German - English
Definition of borgia in German English dictionary
- borgias
English - English
Definition of borgia in English English dictionary
- Italian cardinal and military leader; model for Machiavelli's prince (1475-1507) Italian noblewoman and patron of the arts (1480-1519)
- Cesare Borgia
- v. later duc de Valentinois born 1475/76, probably Rome died 1507, near Viana, Spain Italian military leader, illegitimate son of Pope Alexander VI, and brother of Lucrezia Borgia. He was made archbishop of Valencia (1492) and cardinal (1493). After his brother's murder (1497), he took command of the papal armies. In 1498 he resigned his ecclesiastical offices and married the sister of the king of Navarre, a move calculated to win French support for a campaign to regain control of the Papal States. Acting in concert with his father, Cesare won a series of military successes in the Papal States (1499-1503), gaining a reputation for ruthlessness and assassination; his political astuteness led Niccolò Machiavelli to cite him as an example of the new "Prince." Cesare's gains proved fruitless, however, when his father died (1503) and the new pope, Julius II, demanded that he give up his lands. He escaped from prison in Spain and died fighting for Navarre
- Lucrezia Borgia
- born April 18, 1480, Rome died June 24, 1519, Ferrara, Papal States Italian noblewoman. The daughter of the future pope Alexander VI and sister of Cesare Borgia, she was probably more an instrument for their ambitious projects than, as has been suggested, an active participant in their many crimes. Her three marriages into prominent families helped augment the political and territorial power of the Borgias. Her child may have been the issue of an incestuous relationship with her father. After her father's death (1503), she ceased to play a political role and increasingly turned to religion. She died at age 39