Lucrezia Borgia: Life, Love and Death in Renaissance Italy (51 page)

Postscript

Lucrezia was buried in the convent of Corpus Domini. Today she lies under a simple marble slab with Alfonso and two of their children, Alessandro and Isabella, her last born, who survived her by only two years, and Alfonso’s mother, Eleonora d’Aragona. Beside them is the tomb of Lucrezia and Alfonso’s eldest son, Duke Ercole II; in another lie his daughter, Lucrezia’s granddaughter, also named Lucrezia, who died as a nun in the convent, and Eleonora d’Este, Lucrezia’s only surviving daughter, who also became a nun in Corpus Domini.

In 1570 a devastating earthquake struck Ferrara, shattering much of the beauty of the city Lucrezia had known. Her grandson, Alfonso II, rebuilt the Castello but many churches and palaces still lay in ruins when he died, the last ruler of Lucrezia and Alfonso’s legitimate line, in 1597. The following year, Cesare d’Este, Alfonso’s illegitimate grandson by Laura Dianti, whom he took as mistress after Lucrezia’s death, was expelled from the city by Pope Clement VIII who finally succeeded where Popes Julius and Leo had failed. Cesare d’Este retreated to Modena with what remained of the Este inheritance. The papal legate, Cardinal Aldobrandini, stripped Alfonso I’s treasures, his ‘Titians, from the
camerini,
and took them to Rome.

Ferrara, once one of the most glittering courts of Europe in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, sank into apathy under papal governance, becoming a shadow of its former self. There is still a romance about Ferrara. Boswell viewed it as ‘the beautiful remains of a great city’, while in 1846 Dickens wrote of the appeal of ‘the long silent streets and the dismantled palaces where ivy waves in lieu of banners’. Gabriele d’Annunzio called it ‘a city of silence’. The glory of the Este, however, has gone.

Archives

Cambridge University Library Archives, Acton Papers (CUL)

Acton MSS, Add. MSS 4757: correspondence of Gian Luca Pozzi in Rome with Ercole I d’Este concerning Lucrezia’s marriage; correspondence of Gherardus Saraceni and Hector Berlinguer re the same and minutes by Ercole to the above

Add. MSS 4758: correspondence of Beltrando de’ostabili in Rome with Ercole

Add. MSS 4759: correspondence of Beltrando de‘Costabili in Rome concerning illness and death of Alexander VI and fate of Cesare, and Julius II’s reaction to attack on Giulio d’Este

Biblioteca Comunale Ariostea di Ferrara (BCAFe)

Lucrezia’s accounts for 1507, Albo Estense Autografi, BCA, Classe 1, 656

Papal brief to Lucrezia of 1516 concerning San Bernardino, MS coll. Antonelli, 272

Archivio di Stato di Mantova, Archivio Gonzaga (AG)

Correspondence Lucrezia Borgia to Francesco Gonzaga:Autografi 84, Busta 1, Busta 2, Busta 3, Busta 4, Serie E XXXi.2, Busta 1189

Correspondence Lucrezia Borgia to Isabella d’Este: Autografi 84, Busta 1, Busta 2, Busta 3, Busta 4, Serie E XXXi.2 Busta 1189

Isabella d’Este to Lucrezia Borgia, Copielettere, Busta 2993, 2994, liber 12, liber 15, liber 18

Isabella d’Este Family Correspondence: Copielettere to Francesco Gonzaga, Ercole d’Este, Ferrante and Servitors with correspondence from the Este family, Busta 2993, liber 12, 13, 14

Isabella d’Este to Cesare Borgia, Busta 2993, liber 14

Ippolito d’Este to Isabella, Busta 1189; Alfonso d’Este to Isabella d’Este, E XXXI.2., Busta 1189, Alfonso d’Este to Francesco Gonzaga, E XXX 1.2., Busta 1189, Isabella d’Este to Alfonso d’Este, Busta 2994, liber 18; Ferrante d’Este to Francesco Gonzaga, Busta 1189; Giulio d’Este to Francesco Gonzaga, and to Isabella d’Este, Busta 1189

Bernardino di Prosperi to Isabella d’Este, 1502-19. More than seven hundred letters written from Ferrara covering the period of Lucrezia’s life there: this is probably the most important and largely unexplored source providing not only an almost daily record of her life but a full chronicle of social and political events and people at court and in the city. Serie E XXX 1.3. Buste 1238 – 47

Archivio di Stato di Milano, Archivio Sforzesco (ASF)

Potenze Estere, Roma. Reg. Cartella 107; 109; 116; 123; 124; 126; 127;128

Potenze Estere, Marca. Reg. Cartella 153

Potenze Estere, Mantova. Reg. Cartella 400

Archivio di Stato di Modena, Archivio Segreto Estense (ASE)

Correspondence Francesco Gonzaga to Lucrezia Borgia: Carteggio dei Principi Esteri, Busta 1181

Lucrezia Borgia correspondence with members of the Este family: Casa e Stato:

Lucrezia to Ercole 1. Busta 141, Ercole I to Lucrezia, Camera Ducale, Minutario, Busta 5, Minute Ducali, Busta 69

Lucrezia to Alfonso I d’Este. Casa e Stato, Busta 141, Alfonso I d’Este to Lucrezia. Casa e Stato, Carteggio dei Principi Estensi, Busta 75

Lucrezia to Cardinal Ippolito d’Este. Casa e Stato, Busta 141

Lucrezia to Sigismondo d’Este, Casa e Stato, Busta 141

Lucrezia to Ferrante d’Este, Casa e Stato, Busta 141

Lucrezia to Giulio d’Este, Casa e Stato, Busta 141

Lucrezia Borgia General Correspondence, Casa e Stato, Busta 141, Carteggio tra Principi Estensi

Letters by members of the Borgia family and others: Cancelleria Ducale, Particolari, Busta 209, Fasc. 4 Borgia

Documents concerning Lucrezia Borgia anterior to her marriage to Alfonso I, Casa e Stato, Busta 400

Documents concerning Lucrezia Borgia posterior to her marriage to Alfonso I, Casa e Stato, Busta 400

Documents concerning the Borgia family: Casa e Stato, Busta 401, other documents relating to Rodrigo d’Aragona, Duke of Bisceglie. Casa e Stato, Busta 401, documents relating to the estate of Rodrigo d’Aragona, Duke of Bisceglie, Busta 400 ‘

Computo delle nozze della Ill. Madama Lucrezia 1501 – 1502’ [Lists of Jewels given by Ercole I to Lucrezia in 1502, and of her company on her wedding journey to Ferrara] Camera Ducale, Amministrazione dei Principi, n. 1128

Inventario di Guardaroba: ‘Inventario 1502 – 3’, Camera Ducale, Amministrazione dei Principi – Lucrezia Borgia B1137

Lucrezia Borgia Household Accounts, ibid.: B1138 1506 – 8; B1131 1507 – 9; B1133 1506; B1132 1517 – 20, B1134 1514 – 19; B1136 1518 – 19

Bulls and papal briefs concerning Camerino: the creation of the duchy and its Duke, Giovanni Borgia. Camera Ducale, Amministrazione dei Principi, Busta 1127

Isabella d’Este to Alfonso I d’Este, Casa e Stato, Carteggio dei Principi Estensi, Busta 133

Ercole I d’Este correspondence with his ambassador in France, Bartolommeo de’Cavalleri: Ambasciatori Esteri – Francia, 1500 – 1501, Busta 3

Ercole I d’Este correspondence with his ambassadors in Rome, Gian Luca Pozzi and Gherardo Saraceni, Ambasciatori Esteri – Roma, 1501 – 2, Busta 12

Ferrarese Ambassadors Manfredi and Cavalleri to Ercole I and Alfonso I concerning the marriage negotiations and posterior events including the death of Alexander VI and the fortunes of Cesare Borgia, 1503 – 4, 1506 – 7,Ambasciatori Esteri – Francia, Buste 3 and 4

Ercole I d’Este, Letterbook [
Minutario
] drafts of letters to various correspondents including the various ambassadors, Lucrezia, Cesare Borgia, Isabella d’Este and others, 1501 – 2, Cancelleria Ducale, Busta 5

Archivio Segreto Vaticano (ASV)

Borgia Family Letters: A.A. ARM I – XVIII, 5027; A.A. ARM I – XVIII, 5024

Source Notes

The Scene (pp. 1 – 3)

1
Guicciardini,
The History of Italy,
Book I, p. 4.

Chapter 1: The Pope’s Daughter (pp. 11 – 24)

1
Gaspare da Verona, cited Gregorovius,
Lucretia
Borgia, p. 9.

2
Bonatto to Barbara of Brandenburg, 8 June 1460, in Luzio,
Isabella d’Este e i Borgia,
p. 471.

3
Pastor,
The History of the Popes from the Close of the Middle Ages
, vol. V, p. 388.

4
Ibid., p. 400.

5
Ross,
Lives of the Early Medici as told in their correspondence.

6
Cesare’s birth year is variously given as 1475 or 1476: I have adopted the date given by the most authoritative recent historian of the Borgias, Miquel Batllori, in
La Familia Borja.

7
18 March 1493, cited Luzio,
Isabella d’Este e i Borgia,
p. 477.

8
Batllori,
La Familia Borja.

9
Cited in Bradford,
Cesare Borgia,
p. 23.

10
ASV, A.A. ARM I – XVIII, 5023, ff 61v – 64r.

Chapter 2: Countess of Pesaro (pp. 25—49)

1
Guicciardini,
The History of Italy
, Book I, p. 10.

2
Ascanio to Ludovico, 3 February 1493, ASF, Potenze Estere, Roma, Reg. Cartella 107, ff 95 – 7.

3
Ibid.

4
Gianandrea Boccaccio, Bishop of Modena, 5 November 1492, in Gregorovius,
Lucretia Borgia
, p. 51.

5
Ercole to Alexander VI, 3 January 1493, in Gregorovius, P.55.

6
Ascanio Sforza to Ludovico Sforza, 3 February 1493, in ASF, Potenze Estere, Roma, Reg. Cartella 107, ff 95—7.

7
Sanchis y Sivera, Jose,
Algunos Documentos
, p. 52. Procida, or Proixita in Catalan spelling, married a Borgia connection, Caterina de Mila, in 1494.

8
Floramonte Brognolo, 10 June 1493, in Luzio,
Isabella d’Este e i Borgia,
p. 478.

9
Luzio, p. 120n.

10
Piergentile da Varano of Camerino, 18 June 1493, Luzio, p. 120.

11
Giovanni Lucido Cattanei, 6 August 1493, Luzio, p. 415.

12
Sanchis y Sivera, pp. 132 – 47.

13
31 July 1493, see Batllori,
La Familia Borja,
p. 184.

14
Ibid.

15
ASV,A.A. ARM 5021, f 3rv, Viterbo, 31 [October 1493], this translation kindly provided by Milo Parmoor.

16
Sanchis y Sivera, pp. 54 – 5, this translation kindly provided by Milo Parmoor and Prof. Jaume Danti.

17
Cattaneo, 3 August 1493, Luzio, p. 415.

18
Ibid., 31 August 1493, Luzio, p. 416.

19
Ibid., 7 November 1493, Luzio, p. 418.

20
Gregorovius, p. 65.

21
Brognolo, 1 March 1494, Luzio, p. 482.

22
Ibid., 27 March 1494, Luzio, p. 483n.

23
G. Benedetto, 5 May 1494, Luzio, pp. 483—4.

24
Gregorovius, p. 72.

25
4 April 1494, ASF, Potenze Estere, Roma, Cartella 109.

26
Sanchis y Sivera, pp. 78 – 9.

27
18 May 1494, Sanchis y Sivera, p. 88.

28
Alexander VI to Gandia, 18 May 1494, Sanchis y Sivera, pp. 92 – 6.

29
Sanchis y Sivera, pp. 111 – 12.

30
Lucrezia to Alexander VI, Pesaro, 10 June 1494. ASV, A.A. ARM I – XVIII, 5027.

31
Giulia d’Aragona to Alexander VI, 10 June 1494. ASV,A.A. ARM I – XVIII, 5027.

32
Jacopo Dragoni to Cesare Borgia, 16 April 1494, ASV, A.A. ARM I – XVIII, 5027.

33
Lucrezia to Alexander VI, Pesaro, [?xxv] June 1494, ASV, A.A. ARM I – XVIII, 5027.

34
Caterina Gonzaga to Alexander VI, San Lorenzo, 8 July and 1 August 1494, ASV, A.A. ARM I – XVIII, 5027, ff rv and 14r.

35
Alexander VI to Giulia Farnese, n.d. [Rome, late June/early July 1494] ASV, A.A. ARM I – XVIII, 5027, f 32.

36
Alexander VI to Lucrezia, ASV, A.A. ARM I – XVIII, 5027, f 29.

37
Alexander VI to Lucrezia, 24 July 1494, from Florentine state archives, printed in Gregorovius, p. 74.

38
Lucrezia to Alexander VI, Pesaro, 27 July 1494, ASV, A.A. ARM I – XVIII, 5027.

39
Virginio Orsini (drafted by Alexander VI) to Orsino Orsini, Monterotondo, 21 September 1494, ASV, A.A. ARM I – XVIII, 5027 f 42r.

40
Fra Theseo to Giulia Farnese, Bassanello, ASV, A.A. ARM I—XVIII 5027, 28 October 1494.

41
Alexander VI draft minute to Giulia Farnese, 21 October 1494, ASV, A.A. ARM I – XVIII, 5027, f 28r.

42
Alexander VI draft minute to Adriana de Mila, ASV, A.A. ARM I – XVIII, 5027, 22 October 1494, f 28r.

43
Alexander VI draft minute to Cardinal Farnese, ASV, A.A. ARM I – XVIII, 5027, f 28r.

44
Giacomo Trotti to Ercole d’Este, 21 December 1494, in Gregorovius, p. 89.