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The Borja Family, Universal Valencians

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The Borja Family, Universal Valencians THE BORJA FAMILY, UNIVERSAL VALENCIANS COURTYARD, PAlAU DUCN. GANDIA DURINGTHE FIFTEENTH AND SIXTEENTH CENTURIES, THE BORJAFAMILY WIELDED POLITICAL, CULTURAL AND RELIGIOUS POWER OVER RENAISSANCEROME. ACCOUNTS OF THEIR LIVES, MIXING FACT AND FICTION, HAVE GIVEN RISE TO A CONTROVERSY OF ENORMOUS PROPORTIONS. PALAU DUCAL. GANDIA mongst the families our country branch of the family settled in Xativa a united Italy. But the death of Calixtus has given to history there is no and began to prosper after taking the III caused a reaction in Rome against . question that the most univer- side of King Peter the Ceremonious in the Borias and Pere Lluís was forced to sally known is the Boria family, espe- the War against the "Unió". This was flee the city. He died shortly after- cially under the ltalianized form of their the start of an ascent which was to take wards, leaving his immense fortune to surname, Borgia. Recently, as part of off when one member of the family, the his brother Roderic. the events surrounding the 1994 "Octo- Bishop of Valencia Alfons de Boria Roderic, who by then had been made a ber" Awards, a symposium was held on ( 1 378- 14581, a man with extraordinary cardinal, managed to withstand the dif- the Borias in which a number of specia- powers of diplomacy, travelled to ltaly ficulties of the moment and with the help lists discussed the main points of the with Alfons V and ,eventually came to of his money, so they say, was elected political and family life of this Valencian occupy the Papal throne with the name Pope in 1492 with the name Alexander clan which, amongst others, produced Calixtus 111 (1455). His coronation was VI. Before and after he was crowned two popes, a saint and such well known the unexpected result of the differences Pope, Roderic had a series of chil- characters as Cesare Borgia and his sis- between two of the most influential dren, amongst them Pere Lluis (c. ter Lucrezia. At the same time, the fourth families in Rome at that time, the Orsinis 1458-14881, Cesar, or Cesare, (c. volume of Father Miquel Batllori's Com- and the Colonnas. 1475-15071, Joan (c. 1475- 1497) and plete Works, La família Boria (Edicions The new Pope surrounded himself with Lucrecia, or Lucrezia, ( 1480- 1 5 1 91, by Tres i Quatre) was presented. This book people he could trust and placed two of Vanozza Catanei. In 1485, Pere Lluís takes a fresh look at the history of this his nephews in the papa1 court: Pere bought the Duchy of Gandia from King family without the usual preiudices and Lluís (c. 1430-1458) and Roderic (c. Ferdinand the Catholic and married preconceived notions. 143 1-1 503). Pere Lluís became captain Maria Enriquez, the King's cousin. But The Borjas were originally from Ara- general of the pontifical armies. Not a Pere Lluis died young and duchy and gon and settled in the region of Va- few ltalians commented that his aspira- wife pássed into the hands of his broth- lencia during the twelfth century. One tion was to achieve a royal crown over er Joan, who was murdered in 1497. MOUDING, PAlAU DUCAL. GANDIA At that point, the Dukes of Gandia cut before he was twenty-, gave up the administration and restoring cities and themselves off completely from ltalian cloth and moved to the court of Louis XII fortresses. The architect he assigned to affairs and settled down definitively in in France, where he received the title of carry out this task was the great Leo- the capital of la Safor. This branch in- Duke of Valentinois and married Carlo- nardo da Vinci. But the death of Alexan- cludes such notables as the fourth Duke ta dlAlbret. Then, with the help of the der put an end to al1 his hopes. The rise of Gandia ígrandson of Joanl, Saint King of France and 'the money from the to the Papal throne of one of his politi- Francis of Boria and the Viceroy of Popacy, he embarked on the conquest cal enemies, Cardinal Giuliano delle Peru, Francesc de Boria i Aragó of Romagna, the first step on the way to Rovere, as Julius II, was the final blow to (C. 1 577- 1658). the formation of a kingdom in central his dreams. The new Pope ordered his Meanwhile, in Rome, the rest of Alexan- Italy. Shortly after this, he took Urbino, detention in Ostia and forced him to der Vl's children (who, in spite of having at the same time as the Pope granted return, one by one, al1 his possessions adapted their surname to the ltalian him the title of Duke of Romagna. All in Romagna. From there he went to Na- spelling, Borgia, still used Catalan as these victories, achieved either through ples, where at the Pope's instigation he their everyday language, even in cor- force or cunning, aroused the admira- was arrested by Gonzalo Fernández de respondencel, followed a brief but bril- tion of Machiavelli, who saw in him a Cordoba, who had him sent back to the liant trajectory which led them for a few man of talent able to bring about lberian Peninsula. Cesare remained in years to be the most powerful family in something as ambitious as the dream of prison for some time, until he escaped Italy, but which started a rapid decline a unified Italy. Machiavelli's admiration from the castle of la Mota and took for Cesare Borgia was such that it in- refuge in the court of his brother-in-law, -,. following the death of Alexander VI in .:r, 1503. spired him to write the book which for the king of Navarre. Shortly afterwards 'e< CTr:,-.-. .b Cesare, who at first devoted himself to years was almost required reading for he died from the wounds received in a .;?a career in the Church -he was Bishop any man of state: The Prince. skirmish. of Pamplona at the age of sixteen and Following the conquest, Cesare started For her part, at the age of thirteen Lu- - Archbishop of Valencia ond a cardinal on the iob of organising a centralized crezia was married to Giovanni Sforza PALAU DUCAL. GANDl by her father Alexander VI, a marriage third time, on this occasion to Alfonso Maria Bellonci. Her graceful female which was later invalidated by the Pope dlEste, son and heir of the Duke of Fer- figure has been made the odious pro- himself on the grounds of the husband's rara. When she moved to her new tagonist of the works of great writers impotence. In August 1498, she was home in Ferrara, Lucrezia broke for like Victor Hugo, Alexandre Dumas and married for a second time, to Alfonso, ever with Rome and began a completely Guillaume Apollinaire, not to mention Prince of Bisceglie, the bastard of the new life far from the political interests of musicians such as Gaetano Donizetti, royal family of Naples. Following the her father and brother, who had used who amongst other pieces composed a alliance of Cesare with the French, ene- her as an instrument of their ambition. famous opera with the name of the mies of the Neapolitans, Alexander Vl's She was made Duchess in 1505 and daughter of Alexander VI: lucrezia Bor- son had his brother-in-law murdered so won everybody's affection and respect gia. The cinema has also found in this as to rid himself of a possible obstacle at the centre of a brilliant court surroun- family -and especially in Lucrezia- a to his policy of unconditional alliance ded by artists like Pietro Bembo and the world full of suggestive ideas worthy with France. It seems to have been great ltalian poet Ludovico Ariosto, of the silver screen. Without meaning during Lucrezia's period of widowhood the author who praises the figure of to be exhaustive, there is Richard spent in the Vatican -where on three this lady in the greatest work of po- Oswald's Lucrezia Borgia ( 19921, Abel occasions she took over the administra- etry of the ltalian Renaissance, Orlan- Gance's lucr&ceBorgia (19351, Mitchell tion of Church affairs during her father's do furioso. After 151 2, though, she Leisen's Bride of Vengeance ( 19491, absence- that she acquired her reputa- withdrew from court life and began and Christian-Jaque's lucrece Borgia tion as a libertine and loose-liver. This a discreet existence which lasted until ( 19531. was also the time when the mysterious her death in 15 19 as a result of a mis- Only Lucrezia, then, was saved from the "Roman .childmwas born (if it ever was carriage. wholesale wreck of the rest of the fam- born1, supposedly the fruit of her inces- Lucrezia Borgia's historical reputation, ily, and her court became the refuge tuous affair with her own father. In De- though, is entirely undeserved, as her for several members of her dynasty, cember 1501, she was married for a biographers have shown, especially amongst them some of Cesare's bas- ..-. v -1 1. - - - - -. -1:_-_ - -. -. - 'a 0 DECORATIVE CERAMICS. PALAU DUCAL. GANDIA tard sons. For his part, Jofré, one of ing to defend their name. The truth, outburst of Roman hatred was ad- Lucrezia's younger brothers, and Rode- though, probably lies half-way between dressed explicitly against "the Catalans", ric, a son from her second marriage, these two extremes. The Borgias could as they were commonly known in the retired to the kingdom of Naples, where well have been as bad as they appear eterna1 city. Finally, we have to remember they held the titles respectively of Prince in certain accounts accusing them of cor- that many historians have been tempted of Squillace and Duke of Bisceglie.
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