Lucretia Borgia | Page 3

took part in this effort. M. Armand Baschet, to whom we

are indebted for several valuable publications in the field of diplomacy,
announced in his work, Aldo Manuzio, Lettres et Documents,
1494-1515, Venice, 1867, that he had been engaged for years on a
biography of Madonna Lucretia Borgia, and had collected for the
purpose a large mass of original documents.
In the meantime, in 1869, there was published in London the first
exhaustive work on the subject: Lucrezia Borgia, Duchess of Ferrara,
a Biography, illustrated by rare and unpublished documents, by
William Gilbert. The absence of scientific method, unfortunately,
detracts from the value of this otherwise excellent production, which,
as a sequel to Roscoe's works, attracted no little attention.
The swarm of apologies for the Borgias called forth in France one of
the most wonderful books to which history has ever given birth.
Ollivier, a Dominican, published, in 1870, the first part of a work
entitled Le Pape Alexandre VI et les Borgia. This production is the
fantastic antithesis of Victor Hugo's drama. For, while the latter
distorted history for the purpose of producing a moral monster for stage
effect, the former did exactly the same thing, intending to create the
very opposite. Monks, however, now are no longer able to compel the
world to accept their fables as history, and Ollivier's absurd romance
was renounced even by the strongest organs of the Church; first by
Matagne, in the Revue des questions historiques, Paris, April, 1871,
and January, 1872, and subsequently by the Civiltà Cattolica, the organ
of the Jesuits, in an article dated March 15, 1873, whose author made
no effort to defend Alexander's character, simply because, in the light
of absolutely authentic historical documents, it was no longer possible
to save it.
This article was based upon the Saggio di Albero Genealogico e di
Memorie su la familia Borgia specialmente in relazione a Ferrara, by
L. N. Cittadella, director of the public library of that city, published in
Turin in 1872. The work, although not free from errors, is a
conscientious effort to clear up the family history of the Borgias.
At the close of 1872 I likewise entered into the discussion by
publishing a note on the history of the Borgias. This followed the

appearance of the volume of the Geschichte der Stadt Rom im
Mittelalter, which embraced the epoch of Alexander VI. My researches
in the archives of Italy had placed me in possession of a large amount
of original information concerning the Borgias, and as it was
impossible for me to avail myself of this mass of valuable details in
that work, I decided to use it for a monograph to be devoted either to
Cæsar Borgia or to his sister, as protagonist.
I decided on Madonna Lucretia for various reasons, among which was
the following: in the spring of 1872 I found in the archives of the
notary of the Capitol in Rome the protocol-book of Camillo
Beneimbene, who for years was the trusted legal adviser of Alexander
VI. This great manuscript proved to be an unexpected treasure; it
furnished me with a long series of authentic and hitherto unknown
documents. It contained all the marriage contracts of Donna Lucretia as
well as numerous other legal records relating to the most intimate
affairs of the Borgias. In November, 1872, I delivered a lecture on the
subject before the class in history at the Royal Bavarian Academy of
Sciences in Munich, which was published in the account of the
proceedings. These records cast new light on the history of the Borgias,
whose genealogy had only just been published by Cittadella.
There were other reasons which induced me to write a book on Donna
Lucretia. I had treated the political history of Alexander VI and Cæsar
at length, and had elucidated some of its obscure phases, but to Lucretia
Borgia I had devoted no special attention. Her personality appeared to
me to be something full of mystery, made up of contradictions which
remained to be deciphered, and I was fascinated by it.
I began my task without any preconceived intention. I purposed to
write, not an apology, but a history of Lucretia, broadly sketched, the
materials for which, in so far as the most important period of her life,
her residence in Rome, was concerned, were already in my possession.
I desired to ascertain what manner of personality would be discovered
by treating Lucretia Borgia in a way entirely different from that in
which she had hitherto been examined, but at the same time
scientifically, and in accordance with the original records.

I completed my data; I visited the places where she had lived. I
repeatedly went to Modena and Mantua, whose archives are
inexhaustible sources of information regarding the Renaissance, and
from them I obtained most of my