August 21, 1909. THE HOSPITAL. 545

Medical Antiquities. .

THE MYSTERY OF THE BORGIA POISON. Tradition has linked the name of Borgia with circumstances, which some chroniclers attribute to lurid secret stories of crime and poisoning mingled poison, while others declare his death was due to a with the romance of the Middle Much Ages. has tertian ague. Muratori quotes many authorities to been this was written concerning powerful family, which prove that the death of Alexander not caused came into notoriety in the time of Pope Calixtus III. by poison, and the balance of evidence certainly about 1455. recent the year From research into the seems in favour of the theory that, despite all his chronicles of the period it would appear that some crimes, Alexander VI. died from a natural cause, of its were so as members not black tradition has which was probably a fever of virulent type. painted them, and many of the crimes attributed to It is reasonable to assume that many an indi- them cannot be altogether proved. But few tradi- vidual whose death is said to have been due to tions are a is little without germ of truth, and there poison, merely fell a victim to one of the diseases that some were of sinis- doubt of the Borgias guilty that were ever rife in the cities in the Middle Ages, ter were too common in the times deeds, which only which arose from the insanitary conditions in mainly which they lived. under which the people lived. The was of and family Spanish origin, migrated An inspection of many of the old Italian palaces to Italy, the first famous member being Bodrigo, will confirm the opinion, that typhus and other viru- who was born in 1431. He first became a soldier, lent forms of fever might have been readily con- but afterwards, through the influence of his relative tracted under the conditions in which their inmates entered the and rose to Calixtus, priesthood, finally lived, with a total lack of proper ventilation and be the head of the Church under the title of Pope ordinary sanitary necessities. It is true that many Alexander VI. He had five children Vanozza de by persons accused of poisoning did under torture fre- Cattanei?namely, Pier Luigi, who died in infancy, quently admit their guilt, but such confessions must Giovanni Duke of Giffredo Count of Gandia, Cariati, generally be regarded as unreliable. Cesare, afterwards Duke of Yalentinois, and Lu- At the time of his father's death Cesare Borgia crezia, who eventually became Duchess of Ferrara. was sick in bed, his illness, it is said, being caused was but fifteen of her While Lucrezia years age by swallowing a portion of the poisoned sweetmeats father, then Cardinal, betrothed her to a Spanish which cost his father his life. Cesare, it is related, but on the he gentleman; obtaining pontificate partook of the poisoned sweetmeats in error, and off the with the evident of broke engagement, object omitted to carry out the advice of Macchiavelli his to a man of marrying daughter higher rank, always to carry an antidote with him. More pro- and on June Lucrezia was married to 12, 1493, bably he was suffering from an attack of the same Giovanni Sforza, Lord of Pesaro. The marriage fever which his father had contracted. was not means a and at the end by any happy one, His death was lamented at least by one person, of was the who had four years it dissolved by Pope, and that was his sister Lucrezia, who at once set other motives in view, for he soon arranged a out for the Monastery at the Corpo di Cristo to offer and Alfonso Duke of marriage between Lucrezia prayers for Ms soul, where she remained two Bisceglie, a natural son of Alfonso II., King of nights. Naples. This marriage took place in 1498. Soon One or two entries in the book of her household after the birth her the her of first child, Duke, expenses are not without interest. In 1507 : "To husband, was attacked by several men and severely Maestro Ludovico, to her physician Highness," wounded. Lucrezia is said to have nursed him 110 lire for the balance of his salary." On the . back to but in her absence the Duke was health, 31st of December, 240 lire as a year's salary for murdered, it is said, at the instance of Cesare her Highness's physician, Maestro Ludovico, at the his brother-in-law. Borgia, rate of 20 lire a month." Surely a very modest After her husband's death Lucrezia retired for a stipend for a physician to a Duchess ? time to On her return to Nepi. Bome she appears Patroness of poets and painters, Lucrezia made to acted as have private secretary to her father the herself popular in Ferrara. In the Library of but in about twelve months' Pope, time her be- Modeno is a list of her magnificent jewels which the son trothal to Alfonso of Este, elder of the Duke she sold to free her husband from the debts he con- of was announced. Ferrara, tracted during the wars in defence of his territories. has been accused of Lucrezia being guilty of the Many of her letters, still extant, show that during worst that of secret possible crimes, including poison- these troublous times the relief of the poor, sick, but there is no historical ing, practically proof of the and needy was Lucrezia's constant care. She died truth of these-traditions. There is little doubt that during her confinement on June 21, 1519. The actions of her many of the infamous brother Cesare accouchement had been long and difficult, and the were reflected upon her. On December 20, 1502, officers and servants of her household were clus- the marriage of Lucrezia with Alfonso of Este was tered at the foot of the grand staircase leading to her she performed by proxy, and shortly afterwards left room. Great fears were entertained as to her re- Bome to take her residence in Ferrara. up covery, and they waited in breathless silence for In the summer of the 1503 Alexan- year Pope every sound from the apartment. At length der died under VI., Lucrezia's father, mysterious Maestro Alberti, the Court Apothecary, was seen 546 THE HOSPITAL. August 21, 1909. descending the staircase with a jug in his hand. In connection with the Borgia poison there is a All forward to ask him where he was going. curious story that the secret of its preparation pressed " He replied significantly, To get some rose-water perished with the Due Riaro-Sforza, who died in to wash the body of the Duchess." Paris about fifty years ago. Before his death, one According to tradition, the Borgia family are evening at the opera, the Duke confided to a distin- credited with the knowledge of a secret poison said guished critic, who occupied the neighbouring stall, to be of a specially potent type, which they em- that he still possessed the secret of the famous ployed to remove from their path any who opposed poison, although for centuries it had lain idle in the them. Many stories are related of this celebrated family archives. Its composition was, he added, venom, and some early writers go so far as to record simpler than was generally supposed, and not long the method of its preparation. According to one afterwards he told his friends that, feeling age ad- chronicler, it is said to have been prepared by vancing and having no direct heirs, he had thought cutting open a pig, powdering me carcass thickly it best to burn the recipe lest it might fall into bad with after which it was left to hands. arsenic, decompose. " The liquid collected from the putrefying mass was Baron Corvo, in his Chronicles of the Borgias," then collected, and formed the substance used. scouts the idea that the family possessed any such Another states, a bear was killed, then cut open and secret, and denies that the venom ever existed. The treated in a similar manner, and the liquid that probability is, that if the Borgias ever found it dripped from it formed the poison. necessary to use a poison for nefarious purposes This method of preparing a venom was very pro- they employed arsenic, which was commonly used bably used by some Italian poisoners, and was in Italy at that period. The fact that Cesare known at that period. The combination of the Borgia's signet ring, which is still in existence, animal poison contained in the products of putre- contains a secret receptacle, which may easily have faction, together with arsenic, would no doubt been used to carry arsenic, goes far to substan- furnish a venom of a very powerful nature, but tiate this conjecture, and is the strongest evidence whether the Borgia family ever used such a poison we have that he at least used some poisonous sub- there is no evidence to prove. stance to further his evil designs.