Borgia - Fiction

Italian form of Borja, an ancient family in the Spanish province of Valencia. Their members include Alfonso Borja (1378–1458), who accompanied Alfonso of Aragón to Rome, and was elected pope as Callistus III. Rodrigo Borgia (1431–1503), his nephew, became pope as Alexander VI (1492). Two of Rodrigo's children became especially notorious. Cesare Borgia (1476–1507) was a brilliant general and administrator, succeeding his brother (whom he may have murdered) as Captain-General of the Church. In two campaigns he became master of Romagna, Perugia, Siena, Piombino, and Urbino, and planned a Kingdom of Central Italy. After the death of Alexander (1502), his enemies rallied. He surrendered at Naples, was imprisoned, escaped (1506), but soon after died while fighting for the King of Navarre. Lucrezia Borgia (1480–1519) was married three times by her father, for political reasons, finally becoming the wife of Alfonso d'Este, Duke of Ferrara. She has been represented as a person of wantonness, vices, and crimes; but she died enjoying the respect of her subjects, a patroness of learning and of the arts.

Borja (better known by the Italian spelling of the name, Borgia) was an influential Spanish-Italian family during the Renaissance. Alexander's illegitimate children included Cesare Borgia, a political operator and intriguer, and Lucrezia Borgia, married to the Duke of Ferrara and a patron of learning and art.

Although the Borgia family is closely associated with the Italian Renaissance, they were of Spanish origin and the name is of Valencian/Catalan origin;

Alexander VI created for Giovanni Borgia the title duke of Gandía, an Valencian fief he purchased from King Ferdinand II of Aragon.

The following members of the Borgia or Borja family have individual entries:

Pope Callixtus III (born "Alfons de Borja (Italian Alfonso di Borgia)" and his nephew: Pope Alexander VI (born "Roderic de Borja (Italian Rodrigo Borgia)" and Alexander's well-known children: Giovanni Borgia, 2nd Duke of Gandia Cesare Borgia, made archbishop of Valencia and duke of Borja, in Aragon Lucrezia Borgia Giovanni Borgia, the Infans Romanus Saint Francis Borgia

The world-famous Spanish operatic soprano, Lucrezia Bori, whose real surname was Borja and who came from Valencia, was always said to belong to a collateral branch of the famous Borja/Borgia family.

Fiction

The Family by Mario Puzo Mirror, Mirror by Gregory Maguire

There exist rumors that the Borgia Family had family ties with the Mastai-Ferretti but they were never proven.