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15 O It G I A. 



Borguk son of Cardinal Rodcrigo, (afterwards Pope Alexau- 

 ~~ ~v- ' dor VI.) by his mistress Vanozza. The year of His 

 birth is unknown ; but he was pursuing his studies 

 at Pisa when Alexander ascended the papal throne, 

 in 1492. He immediately hastened to Rome to con- 

 gratulate his father on his elevat.vn, impatient to reap 

 those honours which he had it now to his power to 

 bestow. Alexander, instead of welcoming him with 

 the warmth and exultation whicli his recent prosperi- 

 ty might naturally have inspired, received him with 

 cold formality, admonishing him to repress his rising 

 ambition, and to strive to reach preferment only by 

 the path of virtue. A reception so ill suited to the 

 aspiring temper of Ctesar, and so inconsistent with 

 the known character of his father, at once mortified 

 and surprised him. He retired in the utmost con- 

 fusion from the presence of his Holiness, and went 

 to seek consolation and advice from his mother. Va- 

 nozza exhorted, him not to be discouraged, assuring 

 him that she was well acquainted with his father's 

 intentions, and that though he thought it necessary 

 at present to' assume an appearance of moderation 

 and disinterestedness, he might confidently hope for 

 every advantage from his indulgence, and his ambition 

 Xor the aggrandisement of his family. These assu- 

 rances were immediately confirmed by the promotion 

 of Borgia, who was first made archbishop of Valen- 

 za, and, in the following year, appointed cardinal of 

 St Maria Nuova. 



Ecclesiastical preferments, however, could not sa- 

 tiate the turbulent and aspiring soul of Borgia, who 

 seemed to feel the clerical habit an irksome, though 

 a very feeble restraint, on the CKcesses to which his 

 natural depravity prompted him, and longed for some 

 temporal dominion, which might enable him to pro- 

 secute more successfully his schemes of ambition, 

 and to vield with lesi disguise to the wildest impulses 

 of his savage and impetuous temper. 



When the army, which Charles the Vlllth of 

 France led against Naples, had entered Rome, and 

 compelled the Pope to a treaty, Borgia was forced 

 to accompany the king as apostolical legate, or ra- 

 ther as hostage for the performance of the stipulated 

 conditions. Finding an opportunity, however, to make 

 his escape, the treaty was broken, and the king ob- 

 liged to abandon Italy. Vanozza having been plun- 

 dered by the French army while it lay at Rome, ex- 

 cited both Alcxand* r and Borgia to take a severe 

 revenge for her wrongs. They began by poisoning 

 Geme, brother to Bnjazct, who had fled from that 

 sult;m to Italy, as to a sanctuary, and had entered 

 into a league with the French, wlio intended, after 

 reducing Naples, to undertake an expedition against 

 -the: Turks. They next proceeded, by means of as- 

 sassins, to destroy the French who remained at Rome. 



While Alexander thus employed Caesar as the fit- 

 test instrument for the execution of his nefarious 

 schemes, he, at the same time, shewed a marked pre- 

 dilection for his eldest son Francis, on whom he con- 

 ferred all the secular dignities so much coveted by 

 Caesar, and who, through his influence, had been in- 

 vested with the dukedom of Gandia, by Ferdinand 

 king of Castile and Arragon. The hatred which 

 Caesar entertained against his brother, whom he re- 

 garded as the greatest obstacle in his career of ambi- 



tion, was further inflamed by the suspicion, that he I?,,ri : iu. 

 rivalled lum in the affections of a particular lady. v v 

 He resolved, therefore, at all hazards, to get rid of 

 so troublesome a competitor ; and accordingly hired 

 four assassins, the chief of whom was Michelotto, a 

 Spaniard, the most barbarous ruffian of the age, to 

 assassinate his brother, and throw his body into I 

 Tiber. The time which he fixed for the perpetra- 

 tion of this atrocious murder, was the eve of his , ! 

 parture for Naples, to assist at die coronation of 

 King Frederic, in his capacity of apostolic legate. 

 It is said, that when Alexander, overwhelmed with 

 grief for the death of his favourite son, caused the 

 most anxious inquiry to be made after his murder^ 

 Vanozza went to him privately to iixluce him to 

 give up the search, threatening that if he persisted, 

 he himself should perish by the same hand which had 

 destroyed his son. 



About this time, Ferdinand and Isabella complain- 

 ed, by their ambassador, of a dispensation granted by 

 the Pope, for the marriage of a nun, the only heiress 

 to the crown of Portugal, to a natural son of the late 

 king of that country, a marriage extremely prejudi- 

 cial to Ferdinand, who hoped to succeed to the Por- 

 tuguese throne. Alexander, wishing to have Ca;sar 

 married to Charlotta, daughter to the king, of Na- 

 ples, who was the near relation and faithful ally of 

 Ferdinand, saw how much his interest was concerned 

 in freeing himself from the blame of that dispensa- 

 tion. Florida, archbishop of Cosenza, was therefore 

 accused by Borgia of having forged it ; and upou 

 this charge lie was immediately thrown into pri.son, 

 where death, in a few days, released him from his I 

 merited sufferings. 



Soon after this, Louis XII., monarch of Frnnce, 

 solicited the Pope for a dispensation to divorce his 

 wife Jane, and to marry Anne of Burgundy, widow 

 of the late King Charles. Borgia eagerly seized this 

 opportunity of promoting his ambitious designs; and 

 having prevailed with his father to entrust him with 

 the dispensation, he resigned his dignity as cardinal, 

 and proceeded as ambassador to the French court. 

 He was cordially received by Louis, who immediate- 

 ly created him Duke of Valeutinois, granted him 

 an ample pension, and appointed him to the command 

 of a body of cavalry. With the view of extorting 

 still more important favours, Borgia retained the dis- 

 pensation for some time in his possession, pretending 

 that he had not yet received it from Rome, but was 

 in daily expectation of its arrival. Louis, becoming 

 impatient, applied to the bishop of Setta, the Pope's 

 nuncio at Paris, who assured him, that, notwithstand- 

 ing the pretences of Borgia, he was certain that he 

 had brought the dispensation along with him to 

 France. Upon this, Louis convened a number of 

 divines, who authorised him to divorce his wife, and 

 to proceed, without further delay, to solemnize hi* 

 marriage with Anne of Burgundy. Borgia, finding 

 that his schemes were .baffled, was obliged, with a 

 very bad grace, to deliver the dispensation ; but the 

 discovery proved fatal to tiic nuncio, whom he car- 

 ried off by a doze of that poison which he had al- 

 ways ready for administering to those who incurred 

 his resentment, or stood in the way of his promo- 

 tion. 



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