Lucrezia Borgia

Some women has only held worth in their families eyes because they could be married to wealthy and influential men, often many years their senior, to forge alliances, gain influence and founding in different matters. So was the case with Lucrezia Borgia, whose father Pope Alexander VI married her to three different men during her life to gain powerful alliances and founding. Her first husband was Giovanni Sforza, Lord of of Pesaro and titled Count of Catignola. He was offered Lucrezia's dowry in return for invalidating the marriage, the Pope claiming that it had not been consummated and should thus be dissolved. The Borgia family had grown so powerful that they no longer needed the Sforzas, and instead sought better alliances. Giovanni first refused, accusing Lucrezia of paternal and fraternal incest, but with the pressure from the rest of the Sforza family he finally agreed to sign confessions of impotence and documents of annulment before witnesses. Alfonso of Aragon married Lucrezia Borgia after the annulment, but the short marriage ended when he was murdered, supposedly by Lucrezia's brother Cesare. Lucrezia was appointed governor of Spoleto not long before her husband's death, and they had a child named Rodrigo of Aragon. Her third and last husband was Alfonso I d'Este, Duke of Ferrara. Lucrezia's reputation has taken a hit, with her many different marriages, murdered husband, annulment and the stain that her father and brother had brought upon her. Hopefully, with her marriage to the Duke, she can be known as a respectable and accomplished Renaissance duchess.