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A review by courtneydoss
The Borgias: Power and Depravity in Renaissance Italy by Paul Strathern
4.0
The Borgias are truly fascinating - a Spanish born family that infiltrated the papacy with their underhanded dealings and in so doing became one of the most powerful families in the entirety of Renaissance Italy, right up until their spectacular downfall at the hands of a failed military campaign. Rodrigo Borgia, the patriarch and Pope Alexander VI, built the family up to great heights, but it is his son Cesare Borgia and his daughter Lucrezia who have fascinated modern history lovers for a very long time.
This fascination, as pretty much anyone can tell you, comes from the rumors that Lucrezia Borgia and her brother Cesare were involved in an incestuous relationship. Some would tell you that they were the original Cersei and Jaime Lannister, but the reality of the situation is not so scandalous. In all likelihood, the rumors that they were sleeping with one another were a combination of malicious gossip by the enemies of the Borgias, the fact that their Spanish displays of affection were foreign and therefore creepy to the Italian onlookers, and that Cesare Borgia was incredibly possessive of his sister. Even the author of this book theorizes that Cesare had at least some incesty feelings about Lucrezia, subconscious or otherwise, but the likelihood that it was a consummated urge on either of their parts is incredibly unlikely.
Strathern also takes on the mysterious case of Infans Romanus, the child Borgia who was declared the child of Cesare Borgia, and then the Pope, and always in the company of Lucrezia Borgia. At first, Strathern states that the child is likely Pope Alexander VI's child, claimed by Cesare initially because the Pope shouldn't have been fathering babies during his papacy, but then reclaimed for political reasons later on. However, he pokes holes in his own theory later on by saying that actually the child was Lucrezia's, born in a convent during the annulment proceedings for her first marriage on the grounds of nonconsummation, and the result of Lucrezia's affair with Perotto Calderon. I'm inclined to agree with this second theory, as it makes the most sense to me personally, but truthfully it cannot be proven either way at this point.
The concept behind this biography of the Borgias is wrapped around Machiavelli's theories of Virtu e Fortuna, or the characteristics that the Borgias show that made them powerful as well as the luck that propelled them ahead. Throughout different sections of the book, this idea is brought up again and again, the author highlighting moments of particular strength on the part of Cesare or Pope Alexander VI, and then pointing out moments where it could have gone entirely wrong if not the really good luck.
This book was informative and I enjoyed it. It focuses quite a lot on the military campaigns of Cesare in the later chapters, which seemed a bit dull to me. My interest in the Borgias is largely psychological. I find them to be a fascinating set of characters, and so their specific military tactics just bore me. That isn't the fault of the author, but did inhibit my enjoyment toward the end. There was also a lack of Lucrezia in the book, largely because of this fact. There wasn't much mention of the things that Lucrezia was doing or dealing with at the time because the focus was so much on the politics of Cesare and Rodrigo. That makes sense, but as Lucrezia is the character that most interests me of the three, that also took away from my enjoyment.
All in all, this was a solid introduction to a fascinating family from the Italian Renaissance.
This fascination, as pretty much anyone can tell you, comes from the rumors that Lucrezia Borgia and her brother Cesare were involved in an incestuous relationship. Some would tell you that they were the original Cersei and Jaime Lannister, but the reality of the situation is not so scandalous. In all likelihood, the rumors that they were sleeping with one another were a combination of malicious gossip by the enemies of the Borgias, the fact that their Spanish displays of affection were foreign and therefore creepy to the Italian onlookers, and that Cesare Borgia was incredibly possessive of his sister. Even the author of this book theorizes that Cesare had at least some incesty feelings about Lucrezia, subconscious or otherwise, but the likelihood that it was a consummated urge on either of their parts is incredibly unlikely.
Strathern also takes on the mysterious case of Infans Romanus, the child Borgia who was declared the child of Cesare Borgia, and then the Pope, and always in the company of Lucrezia Borgia. At first, Strathern states that the child is likely Pope Alexander VI's child, claimed by Cesare initially because the Pope shouldn't have been fathering babies during his papacy, but then reclaimed for political reasons later on. However, he pokes holes in his own theory later on by saying that actually the child was Lucrezia's, born in a convent during the annulment proceedings for her first marriage on the grounds of nonconsummation, and the result of Lucrezia's affair with Perotto Calderon. I'm inclined to agree with this second theory, as it makes the most sense to me personally, but truthfully it cannot be proven either way at this point.
The concept behind this biography of the Borgias is wrapped around Machiavelli's theories of Virtu e Fortuna, or the characteristics that the Borgias show that made them powerful as well as the luck that propelled them ahead. Throughout different sections of the book, this idea is brought up again and again, the author highlighting moments of particular strength on the part of Cesare or Pope Alexander VI, and then pointing out moments where it could have gone entirely wrong if not the really good luck.
This book was informative and I enjoyed it. It focuses quite a lot on the military campaigns of Cesare in the later chapters, which seemed a bit dull to me. My interest in the Borgias is largely psychological. I find them to be a fascinating set of characters, and so their specific military tactics just bore me. That isn't the fault of the author, but did inhibit my enjoyment toward the end. There was also a lack of Lucrezia in the book, largely because of this fact. There wasn't much mention of the things that Lucrezia was doing or dealing with at the time because the focus was so much on the politics of Cesare and Rodrigo. That makes sense, but as Lucrezia is the character that most interests me of the three, that also took away from my enjoyment.
All in all, this was a solid introduction to a fascinating family from the Italian Renaissance.