A CRIMINAL HISTORY OF MANKIND

captor was a man who held high ideals of chivalry, so they were not violated. But the women of
Rome were less fortunate when the French army arrived in January 1495 on its way to Naples. The
pope took refuge in the Castel Sant Angelo, and the French plundered and raped for several days.
The king issued orders that all looters were to be hanged, but this did not prevent them from
breaking into the house of Cesare’s mother a few days later. (Cesare later managed to lay his hands
on these looters - Swiss mercenaries - and tortured them horribly.) The pope was forced to sue for
peace. He even agreed to hand over Cesare as a hostage. So when Charles rode out of Rome
towards Naples, Cesare Borgia accompanied him. He was dressed in his cardinal’s robes and had
seventeen velvet-covered wagons behind him - he said these were his travelling clothes. Cesare
managed to compel the respect of the French officers with his skill in wrestling; but at the first
opportunity he slipped away and returned to Rome. His seventeen wagons were found to be empty.
For the first time, Rome laughed with approval at one of Cesare’s exploits.
The foreign invasion had served to unite various warring factions against the French, and Charles
had to retreat back across the Alps. Alfonso of Naples had been forced to abdicate; but when
Charles was driven out he returned. The pope thereupon invited Alfonso and his beautiful daughter
Sanchia to Rome. He was anxious to take another look at this dazzling teenager. In fact, Sanchia
found she could twist the pope around her finger. Cesare, who was totally unable to resist any
attractive girl (or youth, for that matter, for he was bisexual) lost no time in luring her to his
apartment. Sanchia had heard of his reputation as the most dangerous man in Italy; therefore it was
only a matter of prudence to submit. They were both sensualists, and neither felt any pangs of
conscience about becoming lovers. The pope showed no jealousy; it seems fairly certain that he
was also enjoying her favours.
Rodrigo was wondering how he could use the war to further his own schemes of expanding the
papal territories. When Charles VIII returned to France, he decided to attack Charles’s ally, the
Orsini family. His son Juan - the one who was supposed to be the soldier - was in Spain, where he
had inherited the title of Duke of Gandia. His father sent for him to come back to Italy, and placed
him in charge of the army. But he proved to be a poor general. When the papal troops were
defeated near Bassano in January 1497, the pope had to sue for peace, and Juan - to his brother’s
unconcealed delight - returned to Rome in disgrace.
Lucrezia’s husband, Giovanni Sforza, seemed to realise that his days would be numbered if he
stayed within reach of Cesare; so he was now a permanent absentee and the pope decided that
Lucrezia should be divorced. It was scandalous, but it seemed to be the only way. The grounds
chosen were non-consummation of the marriage on account of her husband’s impotence. Sforza
was enraged by this slur on his virility, but when he was told that in order to legally disprove it he
would have to perform the sexual act with a courtesan in front of a panel of churchmen, he
reluctantly decided to allow himself to be divorced.
Lucrezia was placed in a convent, to silence rumour. But no one objected when her brother Cesare
went to see her there. Six months later, to the pope’s deep embarrassment, Lucrezia was found to
be pregnant - six months pregnant. Cesare was not the kind of man who could resist possessing his
sister under the nose of a mother superior. In the event, the skill of Lucrezia’s dressmaker
concealed her condition, and she behaved so demurely in front of the judges that no one doubted
she was a virgin. In due course, Lucrezia gave birth to a son. Three years later, a three-year-old
child was brought to the Vatican, given the name of Giovanni Borgia, and made an heir to the
Borgia fortune. Roman gossip declared that he was not merely the pope’s grandson but also his son
- for Rodrigo was as sexually experimental as Cesare and enjoyed sharing his son’s mistresses.