Pope Alexander VI
Pope Alexander VI is the most notorious of the Renaissance popes and fathered at least seven acknowledged children. Born Rodrigo Borgia in Xàtiva in Aragon in 1431, he owed his career to his uncle, who became Pope Callixtus III and made him a cardinal at twenty-five and vice-chancellor of the church the following year — an office he held for thirty-five years and which made him extremely rich. He was elected in August 1492 in a conclave in which the buying of votes was blatant even by contemporary standards; four mule-loads of silver were reportedly delivered to a rival cardinal. He had four children by Vannozza dei Cattanei — Cesare, Giovanni, Lucrezia and Gioffre — and acknowledged them openly, advancing them by marriage and war. Cesare was made a cardinal at eighteen, resigned to become a soldier, and conquered the Romagna as a papal state with French help; Machiavelli, who observed him closely, used him as the model in The Prince. Lucrezia was married three times for political advantage, and one husband was strangled by Cesare's men. He was a capable administrator and a patron of Pinturicchio, Michelangelo and Bramante, and he divided the newly discovered world between Spain and Portugal by the bull Inter caetera in 1493, which led to the Treaty of Tordesillas. He had Savonarola excommunicated and executed in Florence in 1498. He died in August 1503 of what was probably malaria, though poison was assumed at the time. His body swelled so badly that it reportedly had to be forced into the coffin.
- Lived: 1431 CE – 1503 CE
- Nationality: Spanish
- Roles: pope, head_of_state
