The Borgias

by Paul Strathern

  p. 113 ‘robbed her of 800 ducats . . . ’ Burchard, cited Bradford, Cesare Borgia, p. 49.

  p. 115 ‘Taking his treasures with him . . . ’ De Roo, Alexander VI, Vol. 4, p. 183.

  p. 115 ‘The reputation of the last two . . . ’ Guicciardini, History of Italy, cited Hibbert, The House of Borgia, p. 62.

  p. 116 ‘with a white powder’ See The Memoirs of Philippe de Commynes, ed. S. Kinser, trans. I. Cazeau (South Carolina, 1973), Vol. 2, p. 487 n 224.

  p. 116 ‘The French were stupid, dirty and . . . ’ Assembled from cited passages, see in particular: Bradford, Cesare Borgia, p. 50; Hibbert, The House of Borgia, p. 62; also Mallett, Guicciardini et al.

  p. 118 ‘This illness, which was unknown . . . ’ Guicciardini, Storia d’Italia (Rome, 1967 edn), Vol. 2, ch. 13.

  p. 118 ‘Even in faraway England . . . ’ et seq., see Meyer, The Borgias, p. 232.

  p. 118 ‘It took time to establish . . . ’ De Roo, Alexander VI, Vol. 4, pp. 208–9.

  p. 119 ‘resolved to place . . . ’ See ibid., p. 209 n 121, citing as sources Gregorovius, History of the City of Rome in the Middle Ages and De Cherrier, History of Charles VIII.

  p. 119 ‘was called the Holy League . . . ’ ibid., p. 209.

  p. 120 ‘Alexander, however, thought . . . ’ Meyer, The Borgias, p. 233.

  CHAPTER 7: THE BEST OF PLANS . . .

  p. 124 ‘to discourse with you . . . ’ See Documento XXIII Pasquale Villari, La Storia di Girolamo Savonarola . . . , Vol. 1 (2 vols, Florence, 1887)

  p. 124 ‘firstly, because my body . . . ’ For full text of this letter see Girolamo Savonarola, Le Lettere, ed. Roberto Ridolfi (Florence, 1933), pp. 55–8.

  p. 125 ‘By yesterday morning the floods . . . ’ See Pastor, History of the Popes, Vol. 5, pp. 479–80.

  p. 125 ‘announced in consistory . . . ’ Guicciardini, Storia (Rome, 1967 edn), Vol. 2, ch. 3.

  p. 126 ‘covering walls and ceiling . . . ’ et seq., Bradford, Cesare Borgia, p. 54.

  p. 127 ‘widely recognized as the most . . . ’ Hibbert, The House of Borgia, p. 73.

  p. 127 ‘Without Giuliano . . . .’ Bradford, Cesare Borgia, p. 53.

  p. 128 ‘accompanied by some twenty . . . ’ Burchard, Journal, cited Hibbert, The House of Borgia, p. 74.

  p. 128 ‘Jofrè and Sancia rode . . . ’ See Bradford, Lucrezia Borgia, p. 54.

  p. 128 ‘In truth she did not appear . . . ’ Scalona, cited ibid., p. 54.

  p. 128 ‘Jofrè, younger than his . . . ’ et seq., Scalona, cited Bradford, Cesare Borgia, p. 56.

  p. 129 ‘Lucrezia was deeply attached . . . ’ Hibbert, The House of Borgia, p. 74.

  p. 130 ‘too long and boring . . . ’ Burchard, Journal, cited ibid., p. 76.

  p. 130 ‘a spoilt boy . . . ’ Aragonese chronicler Geronimo Zurita, cited ibid.

  p. 130 ‘every effort is made . . . ’ Scalona, cited Bradford, Cesare Borgia, p. 56.

  p. 132 ‘heavily defeated in great . . . ’ Burchard, Journal, cited Hibbert, The House of Borgia, p. 77.

  p. 133 ‘the French commander Menaut Aguerre . . . ’ See Mallett, The Borgias, p. 159, citing original French source: G. Ouy, ‘Le pape Alexander VI a-t-il employé les armies chemique?’, Receuil de traveaux offerts à C. Brunel (Paris, 1955) Vol. 2.

  p. 133 ‘It may be that hints . . . ’ Bradford, Lucrezia Borgia, p. 56.

  p. 133 ‘I suspect that something concerning . . . ’ Cited Bradford, Cesare Borgia, p. 60.

  p. 135 ‘that if he was dead . . . ’ ibid., p. 61, citing Scalona.

  p. 135 ‘seized with mortal terror’ Burchard, Journal, cited ibid.

  p. 135 ‘the city was in an uproar . . . ’ ibid., p. 61, drawing on contemporary sources.

  p. 135 ‘When the Pope heard . . . ’ et seq., Burchard, Journal, trans. Turmel (Paris, 1933), p. 292.

  p. 137 ‘lead the mares into the courtyard . . . ’, ibid., p. 312.

  p. 138 ‘Donna Lucrezia has . . . ’ See Gregorovius, Lucrezia Borgia (London 2017 edn), p. 125.

  p. 138 ‘Last Thursday Perotto . . . ’ ibid.

  p. 138 ‘more lurid reports of the death . . . ’ Mallet, Borgias, p. 328 n 18, citing Sanuto, Diarii, Vol. 3, cols. 842 ff.

  CHAPTER 8: A CRUCIAL REALIGNMENT

  p. 140 ‘It seems to me that the son . . . ’ et seq., King Federigo of Naples letter to Alexander VI (September 1497), cited Hibbert, The House of Borgia, p. 93. The Roman informant to the Marquesa of Mantua was Donato de’ Preti.

  p. 142 ‘that he had known his wife . . . ’ Cited Bradford, Cesare Borgia, p. 69.

  p. 142 ‘If His Holiness wishes . . . ’ Cited ibid., Hibbert, The House of Borgia.

  p. 143 ‘for having got His Holiness’s daughter . . . ’ Christoforo Poggio, agent for the Bentivoglio family of Milan, cited Bradford, Lucrezia Borgia, p. 68.

  p. 143 ‘If she had been Cicero . . . ’ See Hibbert, Bradford et al.

  p. 145 ‘Alexander is no pope . . . ’ et seq., cited Pasquale, Villari La Storia di Girolamo Savonarola . . . (2 vols, Florence, 1887), Vol. 2, pp. 132–3.

  p. 147 ‘they arrived in Florence . . . ’ Several versions of this appear in Savonarola’s main biographies. See Ridolfi, Villari et al. In particular, Pacifico Burlamacchi, La Vita del Beato Girolamo Savonarola (Florence, 1937).

  p. 147 ‘after years of conflict . . . ’ See Meyer, The Borgias, p. 278.

  p. 148 ‘hunchbacked and barren’ See Hibbert, The House of Borgia, p. 96, echoing several reliable sources.

  p. 149 ‘put off the purple . . . ’ et seq., Burchard, cited Hibbert, The House of Borgia, pp. 97, 98.

  CHAPTER 9: A ROYAL CONNECTION

  p. 155 ‘permitted to lead their life . . . ’ James Carroll, Constantine’s Sword (Boston, 2002), pp. 263–4.

  p. 158 ‘jewels, stuffs, cloth-of-gold . . . ’ Burchard, cited Hibbert, The House of Borgia, p. 100.

  p. 159 ‘one of the seamiest lawsuits of . . . ’ et seq., see J. R. Hale, Renaissance Europe: Individual and Society 1482–1520 (New York, 1972), pp. 15, 16.

  p. 159 ‘We send Your Majesty our heart . . . ’ Papal communication, cited Bradford, Cesare Borgia, p. 83.

  p. 160 ‘Avignon never witnessed . . . ’ et seq., contemporary source, cited Hibbert, The House of Borgia, pp. 101–2.

  p. 161 ‘Della Rovere has fallen sick . . . ’ Agent B, working for Ludovico Sforza, Duke of Milan, cited Bradford, Cesare Borgia, p. 87.

  p. 163 ‘In his cap were two double rows . . . ’ et seq., contemporary eyewitness, cited Hibbert, The House of Borgia, p. 104.

  p. 166 ‘We trust you will receive Duchess Lucretia . . . ’ Letter from Alexander VI to Priors of Spoletto, cited Bradford, Lucrezia Borgia, p. 80.

  p. 168 ‘was the most contented man . . . ’ et seq., cited Bradford, Cesare Borgia, pp. 100, 101.

  p. 169 ‘The French captains spit on . . . ’ Venetian report, cited ibid., p. 104.

  p. 175 ‘two silver sweetmeat dishes from . . . ’ Burchard, cited Hollingsworth, Borgias, p. 252.

  CHAPTER 10: IL VALENTINO’S CAMPAIGN

  p. 177 ‘the vicars [i.e. de facto rulers] of Rimini . . . ’ et seq., Burchard, Diario, cited Hibbert, The House of Borgia, p. 112, et al.

  p. 178 ‘a breeding ground for all the worst crimes . . . ’ Niccolò Machiavelli, Discorsi, Book 3, ch. 29, sec. 1.

  p. 181 ‘Take a good look . . . ’ Natalie Grazziani et al., Caterina Sforza (Milan, 2001), p. 108. Versions of this remark are also supported by Guicciardini and Machiavelli.

  p. 182 ‘If the Pope had opened . . . ’ Burchard, Journal, cited Hibbert, The House of Borgia, p. 114.

  p. 185 ‘as I hear, was keeping the said lady . . . ’ et seq., the citations in the following section come from the named sources, as well as many being cited in Bradford, Cesare Borgia, pp. 112–3, 115; Ottavia Niccoli, Prophecy and People in Renaissance Italy (Princeton, 1990), p. 136; Ernst Breisach, Caterina Sforza (Chicago, 1976), pp. 232–6; Leonie Freida, The Deadly Sisterhood (London, 2012), pp
. 219–20; and De Roo, Alexander VI, Vol. 4, pp. 299–305.

  p. 188 ‘his temporal Vicar of San Mauro . . . ’ et seq., see de Roo, Alexander VI, Vol. 4, p. 306.

  p. 188 ‘the duke of Valentinois with . . . ’ See de Roo, Alexander VI, Vol. 4, p. 307, citing as his source Burchard, Diario, Vol. 3, pp. 26–31.

  p. 189 ‘the Pope’s nomination of his son . . . ’ Bradford, Cesare Borgia, p. 118.

  p. 190 ‘On June 30, 1501 Caterina . . . ’ Burchard, Borgias (2003 French edn), p. 308.

  p. 190 ‘If I could write . . . ’ Cited Bradford, Cesare Borgia, p. 157.

  CHAPTER 11: BIDING TIME

  p. 195 ‘he cares little for returning . . . ’ Paolo Capello, cited Bradford, Cesare Borgia, p. 120.

  p. 196 ‘For his own part, he had imposed . . . ’ et seq., see Pastor, History of the Popes, Vol. 6, pp. 90–1.

  p. 198 ‘resembling a glittering sun with . . . ’ et seq., Pietro Fortini, cited ibid., p. 122.

  p. 199 ‘the Testament of la Fiametta . . . ’ Rome City archives, cited ibid.

  p. 200 ‘killed seven wild bulls . . . ’ Paolo Capello, Venetian ambassador, cited Bradford, Cesare Borgia, p. 122.

  p. 202 ‘devotedly nursed by Lucrezia and . . . ’ Paolo Capello, cited ibid., p. 123.

  p. 204 ‘the beginning of another . . . ’ See Meyer, The Borgias, p. 303.

  p. 204 ‘He was gravely wounded . . . ’ Burchard, Journal (Turmel), p. 305.

  p. 204 ‘Whose was the hand behind . . . ’ Raphael Brandolinus Lippi, cited Bradford, Lucrezia Borgia, p. 89.

  p. 205 ‘I did not wound the duke . . . ’ Contemporary source, cited Meyer, The Borgias, p. 304.

  p. 206 ‘stupefied by the suddenness . . . ’ This description by Lippi, and Burchard’s ensuing description, from Burchard, Journal (Thuasne), Vol. 3, p. 69, appear in several versions: see, for example, Woodward, Cesare Borgia, pp. 180–1 and Maria Bellonci, Lucrezia Borgia, pp. 139–40.

  p. 207 ‘Her tears soon got . . . ’ Bellonci, Lucrezia Borgia, p. 140.

  p. 207 ‘All Rome trembles at this Duke . . . ’ Cited Bradford, Cesare Borgia, p. 129.

  p. 207 ‘If we could find the answer . . . ’ et seq., Meyer, The Borgias, p. 305.

  p. 207 ‘I pray your lordships to take this . . . ’ Cited Bradford, Lucrezia Borgia, p. 93.

  p. 208 ‘at dead of night . . . ’ See Woodward, Cesare Borgia, p. 181.

  p. 208 ‘Cesare murdered his brother . . . ’ Contemporary, cited Bradford, Cesare Borgia, p. 129.

  p. 208 ‘The Pope loves and fears . . . ’ Venetian ambassador Paolo Capello, cited ibid., p. 130.

  CHAPTER 12: THE SECOND ROMAGNA CAMPAIGN

  p. 209 ‘la infelicissima’ et seq., many sources; see, for instance, Hibbert, Bradford, Bellonci.

  p. 210 ‘nearly all the professional . . . ’ Machiavelli, cited Hibbert, The House of Borgia, p. 132.

  p. 211 ‘He is a brave and powerful character . . . ’ et seq., Pandolfo Collenuccio, Commentarium. These citations appear in various forms in a number of sources, e.g. Bradford, Woodward.

  p. 213 ‘Duke Cesare’s troops who were . . . ’ Bernardino Zambotti, Diario Ferrarese 1476–1504 (Bologna, 1928), p. 302.

  p. 213 ‘The Spaniards washed the feet of . . . ’ Francesco Matarazzo of Perugia, see Chronicles of the City of Perugia 1492–1503, trans. E. S. Morgan (London, 1905), p. 168. I have adapted Morgan’s translation to fit the circumstances.

  p. 214 ‘ran as swiftly as . . . ’ Cited Bradford, Cesare Borgia, p. 141.

  p. 216 ‘looks younger every day . . . ’ See Pastor, History of the Popes, Vol. 4, p. 80.

  p. 217 ‘Cesare de Borgia gave the order . . . ’ et seq., see De Roo, Alexander VI, pp. 317–18.

  p. 219 ‘At this time the city . . . ’ Biagio Buonaccorsi, Diario 1498–1552 (reprinted Rome 1999), p. 106.

  CHAPTER 13: THE BORGIAS IN EXCELSIS

  p. 224 ‘killed around 3,000 soldiers and . . . ’ Burchard, Liber Notarum (Paris, 2003 edn), pp. 372–3.

  p. 226 ‘Often living beyond their . . . ’ See Kenneth M. Setton, The papacy and the Levant (Philadelphia, 1978), p. 533 n 107.

  p. 227 ‘will was null and void . . . ’ Burchard, Journal, trans. Turmel (Paris, 1932), p. 278.

  p. 227 ‘The Pope gave her the authority . . . ’ et seq., Burchard, Liber Notarium (Paris, 2003 edn), p. 374.

  p. 231 ‘paroxysms of rage’ See Bradford, Lucrezia Borgia, p. 104.

  p. 231 ‘bargained like a tradesman’ et seq., contemporary sources, cited ibid., pp. 108, 109.

  p. 233 ‘Up to now Donna Lucretia . . . .’ Alessandro Luzio, Isabella d’Este e I Borgia con nuovo documenti (Milan, 1916 edn), p. 533.

  p. 233 ‘without ceasing from Vespers . . . ’ et seq., Burchard, Liber, p. 375.

  p. 233 ‘I thought he was ill . . . ’ Ferrarese ambassador, cited Hibbert, The House of Borgia, p. 150.

  p. 234 ‘The Duke [Cesare] has recently . . . ’ Burchard, Journal, cited ibid.

  p. 236 ‘I hope that Your Excellency . . . ’ Letter from Bartolommeo Bresciani, cited Edmund Gardner, Dukes and Poets in Ferrara, Fifteenth and Sixteenth century (London, 1904) p. 402 n.

  p. 236 ‘lamented that [his son Cesare] turned . . . ’ Cited Bradford, Lucrezia Borgia, p. 120.

  p. 236 ‘Whenever she is at the Pope’s . . . ’ Ferrarese envoy, cited Hibbert, The House of Borgia, p. 150.

  p. 237 ‘On Sunday evening . . . ’ Burchard, Journal (Turmel), p. 310.

  p. 237 ‘had the lights put out . . . ’ See Francesco Matarazzo, Chronicles of the City of Perugia 1492–1503, trans. E. S. Morgan (London, 1905), p. 209.

  p. 237 ‘the Pope was scrupulous . . .’ et seq., see Hibbert, The House of Borgia, p. 152.

  CHAPTER 14 CESARE STRIKES OUT

  p. 241 ‘swarthy and deformed . . . ’ Paolo Giovio, paraphrased Bradford, Cesare Borgia, p. 131.

  p. 242 ‘dressed in a robe of gold . . . ’ et seq., Burchard, Liber Notarum (Paris, 2003 edn), p. 387.

  p. 243 ‘short, pop-eyed, snub-nosed . . . ’ See David Nicolle, Fornovo 1495 (Oxford, 1996), p. 13.

  p. 243 ‘There was much violence and cheating . . . ’ Burchard, Liber Notarium (2003 edn), pp. 386–7.

  p. 244 ‘was harnessed very richly with . . . ’ Letter from Beltrano Constabili to Ercole d’Este (6 January 1502).

  p. 245 ‘None of these animals . . . ’ Burchard, Diarium (London, 1963), cited Hibbert, The House of Borgia, p. 162.

  p. 245 ‘753 people, 426 horses . . . ’ See Bradford, Lucrezia Borgia, p. 137.

  p. 246 ‘She kept always to her room . . . ’ Letter to Ercole d’Este (22 January 1502).

  p. 247 ‘This act pleased everyone . . . ’ et seq., Zambotti, etc., cited Hibbert, The House of Borgia, pp. 164–9.

  p. 248 ‘Three boats were prepared for . . . ’ See Burchard, Liber Notarium (Paris, 2003 edn), p. 399.

  p. 250 ‘The Florentines had been . . . ’ Luca Landucci, Diario (Florence, 1883 edn), p. 245.

  p. 250 ‘by the light of a single flickering . . . ’ See Garret Mattingly, ‘Machiavelli’ in The Penguin Book of the Renaissance, ed. J. H. Plum, p. 64, collated from Machiavelli’s writings.

  p. 251 ‘I am not pleased with your government . . . ’ et seq., Machiavelli despatch to Florence (22 June 1502). For this and other despatches, see Opere di Machiavelli, ed. Bertelli (vols 6–8, Milan 1968–72), where the despatches are printed in chronological order. My translations.

  p. 252 ‘mules carrying rich loads . . . ’ Leonardo, Notebook, L, 91r.

  p. 253 ‘Where is Valentino . . . ’ Literary Works of Leonardo da Vinci, ed. Jean Paul Richter (2 vols, New York, 1970), No. 1420.

  CHAPTER 15: CHANGING FORTUNES

  p. 258 ‘dishes from oysters and . . . ’ See Hibbert, The House of Borgia (Constable, 2009 edn), p. 218.

  p. 259 ‘Every night he is commanding . . . ’ et seq., Burchard, Journal, cited Hibbert, The House of Borgia (Folio Society, 2017), p. 171.

  p. 260 ‘spe
nt the whole night . . . ’ Maria Bellonci, Lucrezia Borgia, trans. B. Wall (London, 2000 edn), p. 204.

  p. 261 ‘I have a piece of information . . . ’ et seq.

  p. 261 ‘His Most Christian Majesty . . . ’ et seq., Niccolò da Corregio, writing from Milan (8 August 1502), cited Bradford, Cesare Borgia, p. 187.

  p. 261 ‘my cousin and . . . ’ Andrea Bernardi, Cronache Forlivese, ed. G. Mazzatinti (Bologna, 1895), Vol. 2, p. 13.

  p. 262 ‘The Pope is not content . . . ’ Sebastian Giustinian, cited Bradford, Cesare Borgia, p. 187.

  p. 263 ‘He praised the prudence of the Duke . . . ’ et seq., cited ibid., p. 188.

  p. 264 ‘that the French knew . . . ’ See Machiavelli, The Prince, sec. 17, ch. 3.

  p. 265 ‘Sacred Majesty, I render . . . ’ Bernardi, Cronache Forlivese, Vol. 2, p. 14.

  p. 265 ‘Today at the twentieth hour . . . ’ Letter written by one of the attendant physicians to Duke Ercole (8 September 1502), cited Bradford, Cesare Borgia, p. 119.

  p. 266 ‘All will allow . . . ’ The original of this document is held in the Archivo Melzi d’Eril at the Villa Melzi on the shore of Lake Como at Bellagio. It is cited in many biographies of Leonardo; see, for instance, Serge Bramley, Leonardo: the Artist and the Man, trans. Sian Reynolds (London, 1992), p. 181.

  p. 267 ‘a most learned man . . . ’ Cited Woodward, Cesare Borgia, p. 256.

  p. 267 ‘had placed in the government . . . ’ Guicciardini, Storia d’Italia, cited Bradford, Cesare Borgia, p. 216.

  p. 271 ‘a man of a thousand . . . ’ et seq., Machiavelli, Decennale primo, lines 406–8. Machiavelli’s quotes re Olivoretto come from Il Principe, secs 3, 5, ch. 8; Baglioni, sec. 2, ch. 27; Discourses, 1 etc. Other details are repeated in many sources, such as Villari and Ridolfi.

  p. 272 ‘would be devoured one . . . ’ Gianpaulo Baglioni, cited Hibbert, The House of Borgia, p. 183.

  p. 273 ‘with the love all the people . . . ’ Zambotti, Diario, p. 342.