3. Alexander VI’s Love For Orgies and His Illegitimate Children Defined His Papacy
Born Rodrigo Borgia, the late-fifteenth century Pope Alexander VI enjoyed a long career as Vice-Chancellor of the Church before he bullied and bribed the curia into electing him in 1492. He was notoriously corrupt, selling indulgences and offices to enhance his own wealth. Highly regarded for his good looks and charm, Rodrigo fascinated both men and women. With his wealth and power came the attention of women; Rodrigo was no stranger to sexual liaisons, fathering several children before he became pope.
In 1460, Borgia attended an orgy, for which Pope Pius II wrote a stern letter, admonishing his behavior, even though the pope was no angel himself. Rodrigos’ favorite mistress, Vannozza dei Catanei, a member of a minor noble family in Rome, gave birth to four of his eight (perhaps more) children – Cesare, Juan, Lucrezia, and Gioffre. Although Vannozza remained his mistress for over twenty years, he cast her aside in favor of the beautiful Giulia Farnese, the teenaged daughter-in-law of his cousin. Despite his numerous affairs, Alexander’s children by Vannozza would play front and center throughout his papacy.
Arranging diplomatic marriages for his children to enhance his political power, Alexander’s notoriety grew as one of the most morally corrupt popes in the history of the papacy. His children’s reputations didn’t fare much better: his son Cesare, a Cardinal himself, fathered eleven illegitimate children, and Lucrezia had multiple affairs during her third marriage to Alfonso d’Este. In 1501, the Vatican’s Master of Ceremonies, Johannes Burchard, recorded an example of Alexander’s sexual appetites. At a sex party known as the “Joust of Whores,” the pope – accompanied by his children Lucrezia and Cesare – watched as fifty prostitutes stripped in front of him. Given his history with women, whether or not he solicited their services afterwards is up for debate.