Lucrezia Borgia

Lucrezia Borgia (b. 1480–d. 1519) is well known as the much-loved daughter of Pope Alexander VI (see Oxford Bibliographies in Renaissance and Reformation article Alexander VI, affectionate sister of the cleric-turned-soldier Cesare Borgia (see Oxford Bibliographies in Renaissance and Reformation article Cesare Borgia, unfortunate wife of Giovanni Sforza of Pesaro, distraught widow of Alfonso, duke of Bisceglie, and esteemed consort of Alfonso d’Este, duke of Ferrara. Outside the bonds of close family, she is similarly defined by relationships with men, whether that be in terms of the passionate devotion of Pietro Bembo (see Oxford Bibliographies in Renaissance and Reformation article Pietro Bembo or the no less eloquent admiration of Ludovico Ariosto. It is therefore little wonder that recent authors have sought to present her as a person of substance and interest in her own right. As usual, students should begin with Reference Works. Biographies provide a popular format for conveying information about elite women of the Renaissance period and should be read early in any research process, but they often require padding with contextual material. Therefore, Contexts appears as the next section of this article. There is an ample number of published Primary Sources, though contemporary Archives and Diaries do not delve beneath outward formalities, and the writers of Poetry and Letters necessarily or habitually idealized their subjects. Easily the best option for discovering more about Lucrezia is to set aside her Roman origins and concentrate on Lucrezia in Ferrara, which is precisely what happened in 2002 when the city of Ferrara celebrated an “Anno di Lucrezia Borgia” to mark the 500th anniversary of her arrival there as the bride of the future duke. Some of the lasting consequences of that celebration can be found among the Collections of Papers. Other article-length pieces can be accessed via Journals. The final section of this article charts the process by which the figure of Lucrezia Borgia has evolved From Fact to Fiction during the centuries since her death.