Borgias. This followed the
appearance of the volume of the _Geschichte der Stadt Rom im
Mittelalter_, which embraced the epoch of Alexander VI. My researches in
the archives of Italy had placed me in possession of a large amount of
original information concerning the Borgias, and as it was impossible
for me to avail myself of this mass of valuable details in that work, I
decided to use it for a monograph to be devoted either to Caesar Borgia
or to his sister, as protagonist.

I decided on Madonna Lucretia for various reasons, among which was the
following: in the spring of 1872 I found in the archives of the notary
of the Capitol in Rome the protocol-book of Camillo Beneimbene, who for
years was the trusted legal adviser of Alexander VI. This great
manuscript proved to be an unexpected treasure; it furnished me with a
long series of authentic and hitherto unknown documents. It contained
all the marriage contracts of Donna Lucretia as well as numerous other
legal records relating to the most intimate affairs of the Borgias. In
November, 1872, I delivered a lecture on the subject before the class in
history at the Royal Bavarian Academy of Sciences in Munich, which was
published in the account of the proceedings. These records cast new
light on the history of the Borgias, whose genealogy had only just been
published by Cittadella.

There were other reasons which induced me to write a book on Donna
Lucretia. I had treated the political history of Alexander VI and Caesar
at length, and had elucidated some of its obscure phases, but to
Lucretia Borgia I had devoted no special attention. Her personality
appeared to me to be something full of mystery, made up of
contradictions which remained to be deciphered, and I was fascinated by
it.

I began my task without any preconceived intention. I purposed to write,
not an apology, but a history of Lucretia, broadly sketched, the
materials for which, in so far as the most important period of her life,
her residence in Rome, was concerned, were already in my possession. I
desired to ascertain what manner of personality would be discovered by
treating Lucretia Borgia in a way entirely different from that in which
she had hitherto been examined, but at the same time scientifically, and
in accordance with the original records.

I completed my data; I visited the places where she had lived. I
repeatedly went to Modena and Mantua, whose archives are inexhaustible
sources of informatio