Genealogy John Muijsers » Cesare Borgia (1475-1507)

Personal data Cesare Borgia 

• He was born on September 13, 1475.
• Profession: hertog van Valentinois, kardinaal.
• He died on March 12, 1507, he was 31 years old.
• A child of Paus Alexander vi Borgia and Vanozza de’ Cattanei

Household of Cesare Borgia

He is married to Charlotte d' Albret.

They got married on May 10, 1499 at Blois, 41018, Loir et Cher, Centre, Frankrijk, he was 23 years old.Source 2

Notes about Cesare Borgia

Cesare Borgia (Italian pronunciation: [ˈtʃeːzare ˈbɔrdʒa]; Catalan: [ˈsɛzər ˈβɔrʒə]; Spanish: César Borja, [ˈθesar ˈβorxa]; 13 September 1475 [1] – 12 March 1507), Duke of Valentinois,[2] was an Italian[3][4] condottiero, nobleman, politician, and cardinal, whose fight for power was a major inspiration for The Prince by Machiavelli. He was the son of Pope Alexander VI (r. 1492–1503, born Rodrigo Borgia) and his long-term mistress Vannozza dei Cattanei. He was the brother of Lucrezia Borgia; Giovanni Borgia (Juan), Duke of Gandia; and Gioffre Borgia (Jofré in Valencian), Prince of Squillace.[5] He was half-brother to Don Pedro Luis de Borja (1460–88) and Girolama de Borja, children of unknown mothers.[citation needed][note 1]

After initially entering the church and becoming a cardinal on his father's election to the Papacy, he became the first person to resign a cardinalcy after the death of his brother in 1498. His father set him up as a prince with territory carved from the Papal States, but after his father's death he was unable to retain power for long. According to Machiavelli this was not due to his lack of planning for all possibilities, but his own illness.

Like many aspects of Cesare Borgia's life, the date of his birth is a subject of dispute. He was born in Rome—in either 1475 or 1476—the illegitimate son of Cardinal Roderic Llançol i de Borja, (usually known as Rodrigo Borgia), later Pope Alexander VI, and his mistress Vannozza dei Cattanei, about whom information is sparse. The Borgia family originally came from the Kingdom of Valencia, and rose to prominence during the mid-15th century; Cesare's great-uncle Alphonso Borgia (1378–1458), bishop of Valencia, was elected Pope Callixtus III in 1455.[7] Cesare's father, Pope Alexander VI, was the first pope who openly recognized his children born out of wedlock.

Stefano Infessura writes that Cardinal Borgia falsely claimed Cesare to be the legitimate son of another man—Domenico d'Arignano, the nominal husband of Vannozza dei Cattanei. More likely, Pope Sixtus IV granted Cesare a release from the necessity of proving his birth in a papal bull of 1 October 1480.

Although he was an immensely capable general and statesman, Cesare had trouble maintaining his domain without continued Papal patronage. Niccolò Machiavelli cites Cesare's dependence on the good will of the Papacy, under the control of his father, to be the principal disadvantage of his rule. Machiavelli argued that, had Cesare been able to win the favour of the new Pope, he would have been a very successful ruler. The news of his father's death (1503) arrived when Cesare was planning the conquest of Tuscany. While he was convalescing in Castel Sant'Angelo, his troops controlled the conclave.

The new pope, Pius III, supported Cesare Borgia and reconfirmed him as Gonfalonier; but after a brief pontificate of twenty-six days he died. Borgia's deadly enemy, Giuliano Della Rovere, then succeeded by dexterous diplomacy in tricking the weakened Cesare Borgia into supporting him by offering him money and continued papal backing for Borgia policies in the Romagna; promises which he disregarded upon election. He was elected as Pope Julius II to the papal dignity by the near-unanimous vote of the cardinals. Realizing his mistake by then, Cesare tried to correct the situation to his favour, but Pope Julius II made sure of its failure at every turn.

Cesare Borgia, who was facing the hostility of Ferdinand II of Aragon,[15] was betrayed while in Naples by Gonzalo Fernández de Córdoba, a man he had considered his ally, and imprisoned there, while his lands were retaken by the Papacy. In 1504 he was transferred to Spain and imprisoned first in the Castle of Chinchilla de Montearagón in La Mancha, but after an attempted escape he was moved north to the Castle of La Mota, Medina del Campo, near Segovia.[15] He did manage to escape from the Castle of La Mota with assistance, and after running across Santander, Durango and Gipuzkoa, he made it to Pamplona on 3 December 1506, and was much welcomed by King John III of Navarre,[16] who was missing an experienced military commander, ahead of the feared Castilian invasion (1512).

He recaptured Viana, Navarre, then in the hands of forces loyal to the count of Lerín, Ferdinand II of Aragon's conspiratorial ally in Navarre, but not the castle, which he then besieged. In the early morning of 11 March 1507, an enemy party of knights fled from the castle during a heavy storm. Outraged at the ineffectiveness of the siege, the Italian commander chased them only to find himself on his own. The party of knights discovered Borgia was alone, and trapped him in an ambush. Borgia received a fatal injury from a spear. He was then stripped of all his luxurious garments, valuables and a leather mask covering half his face (disfigured possibly by syphilis during his late years). Borgia was left lying naked, with just a red tile covering his genitals.

On 10 May 1499, Cesare married Charlotte of Albret (1480 – 11 March 1514). She was a sister of John III of Navarre. They were parents to a daughter, Louise Borgia, Duchess of Valentinois, (1500–1553) who first married Louis II de la Trémoille, Governor of Burgundy, and secondly Philippe de Bourbon (1499–1557), Seigneur de Busset.

Cesare was also father to at least 11 illegitimate children, among them Girolamo Borgia, who married Isabella Contessa di Carpi, and Lucrezia Borgia (the younger), who, after Cesare's death, was moved to Ferrara to the court of her aunt, the elder Lucrezia Borgia.

Do you have supplementary information, corrections or questions with regards to Cesare Borgia?
The author of this publication would love to hear from you!

Timeline Cesare Borgia

Click on the names for more info. Symbols used:  grandparents    parents    brothers/sisters    children