Skip over navigation  Italian Renaissance (1330-1550)  Rome: The
Depths of Corruption and the Rise of the Golden Age  Rome: Papal
Control and Early Resurrection (1400-1484)  Venice and Milan
(1300-1499)   The already corrupt Papacy reached perhaps its
ultimate depths during the reign of Rodrigo Borgia, who was
elected to the papacy in 1492 after the death of the generally
unnoteworthy Innocent VIII, and who assumed the name Pope
Alexander VI. Borgia, a Spaniard, had been at the center of
Vatican affairs for 30 years as a Cardinal. When he became pope,
myth and legend quickly rose up around his family. Alexander VI
had four acknowledged children, three males and one female.
Alexander VI was himself known as a corrupt pope bent on his
family's political and material success, to an even greater
extent than Sixtus IV had been. It was no secret that Alexander
VI's oldest son Cesare, was a murderer, and had killed many of
his political opponents. Lucrezia Borgia, Alexander VI's
daughter, was married three times in