Lucretia Borgia According to Original Documents and Correspondence of Her Day

Lucretia Borgia According to Original Documents and Correspondence of Her Day is by Ferdinand Gregorovius, translated from the Third German Edition by John Leslie Garner. The dedication, addressed To Don Michelangelo Gaetani Duke of Sermoneta, says that in the work the Duke will behold the founders of his ancient and illustrious family, and that the Borgias were mortal enemies of the Gaetani.

A passage quotes Hieronymus Portius describing Alexander in 1493 as tall and neither light nor dark, with black eyes and somewhat full lips, wonderfully eloquent and a thorough man of the world. A chapter headed LUCRETIA'S MOTHER says that about 1466 or 1467 Cardinal Rodrigo's magnetism attracted a woman of Rome, Vannozza Catanei, who was born in July, 1442, though of her family we are wholly ignorant. A passage says that Ercole and the Pope received congratulations from all sides, and that cardinals and ambassadors in their letters proclaimed Lucretia's beauty and graciousness.