Lentorama 2010: Two Millennia of Pointy Hats

Day 31: Alexander VI: 1492-1503)

If you've ever heard someone make a disparaging reference to the Borgia popes, you can thank Alexander. He started out in the church with a rapid rise through the ranks, thanks to his uncle, Calixtus III. He would serve in a variety of curial appointments under five popes, gaining great wealth. This came in handy during the conclave of 1492, as there was heavy use of bribery by the leading candidates, which included Borgia and members of the Sforza and della Rovere families.

While Alexander started off by improving administration, he would soon drag the papacy to new depths. He fathered four children, and made life in the papal court increasingly sumptuous while the people of Rome grew poorer. He would also add a dozen new cardinals, many of whom were members of his family or related to friends or, in one case, a mistress.

Alexander's political double dealing would lead to a French invasion of Italy, culminating in the French entering Rome in 1494. The various Italian states, with help from Spain and the Holy Roman Empire, would fight to drive them out, but in the process weakened his own position. He would turn to confiscating property from nobles based on trumped up charges, but would face opposition from several fronts - powerful Roman families, the reformer Savonarola, and even Alexander's own son, Cesare. He would engage in further military adventures in Italy, aligning again with France, and at one point he left his daughter Lucrezia as regent over the Holy See while he oversaw the fighting.

As time moved on, Alexander's machinations would help to increase Borgia power, as he changed sides as best fit his needs and used confiscations to fund his plans. This continued right up to his death, an incredibly gruesome affair that started with a fever and then continued to skin discoloration and bleeding profusely from places where blood should never profuse. Alexander's body, already badly damaged from his illness, decomposed quickly and bloated significantly. Johann Burchard, the papal master of ceremonies, recounted that he had to jump on Alexander's body to fit it into its coffin. The body was then refused entry into St. Peter's, with the mass only occurring there after papal staff forced the issue. The mass was sparsely attended, and afterward the body was laid to rest in the Spanish national church in Rome rather than in St. Peter's.

Alexander's reign wasn't all bad - he was a patron of the arts and architecture, and he was much more tolerant of Jews than previous popes - but his plotting and personal failings have left his as the poster child for dissolute popes.