The Borgias
In Our Time: History
BBC
4.5 • 3.4K Ratings
🗓️ 22 November 2012
⏱️ 42 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the Borgias, the most notorious family in Renaissance Italy. Famed for their treachery and corruption, the Borgias produced two popes during their time of dominance in Rome in the late 15th century. The most well-known of these two popes is Alexander VI, previously Cardinal Rodrigo Borgia. He was accused of buying votes to elect him to the papacy and openly promoted his children in positions of power. Rodrigo's daughter, Lucrezia, is widely remembered as a ruthless poisoner; his son, Cesare, as a brutal soldier.
Murder, intrigue and power politics characterised their rule, but many of the stories now told about their depraved behaviour and evil ways emerged after their demise and gave rise to the so-called 'Black Legend'. The sullied reputation of the Borgia dynasty endures even today and their lives have provided a major theme for plays, novels and over forty films.
With:
Evelyn Welch Professor of Renaissance Studies at Queen Mary, University of London
Catherine Fletcher Lecturer in Public History at the University of Sheffield
Christine Shaw Honorary Research Fellow at Swansea University
Producer: Natalia Fernandez.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Thank you for downloading this episode of In Our Time for more details about In Our Time |
| 0:04.0 | and for our terms of use, please go to bbc.co.uk slash radio for. |
| 0:09.0 | I hope you enjoy the program. |
| 0:11.0 | Hello, the boardiers are thought to be one of the most notorious dinisters in European history. |
| 0:16.1 | In 15001, the papal diarist Jacob Berkhardt wrote, |
| 0:20.0 | there is no longer any crime or shameful act that does not take place in public in Rome |
| 0:25.2 | and in the House of the Pontiff. |
| 0:26.9 | rapes and acts of incest or countless, his sons and daughters are utterly depraved. |
| 0:31.7 | Great throngs of courtesans, frequents and peters palace, pimps, brothels and hallhouses, |
| 0:36.9 | hallhouses had to be found everywhere, a most shameful situation. |
| 0:41.4 | The pepine question was Alexander VI, the leader and possibly most infamous member of the |
| 0:45.6 | boardiers, who dominated the Italian city-states in the 15th and early 16th century. |
| 0:51.3 | Today their name is synonymous with vice brutality and corruption, so much so that all the |
| 0:55.6 | stories related to their wrongdoings are referred to collectively as the black legend. |
| 1:00.7 | But is the boardiers' infamous reputation justified? |
| 1:03.9 | And how significant was their rule in Renaissance Italy? |
| 1:07.0 | With me to discuss the boardiers are Evelyn Welch, professor of Renaissance Studies |
| 1:10.6 | at Queen Mary, University of London, Christine Shaw, honorary search fellow at Swansea University |
| 1:16.4 | and Catherine Fletcher, lecturer in public history at the University of Sheffield. |
| 1:20.5 | Evelyn Welch, the boardiers came to foreign Italy in the mid-late 15th century. |
| 1:25.4 | Can you give us some idea of what Italy was like then? |
| 1:28.6 | Well today we think of Italy, the place, as the same as Italy, the political entity. |
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