The March of Folly - Part 2

*Girolamo Savonarola, a Dominican Friar, was the voice of 'religious distress' and preached to many in Florence. His impulse came from revulsion at the corruption of the Church. His prophecy concerning reform and how it would follow a period of happiness and well-being for Christendom exerted a strong appeal and he became a popular speaker. He spoke with wrath upon the sins of the people and clergy. He proved to be a strong influence on those who listened.
He became politically dangerous and even ended up hailing Charles VIII as the "instrument of reform sent by the Lord of the Church."which made people perceive him a threat and he was brought to the attention of Alexander VI.

*Alexander only took action when Savonarola's denunciations became too much to ignore, he even called for a Council to remove the Pope on grounds of Simony. Alexander at first attempted to silence him and forbade him to preach. Savonarola had a negative view of the Pope so he refused and continued on with his work.  Eventually Alexander ordered Florentine authorities to silence the Dominican Friar and threatened them with the excommunicating of the whole city. Savonarola was eventually imprisoned, tortured, forced to make a confession of Heresy and hung. Public opinion at this time had obviously turned against him.

*It was around this time that the Pope had interest in conceiving marriage ties with the royal family of Naples. He anulled the marriage of his daughter to Giovanni Sforza in order for her to marry Alfonso, Neapolitan heir. Giovanni was outraged after denying the charge of 'non-consummation' and this led him to accuse the Pope of Incest (Which is interesting to note he is one individual who has accused the Pope of a crime/negative action). Tuchman then quotes:
"the tale aided the accretion of ever more lurid slanders that clustered around Alexander and gathered credibility from the vices of his son Cesare."

*In the year of Lucrezia's remarriage, Juan, Duke of Gandia and the Pope's second son (If you count Cesare being the eldest), was found stabbed to death in the Tiber. Juan was noted as having a long line of enemies, owing to papal property given to him by the Pope. No one was identified as the killer, but it was largely suspected that Cesare had done it. There was an array of reasons Cesare was suspected of murder, one reason being how Cesare felt his father favoured Juan more. However it is then quoted that: "In the bubbling stew of Rome's rumors, no depravity appeared beyond the scope of the Borgias (although historians have since absolved Cesare of the murder)."

*Alexander was deeply affected by Juan's death. He was afflicted with grief, remorse and sudden rare introspection.  The Pope later announced that "the blow he suffered was God's judgment upon him for the sins and that he resolved to amend his life and reform the church".

*In 1499, Louis XII, the new French King, returned, claiming the succession to Milan. Louis seeked annulment. Against public opinion, Alexander saw this as a way towards gold, riches and valuables. He also saw it as a window of advancement for Cesare, who had recently resigned his role as Cardinal. Alexander granted Louis' annulment and Cesare was soon able to marry.
This new alliance with France, to help advance Cesare, angered many including the rulers of Naples, Sforzas and even Spain. Alexander did not change course and continued with the partnership. The Pope was now creating himself enemies.

*Cesare eventually had a full military career with France and aimed to regain control of certain Papal States. The cost of his campaigns drained Papal revenues. He eventually instilled fear into people.
Lucrezia's husband Alfonso, was attacked by five men but escaped injured. He suspected Cesare and attempted to kill him with a bow and arrow, only to fatally miss and to be killed by Cesare's guard.
Two months later, the Pope and Cesare had a banquet in the Vatican, where dinner was served for many guests and as reported by Johann Burchard (Renaissance chronicler who recorded parts of Alexander's life) "fifty courtesans danced after dinner with his guests, at first clothed, then naked".

*Alexander's expenses emptied the treasury. In the last year of his life, Alexander had many hostilities. The Orsini were fighting Cesare and the Spanish were fighting the French. Churchmen who were concerned for the faith raised the issue of a council.
In August 1503 Alexander died age 73. Originally thought to be poison was in fact natural causes. The book then quotes "Public emotion, released as if the death of a monster, exploded in ghastly tales of a black and swollen corpse with tongue protruding from a foaming mouth, so horrible that no one would touch it".
Tuchman further quotes : "The impression of his (Burchard's) toneless diary of Alexander's papacy is of continuous violence, murders in churches, bodies in the Tiber, fighting of factions, tortures and executions, combined with scandal, frivolities and continuous ceremony".

Interestingly, she then says: " Certain revisionists have taken a fancy to the Borgia Pope and worked hard to rehabilitate him by intricate arguments that dispose of the charges against him as either exaggeration or forgeries or gossip of unexplained malice"

Obviously Tuchman withheld a negative view of Alexander. This is backed up by the quotes used throughout, along with the fact that she titles the chapter "Depravity: Alexander VI, 1492-1503". While the focus of her writing seems to concentrate on a biography of the Pope, her view on him can be clearly seen through further inspection. However, her view is one that is supported by strong evidence, accounts and information. This is why both her view and analysis of Alexander VI is crucial.

The March of Folly - Part 1

The March of Folly
Barbara W. Tuchman
First Published: 1984 Reprinted: 1985

3. Depravity: Alexander VI, 1492 - 1503

Key points in the first half of the Chapter:
* Rodrigo was 62 when he became Pope (1492)
*Was of Spanish decent and took pride with that heritage
*Had been a Cardinal and Vice-Chancellor for 35 years beforehand (Cardinal at 26)
*Served under five Popes
*It is explained that he bought out the Papacy outright, as he was mainly in competition between Cardinal della Rovere and Ascanio Sforza
*Many tales were told about him, they were spread by Rodrigo's enemies and a society looking for gossip.
*Even though many tales were fabricated he was in fact nowhere near a perfect individual.
* Was awarded the Vice-Chancellorship by his Uncle Pope Calixtus. He rewarded him for recovering certain territories of the Papal States.
*Became very wealthy after becoming both Cardinal and Vice-Chancellor, this eventually made him the wealthiest in the Sacred College.
*Built himself a Palace with many assets including tapestries, gold-embroidered velvets, gold plates, pearls, gold coins e.t.c.
*Was physically described as being "tall and large framed, robust, urbane, dignified, even majestic in appearance", also described as "smiling and good-tempered", "An eloquent speaker and brilliantly skilled in affairs".
*As a cardinal he fathered a son and two daughters. In his forties he fathered three more sons and a daughter. His children included Pedro Luis (The eldest son, Rodrigo acquired for him the "Dukedom of Ganda in Spain", but eventually he died young), Cesare, Lucrezia, Juan and Jofré.
*Had mistresses including Vanozza de Cataneis and Giulia Farnese.
*After Rodrigo's rise to the Pope the streets of Rome became decorated with "garlands of flowers, triumphal arches, living statues formed by gilded naked youths and flags displaying the Borgia arms, a rather apt red bull rampant on a field of gold".
*Seeking alliances, Alexander VI had Lucrezia marry Giovanni Sforza and Jofré marry the granddaughter of the King of Naples.
*Alexander eventually appointed 43 Cardinals including seventeen Spainards and five members of his own family.
*The French devised plans for invasion. A march through the Papal states was soon decided and to be led by Charles VIII.
*Papal and Secular rulers questioned whether to side with France or Naples.
*Alexander feared whether Cardinal della Rovere would influence the King of France as both men (Alexander and della Rovere) had an extreme dislike of one another.
*Alexander joined a league of defense with Naples and Florence, which came apart as soon as it made.
*Charles' army moved on unresisted and eventually they reached Rome.
*Negotations between the two sides were made. Alexander held firm against demands and ultimately Charles and his army soon left to continue on to Naples without meeting any combat.

A quick note to say that I have also started my Proposal last weekend and I feel I have a good grasp of what to write. So far I have made attempts on the first three sections and will continue to progress throughout the week.
The second part should be up within the next few days. The summaries of each book has taken longer than originally thought, but hopefully i should be able to get most of it done in the next few weeks.

Aims

Recently I have managed to get a good block of reading done for Hibbert's book. I'm past halfway now and while I still have 140-150 pages left to read the last 60-70 pages refer to what occured after Rodrigo's death in 1503. This means that most of the information that I should be able to gather from Rodrigo's life in this book will finish with roughly 70-90 pages left. After I finish this book I shall be looking back over the chapters and taking out main points/areas concerning my topic/question.
So far, I feel my progress has been good concerning the research, but I feel right now that I have enough information and sources available to me concerning Rodrigo's life. I now need to look more at debates and views in reference to Rodrigo's behaviour/actions and whether he was not as horrible as many claim. This brings me to my next point, I feel that my main question should be around the lines of:
"In the context of the Italian Renaissance and the Renaissance Papacy, was Pope Alexander VI or Rodrigo Borgia based on his actions/behaviour an appalling Pope who committed various crimes or was he a decent Pope and person, with his controversial status being entirely fabricated?

I want to ask questions such as:
"Who was Rodrigo Borgia?"
"How his life panned out before and after his rise to the papacy, even leading up to his death"
"What actions and decisions he made during his reign"
"Who were his allies and who were his enemies?"
"What did others think of him?"
"What did he do to become marked with this controversial status?"
"Who made negative claims against him and were these claims factual or made up?"
"Did he do more good than bad, or more bad than good during his time as Pope?"
"How do Historians interpret Rodrigo as a Pope?"

These are the series of questions I'm thinking of tackling so far. Thoughts and opinions concerning whether I'm on the right track or not are appreciated. Also, as I said before I was going to write about both : "The March of Folly" and "The Borgias and their enemies" in detail this week, but I've decided instead to push that back abit and put two posts up soon regarding both books.