Borgia

bor'ja, in Italian history, a famous family of the fifteenth century. The most noted members of the family were Pope Alexander VI, the same who reluctantly suppressed Savonarola, and two younger members, brother and sister, known as Cesare and Lucretia Borgia. Pope Alexander brought scandal on the holy office. He died, it is suspected, of poison. His remains were treated with disrespect. In their lust for power the younger people left a long trail of assassinations by stabbing, and particularly, by poisoning. Cesare became a cardinal and a duke. He aimed to build up an independent kingdom in central Italy. It is not possible at this date to separate fact from calumny, but it is evident that the Borgias were able and ambitious, and that they scrupled at nothing. The family record is such that the name of Borgia is synonymous for utter depravity. The Borgias, like the Medici, were patrons of art. Cesare is the typical statesman held in mind by Machiavelli in his noted work on practical politics. See Machiavelli; Medici