The Italian leader Cesare Borgia (1475-1507) played an important part in Renaissance history. By intrigue and bravery he captured the Romagna, an area of Italy which remained a papal state until the 19th century.

Cesare Borgia was the first child of Vanozza de' Catanei and Cardinal Rodrigo Borgia, then archbishop of Valencia. They later had three other children: Giovanni, Lucrezia, and Goffredo.

The Borgia titles and estates in Spain were to be inherited by Pier Luigi Borgia, Cesare's older half brother, and an ecclesiastical career was chosen for Cesare. Thus upon the untimely death of Pier Luigi, Cesare did not succeed as heir to the Borgia secular fortune and titles, which passed instead to his younger brother Giovanni. In 1492, while still a layman, Cesare received the archbishopric of Valencia from his father, who became Pope Alexander VI that same year. In 1493 Alexander named Cesare cardinal deacon, and in...