§ 54. POPE ALEXANDER VI — BORGIA. 1492-1503. 447
Among Alexander's mistresses, after he became pope, the most famous was cardinal Farnese's sister, Julia Farnese, called for her beauty. La Bella. Infessura repeatedly refers to her as Alexander's concubine. Her legal husband was appeased by the gift of castles.
The gayeties, escapades, marriages, worldly distinctions and crimes of these children would have furnished daily material for paragraphs of a nature to satisfy the most sensational modern taste. Don Pedro Luis, Alexander's eldest son, and his three older brothers began their public careers in the service of the Spanish king, Ferdinand, who admitted them to the ranks of the higher nobility and sold Gandia, with the title of duke, to Don Pedro. This gallant young Borgia died in 1491 at the age of 30, on the eve of his journey from Rome to Spain to marry Ferdinand's cousin. His brother, Don Juan, fell heir to the estate and title of Gandia and was married with princely splendor in Barcelona to the princess to whom Don Pedro had been betrothed.
Alexander's son, Csesar Borgia, was as bad as his ambition was insolent. The annals of Rome and of the Vatican for more than a decade are filled with his impiety, his intrigues and his crimes. At the age of six, he was declared eligible for ordination. He was made protonotary and bishop of Pampeluna by Innocent VIII. At his father's election he hurried from Pisa, where he was studying, and on the day of his father's coronation was appointed archbishop of Valencia. He was then sixteen.
Don Joffre was married, at 13, to a daughter of Alfonso of Naples and was made prince of Squillace.
The personal fortunes of Alexander's daughter, Lucretia, constitute one of the notorious and tragic episodes of the 15th century.
The most sgrious foreign issue in Alexander's reign was the m^
rovius and Pastor have no doubt that it was Alexander's own child. Pastor, III. 475, says that the bull is unquestionably genuine. A satire of the year 1500 ascribes to Alexander 3 or 4 children by Julia Farnese. According to Villari, Life of Savonarola, p. 376, note, the Civilta cattolica, the papal organ at Rome, March 15, 1873, acknowledged the existence of Giovanni, as Alexander's sixth or seventh child.
448 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1517.
vasion of Qiaile&XLLLvlving-oi Fgftftefe, The introductory act in what seemed likely to be the complete transformation of Italy was the sale of Cervetri and Anguillara to Virginius Orsini for 40,000 ducatsby Franceschetto, thesonof Innocent VIII. Tliis papal scion was contented with a life of ease and retired to Florence. The transfer of these two estates was treated by the Sforza as disturbing the balance of power in the peninsula, and Ludovico and Ascanio Sforza pressed Alexander to check the influence of Ferrante, king of Naples, who was the supporter of the Orsini. Ferrante, a shrewd politician, by ministering to Alexander's passion to advance his children's fortunes, won him from the alliance with the Sforza. He promised to the pope's son, Joffre, Donna Sancia, a mere child, in marriage. Ludovico Sforza, ready to resort to any measure likely to promote his own personal ambition, invited Charles VIII. to enter Italy and make good his claim to the crown of Naples on the ground of the former Angevin possession. He also applauded the French king's announced purpose to reduce Constantinople once more to Christian dominion.
On F'errante's death, 1494, Alfonso II. was crowned king of Naples by Alexander's nephew. Cardinal Juan Borgia. Charles, then only 22, was short, deformed, with an aquiline nose and an inordinately big head. He set out for Italy at the head of a splendid army of 40,000 men, equipped with the latest inventions in artillery. Julian Rovere, who had resisted Alexander's policy and fled to Avignon, joined with other disaffected cardinals in supporting the French and accompanying the French army. Charles' march through Northern Italy was a series of easy and almost bloodless triumphs. Milan threw open its gates to Charles. So did Pisa. Before entering Florence, the king was met by Savonarola, who regarded him as the messenger appointed by God to rescue Italy from her godless condition, llome was helpless. Alexander's ambassadors, sent to treat with the invader, were either denied audience or denied satisfaction. In his desperation, the pope resorted to the Turkish sultan, Bajazet, for aid. The correspondence that passed between the supreme ruler of Christendom and the leading sovereign of the Mohammedan world was rescued from oblivion by