Borgia
Borgia names 3 different subjects across the 6 encyclopedias on this shelf. Each is set out below.
Borgia CESARE (bor'jē-a)
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
CESARE (bor'jē-a), the natural son of Pope Alexander VI., and of a Roman lady named Vanozza, born in 1478. He was raised to the rank of Cardinal in 1492, but afterward divested himself of the office, and was made Duc de Valentinois by Louis XII. In 1499 he married a daughter of King John of Navarre, and accompanied Louis XII. to Italy. He then, at the head of a body of mercenaries, carried on a series of petty wars, made himself master of the Romagna, attempted Bologna and Flcrence, and had seized Urbino when Alexander VI. died, 1503. He was now at tacked by a severe disease, but found means, indeed, to get the treasures of his father into his possession, and assembled his troops in Rome; but enemies rose against him on all sides, including the new Pope, Julius II. Borgia was arrested and carried to Spain. He at length made his escape to his brother-inlaw, the King of Navarre, and was killed before the castle of Viana, March 12, 1507. He was charged with the murder of his elder brother, of the husband of his sister Lucretia, etc. With all his crimes he was a patron of art and literature.
Borgia bor'ja, in Italian history
Aiton's Encyclopedia (1910)
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
Borgia LUCRETIA, daughter of Pope Alexander VI
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
LUCRETIA, daughter of Pope Alexander VI., and sister of Cesare Borgia, was born in 1480. In 1493 she was married to Giovanni Sforza, Lord of Pesaro, but after she had lived with him for four years, Alexander dissolved the marriage, and gave her to Alphonso, nephew of Alphonso II. of Naples. Two years after this new husband was assassinated by the hired ruffians of Cesare Borgia. Her third husband was Alphonso d'Este, son of the Duke of Ferrara. She was accused by contemporaries of incest, poisoning, and almost every species of enormous crime; but several modern writers claim that she was maligned. She was a patroness of art and literature. She died in 1519.
What Has Changed in the Last Century
Aiton's flatly declared in 1910 that "the name of Borgia is synonymous for utter depravity," and that the family left "a long trail of assassinations by stabbing, and particularly, by poisoning." A century of archival work has largely dissolved that trail: the poisonings are now regarded as mostly the propaganda of Roman rivals, especially the Venetian diarists and the hostile Della Rovere circle around Julius II. Collier's in 1921 already conceded that "several modern writers claim that she was maligned" of Lucrezia, and that minority view has become the standard one — she is now studied as an effective regent of Spoleto in 1499 and of Ferrara after 1505, and as a patron of Ariosto's circle. Cesare's political reputation, by contrast, still rests where Aiton's put it, on Machiavelli's admiring portrait in The Prince.
Written for this edition, 2026.