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Borgia family

Borgia
Borja
Noble house
Escudo de la familia Borja.svg
Motto: "Either a Caesar or nothing"
(Latin: Aut Caesar, aut nihil)
Country Spain, Italy, France
Titles
Founded 1455 (1455)
Founder Alfons de Borja
Final ruler Pope Alexander VI
Deposition 1672 (1672)
Ethnicity Spanish

The House of Borgia (/ˈbɔːrʒə/; Italian: [ˈbɔrdʒa]; Spanish: Borja [ˈborxa]; Valencian: Borja [ˈbɔɾdʒa]) was an Italo-Spanish noble family, which rose to prominence during the Italian Renaissance. They were from Valencia, the surname being a toponymic from Borja, then in the Crown of Aragon, in Spain.

The Borgias became prominent in ecclesiastical and political affairs in the 15th and 16th centuries, producing two popes: Alfons de Borja, who ruled as Pope Callixtus III during 1455–1458, and Rodrigo Lanzol Borgia, as Pope Alexander VI, during 1492–1503.

Especially during the reign of Alexander VI, they were suspected of many crimes, including adultery, incest, simony, theft, bribery, and murder (especially murder by arsenic poisoning). Because of their grasping for power, they made enemies of the Medici, the Sforza, and the Dominican friar Savonarola, among others. They were also patrons of the arts who contributed to the Renaissance.


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