by November; Ferdinand II. with Spanish help was reinstated
at Naples soon afterwards. The expedition, if it produced
no material results, laid bare the weakness of the Italian
political system and the country's incapacity for resistance.
Alexander availed himself of the defeat of the French to
break the power of the Orsini, following the general tendency
of all the princes of the day to crush the great feudatories
and establish a centralized despotism. Virginio Orsini,
who had been captured by the Spaniards, died a prisoner at
Naples, and the pope confiscated his property. But the
rest of the clan still held out, and the papal troops sent
against them under Guidobaldo duke of Urbino and the duke of
Gandia were defeated at Soriano (January 1497). Peace was
made through Venetian mediation, the Orsini paying 50,000
ducats in exchange for their confiscated lands; the duke of
Urbino, whom they had captured, was left by the pope to pay
his own ransom. The Orsini still remained very powerful,
and Alexander could count on none but his 3000 Spaniards.
His only success had been the capture of Ostia and the
submission of the Francophile cardinals Colonna and Savelli.
Now occurred the first of those ugly domestic tragedies for
which the house of Borgia remained famous. On the 14th of
June the duke of Gandia, lately created duke of Benevento,
disappeared; the next day his corpse was found in the Tiber.
Alexander, overwhelmed with grief, shut himself up in Castle
St Angelo, and then declared that the reform of the church
would be the sole object of his life henceforth--a resolution
which he did not keep. Every effort was made to discover
the assassin, and suspicion fell on various highly placed
personages. Suddenly the rumour spread about that Cesare, the
pope's second son, was the author of the deed, and although the
inquiries then ceased and no conclusive evidence has yet come
to light, there is every probability that the charge was well
founded. No doubt Cesare, who contemplated quitting the
church, was inspired by jealousy. of Gandia's influence with
the pope. Violent and revengeful, he now became the most
powerful man in Rome, and even his father quailed before
him. As he needed funds to carry out his various schemes,
the pope began a series of confiscations, of which one of the
victims was his own secretary, in order to enrich him. The
process was a simple one: any cardinal, nobleman or official
who was known to be rich would be accused of some offence;
imprisonment and perhaps murder followed at once, and then
the confiscation of his property. The disorganization of the
Curia was appalling, the sale of offices became a veritable
scandal, the least opposition to the Borgia was punished
with death, and even in that corrupt age the state of things
shocked public opinion. The story of Alexander's relations
with Savonarola is narrated under the latter heading; it is
sufficient to say here that the pope's hostility was due to
the friar's outspoken invectives against papal corruption and
to his appeals for a General Council. Alexander, although
he could not get Savonarola into his own hands, browbeat the
Florentine government into condemning the reformer to death
(May 23, 1498). The pope was unable to maintain order in
his own dominions; the houses of Colonna and Orsini were at
open war with each other, but after much fighting they made
peace on a basis of alliance against the pope. Thus further
weakened, he felt more than ever that he had only his own
kin to rely upon, and his thoughts were ever turned on family
aggrandizement. He had annulled Lucrezia's marriage with Sforza
in 1497, and, unable to arrange a union between Cesare and
the daughter of Frederick, king of Naples (who had succeeded
Ferdinand II. the previous year), he induced the latter by
threats to agree to a marriage between the duke of Bisceglie,
a natural son of Alphonso II., and Lucrezia. Cesare, who
renounced his cardinalate, was sent on a mission to France
at the end of the year, bearing a bull of divorce for the
new king Louis XII., in exchange for which he obtained the
duchy of Valentinois (hence his title of Duca Valentino) and
a promise of material assistance in his schemes to subjugate
the feudal princelings of Romagna; he married a princess of
Navarre. Alexander hoped that Louis's help would be more
profitable to his house than that of Charles had been and,
in spite of the remonstrances of Spain and of the Sforza, he
allied himself with France in January 1499 and was joined by
Venice. By the autumn Louis was in Italy and expelled
Lodovico Sforza from the Milanese. In order to consolidate
his possessions still further, now that French success seemed
assured, the pope determined to deal drastically with Romagna,
which although nominally under papal rule was divided up
into a number of practically independent lordships on which
Venice, Milan and Florence cast hungry eyes. Cesare, nominated
gonfaloniere of the Church, and strong in French favour,
proceeded to attack the turbulent cities one by one (for
detail see BORGIA CESARE.) But the expulsion of the French
from Milan and the return of Lodovico Sforza interrupted his
conquests, and he returned to Rome early in 1500. This year
was a jubilee year, and crowds of pilgrims flocked to the city
from all parts of the world bringing money for the purchase
of indulgences, so that Alexander was able to furnish Cesare
with funds for his enterprise. In the north the pendulum
swung back once more and the French reoccupied Milan in April,
causing the downfall of the Sforzas, much to Alexander's
gratification. But there was no end to the Vatican tragedies,
and in July the duke of Bisceglie, whose existence was no
longer advantageous, was murdered by Cesare's orders; this
left Lucrezia free to contract another marriage. The pope,
ever in need of money, now created twelve new cardinals,
from whom he received 120,000 ducats, and fresh conquests
for Cesare were considered. But while a crusade was talked
of, the real object was central Italy, and in the autumn
Cesare, favoured by France and Venice, set forth with 10,000
men to complete his interrupted enterprise. The local despots
of Romagna were dispossessed and an administration was set
up, which, if tyrannical and cruel, was at least orderly and
strong, and aroused the admiration of Machiavelli (q.v..)
On his return to Rome (June 1501) he was created duke of
Romagna. Louis XII., having succeeded in the north, determined
to conquer southern Italy as well, and concluded a treaty
with Spain for the division of the Neapolitan kingdom, which
was ratified by the pope on the 25th of June, Frederick
being formally deposed. The French army proceeded to invade
Naples, and Alexander took the opportunity, with the help
of the Orsini, to reduce the Colonna to obedience. In his
absence he left Lucrezia as regent, offering the astounding
spectacle of a pope's natural daughter in charge of the Holy
See. Shortly afterwards he induced Alphonso d'Este, son of
the duke of Ferrara, to marry her, thus establishing her
as heiress to one of the most important principalities in
Italy (January 1502). About this time a Borgia of doubtful
parentage was born, Giovanni, described in some papal
documents as Alexander's son and in others as Cesare's.
As France and Spain were quarrelling over the division of
Naples and the Campagna barons were quiet, Cesare set out once
more in search of conquests. In June he seized Camerino and
Urbino, the news of which capture filled the pope with childish
joy. But his military force was uncertain, for the condottieri
were not to be trusted. His attempt to draw Florence into an
alliance failed, but in July Louis of France again invaded Italy
and was at once bombarded with complaints from the Borgia's
enemies. Alexander's diplomacy, however, turned the tide, and
Cesare, in exchange for promising to assist the French in the
south, was given a free hand in central Italy. A new danger
now arose in the shape of a conspiracy against him on the
part of the deposed despots, the Orsini and some of his own
condottieri. At first the papal troops were defeated and
things looked black for the house of Borgia. But a promise of
French help at once forced the confederates to come to terms,
and Cesare by an act of treachery seized the ringleaders at
Senigallia, and put Oliverotto da Fermo and Vitellozzo Vitelli
to death (Dec. 31, 1502). As soon as Alexander heard the
news he decoyed Cardinal Orsini to the Vatican and cast him
into a dungeon, where he died. His goods were confiscated,
his aged mother turned into the street and numbers of other
members of the clan in Rome were arrested, while Giuffre
Borgia led an expedition into the Campagna and seized their
castles. Thus the two great houses of Orsini and Colonna,
who had long fought for predominance in Rome and often flouted
the pope's authority, were subjugated, and a great step
achieved towards consolidating the Borgia's power. Cesare
then returned to Rome, where his father wished him to assist
Giuffre in reducing the last Orsini strongholds; this for some
reason he was unwilling to do, much to Alexander's annoyance,
but he eventually marched out, captured Ceri and made peace
with Giulio Orsini, who surrendered Bracciano. Three more
high personages fell victims to the Borgia's greed this year,
viz. Cardinal Michiel, who was poisoned in April, J. da Santa
Croce, who had helped to seize Cardinal Orsini, and Troches
or Troccio, one of the family's most faithful assassins;
all these murders brought immense sums to the pope. About
Cardinal Ferrari's death there is more doubt; he probably
died of fever, but the pope immediately confiscated his goods.
The war between France and Spain for the possession of Naples
dragged on, and Alexander was ever intriguing, ready to ally
himself with whichever power promised at the moment most
advantageous terms. He offered to help Louis on condition that
Sicily be given to Cesare, and then offered to help Spain in
exchange for Siena, Pisa and Bologna. Cesare was preparing
for another expedition into central Italy in July 1503, when,
in the midst of all these projects and negotiations, both
he and his father were taken ill with fever. The occurrence
was of course attributed to poison, although quite without
foundation, being merely due to malaria, at that time very
prevalent in Rome. On the 18th of August Alexander died
at the age of 72. His death was followed by scenes of wild
disorder, and Cesare, being himself ill, could not attend
to business, but sent Don Michelotto, his chief bravo, to
seize the pope's treasures before the demise was publicly
announced. When the body was exhibited to the people the next
day it was in a shocking state of decomposition, which of course
strengthened the suspicion of poison. At the funeral a brawl
occurred between the soldiers and the priests, and the coffin
having been made too short the body without the mitre was
driven into it by main force and covered with an oil-cloth.
Alexander's successor on the chair of St Peter was Francesco
Todeschini-Piccolomini, who assumed the name of Pius III.
Alexander VI. has become almost a mythical character, and
countless legends and traditions are attached to his name. As
a matter of fact he cannot be regarded in any sense as a great
man. His career shows no great political ideas, and none
of his actions indicate genius. His one thought was family
aggrandizement, and while it is unlikely that he meditated
making the papacy hereditary in the house of Borgia, he
