borgia received the commendam of Subiaco; Gonzaga, the abbey of S. Gregorio; and Orsini, famous and wealthy, was appointed camerlengo.

Francesco della Rovere, born in Savona in 1414, was the son of a poor fisherman and a Greek woman, Lucchesina Mugnone. He was created cardinal in 1467 and assumed the title of San Pietro ad Vincula. He had been general of the Minorites and was famous for his scholarship and his skill in controversy. On his election he took the name Sixtus IV., and he was crowned by Rodrigo Borgia August 25, 1471.

With Sixtus the head of the Church rapidly lost his priestly character and became a temporal prince. Thenceforth St. Peter’s successors were Italian sovereigns, and when they possessed the sacred character it was wholly accidental. The life they led compelled them to resort to mundane expedients—the sale of offices and indulgences and the promotion of the interests of their kinsmen. Never before had such shameless nepotism been displayed, and it now became the mainspring of every act of the Pope.

Illegitimate sons of the Popes appeared with every change in the Papacy; they conducted themselves in the Vatican like princes; they terrorised Rome and endeavoured by force to obtain possession of the various Italian principalities. Generally their careers came to an abrupt end with the death of the Pope to whom they owed their advancement, and to whom they were frequently valuable aids, the Pontiff’s desire for temporal supremacy often finding expression through them. The Popes, in their struggle with the cardinals, frequently found these satellites highly useful. Their power, however, did not extend far beyond the boundaries of the States of the Church as they were bitterly opposed by the older dynasties.

Under Calixtus III. Rome had been a Spanish state, in the reign of Pius II. a Sienese, and during the papacy of Sixtus IV. it was a Ligurian monarchy, and the domain of St. Peter had now reached its greatest territorial expansion. Within its boundaries, however, there still remained a number of feudal families and republics to be destroyed. These the papal favourites, anxious to change the States of the Church into an hereditary monarchy, were eager to crush.