A look at the legend and elusive truth surrounding the life and times of one of the most colorful women of the Italian Renaissance.
Famous European Women
Early Years
Born in April of 1480, this illegitimate daughter of Pope Alexander VI was betrothed twice before she was eleven years of age. Lucretia Borgia's father was the powerful Pope Alexander VI; her brother the notorious despot, Cesare Borgia. The Borgia name has come to epitomize the ruthless corruption of the Renaissance Papacy, but whether Lucrezia Borgia herself was guilty of participating in her family's many crimes cannot be ascertained by credible historical evidence.
First Marriage
Lucrezia Borgia's father and brother arranged all of her marriages in order to further their own political ambitions. Her first husband was Giovanni Sforza of the powerful Milanese family, whose political influence was important to both Rodrigo and Cesare. But Sforza soon outlived his usefulness, and Rodrigo may have covertly ordered the poor man's execution. Some sources claim that Lucrezia Borgia's brother informed her of her father's impending plans, and that she warned her husband who promptly fled Rome. Historical records cannot validate this version, but whatever went down, Alexander and Cesare forced Sforza's hand and his marriage to Lucretia Borgia was annulled.
Affair With Perotto
During the process of obtaining an annulment on the grounds that Sforza was impotent, Lucrezia Borgia had an affair with someone, possibly Alexander's messenger, Perotto, and perhaps even her own brother, Cesare. It is known that Lucretia Borgia was pregnant at the time the annulment was granted, and a child named Giovanni Borgia , aka "Roman Infante," was born in secret before her second marriage to Alfonso of Aragon. Whoever the father of the child was, during her pregnancy Lucretia Borgia stayed away from Rome, fearful of reprisals from the citizenry.
Marriage to Alfonzo of Aragon
Cesare Borgia, although at first happy with the new political alliance, soon became jealous of the Prince's good looks and his sister's love for him. Lucrezia Borgia, on the other hand, had found happiness, and had one child, Rodrigo, who died in August of 1512 at the age of thirteen. Lucrezia Borgia was devastated by both the death of her son and the murder of her husband by her brother's hand.
Third Marriage And Death
Pope Alexander VI arranged Lucretia Borgia's final union with Alphonso d'Este (Prince of Ferrara, which was loveless but respectable. Lucretia Borgia had several more children and survived the fall of the Borgias after her father's death. She died and slipped into the annals of speculative legend on June 24, 1519, after a difficult pregnancy.
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