Cesare
Borgia
Cesare Borgia
, or "Duke Valentino" was born in Roma in
1476 and died at Castello di Viana, Spain, in 1507. He was the illegitimate
son of Cardinal Rodrigo de Borja, future Pope Alexander VI, with a Roman
woman named Vannozza Cattanei. In addition to Cesare, Rodrigo and Vannozza
had three other children, two boys ( Giovanni and Goffredo) and a famous
daughter by the name Lucrezia Borgia,
Cesare was initially groomed for a Church career and was elevated by his
father to the rank of Cardinal by the age of 22. From about this time,
Cesare begins to be an active participants in Vatican politics. In 1494
Cesare accompanies Charles VIII of France on his descent on Naples where,
later, in 1497, he will crown Frederick of Aragon king of Naples. In
the meantime his elder brother Giovanni, who was in charge as captain
general of the Church in its fight against the Orsini, allied with the
French, was assassinated in mysterious circumstances. Part of the responsibility
for the homicide fell on Cesare. The death of his elder brother, who
was his father's favorite, meant that Cesare would consolidate his power.
Firstly, he requested to be relieved of the Cardinalship obtaining
his wishes with a papal dispensation in 1498in order to get into
an advantageous marriage. In 1499 he married Charlotte d'Albret, a sister
of the king of Navarre and lady-in-waiting at the court of Louis XII
of France. Louis XII, in gratitude towards Cesare's father, Pope Aledander
VI, for having granted him an annulment of his first marriage so that
he could marry the widow of Charles VIII, made Cesare duke of Valentinois
(Valence - hence the italianized title "Valentino"). From
this time on Cesare became a man of Louis XII. He was him in his Lombardy
expedition, and he was with him when Louis XII occupied Milan. Being
so secure under French support, Duke Valentino conceived the idea of
creating a new power in Italy with the design of founding a Borgia dynasty.
Thus Cesare's aims were directed to subdue the territories northeast
in the States of the Church (see Map). Though in theory subject directly
to the pope, the rulers of these cities had been practically independent
or dependent on other states for generations. Cesare Borgia hoped that
by subduing them he would create a new central Italian kingdom that
would rival Naples, Florence, Milan and Venice. In the seventh chapter
of The Prince Machiavelli underscores the nepotistic aspect of
the undertaking (see text, paragraphs beginning: Alexander VI, in
wishing to aggrandize the duke, his son, had many immediate and prospective
difficulties....), although the "effectual truth of the
matter" may not be quite so. In any case, Cesare subdued the
cities of Romagna one by one from 1499 to 1500. Made duke of Romagna
by the Pope (1501), Cesare also seized Camerino, and the duchy of Urbino.
He crowned his achievements by artfully luring his chief enemies to
the castle of Sinigallia, where he had Vitellozzo Vitelli and Oliverotto
da Fermo strangled on the spot. The rest were strangled in the same
way a few days later at Città della Pieve. We have a very vivid
account of this episode in the relation by Machiavelliwho had
been sent by the Florentine Republic in a mission to Cesare Borgiaby
the Italian title Del modo tenuto dal duca Valentino nell' ammazzare
Vitellozzo Vitelli, Oliverotto da Fermo, il signore Pagolo e il Duca
di Gravina Orsini presented here in English translation.
By killing his enemies, influencing the college of cardinals, pushing
his conquests as far and as fast as possible, by ingratiating to and
buying the loyalty of the Roman nobles, he had hoped to make his position
as independent as possible of the Pope's control. But in August of 1503
Alexander VI died, and Cesare himself was struck by the same illness
that killed his father. Cesare recovered and started maneuvering to
make sure that the election of a new Pope would at least not be contrary
to him. The new elected Pope was Pius III. Unfortunately he lasted only
one month! The new Pope was Julius II, Giuliano della Rovere, an implacable
enemy of both Alexander VI and Cesare Borgia. Also, Cesare Borgia's
political construction was too weak. He had not killed all his enemies,
who were waiting for the opportune moment to regain the possessions
that Cesare had taken from them. Guidubaldo da Montefeltro returned
to Urbino, the da Veranos reconquered Camerino, Giovanni Sforza regained
Pesaro, and Pandolfo Malatesta returned to Rimini.
In the meantime Cesare Borgia was arrested twice, in Rome and in Naples,
and in August of 1506 he went to Spain, but is again arrested.Finally
on October 25 Cesare succeeded to escape and went to Pamplona finding
refuge at the court of his brother-in-law, the king of Navarre. He died
at the age of 32, on march 12, 1507, fighting for the king and against
his insurgent vassals during the siege of the Castle of Viana.