March 11 - Death of Cesare Borgia and Slobodan Milosevic

On March 11, 1507 one of history's most notorious villain's, Cesare Borgia, died on the battlefield near Viana in Spain at the age of 32.
It was a surprising end for a man of the cloth who could look back on a remarkable career in the Catholic clergy; a canon at the age of seven, a bishop at 15, an archbishop at 16 and a cardinal at 17. His rise in the Church, however, was hardly the result of deep devotion to the faith or extraordinary contributions to theological dispute by the young Cesare, but might have had something to do with the fact that his father was no other than Pope Alexander VI, who had helped his, presumably illegitimate, son to climb through the ranks.(If there ever have been any plans by the Borgias to establish a hereditary succession in the Papacy is not known, but it would have been an interesting idea)
Alexander VI was one of the infamous, possibly the most infamous of them all, Renaissance Popes, usually the offsprings of Italy's ruling families of the 15th and 16th centuries, although the Borgias had also some Spanish connections What they had in common was that their main interest wasn't the spiritual well-being of their flock or the administration of the Church, but the increase of Papal power in Italy, and self aggrandizement through large building programs, executed by the leading artists and architects of the age.(As that was a rather costly undertaking, Renaissance Popes were notoriously out of cash, which led them to inflict extortionate financial levies on their Catholic subjects , which in turn Luther objected to and let to his revolt......)
It's doubtful, if Cesare Borgia ever took his ecclesiastical duties terribly serious, presumably he didn't have much time to spare when he was made Captain General of the Papal forces by his dad. The Holy See was deeply involved in the various militarily conflicts in Italy and Cesare had amble opportunity to excel on the battlefield. If warfare alone didn't come up with the desired results, Cesare Borgia relied on even more dubious methods. He was accused, and not wrongly, of a whole series of betrayals, assassinations and other unpleasant diplomatic means. That his elder brother Julian died rather conveniently leaving him titles and fortunes was surely no accident, and neither was the death of his brother-in-law Alfonso de Biscaglio, heir to the Kingdom of Naples and husband of Cesare's sister Lucrezia, a villainess in her own right. Alfonso survived the initial assassination attempt, but was strangled by Cesare's henchman whilst recovering.
Cesare Borgia's plans to carve out a nice little principality in Italy for himself and his clan showed fruition when he succeeded with French and his father's help to seize a substantial part of the Romagna. He would undoubtedly further have enlarged the Borgia's fiefdom, if his father hadn't died all over sudden in 1503.
Changing political power constellations in Italy meant that Cesare suddenly found himself without any allies and fearing revenge by the many enemies he had made, fled to Spain where he enlisted in the services of King John of Navarre, yet another of his brother-in-laws. Leading a Navarran force against the Castillians, Cesare and his men were ambushed near Viana on March 11, 1507 and the Pope's son was hacked to death by his opponents.




Cesare Borgia




Slobodan Milosevic, Serbian President and War Criminal.   August 20, 1941- March 11, 2006

May he rot in hell!


Complete list of events:
Wikipedia

Edited by Komnenos

There are no villains in History.

Originally posted by Maju Cesare Borgia died in Viana. There was no "Spain" then and, in any case, Navarre did not belong to it yet.

I do humbly apologise for trying to explain to all those members of AE who are not experts in Spanish history where this unknown little place is.
Thank God, you are there to enlighten us all.


Edited by Komnenos

Lucrezia Borgia was not a villainess. Bad propaganda against her

She was one of the most beautiful and admired ladies of Italian Renaissance.

 

 

Originally posted by Leonardo Lucrezia Borgia was not a villainess. Bad propaganda against her She was one of the most beautiful and admired ladies of Italian Renaissance.

Beauty apart, it's quite sure that she was used as a pawn by her father and brother in their Machiavelic plots. She ended well though, as Duchess of Ferrara and Modena.