[Looking Back] The Borgia Apartments, The Vatican

Due to a bit of writers block I thought I would share a post I did a while ago, all about my trip to the Borgia apartments at the Vatican.

The Disputation of St Catherine - Pinturicchio

After Rodrigo Borgia became Pope in 1492, he planned a whole new set of rooms for his personal use. These rooms still exist today, and in them survive a fascinating insight into the Borgia mindset. The walls are covered in frescoes of the Borgia bull, and the entire set of apartments show the Spanish roots of the new Pope - the floor tiles were imported especially from Spain, giving the rooms a completely Spanish look, and mixed in with the frescoes of the Borgia bull are are representations of the Aragonese double crown, to which they added sun rays or flames mixed in a grazing bull.

The Borgia Bull, Borgia Apartments (picture by me)

The Borgia Bull and the Aragonese Crown, Borgia Apartments (picture by me)

Spanish Tiles, Borgia Apartments (picture by me)

Borgia Coat of Arms, Borgia Apartments (picture by me)

As can be seen from the pictures above, Pope Alexander made sure the family device was everywhere - gilded Borgia bulls on the ceiling in a repeated pattern with the Aragonese arms, Spanish tiles all over the floors as well as gilded stucco frames around the frescoes. The entire space was created to reflect the pride Alexander felt in his family name, pride at their Spanish origins and the huge ambition that he had for himself and his family.

Quite possibly, the most impressive monument to the Borgia family surviving in those set of rooms hidden away in the Vatican (and used to house a contemporary art gallery, I wasn't too impressed with that!) are the frescoes that surround the walls of the main room.

The Disputation of St Catherine, Pinturicchio (Picture by me)

After his election to the Chair of St Peter in 1492, Pope Alexander hired Bernadino di Betto di Biagio (better known as Pinturicchio) to paint his new apartments. Pinturicchio was an incredibly talented artist from Sienna, and one of the most sought after artists in his day and had even assisted in the painting of the Sistine Chapel. And whilst some weren't all that impressed with his works, the Pope certainly was.

The most famous fresco is the one shown above: The Disputation of St Catherine. And it is the biggest testament to the Borgia family in the room, simply because it contains images of the Borgia family. Most are dressed in the Turkish fashion whilst St Catherine (Said to be an image of Lucrezia, and I have to say I agree wholeheartedly) argues against the Pagan emperor. 

The entire image is full of imagery - in the centre stands a triumphal arch based on the Arch of Constantine and sat atop it is the Borgia bull. The arch of Constantine is an incredible monument to Christianity - the arch itself (still standing outside the Colosseum) was built as a celebration of Constantine's victory at the Battle of the Milvian Bridge which established Christianity as the official religion of the Roman Empire. In essence, it's place in the painting is saying that the Borgia family are as important to Christianity as Constantine was - reinforced by the Borgia bull sat right on top of said arch. And not only are members of Alexander's family depicted (Lucrezia, Cesare, Juan, Joffre and Sancia) but also other members of the papal entourage and it is said, though I haven't yet found a source for this and will update as and when I do, that the man sat in the chair is actually a self portrait of Pinturicchio himself.

As for the imagery of the family, the main figure in the painting is St Catherine. She is portrayed as blonde, the known hair colour of Lucrezia Borgia, and this image has long been traditionally held as an image of Lucrezia although there is, of course, no certainty of this.

Detail of St Catherine showing the supposed figures of Lucrezia and Cesare (Picture by me)

The figure behind her, dressed in Turkish robes and glaring out, is said to be an image of Cesare Borgia while the figure on the left hand side (the right as we look at it) is traditionally held to be an image of Juan Borgia, second Duke of Gandia.

Detail of the figure said to be Juan Borgia in The Disputation of St Catherine

The two diminutive figures at the front of the painting are said to be of Joffre Borgia and his wife, Sancia of Aragon.

Figures said to be of Jofre Borgia and Sancia of Aragon from The Disputation of St Catherine

Pope Alexander himself is not shown in the Disputation of St Catherine. He is however shown in the fresco "Resurrection", in which he witnesses the Resurrection of Christ during a moment of prayer. He has his hands clasped in prayer, dressed in embroidered robes and his papal tiara on the floor before him. Pinturicchio also painted another portrait of Alexander above a doorway adoring a beautiful virgin who, according to Vasari was given the face of Giulia Farnese. This portrait however was destroyed when the room it was in, was destroyed for other building works.

The Resurrection by Pinturicchio

Detail of Pope Alexander VI, Pinturicchio

In all then, the Borgia apartments are a testament to the sheer self belief of the Borgia family, their belief in unbridled power and the pride that Alexander felt in his family origins. 

And one last picture from my visit last year, though this could have been carved at an point throughout the room's history - a gaming board carved into a windowsill which I found to be incredibly interesting. I have no idea how the game was played but it certainly looks interesting!

Random gaming board in the Borgia Apartments (Picture by me)

Further reading

Mary Hollingsworth - The Borgias: Histoy's Most Notorious Dynasty

Christopher Hibbert - The Borgias and Their Enemies

Sarah Bradford - Cesare Borgia: His Life & Times

Sarah Bradford - Lucrezia Borgia

The Big Question: Was Rodrigo Borgia Really The Father of Cesare, Juan & Lucrezia Borgia?

As I mentioned in my review yesterday, G.J Meyer has presented some very interesting arguments over the paternity of Cesare, Lucrezia and Juan Borgia. It has long been accepted that Rodrigo Borgia, Pope Alexander VI, was their father and legitimised them after he became Pope. However, it seems that logic says something different - although over 500 years later it's not possible to prove it beyond doubt. In his book, Meyer looks at various source materials that point to the possibility that actually Rodrigo couldn't have been their father. Today, I'm going to very briefly summarise Meyer's findings (I won't go into too much detail, you'll have to buy the book when it comes out in April to find out more!) in bullet point format, and I shall leave it to you to form your own opinions on the matter.

• How did Rodrigo maintain a relationship with Vanozza Cattanei and maintain such a large family without anyone taking  much notice, even in gossipy chronicles of the time?
• All of Vanozza's children were born in Spain, while Rodrigo was in Italy - they were also incredibly likely to have been conceived in Spain too. How could Rodrigo flit so easily between the two countries when travel took so long?
• There is no concrete evidence that at any point before or after his election that he fathered a child or even had a mistress or indeed any brief sexual involvement with anyone except for with Giulia Farnese.
• De Roos, who completed a huge five volume work on the Borgia family is almost completely at odds with everything we know about the Borgia myth - having compiled a ton of documents that go some way to show that Rodrigo wasn't actually the father of the Borgia children. In his first volume he publishes a huge revision of the Borgia family tree!
• Meyer states that the four Borgia children (including Joffre) had the same mother and father, and at least three other older siblings by the same parents. Included in this is Pedro Luis, who inherited massive wealth upon his fathers death (long before Rodrigo became Pope) as well as two other daughters.
• At least 5 of the children, if not all 7, were born in Spain - Meyer mentions that this is likely although more source material is needed. Pedro Luis is never known to have been outside of Spain and there is no record of Cesare being in Spain before 1488 - indeed he says later to the Viceroy of Naples that he and his siblings were Spanish by birth. Burchard also speaks of Cesare as a native of Valencia. Rodrigo Borgia left Spain in around 1455 (around 5 years before the birth of Pedro Luis) and returned just the once, staying between June 1472 and September 1473. That was way too late to impregnate the mother of Isabella and Girolama Borgia, and way too soon to be responsible for Cesare or Juan. And so, how could he be the father of the seven, unless he was constantly flicking backwards and forwards between Spain and Italy? Travel in those days was slow, and to do it at such a frequency isn't quite believable.
• It is much more likely that the father of the children was Rodrigo's nephew - Guillen Ramon Lanzol y de Borja, which makes them Rodrigo's grand-nephew's.nieces.
• When Vanozza was pregnant with Joffre in or around 1481, Guillen died and Vanozza made her way to Rome with her children and came under the protection of Rodrigo. She never lived with Rodrigo but both before and after his reign as Pope she maintained her own household.
• Documents stating that Rodrigo was the father of the children are quite suspect for instance, a bull legitimising a child with the name of Cesare de Boria and Cesare de Borja states that the child is the son of a cardinal and an unmarried woman - neither of the parents are named. If the bull were authentic, it is unlikely that it would have used the Spanish form of the Borgia name. There is also no mention of the bull in the Vatican's records, which is odd as all authentic bulls were entered into a registry before they were sent off. It should also be mentioned that as the second son, Cesare had no need to be legitimised as he stood to inherit nothing.
• While Rodrigo often called the children his "beloved son/daughter", he also called everyone else the same - in letters he referred to reigning monarchs as his "beloved son/daughter", and he called pretty much everyone he had dealings with by the same title. He also refers to Lucrezia as his "beloved daughter in Christ". Such titles mean nothing, especially when the reigning pontiff calls everyone the same thing.
• Vanozza Cattanei is never known to have stepped foot inside the Vatican and none of Rodrigo/Alexander's enemies accuse him of sexual immorality - even Savonarola who hated Pope Alexander ever mentioned such things! Had he been accused of such things, Savonarola would certainly have said something in his famous sermons!
• Rodrigo did not buy the dukedom of Gandia for Pedro Luis - he inherited much lands in Gandia upon the death of Guillen which later became the centre of the duchy. Pedro also lent Rodrigo a substantial sum of money in 1483, rather than being dependant on the Cardinal.
• A Spanish royal brief has the name of Juan Borgia's father omitted. All that can be seen is the words "The late illustrious" - were his father a cardinal, it would have been worded "most reverend". This points to the fact that his father was a layman, rather than a churchman - and the deletion of the name suggests deliberate tampering.

And thus, Meyer comes to the conclusion that Rodrigo Borgia can't have been the father of Cesare, Juan and Lucrezia (And Joffre, but everyone forgets about him). Although a brief overview, I haven't gone into too much detail so as not to spoil the book for you all but rest assured the chapter itself is an eye opener. It has certainly made me question the age old assumption that Rodrigo was indeed the father of the three most famous Borgia children in history. It's my next aim to get hold of a copy of De Roos and study it closely, comparing it to the conclusions made by Meyer. It will certainly be a very interesting thing to look at closer, albeit a lot of work as I would imagine much of the documentation is held within the papal archives.

This could certainly be a very interesting mission indeed....

Further Reading

The Borgias - G.J. Meyer (released April 2nd)

Review: The Borgias - The Hidden History by G.J. Meyer

They burst out of obscurity in Spain not only to capture the great prize of the papacy, but to do so twice. Throughout a tumultuous half-century—as popes, statesmen, warriors, lovers, and breathtakingly ambitious political adventurers—they held centre stage in the glorious and blood-drenched pageant known to us as the Italian Renaissance, standing at the epicentre of the power games in which Europe’s kings and Italy’s warlords gambled for life-and-death stakes. Five centuries after their fall—a fall even more sudden than their rise to the heights of power—they remain immutable symbols of the depths to which humanity can descend: Rodrigo, the Borgia who bought the papal crown and prostituted the Roman Church; Cesare, the Borgia who became first a teenage cardinal and then the most treacherous cutthroat of a violent time; Lucrezia, the Borgia as shockingly immoral as she was beautiful. These have long been stock figures in the dark chronicle of European villainy, their name synonymous with unspeakable evil. But did these Borgias of legend actually exist? Grounding his narrative in exhaustive research and drawing from rarely examined key sources, Meyer brings fascinating new insight to the real people within the age-encrusted myth. Equally illuminating is the light he shines on the brilliant circles in which the Borgias moved and the thrilling era they helped to shape, a time of wars and political convulsions that reverberate to the present day, when Western civilisation simultaneously wallowed in appalling brutality and soared to extraordinary heights.

I received this book as a pre-release copy, for review purposed and so as a first port of call I would like to let you all know that when this book becomes available on 2nd April, if you are interested in the history of the Borgia family, you all need to purchase it. If I'm honest, my whole review could be summed up in those first few lines. This book is utterly fantastic, and offers a brand new approach to much of what we thought we knew about the Borgia family. In fact, it really makes you rethink much of what we have come to know and trust about the family's history.

Of course, as a pre-release copy, I was expecting to find a few mistakes and I would like to get these out of the way before I launch into how amazing I thought the book was. But to be honest, there really wasn't that many mistakes - the only mistakes I really noticed were a few date discrepancies at around the 6% mark (I had a kindle copy) in which instead of dates reading "14xx" when speaking about Alonso De Borja, they read "15xx". Easily fixed, but could easily be fixed with a bit of proof reading. There were also a couple of grammatical errors that made me have to reread a few sentences a couple of times, but for the most part this can be easily looked over as a reader and doesn't deviate much from the reading experience.

For the most part though, Meyer's writing is fluid and provides a very easy read. As I was reading, it really didn't feel like a non fiction book to me. But then, I have read much heavier tomes than this. Meyers writing is so fluid that at times it really did read like a novel to me, but at the same time I could really see the amount of research that he did into his work. His writing style really did make the story of the Borgia family - from Alonso De Borja right up until the fantastic Saint Francis Borgia - utterly accessible. Easy reading, and doesn't overload the reader with too much politics - although given the era, politics is really a given.

The book itself concentrates on the history of the Borgia family, history's most notorious dynasty, and works its way up from the first Borgia Pope - Pope Calixtus III - right up until the end of the dynasty proper with Lucrezia. As a history that spans well over a century, if not longer (taking into account the varied relatives, particularly of Juan Borgia) it can get quite confusing but thankfully Meyer splits it into very easy sections. You have chapters relating to each family member and what they did, followed by mini chapters which give a great background to what else was going on at the time. I thought this was a really good idea, and gives the reader a bit of context into the political background of the era. There was one sub chapter in particular that really grabbed my attention, and it addressed the apparently paternity of Cesare, Juan and Lucrezia Borgia - I won't go too much into it here as there will be a separate blog post coming but let's just say Meyer's findings are incredibly interesting, and very convincing!

In all then an incredibly interesting and quite frankly brilliant read, and one I would wholeheartedly recommend to anyone interested in learning about the history of this fascinating family. An inherently interesting read that offers a brand new insight into this wonderful family, and one that discusses (and quite frankly, disinherits) most of the disgusting rumours of this brilliant family! A must read for anyone interested!

The Borgias: The Hidden History is available right now for pre-order from Amazon UK and Amazon US - Please do pick it up if you can!

The Borgia Apartments In The Vatican

The Disputation of St Catherine - Pinturicchio

After Rodrigo Borgia became Pope in 1492, he planned a whole new set of rooms for his personal use. These rooms still exist today, and in them survive a fascinating insight into the Borgia mindset. The walls are covered in frescoes of the Borgia bull, and the entire set of apartments show the Spanish roots of the new Pope - the floor tiles were imported especially from Spain, giving the rooms a completely Spanish look, and mixed in with the frescoes of the Borgia bull are are representations of the Aragonese double crown, to which they added sun rays or flames mixed in a grazing bull.

The Borgia Bull, Borgia Apartments (picture by me)

The Borgia Bull and the Aragonese Crown, Borgia Apartments (picture by me)

Spanish Tiles, Borgia Apartments (picture by me)

Borgia Coat of Arms, Borgia Apartments (picture by me)

As can be seen from the pictures above, Pope Alexander made sure the family device was everywhere - gilded Borgia bulls on the ceiling in a repeated pattern with the Aragonese arms, Spanish tiles all over the floors as well as gilded stucco frames around the frescoes. The entire space was created to reflect the pride Alexander felt in his family name, pride at their Spanish origins and the huge ambition that he had for himself and his family.

Quite possibly, the most impressive monument to the Borgia family surviving in those set of rooms hidden away in the Vatican (and used to house a contemporary art gallery, I wasn't too impressed with that!) are the frescoes that surround the walls of the main room.

The Disputation of St Catherine, Pinturicchio (Picture by me)

After his election to the Chair of St Peter in 1492, Pope Alexander hired Bernadino di Betto di Biagio (better known as Pinturicchio) to paint his new apartments. Pinturicchio was an incredibly talented artist from Sienna, and one of the most sought after artists in his day and had even assisted in the painting of the Sistine Chapel. And whilst some weren't all that impressed with his works, the Pope certainly was.

The most famous fresco is the one shown above: The Disputation of St Catherine. And it is the biggest testament to the Borgia family in the room, simply because it contains images of the Borgia family. Most are dressed in the Turkish fashion whilst St Catherine (Said to be an image of Lucrezia, and I have to say I agree wholeheartedly) argues against the Pagan emperor. 

The entire image is full of imagery - in the centre stands a triumphal arch based on the Arch of Constantine and sat atop it is the Borgia bull. The arch of Constantine is an incredible monument to Christianity - the arch itself (still standing outside the Colosseum) was built as a celebration of Constantine's victory at the Battle of the Milvian Bridge which established Christianity as the official religion of the Roman Empire. In essence, it's place in the painting is saying that the Borgia family are as important to Christianity as Constantine was - reinforced by the Borgia bull sat right on top of said arch. And not only are members of Alexander's family depicted (Lucrezia, Cesare, Juan, Joffre and Sancia) but also other members of the papal entourage and it is said, though I haven't yet found a source for this and will update as and when I do, that the man sat in the chair is actually a self portrait of Pinturicchio himself.

As for the imagery of the family, the main figure in the painting is St Catherine. She is portrayed as blonde, the known hair colour of Lucrezia Borgia, and this image has long been traditionally held as an image of Lucrezia although there is, of course, no certainty of this.

Detail of St Catherine showing the supposed figures of Lucrezia and Cesare (Picture by me)

The figure behind her, dressed in Turkish robes and glaring out, is said to be an image of Cesare Borgia while the figure on the left hand side (the right as we look at it) is traditionally held to be an image of Juan Borgia, second Duke of Gandia.

Detail of the figure said to be Juan Borgia in The Disputation of St Catherine

The two diminutive figures at the front of the painting are said to be of Joffre Borgia and his wife, Sancia of Aragon.

Figures said to be of Jofre Borgia and Sancia of Aragon from The Disputation of St Catherine

Pope Alexander himself is not shown in the Disputation of St Catherine. He is however shown in the fresco "Resurrection", in which he witnesses the Resurrection of Christ during a moment of prayer. He has his hands clasped in prayer, dressed in embroidered robes and his papal tiara on the floor before him. Pinturicchio also painted another portrait of Alexander above a doorway adoring a beautiful virgin who, according to Vasari was given the face of Giulia Farnese. This portrait however was destroyed when the room it was in, was destroyed for other building works.

The Resurrection by Pinturicchio

Detail of Pope Alexander VI, Pinturicchio

In all then, the Borgia apartments are a testament to the sheer self belief of the Borgia family, their belief in unbridled power and the pride that Alexander felt in his family origins. 

And one last picture from my visit last year, though this could have been carved at an point throughout the room's history - a gaming board carved into a windowsill which I found to be incredibly interesting. I have no idea how the game was played but it certainly looks interesting!

Random gaming board in the Borgia Apartments (Picture by me)

Further reading

Mary Hollingsworth - The Borgias: Histoy's Most Notorious Dynasty

Christopher Hibbert - The Borgias and Their Enemies

Sarah Bradford - Cesare Borgia: His Life & Times

Sarah Bradford - Lucrezia Borgia

The Donkey At Bracciano

The Donkey in Juan's tent, from Canal+'s "Borgia"

Juan Borgia, 2nd Duke of Gandia, was never really cut out to be a soldier. He was arrogant and self centred, and failed more than succeeding at anything. Yet Pope Alexander VI wanted one son in the church and another in the military, giving Cesare the Cardinal's robes and Juan the armour. As we already know, Cesare wasn't best pleased with this and would much rather have been the one out on the battle field. If he had been made a soldier from the outset then none of the failures that Juan instigated would likely never have happened. But of course it didn't happen like that, and Juan Borgia was really a big failure and really quite unpopular. His arrogance made him unpopular with his troops and the butt of some rather nasty practical jokes - one such example being at the battle of Bracciano in October 1496.

Stanley Weber as Juan Borgia in Canal+'s "Borgia"

Bracciano was, and is, a small town just to the north of Rome and in the 1490's was held by the powerful Orsini family and the town itself was overlooked by a huge fortress. When Charles VIII had invaded Italy, him and his army stopped at Bracciano as they headed towards Rome. This of course really annoyed the Pope and lead to him excommunicating the Orsini family, which only made the long standing feud between Orsini and Borgia even worse. The long standing hatred between the two families meant that even though Alexander was Pope, the Orsini family could prove to be a huge threat to the Papacy. And so something had to be done. Not only had Alexander excommunicated them for helping the French in 1494, but in July of 1496 he had Virginio Orsini and his son thrown into the dungeons of Castel Dell'Uvo in Naples. Now, he would take their towns and their castles.

The Orsini Castle at Bracciano

Pope Alexander chose Guidobaldo de Montefeltro, Duke of Urbino to command the expedition to take the Orsini lands. Juan Borgia was made second in command despite being completely inexperienced. It really was a tragedy waiting to happen. At any rate, on 26th October, Juan and Montefeltro entered St Peter's basilica and Juan was given the title of Gonfalonier and Captain General of the Church. The next day, the two men left Rome at the head of their army to lay siege to the Orsini strongholds.

The campaign was a success to start with and they met little resistance. The strongholds of Sacrofano, Galeria, Campagnano and Anguillara were all taken without any trouble, and over 10 castles were taken in two months, but they knew when it came to Bracciano that things would be a bit more difficult. To make matters worse, flags flaunting the French colours were hung from the walls of the castle.

Bracciano castle itself was held by Bartolomea Orsini, Virginio's sister and wife of Bartolomeo D'Alviano - a highly esteemed Orsini captain. Borgia and Montefeltro arrived in Bracciano in mid december and things started to go wrong from the outset. Montefeltro was wounded early in the siege, leaving Gandia to take control. Gandia of course had little success and the Orsini soldiers climbed the walls and shouted insults at Juan. They then played a particularly cruel joke on the young man, sending a donkey into the papal camp with a sign around his neck which read "I am the ambassador of the Duke of Gandia" and a rather rude note shoved up the poor donkey's backside.

The sign around the Donkey's neck from "Borgia" - in history it actually read "I am the ambassador of the Duke of Gandia"

The note from the Donkey's bottom in "Borgia"

Alexander VI did not take the news of this slight well and the disappointment in his son made him so unwell that he did not attend Mass on Christmas day. Juan tried two assaults on the castle, both of which failed, and  then news reached him that a backup force was on its way to help the Orsini under the captaincy of Carlo Orsini. Upon hearing the news, Juan realised that it was futile and he broke the siege, marching north to intercept the enemy. His army was defeated on 24th January at Soriano. Juan himself was wounded and only escaped death by running away, and 500 of his men were killed in the fighting.

It was one of the last mistakes that Juan Borgia would ever make. By June that year, Juan would be dead and his shoes would be filled by his brother Cesare who would go on to be one of the greatest military commanders of his day.

Further Reading

Sarah Bradford - Cesare Borgia: His Life & Times
Sarah Bradford - Lucrezia Borgia
Mary Hollingsworth - The Borgias: History's Most Notorious Dynasty

Borgia Season 1

As I sit here this morning, I am feeling rather sorry for myself. For the past two days I've been off work with a nasty sicky bug and so am sat here wrapped up in my PJs with a massive mug of tea. It's not helping much and I feel like I should still be hugging the bowl I was hugging for the entirety of yesterday. Now, I realise that's really too much information but it has a point. As I was curled up on the sofa last night, hugging my bowl and running off to the toilet every so often to make best friends with it, I decided to finish watching Borgia. Before I started watching this series, I will admit I was a little put off by some of the reviews I'd read and the things people told me - "don't watch it Sam, it's really inaccurate", "It has Cesare and Lucrezia incest". I wish I had gone into watching the series with my eyes open as when I started watching it, I really wanted to hate it. However, after a few episodes it really did begin to grow on me and a few episodes after that I really started to enjoy it.

So, Borgia itself is a French/German production that was shown in 2011 on Channel + and stars Mark Ryder as Cesare Borgia, Stanley Weber as Juan Borgia, Isolde Dychauk as Lucrezia Borgia and John Doman as Rodrigo Borgia. The story itself is, of course obvious - it is the story of the Borgia family, from Rodrigo Borgia's election to the Papacy in 1492 and onwards (I hope in future series) to the Pope's death and Cesare's own imprisonment and death. When I first began to watch the series I was a little unsure about the casting of the show, and the first thing that really got to me was the huge mix of accents - Rodrigo was American, Cesare was English (with the odd lilt of Irish coming through), Lucrezia German and Juan was French. It was kind of off putting for a while, but a few episodes in I was able to look past it. Other than this though, after a few episodes as well I found myself really liking some of the characters and really hating others - as you would expect in such a television programme. I had exactly the same issue when I watched The Borgias and Los Borgia, and I think when actors manage to make their viewers love the characters or hate them to such an extreme, then they are doing a good job.

Mark Ryder as Cesare

Mark Ryder is the young man playing Cesare Borgia (and I'm allowed to say young because I'm a little bit older than him!) and right from the get go you can really see that Ryder has done his utmost to step into Cesare's shoes and get right into the man's psyche. A consequent conversation with Mark Ryder on twitter the other evening lead to a discussion on books about Cesare which was awesome. Anyway, even in the first episode you can see the extreme emotions that haunt Cesare - one moment he can be having a laugh and the next he can be in a murderous rage, and these extremes get even worse as the series goes on, finishing up in Cesare committing murder right in front of his father and the college of Cardinal's and claiming that his name will echo throughout history and shouting that he is "CESARE BORGIA!" whilst just moments before he had been in floods of tears with his sister. In history, Cesare was well known for these extremes of emotion, I thought that Ryder did a really excellent job of showing this side of Borgia's personality. 

Isolde Dychauk as Lucrezia

Lucrezia is played by Isolde Dychauk. The character of Lucrezia in this was one that I started out really disliking, probably because her parts of the story were really quite inaccurate. Saying that though, by the end of the series I had begun to like her - you see Lucrezia go from this innocent young girl to a woman with her own thoughts and minds, to a woman who will do anything to protect her family. Although her story was hugely inaccurate, I really loved how the script showed her change. Plus, when you compare Isolde to the representation of Lucrezia in Pintruccio's murals, they really did a very good job in casting her. 

Marta Gastini as Giulia Farnese

The character of Giulia Farnese is the character who I probably hated the most in the whole series and right from the get go. Played by Marta Gastini, Giulia was shown as a nasty, manipulative little girl who came across as obsessed with keeping Pope Alexander to herself. In all of my reading on the Borgia family, I have come across very little on Giulia but what I did read pointed out that Giulia was actually quite a nice person and friends with Lucrezia. I have also never ready that Giulia used Pantisilea to try and manipulate Lucrezia and gain more love from Rodrigo. However Gastini did a really good job as coming across as nasty and manipulative and even though I despised her character, it takes a really good actress to make a viewer hate them quite that much.

John Bradley as Giovanni de Medici

Cardinal Giovanni de Medici played by John Bradley (Sam Tarley in Game of Thrones). I loved this casting from the outset. Giovanni de Medici was the son of Lorenzo the Magnificent and made a cardinal in 1492 and was known as a man who loved the pleasures of the table. Top notch casting here, and Bradley is a top notch actor too!

Mark Ryder as Cesare and Stanley Weber as Juan

Played by French actor Stanley Weber, I absolutely despised Juan Borgia in this adaptation. And I really think I was supposed to. Whereas in The Borgias I felt quite sorry for Juan, in Borgia I hated the man with a passion and thought he was the world's biggest derp. And it was awesome. Why? Because in history, Juan Borgia 2nd Duke of Gandia was a massive derp and a bit of a failure. There is no doubt that Cesare was the better man that he, and that if anyone should have been the one in Cardinal's robes, it was Juan. However, the series dealt with Juan's death really very well and (almost) sticks to the facts - you see him ride off in search of further pleasures with another man; and he is never seen again. His horse returns with the saddles cut, and a search begins in earnest. When they find his body floating in the Tiber with 9 stabs wounds and a slit throat, Pope Alexander flies into a paroxysm of grief and investigations begin into who killed Juan. Alright so in history we won't ever know who killed Juan, but historical investigation shows that the most likely candidate was the Orsini family who Juan really managed to piss off. It wasn't likely to have been Cesare but rumours abounded due to the apparent jealousy between the siblings; and whilst I was rather pleased they did not show Cesare offing his brother I was a little shocked that they showed Lucrezia as the guilty party. Still, well done to Weber for getting into the character of Juan and in my opinion, doing a damned good job of it!

John Doman as Rodrigo Borgia and Isolde Dychauk as Lucrezia

The last character I want to discuss in a bit more detail is Rodrigo Borgia/Alexander VI played by John Doman. When I first started watching the series I was a little taken aback by their portrayal of Rodrigo, mainly because of the whole accent thing. But like with many of the other characters, I soon found myself really liking their portrayal of him. He certainly looks a lot more like Pope Alexander than Jeremy Irons (although I adore Jeremy Irons as Pope Alexander and he's become affectionately known as "Pope Irons"). Yet again, the extremes of emotion showed by Doman were second to none and I particularly loved his show of grief after the death of Juan - it was so well done that it almost moved me to tears.

The sets during the show were also top notch. I was particularly impressed with their depiction of the Sistine Chapel:

The Sistine Chapel

Having been to the Sistine Chapel I was really rather impressed in the set used here. They even got the ceiling correct, which in 1492 hadn't been worked on my Michelangelo, rather it was painted blue with stars. The detail shown in the chapel was just stupendous. In fact, the majority of the sets were done in such a way right down to the CGI of what Rome would have been like in 1492.

A brilliant CGI rendering of Rome as it would have been in 1492

The old basillica of St Peters, not the one that exists today

Beautiful set pieces

Alessandro Farnese at Orvieto

The churches and chapels were superbly done

Another brilliant CGI rendering of the approach to Rome

The Colosseum

Laocoon and His Sons - this wasn't excavated until much later (and Michelangelo was present) but I thought it interesting they put this in the show. And the copy of this amazing work is second to none!

Whilst the historical accuracy of parts of this series leaves a lot to be desired, I have to say that I am very pleased that they got the chronology of what happened mostly correct. Of course, you need to leave room for dramatic license and I can understand this there were a couple of parts that made me shake my head. First of all, and probably the biggest crunch for me was Cesare leaving his young son on a mountainside to die - dramatic license yes, but I have no idea where the writers got this idea from. Secondly, Cesare being raped by Marc Antonio Colonna. Well done yes, and done for dramatic license but again, I have no idea where they got this from. In my opinion, it added nothing to the story as this never happened. In the same way, although this is a tad more understandable, they have Juan's death in 1493. This actually happened in 1497. I can however understand why they have done this and at least they didn't have it happen after events that Juan was never at anyway. Such as the Siege of Forli which happened in 1498 - although The Borgias had it happen much earlier with Juan at the head of the army. Didn't happen. These little things however are easily able to be overlooked and I am really glad that I decided to watch this show. I was rather disappointed by the make-out session between Cesare and Lucrezia though - although the script makes it clear that this is based on rumours so they might as well prove everyone right. Thankfully it didn't go very far but I was cringing throughout that entire scene (and as you will know I have fought the NO BORGIA INCEST fight for a while, so anything that shows it just makes me go all fhjsdkhfjsdfhsdkfdsk).

Excellent casting, beautiful costumes and a story that tries as best it can to stick to the historiography. I will most definitely be watching Season 2 when it comes out. If you're interested in the Borgia family and looking at watching something on the family for a bit of drama, then I would highly recommend this. It's not perfect of course, but they give it a damned good go. 7/10.

Rodrigo Borgia Part 3 - Fact Vs Fiction

At the end of the last post, Rodrigo Borgia had just been voted in by the college of Cardinals as Pope Alexander VI. And it is from the time of his being voted in, and beyond, that we get some of the most debauched stories about this infamous pope. But was he really all that bad? Was he really a sexual deviant who had orgies in his Papal Palace? Did he really poison his enemies? The tour guide who took us around the Vatican certainly seemed to think so, as do many who have delved into the history of this infamous family.

This post isn't going to be in the same vein as my other posts on Rodrigo, where I write a massive essay on a certain part of his life. What I'm going to do in this one is split the post into parts, going into a couple of the rumours that surround his Papacy and hopefully going some way to dismiss some of them. Some of what I will be going into are rather famous incidents, and some of them are very debauched. I guess I should mark this post 18+ but well...if you're reading about the Borgias then you should expect quite a bit of debauchery...

The Banquet of Chestnuts, 1501 (often known as the "Ballet of Chestnuts")
This has to be one of the best known party incidents of Pope Alexander VI's reign, but certainly not the last. The party, or banquet, was actually thrown by the Pope's son Cesare, in his apartments in the Apostolic Palace in the Vatican. Johanne Buchard describes the incident in "At The Court Of The Borgia2:

"On Sunday evening, October 30th, Don Cesare Borgia gave a supper in his apartment at the apostolic palace, with fifty decent prostitutes or courtesans in attendance, who after the meal danced with the servants and others there, first fully dressed and then naked. Following the supper too, lampstands holding lighted candles were placed on the floor and chestnuts strewn about, which the prostitutes, naked and on their hands and knees, had to pick up as they crawled in and out amongst the lampstands. The pope, Don Cesare and Donna Lucrezia were all present to watch. Finally, prizes were offered - silken doublets, pairs of shoes, hats and other garments - for those men who were most successful with the prostitutes. This performance was carried out in the Sala Reale and those who attended said in fact the prizes were presented to those who won the contest."  (Buchard, J, Parker, G, 1963, 194)

As you can see from Buchard's account, it's pretty debauched. It's hard not to imagine the Pope, dressed all in his white gear, sat at a table with Cesare and Lucrezia clapping and laughing as these courtesans crawled around naked. It's certainly not an image you would expect when thinking about the head of the Catholic church? However, whilst Buchard is a most famous chronicler of Renaissance Italy, and indeed the reign of Pope Alexander VI, he was not actually as this banquet. This is made evident by Peter De Roos, a Vatican researcher in the 19th century who suggests: "It is evident that Burchard was not an eyewitness of the orgy, and nowhere does he, in his long diary, write such foul matter, nowhere does he, even from hearsay, report any occurrence apt to injure the good reputation of any of the Borgias. How could he here suddenly descend from his accustomed decent ways to the lowest rank of a filthy writer, how could he describe a scene calculated to ruin the character of all the Borgias at once? Burchard is certainly not himself on this occasion. It is no wonder, therefore, if every modern historian either denies or discusses the genuineness of this Diary's passage."(De Roos Vol 5, 1924, 195). This work however, was put together hundreds of years after the incident. Can we be clear if Buchard was actually there or not? Not really. But as Pope Alexander's Master of Ceremonies, Buchard must have been privy to what was going in at the court.

Did Pope Alexander VI cover for Cesare after the death of Juan Borgia in 1497?
As I have written previously, on 14th June 1497 Juan Borgia, second son of Alexander VI (not counting his children by mistresses other than Vanozza De Cattanei), went missing. That night Juan had gone off with another man following. He had sent his groom back to the Vatican to fetch his light armour on the advice of his brother Cesare and his uncle, also named Juan, yet the groom had been viciously attacked. The next morning it was reported that Juan had not come back - but Alexander was used to his antics and half expected him to come ambling in later, fresh from a whorehouse. But he didn't. Later that day, as panic rose in the Pope, Cesare told his father what had happened before he had left his brother, and a search was mounted. Around midday on 16th June, a body was pulled from the river covered in stab wounds. Yet his purse, carrying 30 ducats has not been taken. The body was Juan Borgia, duke of Gandia and Gonfaloniere of the Papal armies. The Pope, of course, went into deep mourning for his son. On the 19th June, the Pope made a statement:

"The Duke of Gandia is dead. A greater calamity could not have befallen us for we bore him unbounded affection. Life has lost all interest for us. It must be that God punishes us for our sins, for the Duke has done nothing to deserve so terrible a fate."

Rumours of course began to circulate over who had killed Juan Borgia. Was it the Sforza's due to resentment over the annulment of Lucrezia and Giovanni's marriage? was it his younger brother Goffre, who was said to be jealous over his brothers relationship with Sancia, Goffre's wife? Or was it the Duke of Urbino who harboured resentment over his imprisonment by Juan during the Orsini war? Or was it Cesare, his own brother who harboured so much jealousy that his younger brother was Gonfaloniere, jealousy that his younger brother was Alexander's favourite, jealousy that he instead of Juan was made to wear the Cardinal's skirts?

At any rate, almost exactly a week later the search was called off. Had Alexander learned the truth? It seems a little fishy that the father who had been so grief stricken and determined to find his son's murderer called the search off just one week later. The rumour that Cesare had murdered his brother did not surface until almost a year later in Venice where, funnily enough, many supporters of the Orsini family lived.

Is it feasible that Cesare murdered his brother. After all, it is well known that he was jealous of his brother and wanted to get out of the Church. Showtime's "The Borgias" show this really rather well:

Whilst of course the clip is based solely on rumour, it does a fantastic job of showing the whole "what if Cesare killed his brother?". Plus, we must remember that the Pope dropped everything just one week...ONE WEEK...after his son's death. had Cesare confessed? Was that why Alexander let his son resign his place as a cardinal? Alas, we will never know.

Whist these are but two of the stories that surround this most maligned Pope, of course there are many more rumours that surround Alexander VI's Papacy:

• He bribed his way to the chair of St Peter's
• He poisoned his adversaries
• He sold offices to those who had helped him become Pope
• He was poisoned by his own son, Cesare Borgia.

There are of course many more rumours that haunt the history of Pope Alexander VI and his family. As I have said previously, our tour guide at the Vatican during our recent visit to Rome spewed out many inaccuracies of the Borgia family including those rather daft rumours that Lucrezia Borgia had an incestuous relationship with her father and brother and that Alexander had poisoned his enemies. There is literally no evidence that the Pope had these relationships with his daughters and even the evidence of his chestnut banquet cannot be taken at face value. Throughout my research of this fascinating family I have found no convincing evidence of incest or poisoning;  yet the idea has come down to us through centuries of rumour...

Will we ever be able to quash these rumours? Probably not...

But I'll give it a damn good go.

Further Reading:

Burchard, J, 1963 (translated from original), At the Court of the Borgia, The Folio Society: London
Bradford, S,1976, Cesare Borgia: His Life and Times, Weidenfeld and Nicholson: London
Bradford, S, 2004, Lucrezia Borgia, Penguin: London
De Roos, 1924,  Material for a history of Pope Alexander VI:
Hibbert, C, 2009, The Borgias & Their Enemies, Mariner Books: Boston
Hollingsworth, M, 2011, The Borgias: Histories Most Notorious Dynasty, Quercus: London

Rodrigo Borgia Part 1: Early Church Career

Jeremy Irons as Rodrigo Borgia (Alexander VI) in Showtime's The Borgias

I'm sure most of you have gathered from my previous pieces on Lucrezia, Cesare and Juan Borgia that I am a big fan of this most notorious family. And I'm sure you all noticed my flailing over the fresco of Lucrezia on my post about the Vatican in Rome. But so far I have done very little writing about the head of the Borgia family, quite possibly one of the most hated Pope's of all time.

Rodrigo Borgia. More commonly known as Pope Alexander VI. Father of at least 8 children and a man who rather enjoyed his mistresses.

So why have I decided to write about Rodrigo Borgia? Well, like his children, he is hugely vilified, and rumours still abound that he was a nasty piece of work. For instance when we were in the Sistine Chapel, our tour guide started harping on about how evil Alexander VI was, how he poisoned everyone and how he enjoyed sexual relations not only with his mistresses but with his daughter as well. I had to bite my tongue and walk away quick sharp else I probably would have ended up yelling at him. And yelling in the Sistine Chapel is probably frowned on. I say probably, more like definitely. Anyway, it's these sort of misconceptions that made me want to do a piece about Rodrigo, from his birth to his death and hopefully clear up a lot of said misconceptions. I'll admit it now, Rodrigo Borgia was not perfect and yes, he did do some pretty bad stuff (especially considering as how he was y'know, Pope!). Hopefully, this will start to dismiss many of the rumours that Rodrigo Borgia was inherently evil.

Rodrigo Borgia as Cardinal

Rodrigo Borgia was born on 1st January 1431 at Xatvia, not far from Valencia in Spain. His parents were Jofre Lancol and Isabella Borgia, who was the sister of Cardinal Alfonso Borgia (later to become Pope Calixtus III). As a young child Rodrigo used his father's surname, but after his Uncle Alfonso was elected to the Papacy in 1455. And once Calixtus was Pope, Rodrigo's profession was chosen for him - there was no question of him taking on a clerical role. Oh no, he would follow in his uncle's footsteps.

By the age of 25, likely thanks to his being a relation of the Pope, Rodrigo Borgia had been made a Cardinal. He had previously been sent to Bologna by Calixtus to study law. There, he received his degree in canon law after less than a years study. Normally, these degrees took five years to complete and it lead to rumours that money had changed hands to get him his degree earlier. There was however, no doubt, that Rodrigo was brilliant. By the age of 27, after having many rich benefices thrust upon him and a very brief military career, he was made vice-chancellor to the Pope. This of course did not pass without much grumbling from the rest of the College of Cardinals. There is of course, very little doubt that Rodrigo got these posts because of who his uncle was. But he was a very able young man with a sound head on his shoulders. And it would serve him well in the future. Pius II even commented that Rodrigo was an "extremely able man".

 Calixtus III - Rodrigo's uncle

Although, it must be said that when Rodrigo held these offices he used them very much to his advantage. And when I say to his advantage, I mean he used his position to accept bribes to grant favours for people including issuing licences so that incestuous couples could marry! Doing this made Rodrigo Borgia exceptionally rich, and allowed himself to stray somewhat from his office in the church. And when I say stray, I mean he didn't take his vows of celibacy very serious at all. That and he was fond of his food, fond of gambling at cards and hugely fond of his drink. These actions earned him a letter from Pius II, telling him off for his bad behaviour! Pius basically turns around to Rodrigo and tells him to stop sleeping around and being all un-cardinal-like:

We have learned that three days ago a large number of women from Siena, adorned with all worldly vanity, assembled at the gardens of...Giovanni di Bichio, and that your Eminence, in contempt of the dignity of your position, remained with them from one o'clock until six and that you were accompanied by another cardinal...we are told that the dances were immodest and the seduction of love beyond bounds and that you yourself behaved as though you were one of the most vulgar men of the age...Your faults reflect upon us, and upon Calixtus, your uncle of happy memory, who is accused of a grave fault of judgement for having laden you with undeserved honours. Let your Eminence then decide to put an end to these frivolities.

Pius II

Suffice to say, Rodrigo didn't pay any attention to that! He was however a little more careful to do such things away from anyone who could whisper in Pius' ear. But due to his indiscretions, the wealth that Rodrigo Borgia was amassing meant that he could begin building extravagant palaces. However despite spending so ostentatiously and always made sure he had enough to help out the Holy See.

In 1468, Rodrigo was ordained into the priesthood. And in 1471 he was ordained as bishop and made Cardinal-Bishop of Albano. By the time that Rodrigo came to be elected as Pope in 1492, he had served the Vatican under 5 different Popes, and thus had a considerable amount of experience that, in his eyes, made him perfect for the job.

After the death of Pius II in 1464, and after Rodrigo himself had recovered from a rather nasty illness, he was present for the conclave in which the new Pope was chosen. Paul II is the man who designed grand palaces in the Palazzo San Marco (now the Palazzo Di Venezia, close to the Capitoline museums in Rome). Following Paul's death, Rodrigo played a massive role in helping Frances Della Rovere (Sixtus IV). This Sixtus soon became known as a man who lavished gifts and offices on his nephews, particularly the famous Giuliano Della Rovere who would become Rodrigo's greatest enemy in the years to come. After Sixtus' death, Rodrigo went to his episcopal seat in Valencia. There he was greeted with rapture and displayed all his best qualities. He was after all, Bishop of Valencia. Fourteen months later he left Spain and when he returned to Piza after a rather nasty trip, he met the woman who would end up the mother of his three best known children: Vanozza De Cattanei. Vanozza was a courtesan, and Rodrigo found himself intrigued by her. So intrigued in fact that he arranged a marriage for her to a compliant husband so he could cultivate a long and lasting relationship with her. In 1475, the year Rodrigo stepped out in his cardinal's robes, his mistress gave birth to a son: Cesare Borgia. Sixtus VI showed his approval by legitimising the child After her husband died shortly after, she remarried twice and gave birth to more of Rodrigo's children - Juan, Lucrezia and Jofre.

 A portrait said to be of Vanozza Dei Cattanei by Innocenzo Francucci da Imola

When Sixtus died in 1484, his successor was Innocent VIII. This guy got his way in by promising people offices but then making up new offices and selling them to the highest bidder. During Innocent's reign as Pope, Rodrigo prospered in his role at the Vatican. In 1492, Innocent fell seriously ill. His time as Pope had been a shambles as it was, with the city descending into anarchy, and as they sat by Innocent's deathbed Rodrigo and Guiliano ended up having a massive row that could have easily ended up in violence.

When Innocent died on July 25th 1492, all eyes were on the next Papal conflict. Who would the conclave vote in as Pope? And the following story has gone down in history as the episode that put the cornerstone in Rodrigo Borgia's reputation as a cold, manipulative and corrupt member of the clergy.

Further reading

Burchard, J, 1963 (translated from original), At the Court of the Borgia, The Folio Society: London
Bradford, S,1976, Cesare Borgia: His Life and Times, Weidenfeld and Nicholson: London
Bradford, S, 2004, Lucrezia Borgia, Penguin: London
Hibbert, C, 200, The Borgias & Their Enemies, Mariner Books: Boston