Pope Alexander VI

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neon clocks
conservatory
Roderic de Borja studied law at Bologna and after his uncle's election as pope, was created successively bishop, cardinal and vice-chancellor of the church, nepotistic appointments characteristic of the age. He served in the Roman Curia under five popes (Calixtus III (his uncle), Pius II, Paul II, Sixtus IV and Innocent VIII) and acquired much administrative experience, influence and wealth, though not great power.[1]

On the death of Pope Innocent VIII on July 25, 1492, the three likely candidates for the Papacy were cardinals Borja, Ascanio Sforza and Giuliano della Rovere. While there was never substantive proof of simony, the rumour was that Borja, by his great wealth, succeeded in buying the largest number of votes, including that of Sforza, whom, popular rumor had it, he bribed with four mule-loads of silver.[2] According to some historians, however, Borja had no need of such an unsubtle exchange–the benefices and offices granted Sforza for his support would be worth considerably more than four mule-loads of silver, and despite his moral failings, he had gained a reputation as a competent administrator. John Burchard, the conclave's master of ceremonies and a leading figure of the papal household under several popes, recorded in his diary that the 1492 conclave was a particularly expensive campaign. Della Rovere was bankrolled to the cost of 200,000 gold ducats by the King of France, with another 100,000 supplied by the Republic of Genoa.[3] Borgia was elected on 11 August 1492, assuming the name of Alexander VI (due to confusion about the status of Alexander V elected by the Council of Pisa). Giovanni di Lorenzo de' Medici, later to become Pope Leo X, sharply criticized the election and warned of dire things to come:
“ Now we are in the power of a wolf, the most rapacious perhaps that this world has ever seen. And if we do not flee, he will inevitably devour us all.[4]