Uncover the Secret Past of the Borgias: An Intriguing Look into the History of a Powerful Family

TRR: This book cuts through some of the pejorative descriptions of the Borgias. There were 3 Borgia men who were significant in history.

The first one was Alonso from Valencia. He, a Spaniard, was elected pope in 1455 as a compromise candidate when two Italian factions among the cardinals failed to get enough votes for their own preferred choices. As Pope Calixtus III, Alonso made his nephew Rodrigo a cardinal at a time when nepotism was common among popes. Otherwise, his pontificate did not involve major embarrassments or scandals.

The second Borgia, was the nephew Rodrigo, who was elected pope in 1492, taking the name Alexander VI. Between the pontificates of the uncle Alonso and the nephew Rodrigo there were 4 other popes: Pius II, Paul II, Sixtus IV, and Innocent VIII. Most, if not all, of these 4 intervening popes thought very highly of Rodrigo and assigned him to very high positions in the Vatican, including the position then considered the second-most powerful position. The worst story about Rodrigo was a report about his attendance as a cardinal at a certain party. Pope Pius II wrote to Rodrigo that he had received reports that Rodrigo had attended a celebration...

United States on Apr 06, 2022

D. Eppenstein: Nothing satisfies a hunger for intrigue, sexual excess, violence, and outright craziness than a dose of Church history and especially its history during the Renaissance. This book, while certainly sating my hunger, also delivered an unexpected surprise. The surprise? The Borgias were nothing like we were lead to believe by popular history and drama. What this book leads me to believe is that this author deals with his subject in a way never before attempted. He searched for proof of the facts and found it lacking. He also reviewed the sources of previously believed truths and found them clearly incredible. The Borgias' greatest sin seems to have been that they were Spanish and not Italian and they had the audacity to occupy the Vatican. They aggravated this sin by upsetting the accepted regimes of several Italian families that ruled many of the cities of Italy as tyrants akin to Mafia godfathers but not nearly as "civilized". The fact that these cities were the rightful property of the Papacy and these families had no legal claim to them wasn't significant when the claiming party wasn't an Italian but an intelligent Spaniard. The stories of incest, Papal children, mistresses,...

United States on Mar 15, 2021

Silverwolfrn: After watching the Netflix series on the Borgia's I was curious to know what the Borgia's were actually like. I read the very good "The Borgia's and the Enemies", by Christopher Hibbert first to get a standard view of the Borgia's before reading G.J. Meyer's work. I found G.J. Meyer's writing a pleasure to read. His description of the political and sociological landscape of Europe from the 1300 to the early 1500's, his sketches of people, towns, kingdoms and cultures are efficient and very astute. His knowledge of the subjects he is writing about is impressive. Meyer does and remarkable job humanizing Rodrigo and Lucretia Borgia. Meyer has convinced me that they were likely among the best people that anyone in their positions could have been, human and fallible, but far closer to his well researched conclusions than the standard view of them for the past 500 years. Cesare, well... he did inspire Machiavelli in his writing of The Prince. In his exploration of Cesare, Meyer adds depth and detail, but doesn't make excuses. More important than agreeing or disagreeing with the thesis that Meyer uses as the focus of his fine work, this book is good history in general, and a great read....

United States on Aug 24, 2015

K8P: Interesting to read how many reviewers think this book is "fantastic". My view would be exactly that too, in the true sense of the word - FANTASY. Admittedly, it appears to be well researched (cribbed from other authors) but his opinion that the Borgia children (Cesare, Juan, Lucrezia and Jofre) were not the children of Rodrigo/Alexander VI is frankly unbelievable. The author is unable to produce any facts or evidence to support his theory and if their parentage was disputed, it seems strange to me that no other chroniclers of the Borgias have suggested it - at least none of the others I have read and I have quite an extensive library on the family. Mind you, his comment at the end of the book regarding Sarah Bradford's biography of Lucrezia as "the best biography and unquestionably superior to everything that precedes it" is frankly astonishing too. I, and others who have reviewed that book on Amazon, have noted that it is not a very good biography and rather more a history of the period. I was quite disappointed in this book as again, like so many others, it rambles on about the history of Italy at the time and it is almost half way through before he gets down to detail.

United Kingdom on Apr 15, 2015

Malcolm: This almost 500 page tome, into the lives and period during which the Borgia
family rose to power and influence in Rome during the Renaissance in Italy
makes interesting reading.
The author G J Meyer, an American journalist and academic has researched his
subject extensively and takes the reader away from the blood soaked TV series
which for some of us was our first introduction to this infamous family, and
into the world of power games and political intrigue and where the author throws
new light onto the closed world of the Vatican, where a Papacy might be bought by
threats and the blackmailing of the Conclave of Cardinals, as earlier historians
have suggested was the case with the Spaniard, Rodrigo de Borgia who became
Pope Alexander VI.

We find a whole section devoted to Cesare Borgia as an inspiring and conspiring
leader, using cut-throat tactics to gain power, but Meyer looks behind the myths
that have built up over the centuries and re-evaluates the old assumptions which
surround this power hungry family, to give a new insightful look at the Borgias,
the Papacy and Italian history.

Well worth reading by those who find...

United Kingdom on Mar 08, 2015

Adrian J. Smith: Not only has G.J. Meyer delivered an immensely readable and informative history of The Borgia dynasty, Meyer has provided what is, at least by historical standards, a revealing work of scholarship that demolishes the strongly entrenched conceptions of the Borgia family.
The book begins with Pope Calixtus III (Alons de Borja), the little known Pope of 3 years upon whose patronage Rodrigo Borgia was able to secure his position in the Vatican Curia, from whence he was eventually able to ascend the throne of St Peter. From there the book follows a largely chronolocial history of the Borgia family, with most chapters ending with a detailed examination of the Italy of the day, such as a brief history of the Condottiere, or other factors of Renaissance era Italy.
Where G.J. Meyer's work stands out is in his ability to approach the work in a relatively objective view, and to abstain from basing the work on the more fantastical elements of the Borgia history, most of which is legend, and some of which has largely (though wrongly) been accepted by many has history (such as Alexander VI/Rodrigo Borgia's sexual immorality for one).
Truth can be more interesting than fiction, and the...

United Kingdom on Oct 04, 2014

NK: This is a very interesting book and a great read. The reader should be aware that the author completely goes against the accepted orthodoxy regarding the Borgias. He argues that most of the accepted sordid stories about the Borgias are baseless and just propaganda. For example the author maintains that Cesare Borgia, Lucrezia Borgia, Giovanni Borgia were not the children of Rodrigo Borgia, later Pope Alexander VI. In fact the Borgias were no worse than their contemporaries and possibly were better.
Whether this is true or not is really one of the serious historians but overall the book was enjoyable to read.

United Kingdom on Oct 21, 2013

Boyd Hone: The first Borgia to become pope was Calixtus, a virtuous Borgia--the exception that confirms the rule--who mounted an army against the invading Turks, Turks that stole thousands of young boys who grew into ardent Moslem warriors. Thanks to heroic generals from Romania to Albania--given the credit they deserve, thanks to G.J. Meyer's book THE BORGIAS--the barbarians at the gates were defeated. Before and after the incredibly hard-working Rodrigo Borgia became Pope Alexander VI, his sexual peccadilloes--concerning both `'boys and girls, but mostly girls''--were largely dismissed as boys-will-be-boys joie de vivre. (Meyer's chapter entitled IL PAPA will keep you glued to your seat, such was the despicable history of many of these saint men.) Meyer's treatment of the Borgias--what they were supposed to have done or not done--is perfectly even-handed, very far way from authors who have Cesare in a hot tube (!!!) with a boy and Pope Alexander encouraging his son to perform insect on his sister by gently patting his behind.
Caro's fabulous life of LBJ, totaling so far around 3000 pages, makes Meyer's 430 a thin volume indeed in comparison, especially for this array of characters that...

France on Apr 26, 2013