Cesare Borgia was a Spanish-Italian cardinal and condottiero, an illegitimate son of Pope Alexander VI and member of the Spanish-Aragonese House of Borgia. His fight for power was a major inspiration for The Prince by Niccolò Machiavelli.
Lucrezia Borgia was an Italian noblewoman of the House of Borgia who was the illegitimate daughter of Pope Alexander VI and Vannozza dei Cattanei. She reigned as the governor of Spoleto, a position usually held by cardinals, in her own right.
Pope Alexander VI was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 11 August 1492 until his death in 1503. Born into the prominent Borgia family in Xàtiva in the Kingdom of Valencia under the Crown of Aragon, Rodrigo studied law at the University of Bologna. He was ordained deacon and made a cardinal in 1456 after the election of his uncle as Pope Callixtus III, and a year later he became vice-chancellor of the Catholic Church. He proceeded to serve in the Curia under the next four popes, acquiring significant influence and wealth in the process. In 1492, Rodrigo was elected pope, taking the name Alexander VI.
The House of Sforza was a ruling family of Renaissance Italy, based in Milan. Sforza rule began with the family's acquisition of the Duchy of Milan following the extinction of the Visconti family in the mid-15th century and ended with the death of the last member of the family's main branch, Francesco II Sforza, in 1535.
The House of Borgia was a Spanish noble family, which rose to prominence during the Italian Renaissance. They were from Xàtiva, Kingdom of Valencia, the surname being a toponymic from the town of Borja, then in the Crown of Aragon, in Spain.
Giovanni Borgia, 2nd Duke of Gandía (1476–1497) was the second born and the second son of Pope Alexander VI and Vannozza Cattanei and a member of the House of Borgia. He was the brother of Cesare, Gioffre, and Lucrezia Borgia. He was murdered on 14 June 1497. Even today, it is not known with certainty who was responsible for his death, although many at the time blamed his brother Cesare.
The Family is a 2001 novel written by Mario Puzo. The novel is about Pope Alexander VI and his family. Puzo spent over twenty years working on the book off and on, while he wrote others. The novel was finished by his longtime girlfriend, Carol Gino. The Family is effectively his last novel, but released two years after his death.
Alfonso d'Este was Duke of Ferrara during the time of the War of the League of Cambrai.
Prince of Foxes is a 1947 historical novel by Samuel Shellabarger, following the adventures of the fictional Andrea Orsini, a captain in the service of Cesare Borgia during his conquest of the Romagna.
Giovanni Sforza d'Aragona was an Italian condottiero, lord of Pesaro and Gradara from 1483 until his death. He is best known as the first husband of Lucrezia Borgia. Their marriage was annulled on claims of his impotence in March 1497.
Giovanni Borgia, known as the Infans Romanus, was born into the House of Borgia in secret and is of unclear parentage. Speculations of the child's parentage involve either Lucrezia Borgia with her alleged lover, Perotto Calderon or Cesare Borgia, or Pope Alexander VI as his father. Cesare Borgia's biographer Rafael Sabatini says that the truth is fairly clear: Alexander fathered the child with an unknown Roman woman.
Alfonso of Aragon, Duke of Bisceglie and Prince of Salerno of the House of Trastámara, was the illegitimate son of Alfonso II King of Naples and his mistress Trogia Gazzella. His father, cousin of King Ferdinand II of Aragon, abdicated in favour of his legitimate son Ferdinand II of Naples.
Sancha of Aragon, or Sancia of Aragon, was an illegitimate daughter of King Alfonso II of Naples and his mistress Trogia Gazzella. In 1494, she was married to Gioffre Borgia, youngest son of Pope Alexander VI. Upon her marriage, she and her husband were created Prince and Princess of Squillace, a province in the south of Italy. For the majority of their marriage, Sancha and her husband lived in the Vatican with the rest of his family. There Sancha became friends with her sister-in-law Lucrezia, and allegedly had affairs with both of her husband's older brothers: Juan Borgia, 2nd Duke of Gandia, also known as Giovanni Borgia, and Cesare Borgia. Her affair with Juan is sometimes said to be the reason for Cesare's alleged murder of Juan in 1497.
Anna Maria Sforza was Hereditary Princess of Ferrara as the first wife of Alfonso I d'Este, future Duke of Ferrara. She was the second legitimate daughter of Galeazzo Maria Sforza, Duke of Milan, and his second wife, Bona of Savoy.
Gioffre Borgia, also known as Goffredo (Italian), or Jofré Borja (Valencian), was the youngest illegitimate son of Pope Alexander VI and Vannozza dei Cattanei, and a member of the House of Borgia. He was the youngest brother of Cesare, Giovanni, and Lucrezia Borgia.
Bianca Riario was an Italian noblewoman and regent, Marchioness of San Secondo by marriage to Troilo I de' Rossi, and regent of the marquisate and county of San Secondo for her son Pier Maria during his minority between 1521 and 1522. She was the eldest child and only daughter of Caterina Sforza by the latter's first husband, Girolamo Riario, a nephew of Pope Sixtus IV.
The Borgias is a historical drama television series created by Neil Jordan; it debuted in 2011 and was canceled in 2013.
Borgia is a historical drama television series created by Tom Fontana for Canal+, ZDF, ORF, and Sky Italia. The show recounts the Borgia family's rise to power and subsequent domination of the Papal States during the Renaissance.
Lucrezia Borgia is a 1922 German silent historical film directed by Richard Oswald and starring Conrad Veidt, Liane Haid, Paul Wegener, and Albert Bassermann. It was based on a novel by Harry Sheff, and portrayed the life of the Renaissance Italian aristocrat Lucrezia Borgia (1480–1519). Botho Hoefer and Robert Neppach worked as the film's art directors, designing the period sets needed. It was shot at the Tempelhof Studios in Berlin. Karl Freund was one of the cinematographers. Famed French director Abel Gance remade the film in 1935.
