Pope alexander vi biography for kids

July Learn how and when to remove this message. This article may have too many section headers. Please help consolidate the article. May Learn how and when to remove this message. Valentinus "The Valencian " [ 1 ]. Portrait attributed to Pedro Berruguete c. Birth and family [ edit ]. Appearance and personality [ edit ]. Career [ edit ]. Overview [ edit ].

Archbishop of Valencia [ edit ]. Election to the papacy [ edit ]. Main article: Papal conclave, Early years in office [ edit ]. French involvement [ edit ]. Main article: Italian War of — This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources in this section.

Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. April Learn how and when to remove this message. French in retreat [ edit ]. Crime [ edit ]. This section's factual accuracy is disputed. Please help to ensure that disputed statements are reliably sourced. Savonarola [ edit ]. Familial aggrandizement [ edit ]. The Jubilee [ edit ]. Personal life [ edit ].

Giovanni Borgia2nd Duke of Gandia. Portrait of a Gentleman Cesare Borgia. Presumed portrait of Lucrezia Borgia attributed to Dosso Dossic. Gioffre Borgia — Prince of Squillace. Slavery [ edit ]. Last years [ edit ]. Death [ edit ]. Legacy [ edit ]. The examples and perspective in this section may not include all significant viewpoints. Please improve the article or discuss the issue.

See also [ edit ]. References [ edit ]. Notes [ edit ]. This article contains too many or overly lengthy quotations. Please help summarize the quotations. Consider transferring direct quotations to Wikiquote or excerpts to Wikisource. September See G. Meyer, [ 3 ] Christopher Hibbert, [ 4 ] and Ferdinand Gregorovius. By the middle of the 15th century, this reconquest was almost complete, but Spain was still a hodgepodge of competing principalities and, because of its constant state of warfare, still a very backward country.

In Italy, on the other hand, the Renaissance, which had hardly begun in Spain, had reached its high point and the Italians, in general, did not look kindly on a citizen of this backward country being elevated to the highest post in the Church. Remember, too, that the pope at the time, besides his spiritual powers, was a sovereign political power with large areas of the peninsula, nominally, at least, under his control.

Italy was, politically, in a worse state than Spain. In the south, Naples was a fief of the pope, but its ruler, King Ferrante, refused to acknowledge the pope's authority. In the north of the peninsula, many small principalities vied for dominance and were often at war with one another, changing alliances as rapidly as opportunity invited.

In the Papal States themselves, noble families, such as the Orsini and the Colonna, acted as petty tyrants in the cities and areas which they controlled, grinding down the people and constantly seeking to achieve their independence from their sovereign, the pope. These Roman families even sought to control the Papacy itself. It was probably only because they could not agree on an Italian successor to Nicholas V that the elderly Callistus had been elected; one who, in all probability, would not live long Callistus III was acknowledged by all as religious and austere, though severely criticized for his largesse to his family.

But he was surrounded by enemies both within the Church and among the rulers of Europe. When elected, he did what all leaders do, he surrounded himself with people whom he believed he could trust. A Spaniard in Italy, he was hard-pressed to find such trustworthiness except from members of his own family; hence his patronage of them, though it is not to be denied that it was probably also for personal reasons.

Alexander opened the first holy door in St. Peter's Basilica on Christmas Eve,and papal legates opened the doors in the other three patriarchal basilicas. For this occasion, Pope Alexander had a new opening created in the portico of St. Peter's and commissioned a door, made of marble, 3. It lasted until when another door was installed in the new basilica.

The door, in turn, was replaced in by the bronze door, which is still in use. In a ceremony strikingly similar in many ways to today's ritual opening of a holy door, Alexander was carried in the gestatorial chair to the portico of St. He and the members of his retinue, bearing long candles, processed to the holy door, as the choir intoned Psalm — "Open for me the gate of Yahweh, where the upright go in.

Thus, Pope Alexander, a lover of pomp and ceremony, formalized the rite of opening a holy door and began a tradition that continues, with few variations, to this day. Similar rites were held at the other patriarchal basilicas. Alexander was also the first to institute a pope alexander vi biography for kids rite for the closing of a holy door. On the feast of the Epiphany, 6 Januarytwo cardinals — one with a silver brick and the other with a gold one — symbolically began to seal the holy door.

Basilica workers known as sanpietrini completed the task, which included placing small coins and medals, minted during the holy year, inside the wall. The pope himself performed this ceremony on Christmas Eve,having taken pains to settle all the details beforehand with his Master of Ceremonies. The ceremonial observed on these occasions was no modern invention, but, as the Bull of Indiction expressly says, was founded on ancient rites and full of symbolic meaning.

According to Burchard, the crowd which assisted at these solemnities numberedpersons. Although this may be an exaggeration, still it is certain that, in spite of the troubles of the times and the insecurity in Rome itself, the numbers attending this Jubilee were very large. Peter's Basilica. On a similar claim: "Without any solid evidence Giulia is said to have been the model for Pinturicchio's 'Virgin and Child' surrounded by angels in the Borgia Apartments of the Vatican.

Et fuit tediosa et longa oratio. He omits to observe that, granting that the pope alexander vi biography for kids may have been too long for the cardinals, the longer the better for us, inasmuch as it contains an account of Pope Alexander of almost unique value, not merely as the judgment of a contemporary, but as delivered in public before an audience of contemporaries whose station in the church had brought them into almost daily intercourse with the deceased pope, and before whom any serious misrepresentation would have been impossible In the eleventh century, Peter Damianwriting to the clergy and people of Osimosharply reproved the "perverse and wholly detestable practice of certain people, who at the death of the bishop break in like enemies and rob his house, like thieves make off with his belongings, set fire to the homes on his estate, and with fierce and savage barbarity cut down his grape vines and orchards".

The pope was banned from selling benefices and from transferring Church property to laypersons. As for the cardinals, who were to be drawn from all the nations, none should possess more than one bishopric; their households were limited to eighty people and thirty horses; they were banned from hunting, theaters, carnivals, and tournaments; and their funeral expenses were not to exceed 1, ducats.

The lesser clergy were similarly reined in: they must refuse all bribes and put away their concubines. Citations [ edit ]. Meyer The Borgias: The Hidden History. ISBN History of the City of Rome in the Middle Ages. London: George Bell. Edited by Fredi Chiappelli. Isabella: The Warrior Queen. Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group. Archived from the original PDF on 26 April Retrieved 22 December The Borgias: history's most notorious dynasty.

OCLC Pietro sino ai nostri giornivol. International law in historical perspective. Martinus Nijhoff Publishers. The Rise of Modern Diplomacy — London: Longman. He tried to collect troops and put Rome in a state of defence, but his position was most insecure, and the Orsini offered to admit the French to their castles. This defection decided the pope to come to terms, and on the 31st of December[?

Alexander now feared that the king might depose him for simony and summon a council, but he won over the bishop of St Malowho had much influence over the king, with a cardinal's hat, and agreed to send Cesare, as legate, to Naples with the French army, to deliver Jem to Charles and to give him Civitavecchia[? Neapolitan resistance collapsed; Alphonso fled and abdicated in favour of his son Ferdinand IIwho also had to fly abandoned by all, and the kingdom was conquered with surprising ease.

But a reaction against Charles soon set in, for all the powers were alarmed at his success, and on the 31st of March[?

Pope alexander vi biography for kids

Charles had himself crowned king of Naples on the 12th of May[? He encountered the allies at Fornovo, and after a drawn battle cut his way through them and was back in France by November; Ferdinand II. The expedition, if it produced no pope alexander vi biography for kids 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[?

Peace was made through Venetian mediation, the Orsini paying 50, 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 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[? 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. 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, 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 inand, unable to arrange a union between Cesare and the daughter of Frederick, king of Naples who had succeeded Ferdinand II. 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.

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 and was joined by Venice. 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. But the expulsion of the French from Milan and the return of Lodovico Sforza interrupted his conquests, and he returned to Rome early in 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.

Alexander's unpopularity was such that the priests of St. Peter's Basilica initially refused to bury the Pope in the cathedral. Only four cardinals were present at the funeral, and his successor, Pius III, prohibited masses for the repose of his soul. Contact About Privacy. Alexander VI. Igumen Timofey. 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 Peace was made through Venetian mediation, the Orsini paying 50, 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 VI could count on none but his 3, 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 popes alexander vi biography for kids for which the house of Borgia remained famous.

On June 14, the duke of Gandia, lately created duke of Benevento, disappeared; the next day his corpse was found in the Tiber River. Alexander VI, overwhelmed with grief, shut himself up in Castel Sant'Angelo, and then declared that the reform of the Church would be the sole object of his life henceforth — a resolution that he did not keep. Every effort was made to discover the assassin, and suspicion fell on various highly-placed people.

Suddenly the rumor spread 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, Alexander VI 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 offense; 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 VI's relations with Savonarola is told in that article; it is enough 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 VI, although he could not get Savonarola into his own hands, browbeat the Florentine government into condemning the reformer to death May 23, 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, the Pope 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 inand, unable to arrange a union between Cesare and the daughter of Frederick, King of Naples who had succeeded Ferdinand II the previous yearhe 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 of France —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.

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 favor, proceeded to attack the turbulent cities one by one.

But the expulsion of the French from Milan and the return of Lodovico Sforza interrupted his conquests, and he returned to Rome early in 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 Indulgencesso that Alexander VI 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 VI'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 receivedducats, 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, favored by France and Venice, set forth with 10, 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.

On his return to Rome June Cesare 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 June 25, Frederick being formally deposed. The French army proceeded to invade Naples, and Alexander VI 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 About this time a Borgia of doubtful parentage was born, Giovanni, described in some papal documents as Alexander VI's son and in others as Cesare's.

As France and Spain were quarreling 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 XII of France again invaded Italy and was at once bombarded with complaints from the Borgia's enemies.