Word: lucrezia
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Dates: during 1950-1959
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...nubile 13 she was married to Giovanni Sforza, of the powerful Milanese Sforzas. But for her father, this was just the beginning. Four years later he forced Giovanni to an annulment on the pretext (scandalously false) that the marriage had never been consummated. Soon Lucrezia was sent higher up the political scale by marriage to the bastard son of the powerful King of Naples. This one lasted two years. Then Cesare had the fellow murdered, and husband No. 3 was found for Lucrezia : Alfonso d'Este, son of the even more powerful Duke of Ferrara...
Cesare's Swordplay. Lucrezia grieved over such quick and bloody changes. (Says Biographer Bellonci: "She had al ways been contented with her husbands as long as she was able to keep them.") Still, although she tried desperately to save the life of her second husband, she forgave her brother for this and other crimes...
...Explains Author Bellonci: she was a Borgia, too, and the family ties of this fiery Spanish dynasty were, even for those days, remarkably strong. Enemies of the Borgias contended that the family ties extended to incest between Lucrezia and her father the Pope. But the few actual accusations of this crime came from bitterly hostile opponents and with no supporting evidence. Biographer Bellonci doubts their truth...
...herself, Lucrezia was a good-humored, good-looking blonde who enjoyed fine clothes and good conversation. She bathed daily - an eccentricity in the 16th century - and tried to cultivate a naturally kind heart. But whenever an emergency came up, she proved that she could rule as well as take the menfolks' orders. The. Pope had such confidence in her that he left her in charge of the Vatican when he was away...
...Lucrezia's official duties were so taxing, in fact, that she never had too much of a social life. Beyond her husbands, she had only two known lovers - well under par for her time and station. Both affairs ended badly. One lover, a papal messenger named Perotto, was put to the sword by brother Cesare in the Pope's throne room. The second, Lucrezia's brother-in-law,contracted syphilis in another affair and went off to live in seclusion...