The vilified reputation of Cesare Borgia
‘Here in a little earth Lies one whom all did fear, One whose hands dispensed both peace and war. Oh, you that go in search of things deserving praise, If you would praise the worthiest, Then let your journey end here, Nor tremble to go further.’ These were the words the bishop of Calahorra read […]
Was Leonardo da Vinci ever Cesare Borgia’s hostage?
A newly released tv series produced by Italian Lux Vide in collaboration with Rai Fiction makes an attempt to tell the story of one of history’s greatest artists: Leonardo da Vinci. Heartthrob Aidan Turner plays the role of a heavily tormented Leonardo who considers life a burden, and art as a means to escape it. In the […]
How did Cesare Borgia really feel about resigning his cardinalate?
On 17 August 1498, to the horror of the assembled Curia in Rome and the Catholic Kings in Spain, Cardinal Cesare Borgia (aged 23) humbly told the few cardinals present that he had never heard ‘the call of God’ and that his father, Pope Alexander VI, had pushed him into a clerical career. He sincerely […]
