Cesare Borgia

Rare card · No. 20371

Cesare Borgia (13 September 1475 – 12 March 1507) was a Spanish-Italian cardinal deacon and condottiero from the House of Borgia. He was the illegitimate son of Pope Alexander VI and sibling to Lucrezia Borgia. After initially entering the Church and becoming a cardinal on his father's election to the papacy, he resigned his diaconal profession after his brother was murdered in 1497. He was employed as a condottiero for King Louis XII of France around 1500, and occupied both Milan and Naples during the Italian Wars. At the same time, he carved out a state for himself in Central Italy, but he was unable to retain power for long after his father's death. His quest for political power was a major inspiration for The Prince by the renowned Florentine historian, Niccolò Machiavelli.

Read on Wikipedia · Image After Bartolomeo Veneto, Public domain