About
"Chronicles of the house of Borgia" by Frederick Rolfe is a historical account written in the early 20th century. It reassesses the Borgia dynasty within the tumultuous world of the Italian Renaissance and papal power, challenging lurid legends and arguing from close scrutiny of sources as it traces the family’s rise from Spain to Rome, especially under Popes Calixtus III and Alexander VI. The opening of the book sets out Rolfe’s stance: great houses rise and fall swiftly, the Borgias have been used as a canvas for exaggeration, and many chroniclers are biased, so the narrative will weigh testimony and strip away calumny. The story then begins in 1455, amid the shock of Constantinople’s fall and the influx of Greek learning into Italy, contrasting Nicholas V’s cultural flowering with Rome’s alarm at the Turkish threat. Rolfe details the conclave after Nicholas’s death: factions led by Colonna and Orsini, the near-choice of Bessarion, and the compromise election of the Spanish canonist
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This work is public domain or openly licensed. The licence terms are published by the source.
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