Lucrezia Borgia. The famous daughter of the "Pharmacist of Satan"
Lucrezia next to her father, Rodrigo di Borgia, frame from the series "Borgia" (Hungary, Ireland, Canada, 2011-2013)
В previous article we got to know Rodrigo Di Borgia (Borja, Borgia) a little, a Spaniard, nephew of Pope Calixtus III, who became a cardinal at the age of 25. Today we will talk about his famous daughter - Lucrezia. Throughout her life she held the titles of Countess of Pesaro, Duchess of Bisceglie and Duchess Consort of Ferrara.
Lucrezia Borgia was born on April 18, 1480. The girl was brought up by her father's cousin, the Spaniard Adriana de Mila. In her house, Lucretia received a good education, she was fluent in three languages - Italian, Catalan and French, knew Latin, wrote poetry, and danced well.
В history she was destined to enter with a very unflattering reputation as an unscrupulous, dissolute poisoner, mistress of many men, including her father and brothers. The Dominican Savonarola, a religious fanatic who wanted to turn the whole world into one big monastery (of which he himself was to become the abbot) and who almost destroyed his native Florence, was merciless towards Lucrezia and did not choose diplomatic expressions:
“Poisoner and ruthless killer! An incestress, an adulteress, a fiend of hell and a spawn of a rattlesnake, the daughter of a jackal and a hyena!
Savonarola in the series "Borgia" (Hungary, Ireland, Canada, 2011-2013)
The imagination readily draws some gothic fatal beauty in the style of Maleficent from a modern Hollywood film, or the English Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine on the canvas of Edward Coley Burne-Jones. "Fair Rosamund and Queen Eleanor":
This is an illustration of a gloomy legend about the young favorite of Henry II Plantagenet: fearing the revenge of his wife, the famous but already aged Eleanor of Aquitaine, the king built a labyrinth around Rosamund's castle, which could only be passed with the help of a silver thread. But Eleanor found this thread and entered the castle. She offered her opponent to choose what to die from - from a dagger or from poison. Rosamund chose poison (in fact, Henry fell out of love with her and found another favorite, after which Rosamund went to the monastery - and in this case, lovers of Gothic "horror stories" slandered an innocent woman).
But let's get back to Lucrezia Borgia and try to figure out what this terrible woman actually looked like? Let's look at one of the possible images of Lucretia. With a high degree of probability, it is assumed that it is she who is represented in the image of St. Catherine, leading a dispute with the Roman emperor Maximinus on the fresco by Pinturicchio in the Vatican apartments of Borgia:
This is a fragment of the same fresco with the alleged image of Lucretia:
For centuries, this fragile girl was credited with killing the enemies of Pope Alexander Borgia: allegedly it was she who, most often serving goblets of wine to guests, imperceptibly added a drop of poison from the famous ring to it.
There are suggestions that her brother Cesare is also depicted on the same fresco - in the image of the emperor sitting on the throne.
And on another fragment of the fresco we see two children:
Here they are:
It is believed that Lucrezia's younger brother Gioffre and his wife Sancha of Aragon, granddaughter of King Fernando I of Naples, served as models for Pinturicchio.
The image of St. Catherine on the fresco by Pinturicchio is consistent with the surviving memories of contemporaries about the heroine of our article. Here is one of them, which describes the appearance of 20-year-old Lucrezia Borgia:
“She is of average height, well built. The face is oblong, the nose is regular, the hair is golden, the eyes are of an indefinite color. A fairly large mouth, snow-white teeth, a beautiful slender neck, a magnificent bust. Always cheerful and smiling."
The ambassador of Ferrara in 1500 described the bride of the eldest son of the ruler of this city, who had already been married twice and gave birth twice (for the first time - it is not clear from whom):
“Madonna Lucrezia is extremely intelligent and beautiful, and also exceptionally kind. She is modest, she has a tender heart and fine manners. Moreover, she is a true God-fearing Christian... She is very beautiful, but her charming manner is even more striking. In short, her character is such that it is impossible to detect even a trace of sinfulness in her.
Ferrara chronicler Bernardino Zambotti writes about Lucretia:
“She has an unusually beautiful face, lively, laughing eyes, excellent posture, besides she is intelligent, pious, wise, cheerful, pleasant and friendly in manner.”
He also claims:
"People liked her."
The court lady Theodora in one of her letters says:
"Lucretia is supremely kind and very tolerant of those who serve her."
This is another alleged portrait of Lucrezia Borgia - in the form of the goddess Flora. Its authorship is attributed to Bartolomeo Veneto:
Let's talk about the rather difficult, and sometimes very tragic fate of this woman, who was destined to die after childbirth at the age of 39.
The first marriage of Lucrezia Borgia
In 1493, 13-year-old Lucrezia was married to Giovanni Sforza, an illegitimate cousin of the ruler of Milan, Lodovico Sforza. Her husband was 26 years old. In 1497, at the initiative of Father Lucretia, this marriage was annulled under the pretext of the male insolvency of the spouse. Outraged, Giovanni was offered to refute this accusation by having sexual intercourse with his wife in front of witnesses, which he preferred to refuse. Lucrezia, who swore on the gospel that she was a virgin, was pregnant at that time (but not by her husband). It was the disgraced Giovanni Sforza who began to spread rumors about the relationship of his ex-wife with his father and brothers (all three - both older and younger).
By the way, apparently, in Italy of those years, incest was not a very rare occurrence. Moreover, such relationships, it seems, were not particularly shy. Gianpaolo Baglioni, who ruled Perugia just during the pontificate of Alexander Borgia, can be cited as an example: he calmly received ambassadors, lying in bed with his sister. That is why many believed in the rumors about Lucretia's connection with relatives: if others can, why can't she?
By the way, looking back, we will see four rulers of the Hellenistic world who had the official nickname Philadelphus - “loving sister” (the first of them is Ptolemy II, the son of the famous comrade-in-arms of Alexander the Great, on whose behalf the story is being told in the Hollywood film "Alexander"). However, Philadelphia can safely be called all the Macedonian rulers of Egypt, who adopted the ancient tradition of their kingdom, according to which the sons of the ruling monarch married exclusively their own sisters. Later, the name Philadelphus became quite common, for example, the Christian holy martyr who was killed in 251 AD bore it. e. Well, a big hello to the American "City of Brotherly Love" - Philadelphia.
But back to Lucrezia Borgia, who in the spring of 1498 gave birth to a boy named Giovanni. He later became Duke of Nepi and Prince of Camerino. Who exactly was his father is still unknown, different versions have been put forward, among other candidates - her father Rodrigo di Borgi (not yet Pope Alexander VI) and brother Cesare.
This boy was declared the brother of Lucrezia. Some consider him the son of Rodrigo Borgia from an unknown woman (allegedly this boy replaced the deceased first-born Lucrezia).
The second marriage of Lucrezia Borgia
Meanwhile, the young mother Lucrezia was already married on June 21, 1498 to the illegitimate son of King Alfonso II of Naples. This young man, who was a year younger than his wife, was also called Alfonso (Aragonese). He bore the titles of Duke of Bisceglie and Prince of Salerno. This marriage had a chance of being successful: the spouses seemed to love each other, and Lucrezia personally looked after her husband for a whole month, who was wounded in Rome on July 15, 1500. Alfonso was nevertheless finished off - on August 18 of the same year he was strangled in his own bed. Contemporaries believed that Cesare Borgia was behind both assassination attempts, who wanted to marry his sister to the eldest son of the (already legitimate) Duke of Ferrara. From Alfonso, Lucrezia gave birth to a son, Rodrigo, who died at the age of 13.
Duchess of Ferrara
So, the third and last spouse of Lucrezia Borgia was Alfonso d'Este, Crown Prince of Ferrara. At the beginning of the article, we wrote about the impression that Lucretia Borgia made then on everyone in Ferrara. If she had an intimate relationship with her father and brother Cesare (which many now doubt), since that time they have apparently been interrupted.
It is curious that at one time Lucretia was credited with a relationship with the husband of Alphonse Isabella's sister, Francesco Gonzaga, Marquis of Mantua.
Several pregnancies of Lucretia in this marriage ended in miscarriages and the birth of a dead child. Finally, in 1508, she gave birth to a healthy boy, who received the name Ercole and subsequently inherited the Duchy of Ferrara.
Gian Antonio da Foligno. Lucretia with her son Ercole receives the blessing of Saint Maurelius, patron of Ferrara. 1512
Her other son, Ippolito, became a cardinal and archbishop of Milan. In this marriage, another boy and three girls were also born. One of her daughters, also named Lucretia, became the great-grandmother of the Duke Henri de Guise, known to many from the novels of A. Dumas, the head of the Catholic League and one of the organizers of the Bartholomew night.
The administrative talents of Lucrezia Borgia
It should be said that Lucretia turned out to be a fairly capable administrator. Back in 1499, being pregnant, she was appointed ruler of Spoleto by her father for several months, having managed during this time to reconcile its citizens with the inhabitants of the neighboring city of Terni. In addition, on her orders, horse guards were organized to protect internal order. Then, between the second and third marriages, she worked in the papal office, kept official correspondence and, in the absence of her father, even answered letters addressed to him (which, by the way, greatly outraged all the cardinals).
In Ferrara, during the frequent departures of her husband, she sometimes remained in fact the ruler of the state for several months, performing her duties extremely conscientiously and scrupulously.
Among her lovers in Ferrara are the famous poet Petro Bembo of those years and even the famous “knight without fear and reproach” - Pierre Terraille de Bayard.
During this period of her life, Lucrezia Borgia had a reputation as a patron of artists and poets. Lodovico Ariosto dedicated laudatory lines to her in Canto XIII of the famous poem "Furious Roland":
Lucrezia of the Borgia family,
Whose beauty, virtue, honor and happiness
Grow up day by day
Like a young shoot in fertile soil.
Tin before silver, copper before gold,
Field before the rose poppy,
Pale willow before green laurel,
Before a priceless gem, a dyed rhinestone -
This will be any
Before the one whom I praise before birth
For a great mind, for the only beauty
And for all the meritorious excellence.
Whose beauty, virtue, honor and happiness
Grow up day by day
Like a young shoot in fertile soil.
Tin before silver, copper before gold,
Field before the rose poppy,
Pale willow before green laurel,
Before a priceless gem, a dyed rhinestone -
This will be any
Before the one whom I praise before birth
For a great mind, for the only beauty
And for all the meritorious excellence.
At the same time, Lucrezia founded a convent in Ferrara, in which one of her daughters later became abbess, and a charitable organization to help the poor.
This is another alleged portrait of Lucrezia Borgia, attributed to Dosso Dossi:
Here she must be about 39 years old, that is, it was written shortly before her death.
And this is a portrait of her husband by the same artist:
Alfonso d'Este, portrait by Dosso Dossi
They say that in her duchy, Lucrezia strictly followed the fulfillment of men's promises to marry girls.
Lucrezia knew a lot about luxury, her red velvet robe was lined with ermine fur and adorned with 84 rubies, 29 diamonds and 115 pearls. In the inventory of her property, shortly before her death, she counted 3770 jewelry. But at the end of her life, under luxurious dresses, Lucretia began to wear a redeeming sackcloth. According to another legend, amaranths in the flower garden arranged in front of the ducal palace were planted in memory of the men who were once killed by Lucretia (amaranth was considered a symbol of immortality). Dying, she asked to continue caring for these flowers (and why shouldn’t she remember before her death about her favorite flowers, which she just planted with her own hands, without any ulterior motive?).
Incest rumors
Apparently, it is impossible to do without trying to answer the question: when did Lucrezia Borgia, married at the age of 13 and constantly pregnant, manage to be the mistress of her father and brothers? And why did such rumors even appear? Rumors of incest, as we remember, began to dissolve the first husband of Lucretia - Giovanni Sforza, offended by the fact that he was declared impotent, unable to deprive a young and very beautiful girl of innocence. The humiliated Giovanni used them against the Borgia weapon - slander. The accusations fell on fertile ground: rumors about Lucretia's vicious relationships with her father and brothers willingly and with great joy began to spread all the enemies of this influential clan. There is, of course, no evidence of incest in the Borgia family. Morals in the papal palace, of course, were free. Johann Burkard, master of ceremonies of the Roman Curia, describes a party in the Vatican hosted by Cesare Borgia in 1501 (it went down in history as the "chestnut banquet"):
“Lucrezia, the pope and the guests threw roasted chestnuts, and the harlots picked them up, running completely naked, crawling, laughing and falling. The more dexterous received silk fabrics and jewels as a reward from his Holiness. Finally, the Pope gave the sign to the contest, and an unimaginable revelry began. It is completely impossible to describe it: the guests did whatever they pleased with the women. Lucrezia was sitting with the pope on a high stage, holding in her hand a prize intended for the most ardent and tireless lover.
It's just some humorous porn show for a bored pope. And Lucrezia looks like a specially invited guest of honor, who is given the role of a host and sports judge in the popular Vatican show "Merry Starts". Papa Alexander does not participate in the competition, which is understandable: he is already 70 years old, at this age any “sex machine” will “slow down”. What kind of love games with Lucrezia are there, even if such a spectacle arouses only “platonic” interest in him?
Cesare Borgia, who chose as his motto the words of Caligula “Aut Caesar, aut nihil” (“To be Caesar or nobody”) and “held peace and war in his hands”, “was in a hurry to live” and hardly had time for a relationship with Lucrezia. Yes, and a lack of other women - for every taste, as you already understood, he never had.
Gaetano Previati, Cesare Borgia in Capua, 1880
It is completely incomprehensible why, in such circumstances, he also has a younger sister?
Death of the last of the Borgias
Lucrezia Borgia died of puerperal fever, an infectious complication after a difficult birth. Now this disease is known as postpartum sepsis. It happened in 1519, at the time of her death she was 39 years old. Shortly before her death, she was tonsured a nun of the Franciscan fraternity. The death of Lucrezia became known throughout Italy, and the Neapolitan poet Sannazaro wrote the evil epigram-epitaph that went down in history:
“Lucretia supposedly rests here, but in reality Thais,
Alexandru is both a daughter, and a daughter-in-law, and a wife.”
Alexandru is both a daughter, and a daughter-in-law, and a wife.”
One often has to read that these lines are carved on the tombstone of Lucretia, which, of course, is not true.
Grave of Duke Alfonso d'Este and Lucrezia Borgia
Lucrezia Borgia is the heroine of many books (among the authors Victor Hugo, Prosper Mérimée, Alexandre Dumas and Mario Puzo), films, TV series, and operas by Gaetano Donizetti.
The memory of Lucrezia in modern Ferrara
Currently, Ferrara annually celebrates on February 5 a holiday dedicated to Lucrezia Borgia, which many consider to be unfairly slandered. In October 2002, an exhibition was even organized in Rome, the organizers of which declared their desire to rehabilitate Lucrezia, who, in their opinion, did not poison anyone and, “probably did not have sexual contact with her father, Pope Alexander VI».
«We hope to take the poison out of Lucretia”, Gaetano Sateriale, Mayor of Ferrara, said at a press conference at the time.
The authoritative Italian medievalist Learco Andalo stated:
“The purpose of the exhibition is to restore the truth. The Borgias have been the victim of misrepresentations based on malicious rumors. Lucretia did not poison a single person. She herself fell victim to the pen of historians.
In the next article, we will talk about Lucrezia's brother, Cesare Borgia.
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