The Borgias and Their Enemies: 1431-1519 » (Reprint)

Christopher Hibbert has written more than fifty acclaimed books, including The Rise and Fall of the House of Medici and Rome: The Biography of a City. A leading popular historian whose works reflect meticulous scholarship, he is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. He is married with three children and lives in Oxfordshire.

The first major biography of the Borgias in thirty years, Christopher Hibbert's latest history brings the family and the world they lived in—the glittering Rome of the Italian Renaissance—to life.

The name Borgia is synonymous with the corruption, nepotism, and greed that were rife in Renaissance Italy. The powerful, voracious Rodrigo Borgia, better known to history as Pope Alexander VI, was the central figure of the dynasty. Two of his seven papal offspring also rose to power and fame—his daughter Lucrezia and her brother Cesare, who murdered Lucrezia's husband and served as the model for Machiavelli's The Prince. The Borgias were notorious for seizing power, wealth, land, and titles through bribery, marriage, and murder. The story of the family's dramatic rise from its Spanish roots to the highest position in Italian society is an absorbing tale.

Publishers Weekly

Acclaimed British historian Hibbert's latest work focuses on three members of the notorious Borgia family of Spain, who came to power in Rome with the election of Alfonso de Borgia (1378-1458), the scholarly bishop of Valencia, to the papacy as Calixtus III. Calixtus's nephew Cardinal Rodrigo Borgia (1431-1503) was known for decadence as well as keen administrative skills. Cardinal Rodrigo played a key role in electing Pope Sixtus IV, had a lucrative career as vice chancellor under five popes, fathered several children and bribed his way to becoming pope himself, as Alexander VI, in 1492. His children were infamous, including the unscrupulous military leader and politician Cesare (1475-1507), who inspired Machiavelli's The Prince and murdered his own brother and brother-in-law to achieve his goals, while his daughter Lucrezia (1480-1519) overcame an incestuous reputation to become a respected patron of the arts as duchess of Ferrara. The book is a heavily researched and generally engrossing account of a famous dynasty, but readers may wish Hibbert (The Rise and Fall of the House of Medici) had used a more assertive and analytical voice to accompany the detailed descriptions of Renaissance life. (Oct.)

Ch. 1 The Crumbling City 1

Ch. 2 Elections and Celebrations 10

Ch. 3 A Man of Endless Virility 20

Ch. 4 Servant of the Servant of God 36

Ch. 5 Marriages and Alliances 43

Ch. 6 The French in Rome 54

Ch. 7 The Conquest of Naples 74

Ch. 8 The Borgia Bull 83

Ch. 9 Father and Children 92

Ch. 10 The Dominican Friar 99

Ch. 11 Murder 105

Ch. 12 Another Husband for Lucrezia 111

Ch. 13 The Unwanted Cardinal's Hat 121

Ch. 14 Cesare's French Bride 128

Ch. 15 Conquests 139

Ch. 16 Jubilee 153

Ch. 17 Duke of the Romagna 168

Ch. 18 The Naples Campaign 179

Ch. 19 The Duke and the Borgia Girl 184

Ch. 20 Frolics and Festivities 198

Ch. 21 The New Bride 205

Ch. 22 Castles and Condottieri 221

Ch. 23 The Death of the Pope 244

Ch. 24 Conclaves 254

Ch. 25 Cesare at Bay 264

Ch. 26 Duchess of Ferrara 274

Ch. 27 The End of the Affair 290

Ch. 28 The Death of the Duchess 302

Ch. 29 Saints and Sinners 311

Bibliography 315

Index 321