(1480-1519) Duchess of Ferrara from 1501. She was the illegitimate daughter of Pope Alexander VI and sister of Cesare Borgia. She was married at 12 and again at 13 to further her father's ambitions, both marriages being annulled by him. At 18 she was married again, but her husband was murdered in 1500 on the order of her brother, with whom (as well as with her father) she was said to have committed incest. Her final marriage was to the Duke of Este, the son and heir of the Duke of Ferrara. She made the court a center of culture and was a patron of authors and artists such as Ariosto and Titian.

Rodrigo — see Pope ALEXANDER VI.

(1476-1507) Italian general, illegitimate son of Pope Alexander VI. Made a cardinal at 17 by his father, he resigned to become captain-general of the papacy, campaigning successfully against the city republics of Italy. Ruthless and treacherous in war, he was an able ruler (the model for Machiavelli’s The Prince), but his power crumbled on the death of his father. He was a patron of artists, including Leonardo da Vinci.