Cesare Borgia

Cesare Borgia
Profile portrait of Cesare Borgia in the Palazzo Venezia in Rome, c. 1500–10
Born13 September 1475
Died12 March 1507(1507-03-12) (aged 31)
Burial placeIglesia de Santa María (Viana)
TitleDuke of Valentinois[a]
SpouseCharlotte of Albret
Children
  • Louise Borgia
  • Girolamo Borgia ill.
  • Camilla Lucrezia Borgia ill.
  • 9 others ill.
Parents
FamilyBorgia
Map of Cesare Borgia's Duchy of Romagna
Cesare Borgia's domains mapped. Sources are in the image's description.

Cesare Borgia[b] (13 September 1475 – 12 March 1507) was an Italian cardinal and condottiero (mercenary leader), an illegitimate son of Pope Alexander VI and member of the Spanish-Aragonese House of Borgia. His fight for power was a major inspiration for The Prince by Niccolò Machiavelli.

After initially entering the Church and becoming a cardinal on his father's election to the papacy, he resigned after the death of his brother in 1498. He served as a condottiero for King Louis XII of France around 1500, and occupied Milan and Naples during the Italian Wars. At the same time, he carved out a state for himself in Central Italy, but he was unable to retain power for long after his father's death. According to Machiavelli, this was not due to a lack of foresight, but his error in creating a new pope.[3]

  1. ^ "Cesare Borgia, detto Il Valentino". Studia rapido (in Italian). 5 September 2014. Archived from the original on 1 December 2017. Retrieved 4 July 2020.
  2. ^ Sacerdote, Gustavo (1950). Cesare Borgia. La sua vita, la sua famiglia, i suoi tempi (in Italian). Milano: Rizzoli.
  3. ^ Machiavelli, Niccolò (15 May 2010), "VII", The Prince, University of Chicago Press, p. 33, ISBN 9780226500508 – via Google books.


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