Lucrezia Borgia Read online

  Table of Contents

  PENGUIN BOOKS

  Title Page

  Copyright Page

  Acknowledgements

  Foreword

  PART ONE - The Pope’s Daughter 1480 – 1501

  1. The Pope’s Daughter

  2. Countess of Pesaro

  3. The Borgias Renascent

  4. The Tragic Duchess of Bisceglie

  5. Turning Point

  6. Farewell to Rome

  PART TWO - Duchess of Ferrara 1502 – 19

  7. The Road to Ferrara

  8.A New Life

  9. The Heavens Conspire

  10. The Dark Marquis

  11. Duchess of Ferrara

  12. The Congiura

  13. ‘Horrors and Tears’

  14. The Years of War, 1509 – 12

  15. Lucrezia Triumphant

  16. The Last Year of Tranquillity

  17. The End

  Postscript

  Archives

  Source Notes

  Bibliography

  Index

  FOR THE BEST IN PAPERBACKS, LOOK FOR THE

  I. Pope Alexander VI (Rodrigo Borgia), Lucrezia’s father. Detail from a fresco by Pinturicchio in the Borgia Apartments in the Vatican painted shortly after Rodrigo’s accession to the papacy in 1492.

  2. Vannozza Cattenai, Lucrezia’s mother. Also known as Giovanna de’Cattaneis. The beauty which fascinated Lucrezia’s father is hardly evident in this portrait, executed in her later years by an unknown artist.

  3. Subiaco. The Rocca, or stronghold, traditionally Lucrezia’s birthplace, still dominates this small town in the hills south-east of Rome.

  4. Lucrezia Borgia. Traditionally held to be a portrait of the teenage Lucrezia depicted as St Catherine in the fresco The Disputation of Saint Catherine by Pinturicchio in the Sala dei Santi in the Borgia Apartments in the Vatican, 11492 – 4.

  5. Cesare Borgia. Always – almost certainly correctly – held to be a portrait of the dangerous ‘il Valentino’ at the height of his power. By Altobello Melone.

  6. Sancia d’Aragona and Jofre Borgia, depicted at the time of their wedding in Naples in May 1494. Sancia, wearing a coronet, rides in front of her natural father, King Alfonso II. She is immediately preceded by Jofre, recently created Prince of Squillace.

  7. Juan Borgia, Second Duke of Gandia. Detail from The Disputation of Saint Catherine. Juan’s arrogance and his fondness for exotic clothes emerge in this depiction painted presumably before his departure for Spain in August 1493 to marry Maria Enriques.

  8. Giulia Farnese, known as ‘Giulia la Bella’, Alexander VI’s teenage mistress and the wife of Orsino Orsini. Her brother Alessandro Farnese, created cardinal by Alexander, later became Pope Paul III. Detail from The Transfiguration by Raphael painted c. 1519 – 20 and therefore years after the events described in this book.

  9. Giovanni Sforza, Count of Pesaro. Lucrezia’s first husband whom she divorced on the grounds of non-consummation.

  10. Alfonso d’Aragona, First Duke of Bisceglie, natural son of Alfonso II and brother of Sancia. Lucrezia’s second husband. The upper illustration shows him riding behind the musicians, wearing a dark cloak and escorting the Spanish general Gonsalvo de Cordoba (centre) into Naples after the defeat of the French at Ostia. In the lower illustration he is in the foreground riding into Naples in May 1497.

  11. Ercole I d’Este, Third Duke of Ferrara, Lucrezia’s father-in-law by her third marriage to Alfonso d’Este, heir to the dukedom. By Dosso Dossi.

  12. Ferrara: Castello Estense, also known as the Castel or Castello Vecchio, the moated castle in which Lucrezia spent most of her married life in Ferrara. She occupied rooms in the Torre Marchesana, on the right, connected to Alfonso’s celebrated Camerini in the ravelin on the extreme right of the picture. In Lucrezia’s day the space immediately to the north of the castle, now occupied by relatively modern buildings, was a huge garden and beyond it stretched Ercole’s new quarter of Ferrara.

  13. Alfonso I d’Este, Fourth Duke of Ferrara, Lucrezia’s last husband. He is shown, typically in armour against a battle scene. His military skills, particularly in the field of artillery saved Ferrara. By Dosso Dossi.

  14. Ippolito d’Este. The cleverest and most ruthless of Alfonso’s brothers, a cardinal who liked nothing better than to wear armour and fight his brother’s enemies.

  15. Courtly pastimes. Ladies embroidering, weaving and gossiping. One of a series of fifteenth-century frescoes of The Months by Francesco del Cossa and others.

  16. Ferrara as it looked at the time of Lucrezia’s arrival in 1502. The River Po is in the foreground. The Palazzo del Corte is on the left of the broad street in the centre of the picture with, beyond it, the four towers of the Castel. Opposite the Corte is the Duomo. Late fifteenth-century woodcut.

  17. Left: Isabella d’Este, Marchioness of Mantua. Alfonso’s only legitimate sister and the wife of Lucrezia’s lover, Francesco Gonzaga. Famous for her culture and patronage of the arts, sycophantic admirers called her ‘the first lady of the world’. By Leonardo da Vinci.

  18. Right: Francesco II Gonzaga, Marquis of Mantua. Husband of Isabella d’Este and lover of Lucrezia. Contemporary portrait bust by Gian Cristoforo Romano.

  19. Left: Pietro Bembo. The famous poet at the time of his love affair with Lucrezia, painted by Raphael in 1504 – 6.

  20. Right: Ercole Strozzi. The poet and friend of Lucrezia who not only eulogized her but acted as go-between in her romances, a role which probably cost him his life.

  21. Pope Julius II (Giuliano della Rovere). Portrait of the Borgias’ old enemy by Raphael.

  22. Pope Leo X (Giovanni de’Medici) with cardinals Luigi de’Rossi and Giulio de’Medici. By Raphael, 1518.

  23. Engraved silver plaque showing the thirty-two-year-old Lucrezia presenting her son and heir, Ercole (b. 1508), to San Maurelio, protector of Ferrara. Note that Lucrezia and one of her ladies carry the latest fashion accessory, a sable or ermine pelt. The plaque was executed by Giannantonio da Foligno to commemorate the victory of the French and Ferrarese forces over the papal and Spanish armies at the battle of Ravenna in 1512.

  Praise for Lucrezia Borgia

  “Ms. Bradford has done an excellent job of keeping Lucrezia in the forefront of the bloodstained Italian history of the period.”

  —The Dallas Morning News

  “An engrossing new biography of the enchantress with flowing blond hair, largely debunking the legend of Lucrezia-the-licentious to paint a new, infinitely rosier portrait of the woman Bradford suspects has been long misunderstood. What makes this biography read like a novel is Bradford’s unflinching attention to the sumptuous details of Lucrezia’s lifestyle. The sheer magnitude of new research that went into this lush new biography renders it an impressive achievement; Bradford logged countless hours perusing private letters, diaries and even long-secret Vatican files in Italy, lending the book a tone far more credible than the sensationalized work of her predecessors. Lucrezia Borgia is sure to hold readers in its thrall all the way up to the moment the duchess, finally rendered a heroine, meets her own untimely end.”

  —The Denver Post

  “Bradford’s is not the first biography of Lucrezia, but it is one that reveals its subject instead of imposing an interpretation on her. And that subject is a three-dimensional one.”

  —St. Petersburg Times

  “Turbulent, colorful, murderous, lyrical—the people who lived in Renaissance Italy were all of these. Is it possible to transport a modern reader back to their time, and see and hear—even smell them? Sarah Bradford [does just that] for the princely courts. If you want a brilliant and erudite study of the continually changing balances of power in the Italian princely and ducal states, and t
he power of the Vatican, this book could not be bettered. . . . fascinating.”

  —History Today

  “Sarah Bradford does a good job of putting this fascinating personality in perspective . . . anyone with more than a passing interest in the era will find it a worthy read.”

  —The Washington Times

  “The facts of Lucrezia’s case are sorted out from fiction by Bradford’s humanizing biography, which presents Lucrezia as an intelligent noblewoman, powerless to defy her family’s patriarchal order, yet an enlightened ruler in her own right as Duchess of Ferrara. As a project designed to distinguish the historical Lucrezia Borgia from the legend, Bradford’s readable biography resoundingly succeeds.”

  —Publishers Weekly

  “Bradford lavishly describes the opulent particulars of Lucrezia’s life—clothing, food, dwellings, parties, bling-bling—but always keeps her focus on this most astonishing woman. A thoroughly researched, gracefully written revision of the most beguiling Borgia.”

  —Kirkus Reviews

  “Sarah Bradford has fulfilled her aim of letting Lucrezia Borgia speak for herself and allowing the world in which she lived to come alive for the reader.”

  —Telegraph (London)

  “This biography tells a story more complex than the legend, but in many ways no less colorful. Sarah Bradford gives every indication of how exciting it must have been immersing herself in the Borgia papers. Despite a vast cast of characters, Bradford keeps the thread of her narrative untangled and provides a portrait of a woman who, while not exactly likeable, emerges as an impressive figure full of human contradictions.”

  —The Independent (London)

  PENGUIN BOOKS

  LUCREZIA BORGIA

  Sarah Bradford is the bestselling author of America’s Queen: The Life of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, Disraeli (a New York Times Notable Book of the Year), George VI, Princess Grace, and Elizabeth. She has published two previous accounts of the Borgia family, including a biography of Cesare Borgia. Married to the Viscount Bangor, she makes her home in London.

  PENGUIN BOOKS

  Published by the Penguin Group

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  First published in the United States of America by Viking Penguin, a member of Penguin Group (USA) Inc. 2004

  Published in Penguin Books 2005

  Copyright © Sarah Bradford, 2004 All rights reserved

  Bradford, Sarah.

  Lucrezia Borgia: life, love and death in Renaissance Italy / Sarah Bradford.

  p. cm.

  Includes bibliographical references and index.

  eISBN : 978-1-101-52534-0

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  Author’s Note

  Money Values

  Economic historians now regard equating the value of fifteenth-and sixteenth-century coinage with today’s money as unrealistic owing to the number of factors involved in the calculation. However, a rough rule of thumb would be to multiply each currency (gold coins such as ducats, francs, florins and scudi were all much the same) by one hundred to arrive at a modern sterling equivalent.

  Time Calculations

  In fifteenth- and sixteenth-century Italy there were twenty-four hours in the day (like ours) but, instead of starting the day at midnight as we do, the Italians began the day half an hour after sunset: thus the twenty-fourth hour was the last hour of daytime.

  Every effort has been made to trace the copyright holders and we apologize in advance for any unintentional omission. We would be pleased to insert the appropriate acknowledgement in any subsequent editions.

  Italy in 1494

  The Estense territories

  The Descendants of Alexander VI

  The House of Este

  The Neapolitan House of Aragon (d’Aragona)

  Acknowledgements

  My husband, William Bangor, has been my co-author in the sense that only someone with his knowledge of late fifteenth-and early sixteenth-century Italy could have helped me transcribe the thousands of pages of manuscript material which have formed the basis for this book. Without his help, it would have taken far longer to complete. The admiration which he developed for Lucrezia in the course of his work has been a sustaining inspiration.

  So many people with great knowledge of this subject have been generous with their help. I would like to distinguish for particular gratitude Raffaele Tamalio, the expert on the archives at Mantua and the Gonzaga family, and his wife Lynn. In Ferrara, Dott. Giuseppe Muscardini, Bibliotecario presso i Musei Civici di Arte Antica di Ferrara, went out of his way to guide us round the city and archives and to provide me with every possible information and help.

  I am also grateful to the following: Philip Attwood, Dr Silke Ackermann; the Reverend Father Miquel Batllori, S.J., Dott. Maria Barbara Bertini, Director of the Archivio di Stato di Milano, Dott. Mario Bertoni, Archivist of the Archivio di Stato di Modena, Harriet Bridgeman, Dr R. J. Bridgeman, Jose Maria Burrieza, departmental head of References at the Archivio General de Simancas; Dr Ann G. Carmichael, Edward Chaney, Dr Cecil H. Clough, Dr Barrie Cook, Margaret Critchley; Dott. Alessandra Farinelli, Responsabile Fondi Antichi, Biblioteca Comunale Ariostea di Ferrara; Dott. Daniela Ferrari, Director of the Archivio di Stato di Mantova, Simonetta Fraquelli, Antonia Fraser; Nicole Garnier, conservateur, the Musée Condé at Chantilly; Alberto Govi, Professor Guido Guerzoni; Mary Hollingsworth, Dr Charles Hope; Professor Douglas Johnson; Professor Robert J. Knecht; Dr Jilly Kray, Librarian of the Warburg Institute; Dott. Laura Laureati; Sarah Lawson; Carmelo Lison; Alvaro Maccioni; Dr Michael Mallett; Philip Mansel; Professor Joan Francesc Mira; Kenneth Montgomery; Dr Ornella Moscucci; Professor Reinhold Mueller; Dott. Andrea Nascimbeni of the Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio di Ferrara; Jette Nielsen and Vivian Nutton of the Wellcome Library; the Reverendissimo Padre Prefetto Sergio Pagano of the Archivio Segreto Vaticano; Lucia Panini; Dr Stephen Parkin, Curator Italian Printed Books 1501 – 1850 at the British Library; Milo Parmoor; Dott. Paola Pelliccia of the Biblioteca Comunale in Subiaco; Guy Penman of the London Library, Antonio Pettini; Luciana Pignatelli; Dr Dennis Rhodes; Padre Nazzareno Romagnollo; the late Professor Nicolai Rubinstein; Maude Sallansonet, archivist, the Musée Condé at Chantilly; Diana Scarisbrick; Jane and Tony Scheuregger of the Minstrels Gallery; Eva Soos, photoservices, the Pierpont Morgan Library; Dott. Angelo Spaggiari, Director of the Archivio di Stato di Modena; Dr David Starkey; Julien Stock; Simon Stock; Baron Berti von Stohrer; Professor Roy Strong; Hugh Thomas; Priscilla Thomas; Peter Thornton; Dr Dora Thornton; Albert Torra, Vic-Director, Archivio de la Corona de Aragon; Dott. Francesca Trebbi of the Biblioteca dei Musei Civici in Pesaro; Dr Thomas Tuohy; Anna Uguccioni of the Prefettura in the Palazzo Ducale in Pesaro; Dott. Gianna Vancin
i; Professor Laurent Vissiere; Maureen Waller; John Wells, Assistant Under Librarian, Department of Manuscripts and University Archives, University Library, Cambridge; Roger S. Wieck, Curator, Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts, the Pierpont Morgan Library.

  On the publishing side grateful thanks are due to the following for their contribution: Andrea Cane of Mondadori; Helen Fraser, Juliet Annan and Carly Cook of Viking, London; Lynda Marshall, picture research; Antonia Till for her kindness in reading the typescript; Richard Collins for his skilful editing; Douglas Matthews for his compiling of the index; Camilla Eadie, for all her help and technical expertise; Wendy Wolf and Clifford J. Corcoran, Viking, New York; Gillon Aitken, Sally Riley and Ayesha Karim Khan of Gillon Aitken Associates. Finally, I would like to thank Keith Taylor, Elisabeth Merriman and Sarah Day for their invaluable help in the production of this book.