pickThis was book was free with my Audible sub so I gave it a listen. The true story of Rodrigo Borgia, better known as Pope Alexander VI, is full of intrigues, murders, bribes, and syphilis. The Pope brazenly promoted his children Cesare and Lucreza into the highest spheres of wealth and influence. This book makes the Catholic Church look like a corrupt multinational corporation. The Borgia family was definitely the best of the worst! ☠️
Cesare Borgia, son of Pope Alexander VI. I‘m really enjoying the narrator‘s pronunciation of the phrase “cloth of gold” especially in the chapter where Cesare‘s entourage arrives at the French royal court in Chinon. 💎 👑 ⛪️
“He had had many mistresses in the past, from one of whom he had contracted syphilis, and as a cardinal he had fathered three daughters.”
on Cardinal Della Rovere/Pope Julius
Is there anyone in this book who *doesn‘t* have syphilis??
I am on a weird non fiction history binge, but despite the Spanish angle the Borgias and their enemies are becoming too much for me. How many more guys can Cesare have strangled and thrown into the Tiber? Is there anyone left alive in Rome by the end of his father's papacy?
Borgias and Their Enemies: 1431-1519 | 
