"The recent election of Pope Francis has brought the papacy into the public eye. The initial public reaction has been mostly positive and Pope Francis has warmly embraced various cultures to display the multiculturalism of the modern Catholic Church. The history of the papacy, however, proves that this was not always the case. There have been plenty of controversial popes over the past two millennia. Pope Alexander VI, however, sticks out in particular. This man was anything but Christian-like and, I’d certainly hope, was not an instrument of the Judeo-Christian God. He used the authority of the Church to legitimize and justify state expansionism and globalism. If Hell does exist, there is at least one Pope roasting in the pit.
Alexander VI was the head of the Catholic Church from 1492 to 1503. One of his crucial roles, during that time period, was legitimizing Spain and Portugal’s global conquest and enslavement of indigenous peoples. Murray Rothbard once wrote that “It is evident that the State needs the intellectuals” and that “the intellectuals will be handsomely rewarded for the important function they perform for the State rulers, of which group they now become a part” (1). Alexander VI took up the role of the State sponsored intellectual and used the authority of God to benefit him and a few elite.
Alexander VI issued numerous papal bulls, such as Inter Caetera and Eximae Deotionis, after accepting heavy bribes from the Spanish monarchy. These two bulls were issued in May of 1493 and are responsible for the justification of the enslavement of two continents. Alexander VI gave Ferdinand and Isabella a “God”-granted monopoly to explore and conquer the newly discovered Americas. He gave the Spanish Catholic explorers the religious authority to commit forced conversion. The Pope, a man whose existence was unknown in the Americas, gave fifty million indigenous Americans to the crown of Spain. Furthermore, Alexander VI enforced this monopoly through a power that is supposedly given to the Pope from God. Specifically, he threatened to use mass excommunication and interdicts against any person or country that interfered with Spain’s conquest of the new world. Simply put, anybody who went against the Spanish monopoly of force and domination of Indigenous Americans would be barred from both the sacraments and Heaven. Similarly, all citizens of a country would face this same spiritual punishment if their governments chose to act out against the monopoly. This meant countries that contained a vocal Catholic populace would not act against Spain or Alexander VI for fear of an outraged community. People were not going to risk the afterlife for the sake of un-westernized people halfway across the world. Alexander VI literally used his position as God’s voice on earth to justify and protect Spain’s expansion into the New World. In doing so he was handsomely rewarded with Spanish gold.
Alexander VI was the typical state defending intellectual that Rothbard described. People often forget what role he played in the conquest of the Americas. Alexander VI used religious authority to give Spain the justification to enslave two continents worth of people. This alone dooms Alexander VI to THC’s list of forgotten tyrants." (By Will Shanahan, Contributor, the Humane Condition )
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1493 - Pope Alexander VI grants license of conqest to Spain
"Pope Alexander VI saw in the Spanish petition for 'rights of conquest' an opportunity to preempt conflicts with Portugal by delivering not one, but three, papal bulls on the subject of discovered lands.
He rubber stamped Isabella's petition, and sought to resolve the inevitable legal problems that would arise if Columbus was successful (which he was). From the pope's point of view the principle purpose behind exploration was the expansion of ecclesiastical dominion over previously unknown worlds. In the context of the time, nothing could be more exciting than expanding Christ's flock of believers. What needed to be settled, therefore, were the rights of Spain in relation to the 'savages' living on the discovered lands, and also, to draw a bright line between the rights of Spain and the rights of Portugal.
In drawing that line, Alexander echoed the centuries old theme of universal papal guardianship first elaborated by Innocent IV.
He endorsed Spain's conquest and subjugation of savages inhabitants by granting the monarchs "full, free and integral power and authority and jurisdiction over their new titled lands, with the open path to carry out the papal mission of baptizing the children of nature of the new world."
With the pope's blessing Spanish settlements in the new world were run on the encomienda system (the practice of enslaving native people for the purpose of converting them to Christianity), and the infamous requerimiento, the official declaration of conquest which gave savages the choice of accepting Spain's jurisdiction over their lands, or face slaughter at the hands of the conquistadores." (Source: Savagesandscoundrels.org )
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Brave New World
"Pope Alexander VIAs Columbus sailed toward the New World, a new pope was elected in the old world. The year was 1492, and Rodrigo Borgia became Pope Alexander VI. Among the most notorious of all papacies, Borgia’s family was the inspiration for Mario Puzo’s Godfather books. Puzo’s last book, simply titled The Family, delves into their juiciest lore.
The papacies will forever be infamous for excess, to which the Reformers were rightfully opposed. But seldom had excess rivaled that of Alex 6. Rodrigo took his name from the pagan conqueror, and he shunned modesty and discretion, reveling in gold, women, and murder. He did not even attempt to hide his appetites for riches and sugar and sex. Today, the Catholic Church claims much of Alex’s legend is grossly exaggerated, and that to be fair, he really loved his children.
And so he did: he loved his daughter enough to sleep with her." (Extracted from The Unholy Grail: Pope Alexander VI, 1431-1503 )
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Borgia Popes
Who were these people? Where did they come from, and how did they rise to power? They begin their dynasty in Spain in the last years of the 14th century, a family known as de Borya.
Two Spanish cousins, Domingo de Borya and Rodrigo de Borya, produce children that will unite the line into what will become the Italian Borgias. Domingo's daughter, Isabella, married Rodrigo's son, Jofre.
The story begins with Isabella's brother, Alfonso de Borya, Pope Callixtus III. The family history of greed and the pursuit of political power has its genesis with him. To understand the Borgia family, as the de Boryas became known in Italy, one has to know the patriarchs, the men who began a family that exceeded the excesses of other families of the era, such as the Medicis, the Orsinis, the Sforzas, and the della Roveres.
The family starts its colorful history with nepotism and the acquisition of wealth, and moves on to the more complicated agenda of murder. (Extracted from CrimeLibrary - The Borgias by BY Russell Aiuto )
Alexander VI: (1431-1503, Pope from 1492-1503)
"Alexander is the most notorious pope in all of history. He conducted a pontificate of nepotism, greed, ruthlessness, murder, and, as McBrien has described it, "unbridled sensuality." He became the leading figure in the saga of the Borgia family, both as a perpetuator of evil and a facilitator of the activities of the two most famous of his children, Cesare and Lucrezia.
The second and last of the Spanish popes literally bought his pontificate with bribes. Such a purchased election is called "simoniacal," and was easily accomplished with the greed of seventeen of the 22 cardinals voting for the new pope.
He was born Rodrigo Borgia near Valencia, Spain, the nephew of Callixtus, who made him a cardinal at the age of 25 in 1456 and vice-chancellor of the Holy See in 1457. As vice-chancellor, he amassed great wealth, lived an openly promiscuous life, and fathered seven children, both as a cardinal and the pope. Pius II, who had succeeded Callixtus and continued to support the rise in the church hierarchy of Cardinal Rodrigo Borgia, had to warn the young cardinal to refrain from his practice of participating in orgies. It was, as Pius expressed it, "unseemly."
As a young man, Rodrigo was described as tall and handsome. Sigismondo de Conti speaks of him as a large, robust man, with a sharp gaze, great amiability, and "wonderful skill in money matters." Others admired his tall figure, florid complexion, dark eyes, and full mouth. However, in his early sixties when he became pope, he apparently lost his physical charm. We have few portraits that can be identified as being truly of him; one depicts a bald, corpulent pope on his knees before the tomb of the risen Christ.
While a cardinal, he took as his mistress Vannozza de Catanei who bore him four children, including Cesare (born 1475) and Lucrezia (1480). By the time he became pope in 1492, he had cast off Vannozza and acquired as a mistress the young Guilia Farenese, who was probably the mother of two or three additional children sired by Alexander. Before Vannozza, Rodrigo had fathered at least two children by one or more women whose names are lost to history.
Pope Innocent VIII died, and a political struggle ensued for the papacy. The bargaining was fierce, and when the votes were finally counted, Rodrigo Borgia, with the purchase of the vote of a 96-year-old cardinal who no longer had all of his faculties, was elected. One of the six cardinals who could not be bought was Giuliano della Rovere, was to remain an enemy of the Borgias, and eventually would succeed Alexander VI as Pope Julius II, noted patron of Michelangelo, the "Warrior Pope."
During the elaborate ceremony consecrating Rodrigo as Pope Alexander VI, he had to be "verified" as a male, since, from the 13th century and the scandalous myth of "Pope Joan," a Pope John that was believed to have been a woman, newly elected popes had to submit to an examination lying on a low seat. The fact that Rodrigo, prolific father, might be disguising his sex was an amusing sidelight to his rise from the low seat of genital examination to the high throne of Peter.
But Rodrigo, now Alexander VI, had learned something from his predecessor, the misnamed Innocent VIII, who was the first pope to acknowledge openly his illegitimate children, loading them with riches and titles. Alexander took advantage of the precedent.
After a strong beginning as pope, reforming the Curia and forbidding simony — which is, of course, the means by which he had purchased the papacy — Alexander concentrated his efforts on his primary interests. These were, like Innocent VIII, the acquisition of gold, the pursuit of women, and the interests of his family. However, Alexander made his predecessor look like a rank amateur. He named his son Cesare, then only 18, a cardinal, along with the younger brother of his current papal mistress, the even younger Alessandro Farnese. He arranged three marriages for his daughter Lucrezia, skillfully annulling the first, and, through the efforts of Cesare, conveniently making her a widow with the second. Lucrezia often was left in charge of the papacy — in effect, a regent — when Alexander was travelling from Rome.
Alexander forged alliances through the marriages of his children. For instance, he linked his power to that of the Milanese faction, uniting the Borgia and Sforza families, by marrying Lucrezia to Giovanni Sforza, the bastard son of Costanzo Sforza, cousin of the powerful cardinal, Ascanio Sforza. He solidified his position with the kingdom of Aragon and Naples by marrying his younger son Jofre to Sancia of Aragon, who would later cheat on her husband and engage in adultery with both Cesare and Giovanni, older brothers of Jofre.
In 1493, Alexander attempted to draw a line between Spanish and Portugese spheres of influence in the New World, but even this far-reaching political act had to be modified in 1494, since, in its original form, the decree favored his native Spain. He is also remembered for the torture and execution in 1498 of the famous Florentine preacher Savonarola, who had had the effrontery to denounce papal corruption and call for the removal of Alexander.
By 1500, Alexander's behavior — with Cesare as a dominating influence — became even more outrageous. Licentiousness and murder were the order of the day for both father and son.
Shortly after the 11th anniversary of his accession to the papacy, August, 1503, Alexander fell ill. So did Cesare, and around this coincidence a rumor grew in Rome that some authorities, such as McBrien, believe to be true. Alexander and Cesare had dined with Cardinal Adrian Corneto at the latter's villa. It long had been believed that the Borgias had intended to make Corneto their next victim. Indeed, Corneto thought that he had been poisoned, but had saved himself by switching the cup that Cesare had prepared for him. The unsuspecting Alexander and Cesare both drank freely from it. Within a few days, Cesare recovered, but his father lingered for a few more days and died at the age of 77.
Burchard, the loyal servant and diarist, reported that Cesare's men forced their way into the Vatican and made off with all the treasure they could carry, this vandalism carried out while the pope was still clinging to life. As soon as Alexander died, his servants plundered his bedroom. After Burchard had prepared the body, palace guards drove off the priests that were guarding the remains of the dead pope from the possible desecration of the irate (and quite joyous) Roman populace. Burchard had the body moved to a small chapel, where it remained unattended, slowly rotting in the humid August weather then gripping Rome.
When Burchard returned with servants to prepare the body for its final burial, he found Alexander bloated and discolored, the body so swollen that it would not fit into its coffin. The servants removed the pope's miter and literally stuffed him into the coffin.
"So died Pope Alexander, at the height of glory and prosperity... There was in him, and in full measure, all vices both of flesh and spirit... There was in him no religion, no keeping of his word. He promised all things liberally, but bound himself to nothing that was not useful to himself. He had no care for justice, since in his days Rome was a den of thieves and murderers. Nevertheless, his sins meeting with no punishment in this world, he was to the last of his days most prosperous. In one word, he was more evil and more lucky than, perhaps, any other pope for many ages before."
— Francesco Guicciardini (as reported in Chamberlain)
The power that Alexander possessed can be appreciated when one sees the almost total collapse of Cesare's empire upon his father's death. Julius II, Alexander's successor, had been one of the few cardinals that Alexander had been unable to buy in 1492, and he was clearly no friend of the Borgias.
But next to Cesare's ruthlessness, Alexander was comparatively mild." ( Source: The Borgias BY Russell Aiuto )
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Why He is Awful:
Alexander VI became the Halliburton and Dick Cheney of the papacy, swindling his way onto the throne with cash and selling the papacy a piece at a time to warring empires in Europe. While he was raking in the wealth and involving the Holy See in French and Italian political intrigues, he was also amassing women and power for his family.
One of his most infamous stunts was to use his attractive daughter Lucrezia, whom he supposedly had an affair with, as bait for wealthy merchants. When a rich merchant prince would visit Rome Alexander VI would introduce his daughter, have her seduce them, and then marry his daughter off to the merchant for a vast dowry. Unfortunately for the merchant, Alexander VI was the pope and got to decide who was married and who wasn't married. As soon as a wealthier merchant rolled into Rome Lucrezia's marriage would end and she would become available to the next highest bidder.
Alexander VI was also wildly unpopular with devout Catholics because he never made any attempt to be religious. He was a 100% secular pope, ignoring all of the rules and traditions of the church. He married, had children, and sired countless children outside of marriage.
He also held extravagant parties that often tended to become orgies. These parties were so intense that one of them, known as the Banquet of Chestnuts, is actually a part of recorded papal history. 50 prostitutes would bring in baskets of chestnuts and empty them out on the floor. The women's clothes would then be auctioned off and once they were naked they would crawl around on the floor picking up the chestnuts. Then the members of the clergy, including the pope, would have sex with the prostitutes&for prizes.
According to historian William Manchester, "Servants kept score of each man's orgasms, for the pope greatly admired virility and measured a man's machismo by his ejaculative capacity."
When Alexander VI's political intrigues ran him into financial trouble, he instituted a brutal pogrom against the wealthy, confiscating riches under the thin guise of criminal enforcement. If the wealthy resisted they were put to death. These pogroms fueled instability and eventually led to Alexander's involvement in a series of unfortunate military struggles. Assassins, paid by Alexander's many enemies, made repeated attempts on him. In 1503 they finally succeeded with a plate of poisoned food.
John Burchard, a sort of living papal Captain's Log, recorded Alexander VI's gruesome death.
"Alexander VI's stomach became swollen and turned to liquid, while his face became wine-coloured and his skin began to peel off. Finally his stomach and bowels bled profusely."
Alexander VI died soon after the poisoning. His last words were, "Wait a minute." – Zack "Geist Editor" Parsons (@sexyfacts4u) (Extracted from The 6 Most Awful Popes )
Alexander VI was the head of the Catholic Church from 1492 to 1503. One of his crucial roles, during that time period, was legitimizing Spain and Portugal’s global conquest and enslavement of indigenous peoples. Murray Rothbard once wrote that “It is evident that the State needs the intellectuals” and that “the intellectuals will be handsomely rewarded for the important function they perform for the State rulers, of which group they now become a part” (1). Alexander VI took up the role of the State sponsored intellectual and used the authority of God to benefit him and a few elite.
Alexander VI was the typical state defending intellectual that Rothbard described. People often forget what role he played in the conquest of the Americas. Alexander VI used religious authority to give Spain the justification to enslave two continents worth of people. This alone dooms Alexander VI to THC’s list of forgotten tyrants." (By Will Shanahan, Contributor, the Humane Condition )
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1493 - Pope Alexander VI grants license of conqest to Spain
 |
| A 15th century depiction of the Council of Constance |
He rubber stamped Isabella's petition, and sought to resolve the inevitable legal problems that would arise if Columbus was successful (which he was). From the pope's point of view the principle purpose behind exploration was the expansion of ecclesiastical dominion over previously unknown worlds. In the context of the time, nothing could be more exciting than expanding Christ's flock of believers. What needed to be settled, therefore, were the rights of Spain in relation to the 'savages' living on the discovered lands, and also, to draw a bright line between the rights of Spain and the rights of Portugal.
In drawing that line, Alexander echoed the centuries old theme of universal papal guardianship first elaborated by Innocent IV.
He endorsed Spain's conquest and subjugation of savages inhabitants by granting the monarchs "full, free and integral power and authority and jurisdiction over their new titled lands, with the open path to carry out the papal mission of baptizing the children of nature of the new world."
With the pope's blessing Spanish settlements in the new world were run on the encomienda system (the practice of enslaving native people for the purpose of converting them to Christianity), and the infamous requerimiento, the official declaration of conquest which gave savages the choice of accepting Spain's jurisdiction over their lands, or face slaughter at the hands of the conquistadores." (Source: Savagesandscoundrels.org )
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Brave New World
"Pope Alexander VIAs Columbus sailed toward the New World, a new pope was elected in the old world. The year was 1492, and Rodrigo Borgia became Pope Alexander VI. Among the most notorious of all papacies, Borgia’s family was the inspiration for Mario Puzo’s Godfather books. Puzo’s last book, simply titled The Family, delves into their juiciest lore.
The papacies will forever be infamous for excess, to which the Reformers were rightfully opposed. But seldom had excess rivaled that of Alex 6. Rodrigo took his name from the pagan conqueror, and he shunned modesty and discretion, reveling in gold, women, and murder. He did not even attempt to hide his appetites for riches and sugar and sex. Today, the Catholic Church claims much of Alex’s legend is grossly exaggerated, and that to be fair, he really loved his children.
And so he did: he loved his daughter enough to sleep with her." (Extracted from The Unholy Grail: Pope Alexander VI, 1431-1503 )
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Borgia Popes
Who were these people? Where did they come from, and how did they rise to power? They begin their dynasty in Spain in the last years of the 14th century, a family known as de Borya.
Two Spanish cousins, Domingo de Borya and Rodrigo de Borya, produce children that will unite the line into what will become the Italian Borgias. Domingo's daughter, Isabella, married Rodrigo's son, Jofre.
The story begins with Isabella's brother, Alfonso de Borya, Pope Callixtus III. The family history of greed and the pursuit of political power has its genesis with him. To understand the Borgia family, as the de Boryas became known in Italy, one has to know the patriarchs, the men who began a family that exceeded the excesses of other families of the era, such as the Medicis, the Orsinis, the Sforzas, and the della Roveres.
The family starts its colorful history with nepotism and the acquisition of wealth, and moves on to the more complicated agenda of murder. (Extracted from CrimeLibrary - The Borgias by BY Russell Aiuto )
Alexander VI: (1431-1503, Pope from 1492-1503)
"Alexander is the most notorious pope in all of history. He conducted a pontificate of nepotism, greed, ruthlessness, murder, and, as McBrien has described it, "unbridled sensuality." He became the leading figure in the saga of the Borgia family, both as a perpetuator of evil and a facilitator of the activities of the two most famous of his children, Cesare and Lucrezia.
The second and last of the Spanish popes literally bought his pontificate with bribes. Such a purchased election is called "simoniacal," and was easily accomplished with the greed of seventeen of the 22 cardinals voting for the new pope.
He was born Rodrigo Borgia near Valencia, Spain, the nephew of Callixtus, who made him a cardinal at the age of 25 in 1456 and vice-chancellor of the Holy See in 1457. As vice-chancellor, he amassed great wealth, lived an openly promiscuous life, and fathered seven children, both as a cardinal and the pope. Pius II, who had succeeded Callixtus and continued to support the rise in the church hierarchy of Cardinal Rodrigo Borgia, had to warn the young cardinal to refrain from his practice of participating in orgies. It was, as Pius expressed it, "unseemly."
As a young man, Rodrigo was described as tall and handsome. Sigismondo de Conti speaks of him as a large, robust man, with a sharp gaze, great amiability, and "wonderful skill in money matters." Others admired his tall figure, florid complexion, dark eyes, and full mouth. However, in his early sixties when he became pope, he apparently lost his physical charm. We have few portraits that can be identified as being truly of him; one depicts a bald, corpulent pope on his knees before the tomb of the risen Christ.
While a cardinal, he took as his mistress Vannozza de Catanei who bore him four children, including Cesare (born 1475) and Lucrezia (1480). By the time he became pope in 1492, he had cast off Vannozza and acquired as a mistress the young Guilia Farenese, who was probably the mother of two or three additional children sired by Alexander. Before Vannozza, Rodrigo had fathered at least two children by one or more women whose names are lost to history.
Pope Innocent VIII died, and a political struggle ensued for the papacy. The bargaining was fierce, and when the votes were finally counted, Rodrigo Borgia, with the purchase of the vote of a 96-year-old cardinal who no longer had all of his faculties, was elected. One of the six cardinals who could not be bought was Giuliano della Rovere, was to remain an enemy of the Borgias, and eventually would succeed Alexander VI as Pope Julius II, noted patron of Michelangelo, the "Warrior Pope."
During the elaborate ceremony consecrating Rodrigo as Pope Alexander VI, he had to be "verified" as a male, since, from the 13th century and the scandalous myth of "Pope Joan," a Pope John that was believed to have been a woman, newly elected popes had to submit to an examination lying on a low seat. The fact that Rodrigo, prolific father, might be disguising his sex was an amusing sidelight to his rise from the low seat of genital examination to the high throne of Peter.
But Rodrigo, now Alexander VI, had learned something from his predecessor, the misnamed Innocent VIII, who was the first pope to acknowledge openly his illegitimate children, loading them with riches and titles. Alexander took advantage of the precedent.
After a strong beginning as pope, reforming the Curia and forbidding simony — which is, of course, the means by which he had purchased the papacy — Alexander concentrated his efforts on his primary interests. These were, like Innocent VIII, the acquisition of gold, the pursuit of women, and the interests of his family. However, Alexander made his predecessor look like a rank amateur. He named his son Cesare, then only 18, a cardinal, along with the younger brother of his current papal mistress, the even younger Alessandro Farnese. He arranged three marriages for his daughter Lucrezia, skillfully annulling the first, and, through the efforts of Cesare, conveniently making her a widow with the second. Lucrezia often was left in charge of the papacy — in effect, a regent — when Alexander was travelling from Rome.
Alexander forged alliances through the marriages of his children. For instance, he linked his power to that of the Milanese faction, uniting the Borgia and Sforza families, by marrying Lucrezia to Giovanni Sforza, the bastard son of Costanzo Sforza, cousin of the powerful cardinal, Ascanio Sforza. He solidified his position with the kingdom of Aragon and Naples by marrying his younger son Jofre to Sancia of Aragon, who would later cheat on her husband and engage in adultery with both Cesare and Giovanni, older brothers of Jofre.
In 1493, Alexander attempted to draw a line between Spanish and Portugese spheres of influence in the New World, but even this far-reaching political act had to be modified in 1494, since, in its original form, the decree favored his native Spain. He is also remembered for the torture and execution in 1498 of the famous Florentine preacher Savonarola, who had had the effrontery to denounce papal corruption and call for the removal of Alexander.
By 1500, Alexander's behavior — with Cesare as a dominating influence — became even more outrageous. Licentiousness and murder were the order of the day for both father and son.
Shortly after the 11th anniversary of his accession to the papacy, August, 1503, Alexander fell ill. So did Cesare, and around this coincidence a rumor grew in Rome that some authorities, such as McBrien, believe to be true. Alexander and Cesare had dined with Cardinal Adrian Corneto at the latter's villa. It long had been believed that the Borgias had intended to make Corneto their next victim. Indeed, Corneto thought that he had been poisoned, but had saved himself by switching the cup that Cesare had prepared for him. The unsuspecting Alexander and Cesare both drank freely from it. Within a few days, Cesare recovered, but his father lingered for a few more days and died at the age of 77.
Burchard, the loyal servant and diarist, reported that Cesare's men forced their way into the Vatican and made off with all the treasure they could carry, this vandalism carried out while the pope was still clinging to life. As soon as Alexander died, his servants plundered his bedroom. After Burchard had prepared the body, palace guards drove off the priests that were guarding the remains of the dead pope from the possible desecration of the irate (and quite joyous) Roman populace. Burchard had the body moved to a small chapel, where it remained unattended, slowly rotting in the humid August weather then gripping Rome.
When Burchard returned with servants to prepare the body for its final burial, he found Alexander bloated and discolored, the body so swollen that it would not fit into its coffin. The servants removed the pope's miter and literally stuffed him into the coffin.
"So died Pope Alexander, at the height of glory and prosperity... There was in him, and in full measure, all vices both of flesh and spirit... There was in him no religion, no keeping of his word. He promised all things liberally, but bound himself to nothing that was not useful to himself. He had no care for justice, since in his days Rome was a den of thieves and murderers. Nevertheless, his sins meeting with no punishment in this world, he was to the last of his days most prosperous. In one word, he was more evil and more lucky than, perhaps, any other pope for many ages before."
— Francesco Guicciardini (as reported in Chamberlain)
The power that Alexander possessed can be appreciated when one sees the almost total collapse of Cesare's empire upon his father's death. Julius II, Alexander's successor, had been one of the few cardinals that Alexander had been unable to buy in 1492, and he was clearly no friend of the Borgias.
But next to Cesare's ruthlessness, Alexander was comparatively mild." ( Source: The Borgias BY Russell Aiuto )
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Why He is Awful:
Alexander VI became the Halliburton and Dick Cheney of the papacy, swindling his way onto the throne with cash and selling the papacy a piece at a time to warring empires in Europe. While he was raking in the wealth and involving the Holy See in French and Italian political intrigues, he was also amassing women and power for his family.
One of his most infamous stunts was to use his attractive daughter Lucrezia, whom he supposedly had an affair with, as bait for wealthy merchants. When a rich merchant prince would visit Rome Alexander VI would introduce his daughter, have her seduce them, and then marry his daughter off to the merchant for a vast dowry. Unfortunately for the merchant, Alexander VI was the pope and got to decide who was married and who wasn't married. As soon as a wealthier merchant rolled into Rome Lucrezia's marriage would end and she would become available to the next highest bidder.
Alexander VI was also wildly unpopular with devout Catholics because he never made any attempt to be religious. He was a 100% secular pope, ignoring all of the rules and traditions of the church. He married, had children, and sired countless children outside of marriage.
He also held extravagant parties that often tended to become orgies. These parties were so intense that one of them, known as the Banquet of Chestnuts, is actually a part of recorded papal history. 50 prostitutes would bring in baskets of chestnuts and empty them out on the floor. The women's clothes would then be auctioned off and once they were naked they would crawl around on the floor picking up the chestnuts. Then the members of the clergy, including the pope, would have sex with the prostitutes&for prizes.
According to historian William Manchester, "Servants kept score of each man's orgasms, for the pope greatly admired virility and measured a man's machismo by his ejaculative capacity."
When Alexander VI's political intrigues ran him into financial trouble, he instituted a brutal pogrom against the wealthy, confiscating riches under the thin guise of criminal enforcement. If the wealthy resisted they were put to death. These pogroms fueled instability and eventually led to Alexander's involvement in a series of unfortunate military struggles. Assassins, paid by Alexander's many enemies, made repeated attempts on him. In 1503 they finally succeeded with a plate of poisoned food.
John Burchard, a sort of living papal Captain's Log, recorded Alexander VI's gruesome death.
"Alexander VI's stomach became swollen and turned to liquid, while his face became wine-coloured and his skin began to peel off. Finally his stomach and bowels bled profusely."
Alexander VI died soon after the poisoning. His last words were, "Wait a minute." – Zack "Geist Editor" Parsons (@sexyfacts4u) (Extracted from The 6 Most Awful Popes )
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