:Lucrezia Borgia

File:Lucrezia-Borgia.jpg in a fresco by Pinturicchio. The "Hall of the Saints" within the Borgia Apartments in the Vatican, circa 1494.]]

{{See also|House of Borgia}}

Lucrezia Borgia was born on 18 April 1480 at Subiaco, near Rome.Sarah Bradford: Lucrezia Borgia, Penguin Group, 2004, p. 16 Her mother was Vannozza dei Cattanei, one of the mistresses of Lucrezia's father, Cardinal Rodrigo de Borgia (later Pope Alexander VI).{{Cite news|url=http://www.nationalgeographic.com/archaeology-and-history/magazine/2017/01-02/lucrezia-borgia-renaissance-italy-scandal-intrigue/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170119073832/http://www.nationalgeographic.com/archaeology-and-history/magazine/2017/01-02/lucrezia-borgia-renaissance-italy-scandal-intrigue/|url-status=dead|archive-date=19 January 2017|title=Lucrezia Borgia, Predator or Pawn?|date=17 January 2017|access-date=2017-04-15}}

During her early life, Lucrezia Borgia's education was entrusted to Adriana Orsini de Milan, a close confidant of her father. Her education would primarily take place in the Palazzo Pizzo de Merlo, a building adjacent to her father's residence. Unlike most educated women of her time, for whom convents were the primary source for knowledge, her education came from within the sphere of intellectuals in the court and close relatives, and it included a solid grounding in the Humanities, which the Catholic Church was reviving, at the time. She was a thoroughly accomplished princess, fluent in Spanish, Catalan, Italian, and French, which prepared her for advantageous marriage to any European monarch or prince, and literate in both Latin and Greek. She would also become proficient in the lute, poetry, and oration. The biggest testament to her intelligence is her ability in administration, as later on in life, she took care of Vatican City correspondence and governance of Ferrara.{{citation needed|date=April 2017}}

File:Giovanni Sforza coin.jpg]]

On 26 February 1491, a matrimonial arrangement was drawn up between Lucrezia and the Lord of Val D'Ayora, in the Kingdom of Valencia, Don Cherubino Joan de Centelles (d. 1522). The arrangement was annulled, less than two months later, in favor of a new contract engaging Lucrezia to Don Gaspare Aversa, Count of Procida (1476–1534).{{cite book|last=Bellonci|first=Maria|title=Lucrezia Borgia|year=2000|publisher=Phoenix Press|location=London|isbn=1-84212-616-4|page=[https://archive.org/details/lifetimesoflucre0000bell/page/18 18]|url=https://archive.org/details/lifetimesoflucre0000bell/page/18}} When Rodrigo became Pope Alexander VI, he sought to be allied with powerful, princely families and founding dynasties of Italy. He, therefore, called off Lucrezia's previous engagements and arranged for her to marry Giovanni Sforza, a member of the House of Sforza who was Lord of Pesaro and titled Count of Catignola.{{cite book|last=Bellonci|first=Maria|title=Lucrezia Borgia|year=2000|publisher=Phoenix Press|location=London|isbn=1-84212-616-4|page=[https://archive.org/details/lifetimesoflucre0000bell/page/23 23]|url=https://archive.org/details/lifetimesoflucre0000bell/page/23}} Giovanni was an illegitimate son of Costanzo I Sforza and, therefore, a Sforza of the second rank. He married Lucrezia on 12 June 1493 in Rome.

Before long, the Borgia family no longer needed the Sforzas, and the presence of Giovanni Sforza, in the papal court, was superfluous. The Pope needed new, more advantageous political alliances, so he might have covertly ordered the execution of Giovanni: the generally accepted version is that Lucrezia was informed of this by her brother, Cesare, and she warned her husband, who fled Rome.{{cite book|last=Bellonci|first=Maria|title=Lucrezia Borgia|year=2003|publisher=Mondadori|location=Milan|isbn=978-88-04-45101-3|pages=121–122}}

Alexander asked Giovanni's uncle, Cardinal Ascanio Sforza, to persuade Giovanni to agree to an annulment of the marriage. Giovanni refused and accused Lucrezia of paternal incest.{{cite book|last=Bellonci|first=Maria|title=Lucrezia Borgia|year=2003|publisher=Mondadori|location=Milan|isbn=978-88-04-45101-3|pages=139–141}} The pope asserted that his daughter's marriage had not been consummated and was, thus, invalid. Giovanni was offered her dowry, in return for his cooperation.{Some sources state that Giovanni returned the dowry. See, Durant, Will. "The Renaissance" Simon and Schuster (1953), page 429, {{ISBN|0-671-61600-5}}. See also Bradford, Sarah, "Lucrezia Borgia: Life, Love and Death in Renaissance Italy" Penguin Books (2005), Part 1, Ch. 3} The Sforza family threatened to withdraw their protection, should he refuse. Giovanni finally signed confessions of impotence and documents of annulment, before witnesses.

There has been speculation that during the prolonged process of the annulment, Lucrezia consummated a relationship with someone, perhaps Alexander's chamberlain Pedro Calderon (sometimes called Perotto).{{cite book|last=Thurmel|first=Joseph|title=Le Journal de Jean Burchard, Évêque et Cérémoniaire au Vatican|year=1923|publisher=Les Éditions Reider|location=Paris|page=328}} In any case, families hostile to the Borgias would later accuse her of being pregnant, at the time her marriage was annulled for non-consummation. She is known to have retired to the cloistered Convent of Saint Sixtus in Vecchio where she was given sanctuary by the Mother Superior in June 1497, to await the outcome of the annulment proceedings, which were finalized in December of the same year.

The bodies of Pedro Calderon and a maid, Pantasilea, were found in the Tiber in February 1498. In March 1498, the Ferrarese ambassador claimed that Lucrezia had given birth, but this was denied by other sources. A child was born, however, in the Borgia household, the year before Lucrezia's marriage to Alfonso of Aragon. He was named Giovanni but is known to historians as the "Infans Romanus.”

In 1501, two papal bulls were issued, concerning the child, Giovanni Borgia. In the first, he was recognized as Cesare's child from an affair, before his marriage. The second contradictory bull recognized him as the son of Pope Alexander VI. Lucrezia's name is not mentioned in either, and rumours that she was his mother have never been proven. The second bull was kept secret, for many years, and Giovanni was assumed to be Cesare's son. This is supported by the fact that in 1502, he became Duke of Camerino, one of Cesare's recent conquests, hence the natural inheritance of the Duke of Romagna's oldest son. Giovanni went to stay with Lucrezia in Ferrara, after Alexander's death, where he was accepted as her half-brother.{{Cite book|title=Lucrezia Borgia|last=Lucas|first=Emma|publisher=New World City|year=2014}}

File:PinturicchioAlfonso.jpg by Pinturicchio.]]

Following her annulment from Sforza, Lucrezia was married to the Neapolitan Alfonso of Aragon, the half-brother of Sancha of Aragon, who was the wife of Lucrezia's brother Gioffre Borgia. The marriage was a short one.

They were married in 1498, making Lucrezia the Duchess consort of Bisceglie and Princess consort of Salerno. Lucrezia, not her husband, was appointed governor of Spoleto, in 1499; Alfonso fled Rome, shortly afterwards, but he returned at Lucrezia's request, only to be murdered in 1500.James A. Patrick, [https://books.google.com/books?id=i6ZJlLHLPY8C&pg=PA124 Renaissance and Reformation, Volume 1], Marshall Cavendish, 2007, p. 124

It was widely rumoured{{cite book|last=Bradford|first=Sarah|title=Lucrezia Borgia. La storia vera|year=2005|publisher=Mondadori|location=Milan|isbn=88-04-55627-7|pages=85–88}} that Lucrezia's brother, Cesare, was responsible for Alfonso's death, as he had recently allied himself (through marriage) with France, against Naples. Lucrezia and Alfonso had one child, Rodrigo of Aragon, who was born in 1499 and predeceased his mother, in August 1512, at the age of 12.

File:Battista Dossi, ritratto di Alfonso I d'Este - Modena.jpg

After the death of Lucrezia's second husband, her father, Pope Alexander VI, arranged a third marriage. Then, she married Alfonso I d'Este, Duke of Ferrara, in early 1502 in Ferrara. She had eight children, during this marriage, and was considered a respectable and accomplished Renaissance duchess, effectively rising above her previous reputation and surviving the fall of the Borgias, following her father's death.Roberto Gervaso, I Borgia, Milano, Rizzoli, 1977, p. 362, pp. 375–380.

Neither partner was faithful: beginning in 1503, Lucrezia enjoyed a long relationship with her brother-in-law, Francesco II Gonzaga, Marquess of Mantua.Lucrezia Borgia: Life, Love and Death in Renaissance Italy, Sarah Bradford, Viking, 2004{{cite web|url=http://observer.guardian.co.uk/review/story/0,6903,1334580,00.html|title=Observer review: Lucrezia Borgia by Sarah Bradford|author=David Jays|work=The Guardian|date=24 October 2004|access-date=22 January 2015}} Francesco's wife was the cultured intellectual Isabella d'Este, the sister of Alfonso, to whom Lucrezia had made overtures of friendship, to no avail. The affair between Francesco and Lucrezia was passionate, more sexual than sentimental, as can be attested in the fevered love letters the pair wrote one another.Marek, pp.166–67 It has been claimed that the affair ended, when Francesco contracted syphilis and had to end sexual relations with Lucrezia.Marek (1976) p. 169 This last assertion is troublesome, as Francesco had contracted syphilis before 1500, as it was known that he passed the disease onto his eldest son, Federico Gonzaga, who was born in 1500. Francesco did not meet Lucrezia until 1502.{{Cite book|title=Isabella d'Este and Francesco Gonzaga : power sharing at the Italian Renaissance Court|last=P.|first=Cockram, Sarah D.|date=2013|publisher=Ashgate Publishing Ltd|isbn=9781409448310|location=Farnham|oclc=855504802}}

Lucrezia also had a love affair with the poet Pietro Bembo, during her third marriage. Their love letters were deemed "the prettiest love letters in the world" by the Romantic poet Lord Byron, when he saw them in the Ambrosian Library of Milan on 15 October 1816.[https://www.spectator.co.uk/2005/06/viragos-on-the-march Viragos on the march], The Spectator, 25 June 2005, by Ian Thomson, a review of Viragos on the march by Gaia Servadio. I. B. Tauris, {{ISBN|1-85043-421-2}}.[http://www.caxtonclub.org/reading/2005/oct05.pdf Pietro Bembo: A Renaissance Courtier Who Had His Cake and Ate It Too], Ed Quattrocchi, Caxtonian: Journal of the Caxton Club of Chicago, Volume XIII, No. 10, October 2005. On the same occasion, Byron claimed to have stolen a lock of Lucrezia's hair – "the prettiest and fairest imaginable" – that was also held there on display.[http://www.rc.umd.edu/reference/chronologies/byronchronology/1816.html The Byron Chronology: 1816–1819 – Separation and Exile on the Continent] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190223124538/http://www.rc.umd.edu/reference/chronologies/byronchronology/1816.html |date=23 February 2019 }}.[https://www.fulltextarchive.com/page/Byron2/#p72 Byron] by John Nichol.Letter to Augusta Leigh, Milan, 15 October 1816. Lord Byron's Letters and Journals, [http://engphil.astate.edu/gallery/byron6.html Chapter 5: Separation and Exile] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080509081118/http://engphil.astate.edu/gallery/byron6.html |date=9 May 2008 }}.

File:Veneto - Portrait of an Unidentified Young Lady - National Gallery.jpg (c. 1510){{cite book|last=Bellonci|first=Maria|title=Lucrezia Borgia|year=2003|publisher=Mondadori|location=Milan|isbn=978-88-04-45101-3|page=613}}]]

Lucrezia met the famed French soldier, the Chevalier Bayard, while the latter was co-commanding the French allied garrison of Ferrara, in 1510. According to his biographer, the Chevalier became a great admirer of Lucrezia's, considering her a "pearl on this Earth".{{Cite book|title=The Chevalier Bayard|last=Shellabarger|first=Samuel|author-link=Samuel Shellabarger|publisher=eNet Press|year=1971|pages=165}}

After a long history of complicated pregnancies and miscarriages, on 14 June 1519, Lucrezia gave birth to her tenth child, which she named Isabella Maria, in honor of Alfonso's sister, Isabella d'Este. The child was sickly, and fearing she would die unbaptised, Alfonso ordered her to be baptized, immediately, with Eleonora Pico della Mirandola and Count Alexandro Serafino as godparents.

Lucrezia had become very weak, during the pregnancy, and fell seriously ill, after the birth. After seeming to recover for two days, she worsened, again, and died on 24 June of the same year. She was buried in the convent of Corpus Domini.{{cite web|url=http://www.comune.fe.it/lucrezia/index_ing.htm|title=Ferrara 2002 Anno di Lucrezia Borgia|publisher=Comune di Ferrara|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090616102541/http://www.comune.fe.it/lucrezia/index_ing.htm|archive-date=16 June 2009}}

File:1520 Veneto Idealbildnis einer Kurtisane als Flora anagoria.JPG, traditionally presumed to be Lucrezia Borgia.]]

She is described as having heavy blonde hair that fell past her knees, a beautiful complexion, hazel eyes that changed colour, a full, high bosom, and a natural grace that made her appear to "walk on air".George R. Marek The Bed and the Throne: the Life of Isabella d'Este, Harper & Row, 1976, {{ISBN |978-0-06-012810-4}} p. 142 These physical attributes were highly appreciated, in Italy due to its parallel descriptions of the Roman goddess of arts, Minerva. Another description said, "her mouth is rather large, the teeth brilliantly white, her neck is slender and fair, and the bust is admirably proportioned."The Times Arts section p. 14, 31 January 2011

One painting, Portrait of a Youth by Dosso Dossi at the National Gallery of Victoria, was identified as a portrait of Lucrezia in November 2008.[http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2008/11/25/1227491521109.html NGV's Renaissance mystery woman revealed], The Age, 25 November 2008. Retrieved 25 November 2008.{{cite news |title=Only known painting of Lucrezia Borgia discovered in Australian gallery |newspaper=The Times |date=25 November 2008 |url=http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/visual_arts/article5227710.ece |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110616183143/http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/visual_arts/article5227710.ece |archive-date=16 June 2011 |url-status=dead}}

[https://web.archive.org/web/20081203120415/http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/11/25/2429076.htm Infamous Renaissance woman subject of mystery portrait] – Australian Broadcasting Corporation 26 November 2008. Retrieved 26 November 2008.[http://www.smh.com.au/news/entertainment/arts/gallery-unveils-portrait-of-infamy/2008/11/25/1227491546419.html Gallery unveils portrait of infamy], The Sydney Morning Herald, 26 November 2008. Retrieved 26 November 2008.[http://www.theage.com.au/national/portrait-of-renaissance-femme-fatale-lucrezia-borgia-found-at-ngv-20081125-6hh9.html Portrait of Renaissance femme fatale Lucrezia Borgia found at NGV], The Age, 26 November 2008. Retrieved 26 November 2008. This painting may be the only surviving formal portrait of Lucrezia Borgia; however, doubts have been cast on that attribution.[http://www.theage.com.au/news/entertainment/arts/art-detective-says-the-brother-did-it/2008/11/26/1227491634890.html Art detective says the brother did it], The Age, 27 November 2008 Several other paintings, such as Veneto's fanciful portrait, have also been said to depict her, but none have been accepted by scholars, at present.

According to Mandell Creighton in his History of the Papacy:

{{Quote|"Lucrezia was personally popular through her beauty and her affability. Her long golden hair, her sweet childish face, her pleasant expression and her graceful ways, seem to have struck all who saw her."{{Cite book |last=Creighton |first=Mandell |url=http://archive.org/details/historyofpapa04crei |title=A history of the papacy during the period of the reformation |date=1882–1894 |publisher= Longmans, Green |location= London |page =20}}}}

==Black legend==

File:02 Corpus Domini Ferrara - Sala del Coro o sala delle Clarisse - Tombe estensi.jpg and Lucrezia Borgia, Ferrara.]]

File:Firma de “Lucretia de Borgia” en una carta a su cuñada Isabella Gonzaga (marzo de 1519).png

Several rumours have persisted, throughout the years, primarily speculating as to the nature of the extravagant parties{{Cite book |last=Lindberg |first=Carter |title=The European Reformations |publisher=Wiley-Blackwell |year=2021 |isbn=9781119640813 |edition=3rd |location=Chichester, UK |pages=44}} thrown by the Borgia family. One example is the Banquet of Chestnuts. Many of these allegations concern accusations of Lucrezia's involvement in incest, poisoning, and murder. For example, it was rumoured that Lucrezia was in possession of a hollow ring that she used to poison drinks. However, no historical basis for these accusations exists, beyond the attacks of her enemies.{{Cite web|url=http://www.theguardian.com/news/2002/feb/05/netnotes.philippank|title=Lucretia Borgia|date=5 February 2002|website=The Guardian}}{{Cite web|url=https://h2g2.com/edited_entry/A4350755|title=h2g2 – A Brief History of Poisoning – Edited Entry|first=Not Panicking|last=Ltd|website=h2g2.com|date=28 July 2005 }}

A modern 20th-century British painting by Frank Cadogan Cowper that hangs in the Tate Britain art gallery in London portrays Lucrezia taking the place of her father, Pope Alexander VI, at an official Vatican meeting. This apparently documents an event, although the moment depicted (a Franciscan friar kissing Lucrezia's feet) was invented by the artist.{{cite web|url=https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/frank-cadogan-cowper-950|title=Lucretia Borgia Reigns in the Vatican in the Absence of Pope Alexander VI by Frank Cadogan Cowper|work=Tate Britain|access-date=10 July 2023}}

Lucrezia was mother to seven or eight known children:

1. A miscarriage / stillborn daughter (16 February 1499);Johannes Burchard Pope Alexander VI and his court; extracts from the Latin diary of Johannes Burchardus, New York, F. L. Brown, 1921 p. 105
2. Rodrigo of Aragon (1 November 1499 – August 1512), son by Alfonso of Aragon;Johannes Burchard Pope Alexander VI and his court; extracts from the Latin diary of Johannes Burchardus, New York, F. L. Brown, 1921 p. 110
3. A stillborn daughter (1502), first child by d'Este;
4. Alessandro d'Este (1505–1505);
5. Ercole II d'Este, Duke of Ferrara (5 April 1508 – 3 October 1559);
6. Ippolito II d'Este (25 August 1509 – 1 December 1572). Archbishop of Milan and later Cardinal;
7. Alessandro d'Este (1514–1516);
8. Leonora d'Este (3 July 1515 – 15 July 1575), a nun and composer;
9. Francesco d'Este, Marquess of Massalombarda (1 November 1516 – 2 February 1578);
10. Isabella Maria d'Este (born and died on 14 June 1519).{{cite book|title=Lucrezia Borgia |first=Ferdinand |last=Gregorovius |author-link=Ferdinand Gregorovius |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=f4IvCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA292 |isbn=9783954554195 |page=292|date=14 August 2012 |publisher=dearbooks. in Europäischer Literaturverlag GmbH }} Complications at birth caused the death of Lucrezia ten days later.

Giovanni Borgia, "infans Romanus" ("Child of Rome," c. 1498–1548) had his paternity acknowledged by Alexander and Cesare, in two Papal bulls, but it was rumoured that he was the child of Lucrezia and Pedro Calderon. The child (identified, in later life, as Lucrezia's half-brother) was most likely the result of a liaison between Rodrigo Borgia (Pope Alexander VI, Lucrezia's father) and an unknown mistress and was not Lucrezia's child.Sarah Bradford: Lucrezia Borgia, Penguin Group, 2004, p. 68 and 114

The Italian historian Maria Bellonci claims that Lucrezia gave birth to three children who did not survive infancy, one by Alfonso of Aragon and two by Alfonso d'Este. She is also thought to have had at least four miscarriages.{{Cite book|title=Lucrezia Borgia: Life, Love and Death in Renaissance Italy|last=Bradford|first=Sarah|publisher=Penguin Books|year=2005}}

• F. M. Klinger's 1791 novel {{interlanguage link|Fausts Leben, Thaten und Höllenfahrt|de}} features an episode in which the Borgias figure, including an affair between Faust and Lucrezia.
• French author Victor Hugo wrote in 1833 the stage play Lucrèce Borgia.
• Victor Hugo's play was transformed into a libretto by Felice Romani for Donizetti's opera, Lucrezia Borgia (1834), first performed at La Scala, Milan, 26 December 1833.Ashbrook, William and Sarah Hibberd (2001), in Holden, Amanda (Ed.), The New Penguin Opera Guide, New York: Penguin Putnam, p. 234. {{ISBN|0-14-029312-4}}.
• In 1912,the British author Margaret Gabrielle Vere Long, who wrote under the pseudonym Marjorie Bowen, published a short story called "Twilight: Lucrezia Borgia, Duchess d'Este" — a fictional account of the last moments of Lucrezia Borgia's life.{{cite web |title=Twilight by Marjorie Bowen (Online Text) |date=11 April 2025 |url=https://www.steve-calvert.co.uk/twilight-marjorie-bowen-online-text/}}
• The Dutch writer Louis Couperus published a story called "Lucrezia" in 1920 that takes place between the death of her second husband and the marriage of her third.{{cite book |first=Marijke |last=Stapert-Eggen |title=Repertorium Louis Couperus |location=Amsterdam |year=1992 |publisher=Overzicht |page=133 |language=nl}}
• The 1947 historical novel Prince of Foxes by Samuel Shellabarger describes the adventures of the fictional Andrea Orsini, a captain in the service of Cesare Borgia, during his conquest of the Romagna; it was made into a film of the same name in 1949, starring Orson Welles and Tyrone Power.{{tcmdb title|id=87136|title=Prince of Foxes}}
• Jean Plaidy's two 1958 novels Madonna of the Seven Hills and Light on Lucrezia follow the story of Lucrezia and her entanglement with her father and brothers.{{Cite web |url=https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/series/NB1/a-novel-of-the-borgias |title=A Novel of the Borgias |website=Penguin Random House|access-date=2019-04-05}}
• Lucrezia, Cesare and Alexander play key roles in Cecelia Holland's 1979 historical novel City of God: A Novel of the Borgias.{{cite web |url=http://www.historicalnovels.info/City-of-God.html |title=City of God by Cecelia Holland |first=David |last=Maclaine |website=Historicalnovels.info |access-date=5 September 2014}}
• In Roberta Gellis's 2003 novel Lucrezia Borgia and the Mother of Poisons ({{ISBN|9780765306616}}), Alfonso d'Este of Ferrara accuses Lucrezia of murder, and she must solve the crime and expose the true murderer.

• In the Marvel Comics comic book Avengers West Coast No. 98 (September 1993), the demon Satannish resurrected Borgia as the supervillain Cyana. As a nod to her reputation for poisoning her lovers in life, Cyana could fatally poison people with sharpened nails or a kiss.{{cite web|url=http://www.marvunapp.com/Appendix/cyana.htm|title=Cyana (Lucrezia Borgia, Lethal Legion) }}
• The Family by Mario Puzo; published October 2001 {{ISBN|0-06-103242-5}}
• Gregory Maguire retells the story of Snow White with Lucrezia as the woman who poisons her, in his novel Mirror, Mirror; published October 2003 {{ISBN|0-06-039384-X}}
• The Borgia Bride by Jeanne Kalogridis; published 31 January 2005
• Kathleen McGowan refers to "Lucrece", as one of the many unjustly vilified women, in her book The Expected One. She refers in particular to Frank Cadogan Cowper's painting Lucretia Borgia Reigns in the Vatican in the Absence of Pope Alexander VI on display at the Tate Gallery in London.McGowan, Kathleen, The Expected One(2007), p. 190, ({{ISBN|9780765306616}})
• Blood and Beauty by Sarah Dunant; {{ISBN|1-443-40644-9}}; {{ISBN|978-1-44340-644-4}}; Harper Collins Publishers Ltd | 8 July 2013 |
• The Pope's Daughter by Dario Fo, translated from Italian by Antony Shugaar; {{ISBN|978-1-60945-274-2}}. Translation copyright (c) 2015 by Europa Editions
• The Vatican Princess by C.W. Gortner; published 9 February 2016
• In the Name of the Family by Sarah Dunant; {{ISBN|978-1-84408-746-4}}; Virago Press 2017
• 남편을 내 편으로 만드는 방법 (How to get my husband on my side) by Spice&Kitty (novel and manhwa), 2021 (ongoing), includes references to her. For example, the main character is named Rudbeckia(Ruby) De Borgia, who is possessed by a transmigrator, and attempts to prevent the assassination attempt on the king's niece, Ellen De Omerta and her brother, Enzo De Borgia, by marrying into the De Omerta family in her brother's stead, to Iske/ Izek De Omerta. the main character also has an overly obsessive brother named Cesare which is the same name as one of Lucrezi Borgia's brothers.
• In the fictional fantasy universe Warhammer Fantasy, the character Lucrezzia Belladonna is a reference to Lucrezia Borgia. Lucrezzia is known for having poisoned several of her former lovers.

• Lucrezia Borgia (1922) is based on the life of Lucrezia, who is played by Liane Haid. Cesare Borgia is portrayed by Conrad Veidt.
• Lucrezia (Estelle Taylor) and Cesare (Warner Oland) Borgia are the major antagonists in Alan Crosland's 1926 silent film Don Juan, starring John Barrymore.{{AFI film|3803|Don Juan}}
• Lucrezia is the subject of Abel Gance's film Lucrezia Borgia (1935){{Cite web |url=https://brightlightsfilm.com/behind-brocade-abel-gances-lucrezia-borgia/ |title=Behind the Brocade: Abel Gance's Lucrezia Borgia |last=Keser |first=Robert |date=2 July 2001 |website=Bright Lights Film Journal|access-date=2019-04-05}} and of a 1953 French film, played by Martine Carol.{{tcmdb title|id=82169|title=Lucrèce Borgia}}
• Lucrezia is the Bride of Vengeance (1949), played by Paulette Goddard, with Macdonald Carey in the role of Cesare Borgia, and John Lund playing Alfonso d'Este (Duke of Ferrara).{{cite news |last=Crowther |first=Bosley |author-link=Bosley Crowther |title=THE SCREEN IN REVIEW; Paulette Goddard, Macdonald Carey Play Borgias in 'Bride of Vengeance,' at Paramount |url=https://www.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9F07E3DE123CE53ABC4F53DFB2668382659EDE |date=7 April 1949 |access-date=20 January 2018 |newspaper=The New York Times}}{{cite book |last=Denton |first=C. S. |title=Ruthless Rulers: The Real Lives of Europe's Most Infamous Tyrants |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vQseDQAAQBAJ&pg=PT473 |publisher=Arcturus Publishing |date=29 July 2016 |page=473 |isbn=9781784285241}}
• In Walerian Borowczyk's 1973 feature film Immoral Tales, Lucrezia is played by Florence Bellamy.{{cn|date=December 2024}}
• In the Italian movie Lucrezia giovane ("Young Lucrezia") that was written and directed in 1974 by Luciano Ercoli (as André Colbert), Lucrezia was played by Simonetta Stefanelli.{{Cite web|url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0071783/|title=Lucrezia giovane|date=23 August 1974|publisher=IMDb}}
• In the 1981 BBC series, The Borgias, Lucrezia was played by Anne-Louise Lambert.{{Cite news |url=https://www.upi.com/Archives/1981/10/07/The-Borgias-new-BBC-TV-series-a-study-in-harsh-reality/7184371275200/ |title='The Borgias' – new BBC TV series a study in harsh reality |last=Musel |first=Robert |author-link=Robert Musel |date=7 October 1981 |work=United Press International |access-date=2019-04-05}}
• In the 1982 feature film The Secret Nights of Lucrezia Borgia of director Roberto Bianchi Montero, Lucrezia is played by Sirpa Lane.{{cite book |first=Stephen |last=Thrower |author-link=Stephen Thrower |title=Beyond terror: the films of Lucio Fulci |publisher=FAB Press |year=1999 |page=291 |isbn=9780952926054}}
• She is featured as a major plot point in the 1994 TV movie The Shaggy Dog.{{cite magazine |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UuMCAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA123 |title=John Leonard's TV notes |magazine=New York |date=14 November 1994}} A portrait of her, along with a display case of her rings are featured in a local museum along with a legend that she had written spells to turn her lovers into dogs. The legend is revealed to be true as the main character accidentally casts one on himself while holding one of her rings and reading its inscription.
• In the pilot episode of the SyFy series Warehouse 13, a jeweled comb, purported to have been created for her by an alchemist, is used by an Iowa lawyer to hypnotize several individuals into causing acts of violence.{{Cite web|url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1417762/?ref_=ttep_ep1|title=Pilot|publisher=IMDb|date=7 July 2009}}
• In the video game Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood, Lucrezia is in an incestuous relationship with her brother Cesare. She is taken hostage by the main character, Ezio Auditore, and reappears later, a changed woman.{{cite web |url=https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/boards/996093-assassins-creed-brotherhood/57295056?page=5 |title=Cesare and Lucrezia Borgia ewwww (minor spoilers) |website=GameSpot|access-date=2019-04-05}}
• She is played by Holliday Grainger in the 2011–2013 Showtime/Bravo TV series The Borgias, which explores a theme of incest with Cesare, despite lack of historical evidence for such events.{{Cite news |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/redeye/ct-redeye-xpm-2013-04-28-38882993-story.html |title=Francois Arnaud talks sibling love in 'The Borgias' |last=Wagner |first=Curt |date=28 April 2013 |work=Chicago Tribune |access-date=2019-04-05}} Her character is portrayed not as a ruthless murderer, but initially as a compassionate and sweet young girl who suffers from her family's ambitions, both struggling against and eventually aiding them.
• In the Canal+ television series Borgia, Lucrezia is portrayed by German actress Isolda Dychauk.{{Cite web |url=https://theborgiabull.com/2013/05/03/an-interview-with-isolda-dychauk/ |title=An Interview With Isolda Dychauk |date=3 May 2013 |website=The Borgia Bull|access-date=2019-04-05}}
• In Season 1, Episode 7 of the television series The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle and Friends, Mr. Peabody and his boy Sherman travel back in time to rescue Lucrezia's then-husband from being poisoned by her cooking.
• She is mentioned in Season 1, episode 1 of My Three Sons.
• In the 1989 BBC television series Blackadder Goes Forth, the title character makes an offhand comment about Lucrezia throwing a "wine and anthrax party", presumably referring to the rumours that persist around the Borgia families' extravagant parties.{{Cite web |last=Edmund_Blackadder |date=2016-03-28 |title=Blackadder Series 4 Episode 1 - Captain Cook Full Script |url=https://blackadderquotes.com/blackadder-series-4-episode-1-captain-cook-full-script |access-date=2023-09-25 |website=Blackadder Quotes |language=en-US}}
• Martha Howe-Douglas played Lucrezia Borgia in an episode of Horrible Histories which features a parody of The Addams Family theme.

• English rock band The Sisters of Mercy reference Lucrezia as "Lucretia" in their 1988 single "Lucretia My Reflection", released as the third and final single from their second studio album, Floodland.

• The Megadeth song "Lucretia", which appears on their 1990 album Rust in Peace, is inspired by Lucrezia Borgia.{{cite web |title=Dave Mustaine-Answering fan's question about Lucretia | website=YouTube | date=21 December 2008 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d7d16vzn1Uo}}

• The Hatsune Miku & KAITO song "Cantarella" by WhiteFlame is based on Lucrezia Borgia and her brother Cesare Borgia.{{cn|date=April 2025}}

• Castello Borgia
• Felice della Rovere
• Route of the Borgias

{{notelist}}

{{Reflist}}

• [https://gutenberg.org/ebooks/3467 The Life of Cesare Borgia] by Rafael Sabatini
• Lucrezia Borgia: Life, Love And Death in Renaissance Italy by Sarah Bradford; Viking 2004; {{ISBN|0-670-03353-7}}
• Lucrezia Borgia: A Biography by Rachel Erlanger; 1978; {{ISBN|0-8015-4725-3}}
• Lucrezia Borgia by Maria Bellonci; Phoenix 2002; {{ISBN|978-1-84212-616-5}}
• The Borgias (1971) by Michael Mallett
• Lucretia Borgia (1874?) by Ferdinand Gregorovius (Author); translated in 1903 by John Leslie Garner (Translator)
• The Borgias by Christopher Hibbert; Constable 2011; {{ISBN|978-1-84901-994-1}}
• The Borgias: The Hidden History by G.J. Meyer; Bantam Books 2013; {{ISBN|978-0-345-52692-2}}

{{Commons category}}

• [https://web.archive.org/web/20150628004204/http://www.kleio.org/en/history/famtree/sforza/222.html Lucrezia Borgia: The Family Tree in Pictures]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20161222114536/http://www.imdb.com/character/ch0078627/ Lucrezia Borgia] on IMDb
• [https://sites.google.com/site/diarioborjaborgia/Home Diario De Los Borja Borgia]

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{{s-hou|House of Borgia|18 April|1480|24 June|1519}}

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{{S-vac|last=Maddalena Gonzaga}}

{{S-ttl|title=Lady consort of Pesaro and Gradara|years=12 June 1492 – 20 December 1497}}

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{{S-vac|last=Eleanor of Naples}}

{{S-ttl|title=Duchess consort of Ferrara, Modena and Reggio|years=25 January 1505 – 24 June 1519}}

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{{Princesses of Modena by marriage}}

{{Ducal consorts of Modena}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Borgia, Lucrezia}}

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Lucrezia Borgia

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Lucrezia

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Lucrezia

Lucrezia

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Category:Women and the papacy

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