34. Despite being a Cardinal, Rodrigo was a notorious womanizer, and had many illegitimate children
Rodrigo was Vice-Chancellor to the Holy See through the reigns of 4 popes, a lucrative position widely coveted. But even though Cardinals were meant to be celibate, Rodrigo simply carried on with his main occupation of whoremongering. He fathered numerous bastards with several mistresses and behaved so scandalously that his friend Pius II had to rebuke him. Pius read Rodrigo the riot act after he hosted an orgy in a garden in Siena. The men escorting women to the party were forbidden entry, and Siena was outraged by the Cardinal’s appalling behavior. Rodrigo didn’t care.