BORGIA (properly Borja). - A noble family from Xàtiva in Aragon, it gained prominence when Alfonso became Pope under the name Callixtus III (v.) and hastened to surround himself with members of his household. The first among them were Roderic, VI (v.), and Pedro Luys, sons of Isabella, the Pope’s sister, and Jofré de B.; the latter was immediately appointed Captain General of the Church and castellan of Castel Sant’Angelo around March 1456 and later that year governor of several cities of the Church, and on 19 August 1457 also governor of the Patrimony in Tuscia and prefect of Rome. After fleeing Rome upon the death of his uncle (6 August 1458), he died in Civitavecchia on 26 September.
A son of Caterina, another sister of Callixtus III, and of Luys Mila or del Milan, Luys Juan became bishop of Segorbe and on 20 February 1456 was created cardinal of the Four Holy Crowned Martyrs together with his cousin Roderic. A sister of this cardinal was Adriana Mila, who married Lodovico Orsini, lord of Bassanello, and wielded considerable influence at the court of Alexander VI.
Children of Cardinal Roderic included: Pedro Luys, for whom in 1485 the father purchased the duchy of Gandia in Spain for 40,000 scudi; there he married Maria Enriquez. Summoned to Rome in 1488, he died shortly afterward (cf. P. Paschini, *Il carteggio Barbo-Lorenzi*, Vatican City 1947, p. 133; Pastor, III, p. 268). Giro-
LAMA, wife of Gian Andrea Cesarini, died in 1483, sister of the preceding and of another Giovanni B. LISABETTA, wife of Pietro Matuzzi, a Roman citizen, who died in 1541 (cf. U. Gnoli, *Una figlia sconosciuta di Alessandro VI*, in *Urbe*, 2 [1937, no. 8], p. 8). Greater prominence in history was enjoyed by the children whom Cardinal Roderic had with the Roman Vannozza dei Cattanei, with whom he had a relationship from 1474. NAVA, *CESARE.* (v.), the second was GIOVANNI, born in 1476–77, to whom his father assigned the duchy of Gandia; returning from Spain in August 1496 and created Gonfalonier of the Church, he took part in an ill-fated campaign against the Orsini and was to have received the duchy of Benevento when he was mysteriously killed and thrown into the Tiber on the night of 14 June 1497. The third was GIOFFRE, to whom in 1494 King Ferdinand of Naples assigned the principality of Squillace and the county of Cariati; the following year he married Sancia, a natural daughter of Alfonso, Duke of Calabria. The descendants of these two continued respectively in and in the kingdom of.
BORGIA, LUCREZIA (v.). During Alexander’s pontificate he had a son, GIOVANNI, the Roman infant, by an unknown woman (1498), whom on 1 September he sought to establish, but who ended obscurely. The historically verified events of this “tragic family” became entangled with the slanderous accusations that politics, partisanship, and hatreds provoked by their misdeeds soon heaped upon its members. Paul III, who did not deny his gratitude for benefits received from them, wished to give further proof of it by conferring on ENRICO B., son of the Duke of Gandia, on 17 December 1539 the bishopric of Squillace and creating him a cardinal. He received the red hat on 31 May 1540 but died on 16 September at the age of 22. In more recent times, romanticism has raged in creating a whole lurid literature of novels, dramas, and lyrics, with even influences in melodrama, which has nothing to do with true history.