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The Criminal History of the Papacy Continued from page 48 daughter, wife and daughter-in-law", and second Duke of Gandia) and Lucrezia. he renortedlv fathered "ni " with her (A Ambassadors sneak of Cesare's daughter, wife and daughter-in-law", and he reportedly fathered "nieces" with her (A History of the Popes, ibid.). It is not worth serious enquiry here whether he had two or three children with Lucrezia, as most acknowledge, but other aspects of his conduct must be noted. Cesare was Rodrigo Borgia's favourite son. When Cesare was only seven, his father prepared his way to the College of Cardinals by making him a bishop, from which he received a substantial income. When Cesare was eighteen, his father, as Pope Alexander VI, conferred cardinality upon him and later elevated him to commander of the Vatican military in its efforts to extend the Papal States. Cesare grew into a man of clear and powerful intellect and the pope supported him until his death. Rodrigo gravely abused his position as both a cardinal and the head of the Church in establishing a scheme of family aggrandisement, seen in the rapid advancement of the careers of his children Pedro Luis (1468-88) (for whom he purchased the duchy of Gandia, the Borgias' ancestral home in Valencia, Spain), Cesare, Giovanni (c. 1476-97) (the second Duke of Gandia) and Lucrezia. Ambassadors speak of Cesare's introduction of multitudes of beautiful courtesans into the Vatican for Alexander's sexual pleasure in his later years. Burchard gives us astonishing details of one occasion in which the pope presided at an orgy in the Papal Palace: "On Sunday evening, 30 October [1501], Don Cesare Borgia gave his father a supper in the apostolic palace, with 50 decent prostitutes or courtesans in bright garb in attendance, who after the meal danced with the servants and others there, first fully dressed and then naked. "Following the supper, lampstands holding lighted candles were placed on the floor and chestnuts strewn about, which the prostitutes, naked and on their hands and knees, had to pick up with their mouths as they crawled in and out among the lampstands. "The Pope watched and admired their noble parts. The evening ended with an obscene contest of these women, coupled with male servants of the Vatican, for prizes which the Pope presented. Caesarea in which St Augustine (d. 430) revelled. Alexander VI was a sexual pervert, and lurid stories were bandied about by the intellectual underworld of Rome. Venetian Senator Sanuto wrote that the then Cardinal Borgia fancied Rosa Vannozza dei Cattanei, the pretty young married daughter of his chamberlain, whom Borgia paid to arrange a series of secret daytime liaisons with her. Asa result of this affair, Cesare Borgia (1475-1507) was born, and the birth certificate acknowledges this. In his teenage years, a bitter Cesare, in his father's presence, stabbed the chamberlain, decapitated him and pierced his head on a pole with an attached inscription saying: "This is the head of my grandfather who prostituted his daughter to the pope" (A History of the Popes, op. cit., Alexander VI chapter). The evidence is serious. It was claimed that Alexander VI had sex with Lucrezia (1480-1519), his daughter by Rosa Vannozza dei Cattanei. One wit of Rome called Lucrezia "the pope's NEXUS +77 Continued on page 78 FEBRUARY — MARCH 2007 www.nexusmagazine.com