The long apprenticeship: Rodrigo Borgia as Papal Vice-Chancellor, 1457-1492

Thesis

The initial purpose of this thesis was to examine Rodrigo Borgia (1431–1503) as vice–chancellor of the Church, head of the Apostolic Chancery. The Chancery was the one of the most important departments of the Roman Curia, responsible for the production of a multitude of papal documents. Borgia held the office of vice–chancellor from 1457 until his papal election in 1492, and the Chancery was housed in his palace, known as the Cancelleria. However, as the project progressed, it became clear that this objective was too narrow: the Chancery produced a wealth of documents, but they did not reflect the personal input of the vice–chancellor. Furthermore, Borgia was not a man of letters and left no record of his activities or even much in the way of personal correspondence. It was not possible to make a hard and fast division between his position as vice–chancellor and other aspects of his life as a cardinal, participating in the papal liturgy, advising the pope on matters of policy, being sent on legation, acting as a patron to clients within and beyond his household. Thus, the project evolved into a more rounded assessment of Borgia’s career between 1456, when he was made a cardinal, and his papal election in 1492. It asks why, given the notoriety of his private life, did all the other cardinals consider him suitable to be pope, the vicar of Christ? In order to answer that question, the thesis examines Borgia’s dealings with five popes – Calixtus III, Pius II, Paul II, Sixtus IV and Innocent VIII – and with the cardinals they created, the men who actually voted for him. One thing that distinguished Borgia from most of his fellow cardinals and from all the other electors in 1492 was his Spanish birth. He remained loyal to his homeland throughout his career, cultivating the monarchs of Aragon and Castile, sponsoring the monarchs’ candidates to vacant benefices, and acting as a patron to Spaniards in Rome, whether or not they had positions in the Chancery. The final chapter of the thesis is a lengthy historiographical survey relating to Borgia’s career before 1492, distinguishing his heroic status in Spain from the ‘black legend’ that developed in Italy and spread elsewhere.

Authors: Fellows, KE

• DOI: 10.5287/ora-8n1gerak9
• Type of award: DPhil
• Level of award: Doctoral
• Awarding institution: University of Oxford
• Language: Italian, Latin, English
• Keywords: Papacy; Borgias; Renaissance; Renaissance Rome; the Borgia family; Alexander VI (1431-1503); Renaissance Italy; history of the Papacy
• Subjects: History of the Papacy; Renaissance; Renaissance--Italy--Rome; Papal States--Politics and government; Pope Alexander VI; Borgia family; Papacy