wanton court that the yellow-haired Lucrezia
Borgia grew up to womanhood, subject to all the baleful influences which
were in such profusion about her. Associating, perforce, with the
dissolute women of her father's household, it would be too much to
expect to find her a woman uncontaminated by the ways of the world.
There are many things to show that she had her father's love, and dark
stories have been whispered regarding his overfondness for her; but, be
that as it may, it is certain that Alexander never neglected an
opportunity to give his daughter worldly advancement. Before his
accession to the pontificate, Lucrezia had been formally promised to a
couple of Spanish grandees, Don Cherubino Juan de Centelles and Don
Gasparo da Procida, who was a son of the Count of Aversa; but once in
the Vatican, with the papal power in his hands, Alexander grew more
ambitious, and looked for another alliance, which might give him an
increased political power. Then come three marriages in which the
daughter Lucrezia seems but a puppet in her father's hands. First, she
was married to Giovanni Sforza, Lord of Pesaro, but differences of
opinion regarding politics and the pope's desire for a still more
powerful son-in-law led him to sanction Lucrezia's divorce; she was then
promptly married to Alphonso, Prince of Biseglia, a natural son of the
King of Naples. When Alphonso's father was deposed, the Borgias grew
tired of the prince, and caused him to be stabbed one fine day on the
very steps of Saint Peter's. Then, as he showed some disinclination to
give up the ghost, he was strangled as he lay in his bed by Michellozzo,
the trusted villain of the Borgia household. The year following,
Lucrezia found another spouse, and this time it was Alphonso, the Crown
Prince of Ferrara. The marriage was celebrated by means of a proxy, in
Rome, and then the daughter of the pope, with cardinals and prelates in
her train, set out on a triumphal journey across the country. She
travelled with much pomp and ceremony, as was befitting one of her
position in the world, and on her arrival in Ferrara she was welcomed
with most elaborate ceremonies. This marriage had been forced upon the
house of Este through political necessity, and the young duke-to-be,
Alphonso, had looked forward to it with no pleasure, hence the wedding
by proxy; but Lucrezia, by her charm and tact, soon won the affection of
her husband and drew about her a most distinguished company of po