The Most Depraved Woman in History?

“Young lovers are always doomed” - Lucrezia Borgia

"Lucrezia… was personally popular through her beauty and her affability. Her long golden hair, her sweet childish face, her pleasant expression and her graceful ways, seem to have struck all who saw her." - Mandell Creighton

We are traveling back in time to Rome, Italy during the late 1400s into the early 1500s, also known as the Italian Renaissance. We all know of the Renaissance; this is where we get Da Vinci, Michelangelo, Raphael, Donatello, Bernini, all the artistic greats, both human and turtle. During this time of artistic explosion we also have Humanistic Education forming, a focus on Greek, Latin, Philosophy, Literature, Rhetoric, Politics, and Logic. But Italy was in a political turmoil. It was not what we think of as modern Italy but more similar to multiple small countries that all happen to speak the same languages with different dialects. These city-states were often at war. And in Renaissance Italy, the best way to beat your enemy is to marry your child to them to create an uneasy alliance.

This is where Lucrezia enters the scene. For our listeners who are fans of video games or the Showtime network, her name will be familiar to you. She appears as the villainess in Assassin’s Creed 2 and as a main character in Showtime’s series, The Borgias. Both of these platforms show Lucrezia at her worst. Poisoning victims, having a relationship with her brother Cesare, and killing on her father’s behalf. I will admit that I learned of her existence through watching Showtime’s series years ago. This is what sparked my interest in her and her family, often dubbed “Italy’s first crime family”. But her truth is far from what you would expect.

Lucrezia was the daughter of Roman noblewoman, Vannoza dei Cattanei, and Rodrigo Borgia. She was born on April 18, 1480, in Subiaco, a small town on the outskirts of Rome. She was raised on Humanities rhetoric and was fluent in Spanish, Catalan, Italian, French, Grek, and Latin. Lucrezia was the fifth of up to 10 bastard children fathered by Rodrigo. All his children that he had with Vannoza, being Cesare, Lucrezia, Gioffre, and Giovanni Juan were eventually legitimized. These were Rodrigo’s favorite children and he let the world know through his nepotism within the Vatican, the seat of Catholic Power within Italy.

Now, before we can continue discussing Lucrezia we have to inform everyone on the way the Catholic Church was run during the Italian Renaissance. During this time the Catholic Church held supreme power. They had influence over the kings of other countries, such as England and France. The Church was rich with gold and other valuables they received from Spain, who had just “discovered” the Americas. Soon the Catholic Church, specifically the Vatican, was one of the richest and most powerful rulers in Europe. And with this wealth, influence, and power obviously came corruption, because even religious leaders have the power to be corrupted. The Vatican was overflowing with people who were given highly prestigious positions in the papal court, such as Cardinals (a highly prestigious religious position of power with the capability of becoming the next pope), being appointed the position solely from their relationship to the current pope. Side note, This is still how Cardinals are appointed today.

Lucrezia was first engaged by the age of 11. Once Rodrigo became Pope Alexander VI, this engagement was broken as now he could use her to get him even more powerful allies. At age 13 Lucrezia was married off to Giovanni Sforza, who was more than twice her age. At the end of the wedding, Pope Alexander followed Giovanni and 13 year old Lucrezia into their bridal chambers to “ensure the marriage was consummated”.

Giovanni Sforza

When Lucrezia was 16 years old, her older brother Giovanni “Juan” Borgia went missing on June 14, 1497. Pope Alexander became immediately alarmed, as he admitted openly that Juan was his favorite of all his children, and sent Papal Troops to find him. A witness came forward to describe a disturbing event that took place the night of Juan’s disappearance. They described, “While standing guard on the riverbank, … seeing a rider on a white horse appear with a body slung across the saddle, accompanied by four men on foot. At the rider’s direction, the four men took the body and flung it into the Tiber, then threw stones at it until it sank. Their grisly deed completed, they all retreated down an alley and into the night” (Palombo, 2020). Now this witness did not come forward until June 16 and when asked why he waited he casually told the papacy that “I have seen more than a hundred bodies thrown into the river right at this spot, and never heard of anyone troubling himself about them” (Palombo, 2020). Giovanni Juan Borgia’s body was found in the Tiber River on June 16. He did not have a peaceful death, instead he was murdered, suffering 9 stab wounds and a slashed throat. After his throat was cut he was tossed into the Tiber River he was found in. Immediately, Pope Alexander initiated an investigation into Juan’s murder. Many were accused of the murder, including Juan’s younger brother, Gioffre, when knowledge came out that Juan was having an affair with Gioffre’s wife. Other notable mentions were the Sforzas, specifically Lucrezia’s husband and his cousin Cardinal Sforza, as well as the powerful Orsini family. And strangely, he just as quickly called off the entire investigation a week later once one man’s name came up as his possible murderer, Micheletto Corella. Micheletto was the right hand man of Cesare Borgia, Juan’s brother. Cesare and Juan had a sibling rivalry on the point of enemies. Cesare as the second son was forced to follow his father’s footsteps and was forced to become a Cardinal while Juan got Cesare’s dream job of commanding the Papal Army. After Juan’s death, Cesare stepped down from his position as a Cardinal and took over as commander of the Papal Army for the rest of his life. As for Juan’s murder investigation, no one was ever charged. To this day his murder remains a mystery.

The start of the rumors about Lucrezia having an incestuous relationship with her father were begun by Lucrezia’s first husband, Giovanni Sforza. He began this rumor in an outrage when Pope Alexander and Lucrezia pushed Giovanni to allow for an annulment of his and Lucrezia’s marriage when Lucrezia was about 18 years old. In Renaissance Italy the only way to be granted an annulment was for the man to be unable to consummate the marriage because of impotence. Giovanni was highly insulted that Pope Alexander wanted to tell the entirety of the Italian nobility that he was impotent. Sforza granted this annulment, but it would cause eternal damnation of the Borgia reputation.

During the scandal of attempting to annul her marriage to Giovanni Sforza, Lucrezia began an alleged affair with musician, Pedro Calderon. This possible affair came to light shortly after Pedro’s body was pulled from the Tiber River along with one of Lucrezia’s ladies in waiting, exactly a year after the death of her brother, Juan. Rumors began that Cesare had Pedro murdered so that the affair would not damage discussions that were in the process to marry Lucrezia off to her second husband. Around this time Lucrezia disappeared from the public for approximately 9 months. When she returned she was seen carrying a baby, named Giovanni Borgia, that Pope Alexander claimed to be his newest child from an affair that he was now having Lucrezia care for. Rumors swirled that the baby was Lucrezia’s, but was the father Pedro…or her own father?

Pope Alexander aka Rodrigo Borgia

Despite these rumors, Marriage contracts go through and Lucrezia is married to Alphonso of Aragon, illegitimate son of the king of Naples. Alphonso was actually similar in age to Lucrezia (he was 17 and she, 18). Contemporaries describe the couple’s first meeting as love at first sight for both parties. They were married on July 21, 1498. After 6 months of marriage she announced she was pregnant with what was to be the couple’s only child. Unfortunately, Lucrezia’s happiness was short-lived. Because Pope Alexander made a match for Cesare with a French princess, Pope Alexander and Cesare saw Alphonso, related to the Spanish nobility, as a liability and he was forced to flee on August 2, 1499 when Lucrezia was 6 months pregnant. Lucrezia was heartbroken and forced her father to give Alphonso safe passage back. Alphonso was allowed to return and Lucrezia gave birth to her son, Rodrigo. Alphonso was not out of danger as on July 15, 1500 he was attacked and mortally wounded. Lucrezia spent day and night by his bed caring for him. When he seemed to be making a miraculous recovery, Micheletto snuck into the room and strangled Alphonso to death on August 18, 1500. Cesare’s motive to kill Alphonso was a purely political motive. His actions, though, led to the beginning of the rumors that Lucrezia was having an incestuous relationship with her brother, Cesare.

Lucrezia Borgia played by Holliday Grainger & Alphonso of Aragon played by Sebastian de Souza

from Showtime's the Borgias

Now 20 years old, Lucrezia was so heart broken and distraught that both Pope Alexander and Cesare sent her to the other side of the palace to not have to hear her sobs and cries. Her friend, Barbara Torelli, wrote a poem about Lucrezia’s pain in 1508:

Quenched is the torch of love, his dart is broken,

As are his quiver, bow and all of his power,

Since cruel death has stricken down the tree

Beneath whose shade I used to sleep in peace…

To whom but barely thirteen days ago

Love grafted me, before the monstrous blow

I wish that with my ardor I could melt

That icy cold, and moisten with my tears

His dust…

Even though Cesare has possibly killed Lucrezia’s brother, possible lover, and now her true love, Lucrezia never turned against her brother or any member of her family during her short lifetime. Only months after Alphonso was buried, Pope Alexander decided it was time to marry off Lucrezia for a 3rd and final time. He decided to marry her off to Alphonso D’Este. The family did not want to marry their son to the daughter of the Pope, who by this time had been accused of participating in orgies, incest, various poisonings, and possibly helping to orchestrate the murder of his last son in law. The D’Estes sent a spy to look into Lucrezia and they found the rumors to be baseless. So Lucrezia was married off and shipped to Ferrara. In Ferrara, she was ignored by her new husband and his family. She was also denied to have her son, Rodrigo, with her. Alone and abandoned, she began a strictly platonic affair with poet Pietro Bembo. She continued governing Ferrara with her husband and was known to be a competent ruler.

After a year and a half separated from her family, Pope Alexander sent word he would visit Lucrezia in Ferrara. Five days later, on August 18, 1503, Pope Alexander was dead. Lucrezia was heartbroken. But after Pope Alexander died, Duke Alphonso began to feel actual affection for his wife. Once Pope Alexander was gone he could have easily gotten a divorce from her, what with the incestuous and poisoner rumors spread of her throughout Italy, no one would blame him. But he decided to stay with her. The couple were married for 17 years and had 6 children together. On June 24, 1519, Lucrezia Borgia died at the age of 39 during childbirth. Duke Alphonso D’Este fainted at her funeral from grief. The citizens of Ferrara mourned the death of their Duchess who they claimed to be a kindhearted woman.

This is the story laid out of Lucrezia Borgia. Now I am sure many listeners are confused. How did this woman end up the villainess in so many works of fiction? Where does the poison come into play? After Lucrezia’s death and long after the Borgia family lost their power in the Papacy, a smear campaign began. While some rumors began during the Borgia;s lives as I mentioned above, many of their worst rumors came after they were no longer around to dispute the charges being laid against them. One of these was that of Lucrezia being a poisoner. Rumor stated that she wore a ring with a hidden compartment, I actually own a ring of similar style and pictures will be on both our Instagram as well as our website for you to see it. Within this ring she would place powdered cantarella. Cantarella is believed to be either a variation of arsenic or powdered blister beetles, similar to aqua tofana that will have its own episode later on. The true toxicology and creation of Cantarella has been lost to time. It is believed that the effects of cantarella could have included: blisters, inflammation, nervous agitation, burning of the mouth, dysphagia, nausea, hematemesis, hematuria, dysuria, and eventual death (Cale, 2015). I struggled to find much information on Cantarella itself so I will be giving a brief overview of the effects of arsenic poisoning. According to Dr. Lydia Kang, “A lethal dose (around 100 mg) [of arsenic] will usually render the victim dead within several hours” (Quackery, pp. 26). Symptoms can appear to mimic that of severe food poisoning, including stomach cramps, vomiting, diarrhea, confusion, and obviously, death. We will later have an entire episode reserved for Arsenic and its history as the “King of Poisons”.

Regardless of the validity of accusations thrown at the family, the Borgias have forever gone down in infamy. It was said that after Pope Alexander VI the papacy made a rule to no longer allow Spaniards to be pope. Stories of the Borgias were used to help bring about the rise of Protestantism in the Christian faith. The phrase, “As ruthless as a Borgia” still exists today. Alexander Lee, author of The Ugly Renaissance: Sex Disease and Excess in an Age of Beauty explained it best when he stated, “On the one hand, it is a tale of an obscure Spanish family determined to seek its fortune in a foreign land, set on beating the Italians at their own game, and perhaps willing to engage a little too freely in some of the more sensuous pleasures of the age. But on the other hand, it is a story of inglorious failure, dramatic defeat, and the ignominious assaults of enemies who hated outsiders – especially Spaniards – more than anything else. It is not a tale we might expect of the Borgias, but it is nevertheless a tale that is all too reflective of the amazing double-standards of the Renaissance, and is perhaps all the richer for it” (Lee, 2013). We focus so much on the negativity surrounding Lucrezia and her family but forget the positives. She was described not only as a beautiful woman, but contemporary accounts describe her as highly intelligent, such as mentioned before with her education. She also controlled much of the correspondence coming from the Vatican while she lived in Rome before moving to Ferrara where she took over correspondence and governing of Ferrara. Lucrezia Borgia - history's true Femme Fatale, or an innocent woman destroyed by one of history’s greatest smear campaigns?

Biography. (2022, August 5). Lucrezia Borgia: Pretty Poison | Full Documentary | Biography [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6DFMMK9G7pI

BuzzFeed Unsolved Network. (2022, April 13). The Scandals & Crimes Of The Borgia Family [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JF8kMy1pvnI

Cale, J. (2015, April 2). Cantarella: Potent Renaissance Poison Made from Insects. Dirty, Sexy History. https://dirtysexyhistory.com/2015/04/02/c-is-for-cantarella-potent-renaissance-poison-made-from-insects/

Forgotten Lives. (2021, December 14). The Dark Legend of The Pope's Infamous Daughter | Lucrezia Borgia [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UDdudtkNIMM&t=1s

Kang, L. MD, & N. Pedersen. (2017). Arsenic in Quackery: A brief history of the worst ways to cure everything (pp. 25-34).

Lee, A. (2013, October 1). Were the Borgias really so bad? History Today. https://www.historytoday.com/history-matters/were-borgias-really-so-bad

Palombo, A. (2020, February 13). COLD CASES OF HISTORY: THE MURDER OF JUAN BORGIA. Crime Reads, https://crimereads.com/cold-cases-of-history-the-murder-of-juan-borgia/