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BORGIA, CESARE

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Originally appearing in Volume V04, Page 249 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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BORGIA, CESARE , See also:duke of See also:Valentinois and Romagna (1476-1507), was the son of See also:Pope See also:Alexander VI. by Vanozza dei Cattanei. He was See also:born at See also:Rome while his See also:father was See also:cardinal, and on the latter's See also:elevation to the papacy (1492) he was created See also:archbishop of See also:Valencia, and a See also:year later cardinal. Cesare was Alexander's favourite son, and it was for him that the pope's notorious nepotism was most extensively practised. In the See also:early years of his father's pontificate he led a profligate See also:life at the Vatican. When See also:Charles VIII. See also:left Rome for the See also:conquest of See also:Naples (See also:January 25, 1495), Cesare accompanied him as a See also:hostage for the pope's See also:good behaviour, but he escaped at See also:Velletri and returned to Rome. He soon began to give proofs of the violence for which he afterwards became notorious; when in 1497 his See also:brother Giovanni, duke of See also:Gandia, was murdered, the See also:deed was attributed, in all See also:probability with See also:reason, to Cesare. It was suggested that the See also:motive of the See also:murder was the See also:brothers' rivalry in the See also:affection of Donna Sancha, wife of Giuffre, the pope's youngest son, while there were yet darker hints at incestuous relations of Cesare and the. duke with their See also:sister Lucrezia. But it is more probable that Cesare, who contemplated exchanging his ecclesiastical dignities for a See also:secular career, regarded his brother's splendid position with envy, and was determined to enjoy the whole of his father's favours. In See also:July 1497 Cesare went to Naples as papal See also:legate and crowned See also:Frederick of See also:Aragon See also:king. Now that the duke of Gandia was dead, the pope needed Cesare to carry out his See also:political schemes, and tried to arrange a wealthy See also:marriage for him. Cesare wished to marry Carlotta, the daughter of the king of Naples, but both she and her father resolutely refused an See also:alliance with " a See also:priest, the See also:bastard of a priest." In See also:August 1498, Cesare in the See also:consistory asked for the permission of the cardinals and the pope to renounce the priesthood, and the latter granted it " for the good of his soul." On the 1st of See also:October he set forth for See also:France with a magnificent See also:retinue as papal legate to See also:Louis XII., to bring him the pope's See also:bull annulling his marriage with Jeanne of France (Louis wished to marry See also:Anne of See also:Brittany). In See also:exchange he received the duchy of Valentinois, as well as military assistance for his own enterprises.

He found Carlotta of Naples in France, and having again tried to win her over in vain, he had to content himself with See also:

Charlotte d'See also:Albret, sister of the king of See also:Navarre (May 1499). Alexander now contemplated sending Cesare to Romagna to subdue the turbulent See also:local despots, and with the help of the See also:French king carve a principality for himself out of those territories owing nominal See also:allegiance to the pope. Cesare made See also:Cesena his headquarters, and with an See also:army consisting of 300 French lances, 4000 Gascons and Swiss, besides See also:Italian troops, he attacked See also:Imola, which surrendered at once, and then besieged Forli, held by Caterina See also:Sforza (q.v.), the widow of See also:Girolamo Riario. Shb held out gallantly, but was atlast forced to surrender on the 22nd of January 1500; Cesare treated her with See also:consideration, and she ended her days in a See also:convent. The Sforzas having expelled the French from See also:Milan, Cesare returned to Rome in See also:February, his schemes checked for the moment; his father rewarded him for his successes by making him gonfaloniere of the See also:church and conferring many honours on him; he remained in Rome and took See also:part in bull fights and other See also:carnival festivities. In July occurred the murder of the duke of Bisceglie, Lucrezia Borgia's third See also:husband. He was attacked by assassins on the steps of St See also:Peter's and badly wounded; attendants carried him to a cardinal's See also:house, and, fearing See also:poison, he was nursed only by his wife and Sancha, his sister-in-See also:law. Again Cesare was suspected as the instigator of the deed, and in fact he almost admitted it himself. Bisceglie was related to the Neapolitan See also:dynasty, with whose enemies the pope was allied, and he had had a See also:quarrel with Cesare. When it appeared that he was recovering from his wounds, Cesare had him murdered, but not apparently without provocation, for, according to the Venetian See also:ambassador See also:Cappello, the duke had tried to murder Cesare first. In October 1500 Cesare again set out for the Romagna, on the strength of Venetian friendship, with an army of 10,000 men. Pandolfo Malatesta of See also:Rimini and Giovanni Sforza of See also:Pesaro fled, and those cities opened their See also:gates to Cesare.

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Faenza held out, for the See also:people were devoted to their See also:lord, Astorre Manfredi, a handsome and virtuous youth of eighteen. Manfredi surrendered in See also:April 1501, on the promise that his life should be spared; but Cesare See also:broke his word, and sent him a prisoner to Rome, where he was afterwards foully outraged and put to See also:death. After taking See also:Castel Bolognese he returned to Rome in See also:June, to take part in the Franco-See also:Spanish intrigues for the See also:partition of Naples. He was now lord of an extensive territory, and the pope created him duke of Romagna. His See also:cruelty, his utter want of See also:scruple, and his good See also:fortune made him a terror to all See also:Italy. His avidity was insatiable and he could See also:brook no opposition; but, unlike his father, he was morose, silent and unsympathetic. His next conquests were See also:Camerino and See also:Urbino, but his See also:power was now greatly shaken by the See also:conspiracy of La Magione (a See also:castle near See also:Perugia where the plotters met). Several of the princes deposed by him, the Orsinis, and some of his own captains, such as Vitellozzo See also:Vitelli (q.v.), Oliverotto da See also:Fermo, and G. P. Baglioni, who had been given estates but feared to lose them, joined forces to conspire against the Borgias. Risings broke out at Urbino and in Romagna, and the papal troops were defeated; Cesare could find no See also:allies, and it seemed as though all Italy was about to turn against the hated See also:family, when the French king promised help, and this was enough to frighten the confederates into coming to terms. Most of them had shown very little political or military skill, and several were ready to betray each other.

Phoenix-squares

But Cesare, while trusting no one, proved a match for them all. During his operations in See also:

northern Romagna, Vitelli, Oliverotto, See also:Paolo See also:Orsini, and the duke of Grayina, to show their repentance, seized See also:Senigallia, which still held for the duke of Urbino, in his name. Cesare arrived at that See also:town, decoyed the unsuspecting condottieri into his house, had them all arrested, and two of them, Vitelli and Oliverotto, strangled (See also:December 31, 1502). He was back in Rome early in 1503, and took part in reducing the last See also:rebel Orsinis. He was gathering troops for a new expedition in central Italy in the summer, when both he and his father were simultaneously seized with See also:fever. The pope died on the 18th of August, while Cesare was still incapacitated, and this unfortunate coincidence proved his ruin; it was the one contingency for which he had not provided. On all sides his enemies See also:rose up against him; in Romagna the deposed princes prepared to regain their own, and the Orsinis raised their heads once more in Rome. Cesare's position was greatly shaken, and when he tried to browbeat the cardinals by means of See also:Don Michelotto and his bravos, they refused to be intimidated; he had to leave Rome in See also:September, trusting that the Spanish cardinals would elect a See also:candidate friendly to his house. At the See also:conclave See also:Francesco Todeschini-See also:Piccolomini, was elected as See also:Pius III., and he showed every disposition to be peaceful and respectable, but he was old and in See also:bad See also:health. Cesare's dominion at once began to fall to pieces; Guidobaldo, duke of Urbino, returned to his duchy with Venetian help; and the lords of See also:Piombino, Rimini and Pesaro soon regained their own; Cesena, defended by a See also:governor faithful to Cesare, alone held out. Pius III. died on the 18th of October 1503, and a new conclave was held. Cesare, who could still See also:count on the Spanish cardinals, wished to prevent the See also:election of Giuliano della Rovere, the enemy of his house, but the latter's chances were so greatly improved that it was necessary to come to terms with him.

On the 1st of See also:

November he was elected, and assumed the name of See also:Julius II. He showed no See also:ill-will towards Cesare, but declared that the latter's territories must be restored to the church, for " we See also:desire the See also:honour of recovering what our predecessors have wrongfully alienated." See also:Venice hoped to intervene in Romagna and establish her See also:protectorate over the principalities, but this Julius was determined to prevent, and after trying in vain to use Cesare as a means of keeping out the Venetians, he had him arrested. Borgia's power was now at an end, and he was obliged to surrender all his castles in Romagna See also:save Cesena, Forli and Bettinoro, whose See also:governors refused to accept an See also:order of surrender from a See also:master who was a prisoner. Finally, it was agreed that if Cesare were set at See also:liberty he would surrender the castles; this having been accomplished, he departed for Naples, where the Spaniards were in See also:possession. The Spanish governor, Gonzalo de See also:Cordova, had given him a safe-conduct, and he was meditating fresh plans, when Gonzalo arrested him by the order of See also:Ferdinand of See also:Spain as a disturber of the See also:peace of Italy (May 1504). In August he was sent to Spain, where he remained a prisoner for two years; in November 1506 he made his See also:escape, and fled to the See also:court of his brother-in-law, the king of Navarre, under whom he took service. While besieging the castle of Viana, held by the rebellious count of Lerin, he was killed (See also:March 12, 1507). Cesare Borgia was a type of the adventurers with which the Italy of the See also:Renaissance swarmed, but he was cleverer and more unscrupulous than his rivals. His methods of conquest were ferocious and treacherous; but once the conquest was made he governed his subjects with firmness and See also:justice, so that his See also:rule was preferred to the anarchy of factions and local despots. But he was certainly not a See also:man of See also:genius, as has See also:long been imagined, and his success was chiefly due to the support of the papacy; once his father was dead his career was at an end, and he could no Ionger See also:play a prominent part in Italian affairs. His fall proved on how unsound a basis his See also:system had been built up. The See also:chief authorities for the life of Cesare Borgia are the same as those of Alexander VI., especially M.

See also:

Creighton's See also:History of the Papacy, vol. v. (See also:London, 1897) ; F. See also:Gregorovius's Geschichte der Stadi Rom, vol. vii. (See also:Stuttgart, 1881); and P. See also:Villari's See also:Machiavelli (London 1892) ; also C. Yriarte, Cesar Borgia (See also:Paris, 1889), an admirable piece of See also:writing; See also:Schubert-Soldern, See also:Die Borgia and ihre Zeit (See also:Dresden, 1902), which contains the latest discoveries on the subject; and E. Alvisi, Cesare Borgia, Duca di Romagna (Imola, 1878). (L.

End of Article: BORGIA, CESARE

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