Lucrezia Borgia

About Lucrezia Borgia

Who is it?: Lady of Pesaro and Gradara , Duchess of Bisceglie and Princess of Salerno , Duchess of Ferrara, Modena, and Reggio
Birth Day: April 18, 1480
Died On: 24 June 1519(1519-06-24) (aged 39)\nFerrara
Birth Sign: Taurus
Tenure: 12 June 1492 – 20 December 1497
Burial: Convent of Corpus Domini
Spouse: Giovanni Sforza (m. 1493; annulled 1497) Alfonso of Aragon (m. 1498; his death 1500) Alfonso d'Este (m. 1502; her death 1519)
Issue: Rodrigo of Aragon Alessandro d'Este Ercole II d'Este, Duke of Ferrara Ippolito II d'Este Leonora d'Este Francesco d'Este, Marchese di Massalombarda Isabella Maria d'Este
House: Borgia
Father: Pope Alexander VI
Mother: Vannozza dei Cattanei

Lucrezia Borgia Net Worth

Lucrezia Borgia was born on April 18, 1480, is Lady of Pesaro and Gradara , Duchess of Bisceglie and Princess of Salerno , Duchess of Ferrara, Modena, and Reggio. Lucrezia Borgia, Duchess of Ferrara, was the daughter of Alexander VI, the future pope and she had married thrice into famous families that helped her own family to have a flourishing political career. Borgia was born into a greedy and vicious family and many believe she was equally ambitious and ruthless. There were several marriages arranged for her by her infamous Italian family to advance their own political career and her husbands included Giovanni Sforza, Lord of Pesaro, Alfonso of Aragon, Duke of Bisceglie and Alfonso d’Este who was the Duke of Ferrara. The Duchess of Ferrara had a notorious reputation as a political schemer, that preceded her, and she was often linked to the treachery and crimes committed by her family. Though there have been arguments and debates among various historians regarding Borgia’s active involvement in the crimes committed by her notorious family several generations have been greatly interested in her that have inspired innumerable works on films, books and arts. In reality, she had perhaps been used as a pawn both by her brother and father so that their own political goals could be furthered. Read on to know more about the life of the Lady of Pesaro.
Lucrezia Borgia is a member of Historical Personalities

💰 Net worth: Under Review

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Biography/Timeline

1501

In 1501, two papal bulls were issued concerning the child, Giovanni Borgia. In the first, he was recognized as Cesare's child from an affair before his marriage. The second, contradictory, bull recognized him as the son of Pope Alexander VI. Lucrezia's name is not mentioned in either, and rumors that she was his mother have never been proven. The second bull was kept secret for many years, and Giovanni was assumed to be Cesare's son. This is supported by the fact that in 1502 he became Duke of Camerino, one of Cesare's recent conquests, hence the natural inheritance of the Duke of Romagna's oldest son. Giovanni went to stay with Lucrezia in Ferrara after Alexander's death, where he was accepted as her half-brother.

1502

After the death of Lucrezia's second husband, her father, Pope Alexander VI, arranged a third marriage. She then married Alfonso I d'Este, Duke of Ferrara, in early 1502 in Ferrara. She had eight children during this marriage and was considered a respectable and accomplished Renaissance Duchess, effectively rising above her previous reputation and surviving the fall of the Borgias following her father's death.

1503

Neither partner was faithful: beginning in 1503, Lucrezia enjoyed a long relationship with her brother-in-law, Francesco II Gonzaga, Marquess of Mantua. Francesco's wife was the cultured intellectual Isabella d'Este, the sister of Alfonso, to whom Lucrezia had made overtures of friendship to no avail. The affair between Francesco and Lucrezia was passionate, more sexual than sentimental as can be attested in the fevered love letters the pair wrote one another. The affair ended when Francesco contracted syphilis and had to end sexual relations with Lucrezia. This last assertion is problematic as Francesco had contracted syphilis before 1500 as it was known that he passed the disease onto his eldest son Federico Gonzaga who was born in 1500. Francesco did not meet Lucrezia until 1502.

1510

Lucrezia met the famed French soldier, the Chevalier Bayard while the latter was co-commanding the French allied garrison of Ferrara in 1510. According to his biographer, the Chevalier became a great admirer of Lucrezia's, considering her a "pearl on this Earth".

1519

After a long history of complicated pregnancies and miscarriages, on 14 June 1519 Lucrezia gave birth to her tenth child, named Isabella Maria in honour of Alfonso's sister Isabella d'Este. The child was sickly and – fearing she would die unbaptised – Alfonso ordered her to be baptised straightaway with Eleonora della Mirandola and Count Alexandro Serafino as godparents.

1816

Lucrezia also had a love affair with the poet Pietro Bembo during her third marriage. Their love letters were deemed "The prettiest love letters in the world" by the Romantic poet Lord Byron when he saw them in the Ambrosian Library of Milan on 15 October 1816. On the same occasion Byron claimed to have stolen a lock of Lucrezia's hair – "the prettiest and fairest imaginable" – that was also held there on display.

2008

One painting, Portrait of a Youth by Dosso Dossi at the National Gallery of Victoria, was identified as a portrait of Lucrezia in November 2008. This painting may be the only surviving formal portrait of Lucrezia Borgia; however, doubts have been cast on that attribution. Several other paintings, such as Veneto's fanciful portrait, have also been said to depict her, but none have been accepted by scholars at present.