Rome 1492
The centre of the Christian world.
The seat of the Papacy.
The Pope had the power to crown and un-crown kings.
To change the course of empires.
The church was mired in corruption.
Pope Innocent VIII was dying, and the Papal throne was the prize desired by all.
Man: ...qui te custodiat ab hoste maligno, et perducat in vitam aeternam. Amen. Asperges me, Domine, hyssopo, et mundabor: lavabis me, et super nivem dealbabor.
Innocent VIII: You are afraid to enter, but you must.
Innocent VIII: You will fight like dogs over this corpse I leave for this throne of St. Peter's. But it was pure once. We have all sullied it with our greed and lechery. Which of you... will wash it clean?
Rodrigo Borgia: It shall be cleansed, Your Holiness, with the tears we shed for you. I swear before the Living God.
Orsino Orsini: You swear thus? A Spanish murrano? A white moor?
Rodrigo Borgia: As Vice-Chancellor, I swear before the Living God.
Cardinals: And so do I, Your Holiness. And I, Your Holiness. And I.
Giuliano della Rovere: Rest assured, Your Holiness. The glory of our Holy Mother, Church will be restored in my lifetime.
Cesare Borgia: I've heard it rumoured that Pope Innocent has 12.
Lucrezia Borgia: But I have also heard it rumoured that he is dying.
Cesare Borgia: No news in that. He's been dying for weeks now.
Lucrezia Borgia: If he does die, will our father wear his crown?
Cesare Borgia: The new pope will be elected by the College of Cardinals, my love. And only God can predict the outcome.
Lucrezia Borgia: Well, since you will have no wedding, I will pray for God to choose Papa. I want to wear a beautiful white veil crowned with pearls for his coronation.
Rodrigo Borgia: Keep our family safe. Until the new pope is elected, it will be anarchy in Rome— every faction fighting for its own candidate. And if—after the first vote— if the smoke is black—
Cesare Borgia: As you said, Father, I know what to do.
Rodrigo Borgia: I have waited a lifetime for this moment. We will go over it again. If we fail at the first vote, I will send word...
Giuliano della Rovere: If you were a different man... I might vote for you. You've performed your duties as Vice-Chancellor admirably. The Church has need of your... organizational genius.
Giuliano della Rovere: Yes. And so I shall fight you. To the end, and beyond that, if need be, with any means at my disposal.
Rodrigo Borgia: I do tend to win whatever battles I fight. But what talk we of fighting? It is all in God's hands. Good night, My Lord.
Deacon Cardinal: To Cardinal Rodrigo Borgia, four votes. To Cardinal Ascanio Sforza, six votes. To Cardinal Guilliano Della Rovere, seven votes. To Cardinal Orsino Orsini, six votes. None has the require majority.
Rodrigo Borgia: Indeed. The well-being of the curia... is of the greatest importance. As Vice-Chancellor, their health is my concern. Mens sana in corpore sano.
Rodrigo Borgia: My dear sons, the Cardinals Versucci, Piccolomini, and Sanso, grant some titles and benefices from the Borgia abbeys, monasteries, and bishoprics.
Cesare Borgia: ...Versucci, Piccolomini, and Sanso, grant some titles and benefices from the Borgia abbeys, monasteries, and bishoprics.
Rodrigo Borgia: My dear son, we are in sight of our goal, but now you must redouble our efforts. Send your brother round the Borgia churches to empty them of gold, ornamen, and precious stone.
Juan Borgia: I have emptied the churches of the Romagna. I have stripped altars bare. They were rotten with gold ornament.
Cesare Borgia: Yes, you are a true reformer, brother.
Juan Borgia: These cardinals know no vows of poverty.
Ascanio Sforza: I would say the one who would be suitable as Vice-Chancellor would be wise to support the Vice-Chancellor who would be pope.
Rodrigo Borgia: Hmm. And I would say... we have an understanding.
Deacon Cardinal: Cardinal Guiliano Della Rovere has garnered seven votes. Cardinal Alberto Colonna, two. Cardinal Rodrigo Borgia... fourteen. Cardinal Borgia has the required majority.
Giuliano della Rovere: Correction: Cardinal Borgia has bought the required majority.
Cardinal: What is your implication?
Rodrigo Borgia: His implication is that the throne of St. Peter's is for sale.
Orsino Orsini: And has been bought by a Spaniard up to his elbows in simony.
Rodrigo Borgia: I see. You would prefer it had been bought by an Italian?
Orsino Orsini: By someone remotely worthy of the papacy at least—
Rodrigo Borgia: Then my first act as pope will be to institute an enquiry into the elective process. My second, of course... will be to appoint a Vice-Chancellor— the greatest office, with the greatest income, in my gift. Now, there are two obvious choices: Cardinals Della Rovere and Orsini. But the pope could not possibly appoint one who questioned his right to be pope.
Cesare Borgia: I have corrupted my soul. I have pledged estates, castles, benefices to your brother cardinals. I have transferred the documents in the innards of roasted beasts and fowls. All to secure your election as pope.
Cesare Borgia: But you must set my soul at ease, Father. Can a family such as ours survive such a prize? We are Spaniards. They hate us. The enemies we have at present will be multiplied tenfold.
Rodrigo Borgia: God will protect his Vicar on Earth, Cesare, and those dearest to him.
Cesare Borgia: And will you inform God as to His duties in this regard?
Cesare Borgia: Because I swear, if God does not protect us, I shall.
Rodrigo Borgia: You are a bishop, Cesare. You have no need of such temporal thoughts.
Cesare Borgia: You placed this collar round my neck, Father. You made God my calling. But the sins I've committed for you must convince you, surely, that the Church is not my calling. I beg you now to release me of my vows. Let me live as a layman. As a soldier. I can then protect our family from the storm that surely must engulf it.
Rodrigo Borgia: You are my eldest son, Cesare. You were always destined to be a prince of the Church.
Cesare Borgia: I would be a prince of state, Father, and I think you know that.
Rodrigo Borgia: The papal army is small, Cesare. The battles I will fight will be within these sacred walls. This is where I will need your help. Juan can... bear arms for the Borgia family, and lead whatever army the pope has, and I will not have my authority questioned further on this. Ego te absolvo ab omnibus censuris, et peccatis, in nomine Patris, et Filii, et Spiritus Sancti. Amen.
Johannes Burchart: For the ceremonial procession, horses, arms and livery for 700 priests and 23 cardinas with their retinues, knights, and grandees. For Pope Alexander, a ceremonial throne constructed by Florentine master builders, gold and silver plated. For the Borgia family, a brocaded carriage, gold inlaid, refurbished in Venice.
Cesare Borgia: You look beautiful, Mother. But you must try to remember you're not in mourning.
Deacon Cardinal: Take the tiara... which is ornamented with three crowns... and be aware... that you are father of kings and monarchs, lord of the globe, earthly resident of our Lord Jesus Christ, our Redeemer, who shall have the power and the glory forever and ever. Amen. His Holiness, Pope... Alexander Sixtus.
Lucrezia Borgia: That is so many titles, Cesare. What will his family call him now?
Alexander VI: Help me... do His will. We have been entrusted... with the keys to His kingdom.
Giuliano della Rovere: The King of France must be aware, Ambassador, that we have placed the papal mitre in the hands of an ape.
French Ambassador: He has hopes, Cardinal, that the office brings its own grace with it, and that the grace of God can transform the worst of men. And if it doesn't? We will observe with interest what harm a mitred ape can do.
Alexander VI: These offices we grant in the full expectation they will be used wisely for the restoration of the honour of our Holy Mother Church. Dominus vobiscum.
Cardinals: Dominus vobiscum.
Alexander VI: And, finally, the greatest office in our gift, the post of Vice-Chancellor, the office that stands a reed's width from our papacy. We grant... the most august, the most valued colleague, the brightest hope for the future of the Church, Cardinal... Ascanio Sforza.
Orsino Orsini: Simony! I charge you now in public with trading sacred offices like a market huckster!
Cesare Borgia: May I remind the cardinal he is in consistory.
Orsino Orsini: With my acceptance of your foul election.
Alexander VI: When the pope pledges to banish all suspicion of simony from the cardinalate, he keeps his word. God has chosen us as a new broom to sweep the Vatican clean of corruption, which is precisely why we choose one who has no expectation of advancement— Cardinal Sforza.
Ascanio Sforza: And I pray I may prove worthy of the honour.
Giuliano della Rovere: And I pray so too. In fact, I fully approve of his new... broom. Kiss the ring, you fool.
Orsino Orsini: As do I. And I deeply regret my recent intemperance. In honour of his appointment, I invite Cardinal Sforza, and Your Holiness and the College of Cardinals to a banquet at my palace in two days' time.
Micheletto: Far from stupidity, sire. I imagine from your offer that you have need of me, yes? So to kill the servant you have need of would indeed be stupid.
Cesare Borgia: Call me stupid, then. Tell me, tell me why I shouldn't. Hmm?
Micheletto: Because of the sixth commandment, thou shalt not kill.
Cesare Borgia: I'll be forgiven. The pope is my confessor.
Micheletto: Because you'll never meet another assassin like me.
Micheletto: I would gladly work for the pope or the pope's son, for these cardinals can, as you know, prove fickle, and it seems someone as pitiless as you—
Giuliano della Rovere: Because she's so infinitely pliable. A prince one minute, a monkey the next. And what her hidden meaning is only God in His infinite wisdom knows.
Cesare Borgia: More than that. I would keep you secret. Dump them in the Tiber. Meet me by the Vatican gates in two hours' time. We shall discuss your future service.
Giuliano della Rovere: As to who poisoned him, I have no idea. Perhaps we should ask ourselves, who benefits most from his death?
Cesare Borgia: And what are you implying, Your Eminence?
Giuliano della Rovere: I am implying nothing. I am merely offering His Holiness any help I can in unmasking the culprit. Our Holy Mother Church can afford no such scandals.
Juan Borgia: We have Orsini's household staff in irons, Your Holiness. Cardinal.
Cesare Borgia: The good cardinal, my brother, has offered to help us unmask the culprit behind this plot.
Juan Borgia: We apprehended this wretch skulking outside by the gate.
Cesare Borgia: A plot, by definition, needs more than one participant, does it not?
Micheletto: To convince this cardinal, my back must tell its own story. And I have heard that he has an interest in the male torso. And even I cannot convincingly whip myself. So whip me, My Lord. Harder. Harder, My Lord.
Cesare Borgia: And... if you betray me... you will end your days on that rack.
Micheletto: Then it would not be in my interest to betray you, My Lord.
Alexander VI: I see. So, we are one less cardinal this morning. I was your age when I became a cardinal. Seems like yesterday. This red... signifies that you are ready to spill your blood in defence of the Christian faith.
Micheletto: There was nothing to reveal, Your Eminence.
Giuliano della Rovere: Ecce homo. "Behold the man." They scourged our saviour thus. Is it true, what's being rumoured? That the good cardinal inadvertently poisoned himself?
Micheletto: Who would have profited from his death?
Giulia Farnese: I found myself with child. The thought of this body of mine, marred by the presence of his offspring— inside— drove me to an act of transgression that...
Alexander VI: Then perhaps that is to be your penitence— to follow your husband to Bassano, as is your duty.
Giulia Farnese: I would prefer a life of destitution, Your Holiness.
Alexander VI: Then love God. And find peace within the walls of a nunnery.
Giulia Farnese: Can one find peace in such a love, Your Holiness?
Alexander VI: It is what we must do, Giulia Farnese.
Giulia Farnese: I fear I may lack Your Holiness's will. I am still young, Your Holiness, and my body, I am sure, could find, and give, much happiness if my soul could find peace.
Alexander VI: Do you beg forgiveness from God for the enormity of your crime?
Giulia Farnese: I do so daily. Your Holiness, my soul yearns for its punishment.
Alexander VI: Then you must fast. From matins till evensong. And flagellate your naked body twice nightly.
Alexander VI: Cord of silk will suffice. To destroy the beauty the Lord has granted you would be to compound your sin. E go te absolve... ab omnibus censuris, et peccatis, in nomine Patris, et Filii, et Spiritus Sancti.
Alexander VI: One of your lineage... to be destitute— we cannot allow it. We must find you... some... temporary and... temporal refuge.
Man: Keep the fire away from the straw!
Man: It is!
Man: Good!
Man: Boy, keep the banners and colours all together.
Man: Right, sir!
Giuliano della Rovere: Some of you voted for him, for which unfortunate choice you are now forgiven. But most of you voted against. We have assembled the barest of majorities. But then, this Borgia pope was elected with just such a majority.
Alexander VI: But his palace is ideal as a... place of penitence... and... self-reflection.
Giuliano della Rovere: If it can be proven, what many of us suspect— corruption, simony, the blatant sale of the sacred offices, and worse, the utter degradation of the office of the papacy in the eyes of the Christian world...
Alexander VI: You must think of your sojourn here as a retreat.
Alexander VI: The cardinal had this tunnel built. It leads inside the Vatican walls. If you ever find yourself in need of... spiritual comfort.. ...in your loneliness...
Johannes Burchart: Huggucio of Pisa states: "Ecce publico fornicator, publico habet concubinem..."
Giuliano della Rovere: The pope who publicly fornicates, publicly keeps a concubine—
Johannes Burchart: Can indeed be deposed, because to scandalize the Church is in itself heresy. But one would need firm evidence of notorious and public lechery.
Alexander VI: The kind of fool who doesn't understand that God's work can be done even by the most unlikely of his servants. And that Rome needs now is—
Giuliano della Rovere: Question the staff, then, in secret, and in any way you see fit. We need evidence of lechery, fornication— publico habet concubinem.
Cesare Borgia: Get these to the Deacon-Cardinal for signatures.
Man: Yes, Your Eminence.
Micheletto: He has met in secret with those cardinals that hate your father. With Johannes Burchard, he is making a case for your father's deposition.
Alexander VI: Come, come, Johannes. You must be aware of the plots against us? You could even, if viewed with an unkind eye, be seen to be party to them.
Johannes Burchart: When asked for an opinion, Your Holiness, you know that I must provide it.
Alexander VI: Ah. So, your opinion, then. How many new cardinals to preserve our papacy?
Giuliano della Rovere: I have received advice from our most supreme expert in canon law, that a pope's election may be overturned if we can provide evidence of lechery, both notorious and public. That evidence I present to you now. Leave us, Micheletto. And now, my dear, tell us what you have witnessed.
Maria: There is a passage, connecting the palace to the Vatican. His Holiness makes use of it... nightly.
Giulia Farnese: No, my love. It's in our nature to love them. But we should protect ourselves against them. Against our feelings towards them. We will all of us, one day, be replaced.
Alexander VI: And we decree bullfighting will be permitted within the walls of Rome on public festivals and the last Thursday of every month. And, finally, the main business to hand.
Micheletto: Cardinal Della Rovere needs no staff today, understand? For a day of meditation, he has requested peace and silence. You can tell the others. Have you not heard? His Eminence needs no staff today. It is a day of meditation.
Della Rovere's Cook: He has much on his mind.
Micheletto: Too much, some might say. Such is the burden of great office. Until tomorrow, my friend.
Alexander VI: We wish to announce our decision to expand the College of Cardinals, in view of the crippling workload placed upon it by our restructuring of the affairs of our Holy Mother Church. Thirteen new servants of God... will receive the cardinal's biretta.
Julius Versucci: Thirteen?!
Alexander VI: We have judged it wise to strengthen the College of Cardinals, given the enemies who have wormed their way within the Church of Rome.
Giuliano della Rovere: This is against all precedence. His Holiness will fill the College with his favourites. I accuse His Holiness—
Alexander VI: Oh... Dottore, if you would be so kind.
Micheletto: And His Holiness comes behind the Lady Giulia thus!
Maria: With the force of a stallion.
Johannes Burchart: The Bishop of Lucca, His Grace Fiorentini, will be named Cardinal Fiorentini. The Bishop of Naples, His Grace Giovanni Mascoli, will be named Cardinal Mascoli. The Bishop of Valencia, His Grace Cesare Borgia, will be named Cardinal Borgia.
Giuliano della Rovere: The pope would make his son a cardinal? I warn you, I have evidence that will bring this house crashing down around your ears.
Giuliano della Rovere: A candle, if you please! Where is everyone? Is there nobody about? Dear Lord, I pray for your strength and guidance in the trials to come. Give us some sign that Rome will be purified, the Borgia stain will be banished forever— Guards! Guards! Somebody! Anybody! Help!
Cesare Borgia: Was the good cardinal known for lechery?
Micheletto: He was discreet in his affections, My Lord. So discreet, indeed, he asked me to clear the house of servants yesterday.
Cesare Borgia: He must have had lecherous intentions, then. But I'm... shocked that they ended in murder.
Neapolitan Courtier: His Eminence, Cardinal Della Rovere, begs an introduction to His Royal Highness King Ferrante of Naples, and His Highness' son, Prince Alfonso.
Alfonso of Naples: He can't hear you. He's deaf as a post. Has been for years. The cardinal has come to discuss the deposition of the Borgia pope, Father. You remember Borgia? The ambitious Spaniard. He has appointed a veritable cascade of cardinals— can one say a cascade of cardinals? Like a gaggle of geese? A clutter of cats? An army of ants? Why not? He has appointed a veritable cascade of cardinals.
Alexander VI: I would hazard Naples. Dear old King Ferrante; his hospitality is legendary. You've heard about his dining room?
Cesare Borgia: I've heard the rumours. If Della Rovere thinks Rome is a charnel house...
Alexander VI: The good cardinal imagines that he alone hears the word of God. But God saw what he was blind to. What the Holy Church needs at this juncture is someone who can ensure its survival... ...by whatever means necessary. You have someone who... ...can wield a good garrote, do you not?
Alexander VI: Good. Sometimes, one barely understands oneself.
Alfonso of Naples: Want, want, want. Everybody wants. France wants Naples. Spain wants Naples The whole of Christendom wants the New World. And you, dear Cardinal, what do you want?
Alfonso of Naples: Ah. An adversary. Shall we show him, Father, how it pleased you to deal with your adversaries? Hmm? When you were in your magnificent prime? You see, he does remember. What does he remember?
Alexander VI: There is never enough. Queen Isabella has rather precipitously expelled all the Jews from Spain— the Murranos, as they once dared to call us.
Alexander VI: Well, I can assure you, my dear son, there's not one drop of Jewish blood in you. But as a stranger in a foreign land myself, I... sympathize with their plight.
Alexander VI: Well, there always are. But I want my papacy to be like Joseph's coat of many colours. And Jesus Christ, our Saviour, was, after all, a Jew.
Alexander VI: Are you sure? I thought he was crucified by Romans.
Alfonso of Naples: My father had many adversaries, Cardinal. But all of them came to sing his praises. And when they could sing no more... ...he had them stuffed! You see, he liked to dine, when his health was still good, with those who considered displeasing him. He's yet to find his Judas. So, you think that a pope has earned a place at this table.
Alfonso of Naples: Perhaps then they deserve the papacy. I will discuss your proposals with my father's advisers. I'd be delighted if you'd accept our hospitality tomorrow. One of our sulphur baths. It might improve Your Eminence's temper. Hmm? Good for the skin. Tomorrow, Cardinal. Tomorrow.
Man: And lift it!
Man: And the tapestries, you have to release them from the top.
Cesare Borgia: See they are installed in my mother's villa. Whatever one could say about the cardinal's politics, there is no questioning his good taste.
Juan Borgia: He would have finished for me. But we will show that Milanese mirror painter what true highlights should look like. Raise it. Till the armour glitters.
Alexander VI: But you regard this elevation as a burden. You will be made cardinal tomorrow. And you must beware that sin St. Isidore calls the greatest of all, which only the pope can forgive.
Cesare Borgia: I believe it is called despair, Father.
Alexander VI: You must never, ever despair. Embrace me, Cesare. Forgive my ambitions for you. But they have been such since the day you were born. Had I not embraced a career in the church, then perhaps things would have been different. You are my eldest son. It is your destiny to follow in my footsteps. Tell me you accept this calling.
Alfonso of Naples: The sensual delights of our Neapolitan Kingdom have attracted many invaders, Cardinal. When you have a paradise, you must use every means available to defend it. My father has grown feeble with the effort.
Alfonso of Naples: Yes. They will consider it. He will meet his maker soon, and he would confess, if he can manage the words, to a pope before he dies. And we would rather it be a Christian one. Enough! Immerse yourself, Cardinal. The sulphur waters renew the flesh, soothe the spirit. We will all of us be dead, soon enough.
Alexander VI: It is red, as a sign of the dignity of the order of cardinals, signifying that you are ready to act with fortitude. Red, as a sign that you are willing to spill your blood for the increase of the Christian faith, into which you have all been baptized. Benedicat vos omnipotens Deus, Pater, et Filius, et Spiritus Sanctus.
Alfonso of Naples: You leave carnage in your wake, Cardinal! Absolute carnage! We have no need of carnage! We have no need of carnage! You should leave Naples forthwith unless you want a place at my father's table on a more permanent basis!
Alexander VI: Well, as foster. It would remove him as a threat to the Ottoman succession. Now, he would pay us 40,000 ducats every year for the privilege. God knows, we need the cash. I would have your advice, madame.
Ottoman Ambassador: The great Sultan Bayezid II presents his brother, Djem, to be Ambassador to the Court of the Pope of Rome. He hopes his presence and the great pope's protection will lead to concord between their peoples, to a mutual treaty of protection from their enemies.
Djem: Ah... But I am your guest, surely. My brother contributes towards the expenses of my stay here, but the hospitality you have shown me— no one could pay for that.
Djem: No. You are the pope's daughter. You are the most beautiful treasure this Vatican contains. If a husband tries to beat you, I, Djem, will strangle him with my bare hands.
Alexander VI: Oh... He would be ideal. But both France and Spain lay claim to the Kingdom of Naples, and the might of each eclipses that of all of Italy. We must keep those options open— for now.
Catherine Sforza: Sforza. Borgia. If our families were to unite, central Italy would be secure, and our cousin, Ludovico Sforza of Milan, has pledged to ally with our interests. Your Holiness has requested a meeting with Giovanni Sforza, Lord of Pesaro. He will understand how impossible that is, without an agreement on a dowry.
Catherine Sforza: The Sforza family needs substantial funds to re-equip its armies for the coming storm.
Sigimondo d'Este: My brother Meliaduse was Abbot of Pomposa. His mother was a Medici, you know. Yes, he died back in '52. But you'll remember my sister, Ginevra? She married Pandolfo Malatesta of Rimini. Or was that Luzia?
Alberto Colonna: Union with my nephew might strengthen the boundless love between the families of Colonna and Borgia.
Man: There is no barrier to his succession. The prince, his elder brother, is confined to a madhouse.
Djem: Because of the kindness you Christians have shown to me. I have found peace in this Rome of yours. I have been reading the gospels, the words of St Matthew. "See how these Christians love one another." I would gladly embrace a religion of such charity.
Cesare Borgia: You might find, dear Djem, that... ...we are not always so kind.
Djem: I wanted, my dear Lucrezia, to give you a taste of my homeland. Before the Lord Sforza plucks you forever from my view. Please, brothers, sit. Moussa, thali! Food.
Djem: Oh, by the heavens, no. I dread the day I have to leave the bosom of your kindness. Our ways at the Courts of the Sultan can be... ...cruel beyond your imaginations.
Djem: Cesare! I have been poisoned, Cesare. My brother the Sultan has found a way. And it can only have been through this blackamoor here— he has poisoned me!
Cesare Borgia: Take him out of here. Somewhere safe. And you, my dear brother. You must finish what you started. I will clear the corridor of the guards.
Cesare Borgia: Leave us. You would kill our dear Moor?
Djem: Cool me down, brother. Console me, brother. A pillow. A towel, dipped in cold water. You?
Cesare Borgia: So our sister's dowry is done? Here endeth the first lesson.
Johannes Burchart: For the hospitality provided to the Royal Highness Prince Djem, 400,000 ducats from the Sultan of Constantinople to the Holy See. A further 100,000 ducats for the most excellent medical care provided to His Majesty, and a further 40,000 ducats for funeral expenses.
Alexander VI: Father God Almighty, who wert, art, and shall be blessed world without end, I beseech Thee, watch over my daughter, Lucrezia. And grant me guidance and wisdom. I pray that I have made the right decision for her.
Girolamo Savonarola: Come hither! Oh, degenerate church! I gave you my house, saith the Lord, and you have defiled it with outrage! This pope is a lecherous abomination! Is there no crime for which he has not been accused? He is lower than the beast that crawls or the Red Whore of Babylon! Florence, you will pay for your greed and usury when he grinds you to perdition!
Vanozza dei Cattanei: The changes of her state overwhelm her. She is to be married soon. She's lost her blackamoor. Her father communes only with God or with La Bella Farnese.
Alexander VI: Your tone is hardly appropriate, madam.
Vanozza dei Cattanei: Forgive me, then, my tone. But rest assured, I will nurse her back to the most excellent health, and we will both have the pleasure of seeing her walk up the aisle of St. Peter's.
Cesare Borgia: The scandal of your Naples misadventure travelled wide. We must make do now with information— about whom Della Rovere meets, where he travels. Besides, monks do not kill.
Micheletto: No. They beg and they pray, Your Eminence.
Alexander VI: Hmm... The Spanish king asks for our blessing on their conquest of this new continent. Perhaps it is time for us to strengthen our ties with our ancestral homeland.
Giulia Farnese: First, there's a chaste kiss, full of promise, like this one.
Lucrezia Borgia: I will gladly marry whom you choose; what your politics demand. The Borgia family will be united with the Sforzas, but however noble their lineage, they cannot bar my mother from my wedding day.
Alexander VI: No, but these are issues, my dear daughter, that are beyond your care.
Lucrezia Borgia: But I am learning, Holy Father! She was once what they call a courtesan, and you are the pope of Rome. But you loved her once. As I do now. And I will have my mother at my wedding day.
Cesare Borgia: Come, sis. Let us talk of these things elsewhere.
Lucrezia Borgia: Please, Holy Father! I need you both there! My mother and my father!
■Florence
Giancarlo: Alms, for the love of God.
Penelope: Never was a woman more wretched than myself in such a marriage with such a husband.
Husband: Ah, Penelope, darling. I bid you good health. Uh, how are the good people of the countryside?
Penelope: They do less mischief than those in town, it would seem.
Theatre Manager: Would your choice be comedy or tragedy, my lord?
Juan Borgia: It is my sister's wedding. I would see her smile.
Theatre Manager: Ah! One of the comedies, perhaps, of Terence or Plautus?
Giuliano della Rovere: He may be wrong about the Medici bank, but he's right about the Borgia pope. Alexander's great game is the investiture of Naples. He knows France has claims upon it; he knows Spain has claims upon it. He will play them both against each other like a spider with two flies.
Giuliano della Rovere: There is a land, Señor Machiavelli, made up of many principalities— the Duchy of Milan, the Republic of your wondrous Florence, the dukedoms of the Romania, the papal states—
Giuliano della Rovere: Borgia has betrothed his daughter to a Sforza. He will marry his son to a Spaniard or a Venetian; his younger son to a Florentine or a Neapolitan. He will weave a web around this Italy that may not exist. He will swallow your Florence, your Venice, your Milan, and Italy then will exist, my liege, under him.
Theo: Well, she's noble; you're not. The nobility has its own laws, its own rules, and we... are commoners, my dear.
Vanozza dei Cattanei: And we had common pleasures, did we not? Stay and dine with me, Theo. Tell me how your life has been. Old friends at times like this are what one needs.
Giuliano della Rovere: It was not always thus; it was pure once, and can be so again.
Girolamo Savonarola: You... You talk of purity. Step into the light. I feel something from you. I have had a vision, Cardinal, of a great army from the north, with cannon the like of which we have never witnessed, belching fire and destruction. Women lie dead in their beds. Suckling babes will be snatched from the breast and dashed against the city walls. This army... will march south like the mongrel hordes towards Rome, invited in by a cleric in red. Are you the one, Cardinal Della Rovere?
Girolamo Savonarola: I see castles of flame. I see blood running through the streets of cities. I see the bloated body of the Borgia pope, blackened by syphilis, lying dead in St. Peter's. Nobody dares approach it. Will you be the one, Cardinal, to bring forth this apocalypse? Are you the cleric in red?
Alexander VI: We understand the royal Spanish highnesses... wish us to view this savage?
Spanish Ambassador: Queen Isabella requests the pope's blessing upon her American conquests. She would instruct these savage peoples in the one true God.
Spanish Ambassador: Their Catholic Majesties would expect Rome to support their traditional claims on Naples.
Giuliano della Rovere: So, my Lord... I cannot invite such chaos to my land without a sign. So help me, God. Are you at liberty, Father, to hear one poor sinner's confession?
Giancarlo: In nomine Patris et Filii et Spiritus Sancti.
Giuliano della Rovere: I have... sinned in thought, Father, and am about to sin in deed.
Alexander VI: Perhaps. One day not too far off even you might get married, hmm?
Joffre Borgia: But how does marriage help you, Father?
Alexander VI: Hmm... Let me explain to you, little man. Italy. It's like a great big boot divided into kingdoms. To the north, we have the Duchy of Milan, ruled over by Ludovico Sforza. Then to the east, we have the Republic of Venice. Moving south, we have the great Republic of Florence, ruled over by the...?
Alexander VI: Yes. To the north and the east we have the Romania, ruled over by the great Roman families, one of which your sister is going to marry into.
Joffre Borgia: That's the same name as the Duke of Milan.
Alexander VI: Mm-hmm. They're cousins, and thus have similar interests. But here is the tiny city of Rome, surrounded by the papal states. Now, its rule is small, but its power is great. Can you tell me why?
Joffre Borgia: All the kings want to be crowned by the pope?
Alexander VI: Now, here, to the south, is the great kingdom of Naples— almost half the boot. But both France and Spain have traditional claims on Naples, and Naples wishes to assert his independence, so, I mean, phew! It's the pope who has to decide between these claims.
Alexander VI: Oh, I know, it is. Sometimes it even stops me sleeping at night.
Joffre Borgia: I will marry anyone you like if it helps you to sleep.
Alexander VI: Well, there's a boy. Hmm! There's a little chap.
Juan Borgia: The honourable Giovanni Sforza, we welcome you to the city of Rome. Our armies are yours. Our hospitality is yours. And our sister shall soon be yours.
Giovanni Sforza: The Sforza armies are at your service. May the union between our families bear every fruit.
Giovanni Sforza: You didn't snore. But you wept... all night. That has to stop. And you bled, thank God. A virgin. You must be unique in your family. "A Borgia," they said. "Is that how little I am valued?" I said. "The pope's daughter," they said. "For shame," I said. Your dowry was worthy of a princessa. Lucrezia Borgia Sforza. Do you hunt? No? Well, that's good. Then we need hardly see each other. Except when marital duties call. And then I'll keep them brief and business-like.
Alexander VI: Oh, go away. Do nightmares ever plague the vice-chancellor?
Ascanio Sforza: Hm. The very office is a nightmare, Your Holiness. Of plots, petty intrigues and petitions, which I do my utmost to keep from your presence.
Alexander VI: I need your assurance... of the welfare of my daughter...in the castle of your cousin, Giovanni Sforza.
Ascanio Sforza: He will be putty in her soft hands, Your Holiness. Yes, he inherited the Sforza name, the Sforza wealth, but none of its vigour.
Alexander VI: And the Sforza appetite for intrigue?
Ascanio Sforza: Hmm. Yes, well. Yes, that he did inherit. But intrigue is no match for Borgia intelligence as whole Rome has discovered.
Alexander VI: So, I need your further assurance that... he and another cousin, the Duke of Milan, will be constant in their support for our papacy. We have merged our fortunes with the Sforza name. The consequence of that trust being betrayed would be most severe.
Ascanio Sforza: Do you speak to me as vice-chancellor, Your Holiness?
Cesare Borgia: And I had to see you but couldn't you have chosen a more personable venue?
Ursula Bonadeo: There was an altercation at your sister's wedding. A promise of a reckoning. I would beg you to desist from pursuit of your mother's honour.
Cesare Borgia: You may know little of me, but those who know me know that I remember such things. You are concerned for your husband's safety?
Ursula Bonadeo: For yours. He is a brute, a condotiorre, the veteran of many battles. Your calling is the Church, not the sword. If you were harmed, I could not forgive myself. I could not, perhaps, live.
Cesare Borgia: You care so much for one you hardly know?
Ursula Bonadeo: Yes. It is a puzzle. Or a mystery. Your visage is before my eyes when I'm asleep, when I wake, when I close them.
Cesare Borgia: I thought my eyes deceived me. Now I think, mine ears.
Ursula Bonadeo: Neither. Bring your lips close to mine, Cardinal. I would feel your breath.
Cesare Borgia: And I would kiss you, but for this barrier between us.
Ursula Bonadeo: God is watching.
Cesare Borgia: As the Bible tells us, He is a jealous God.
Ursula Bonadeo: There may always be a barrier between us. But if you promise me you will not put yourself in harm's way, then my heart's kiss will be yours.
Cesare Borgia: I promise then. I will not put myself in harm's way. But you asked for deliverance, Ursula Bonadeo.
Ursula Bonadeo: The Lord will decide my fate and it will be my fate to accept. But now I must leave before my soul flies from these lips.
Ursula Bonadeo: If I can find the words. Your priestly collar makes me hope my heart is safe. Because I am not fully in command of it. So the fact that you are a cardinal pleases me as it distresses me.
Cesare Borgia: I thought I would not be cardinal for today.
Ursula Bonadeo: Then my heart is in danger. Would you endanger it, Cardinal Borgia?
Cesare Borgia: No, Father. Let us not talk in metaphors. My fear is... he would go to France, conspire with the French to invade us, arrange free passage of their armies through the Republic of Florence, through the Duchy of Milan.
Cesare Borgia: Depose you, march south to Naples. His armies are hardened by a 100 years of battle with England. There is nothing here to match them.
Juan Borgia: Duke Ludovico Sforza of Milan. He is cousin to our sister's husband, Giovanni Sforza.
Cesare Borgia: Lucrezia did not marry Ludovico Sforza, Brother. And they don't call him Il Moro for nothing.
Juan Borgia: I hear he keeps his own cousin caged beneath his castle floors.
Cesare Borgia: He would betray us in a moment if he thought his dukedom was in peril. What he fears is that his nephew will wear his crown.
Alexander VI: Well, perhaps we should threaten him with just that possibility. And you should go to Florence tease out their intentions. Those Medici bankers have a preacher, Savonarola, who accuses them of usury. Perhaps we should offer them an excommunication...public burning if they support our just cause.
■Milan
Ludovico Sforza: They call me Il Moro, Cardinal. Can you imagine why?
Ludovico Sforza: Because of my cunning. Like the Moors of old, I outwit them all.
Giuliano della Rovere: You will have given my proposal the grace of your cunning then?
Ludovico Sforza: Hmm... You... wish me to grant French arms safe passage through the Duchy of Milan. But why would the French King march south, hm?
Giuliano della Rovere: Because, most honourable duke, of his claims on the Kingdom of Naples.
Ludovico Sforza: Ah! The great game of Naples. Everybody wants Naples. My nephew, GIAN GALEAZZO, thinks it part of his inheritance. But then... He thinks Milan is his.
Ludovico Sforza: Indeed. From the Duke of Milan. Well, Cardinal. I will consider it.
■Florence
Woman: Fresh bread! Bread, bread!
Woman: Cabbages this way! More cabbages for your money!
Man: Over here!
Girolamo Savonarola: Florence, the time will come, when all your finery, goods, and chattels will profit you nothing. You have lived in usury, Florence, like pigs in heat. The riches of your banking may astound the world, but one day they will be your undoing! Owing to your avarice, neither you nor your children lead a good life. You have already discovered many devices of gaining money...
Niccolo Machiavelli: It was rumoured a cardinal had graced Florence with his presence.
Cesare Borgia: For the moment. But I would hazard, if this cardinal passed through Florence, he did more than pinion a mendicant friar to a confessional door.
Lucrezia Borgia: Your shirt is torn, Paolo. Would you like me to stitch it?
Paolo: I could never ask, my lady.
Lucrezia Borgia: And stop this "my lady" nonsense. My name is Lucrezia. Say it.
Paolo: Lucrezia... my lady.
Navarrese Ambassador: ...in summation, Your Holiness, I would reiterate his Highness' pleasure at the possibility of an union between the Kingdom of Navarre and the Borgia family. Between the Gonfaloniere Juan Borgia and his beloved niece, the Princess Sylvia, whose portrait is now my pleasure to present to the Papal Court.
Alexander VI: We thank his Royal Highness. And if this depiction does justice to the Princess Sylvia, then her beauty is indeed without compare.
Lucrezia Borgia: Lucky Fatima. She can sleep well at night. Show me your hands, Paolo. Bring them here. I would touch them. Soft. Will they be hard some day?
Paolo: I know not, my lady.
Lucrezia Borgia: Lucrezia. I took a bow and aimed it low You know it?
Lucrezia Borgia & Paolo: And caught you on the chin, chin, chin
Lucrezia Borgia: My mother said Now go to bed I'll have to lock you in, in, in
Juan Borgia: They are all ugly. I'll marry none of them. Second-rate royalty, cousins of half-brothers of princes. I'll marry a king's daughter or nothing.
Alexander VI: Nothing, I'm afraid, is not an option, my dear son.
Juan Borgia: Are you deaf, father? She is the half-bred bastard of an ailing dotard. Let Joffre marry her. I will marry a true princess or I will take my pleasures where I find them.
Gabriella Visconti: Your Holiness—
Alexander VI: Forgive me, Cardinal, I had hoped to find you alone.
Ascanio Sforza: And, Your Holiness, my cousin was just, huh...
Alexander VI: Well, you could disembowel the dear cardinal.
Ascanio Sforza: Does the office of vice-chancellor extend so far?
Alexander VI: To include executions? Sadly not. But you could inform your cousin, the Duke of Milan, that we could well see the justice of his nephew's cause, should the duke choose to act against our wishes.
Ascanio Sforza: No, His Holiness does not threaten. His Holiness merely reminds the duke of where his best interests lie. And in the event of a French invasion—
Ludovico Sforza: He would pretend to see the justice of this pretender's cause—
Ludovico Sforza: Indeed. You are the Duke now, are you not? Have mine. And you, cousin cardinal, can tell that Borgia pope, that Catalan clown, that Spanish nonentity that marries his bastard daughter to my cousin and thinks he will buy my friendship! Tell him he will never have it! Tell him I will welcome French arms with open arms of my own!
Cesare Borgia: Yes. I made a promise to a favoured lady that I would not put myself in harm's way. So...put me in harm's way. Come on, Baron, I would see your best.
Micheletto: Now, my best would break your promise, Borgia.
Alexander VI: So it is rumoured. Gluttony, it is said. But the result's the same. If the French army moves, it will have free passage through Milan. And the only force to stop it will be Florence. And Florence can hardly stand alone. No, I think it might be time to give Naples what they want.
Neapolitan Ambassador: He nevertheless sends his every good wish. And in the face of all of the spurious claims upon his kingdom from Spain, from France, from the Duchy of Milan— he would remind Your Holiness of the justice of the independent claims of Naples. An independent Naples can only be to Rome's benefit. And I, as his ambassador, am proud to present the suit, for your consideration, of his last unmarried daughter, Sancia, Duchessa of Squillace.
Juan Borgia: My younger brother Joffre is all of 13 years old.
Neapolitan Ambassador: His Highness had understood the prospective groom to be the Gonfaloniere himself, the Duke of Gandia.
Juan Borgia: Me? Well, this is most irregular. I would never consider marrying the illegitimate daughter of the King of Naples—
Alexander VI: Would you convey our thanks to our friend and ally, King Ferrante, whose claim to independence we fully understand, for his most generous offer? You will have our response shortly.
Ursula Bonadeo: I beg you, do not make me hope. He will be home in two days.
Cesare Borgia: Perhaps his business will detain him.
Alexander VI: Now, I desire a purely defensive union. The terms of which have already been outlined by our respective ambassadors. And I desire the happiness of our youngest son.
Alexander VI: Perhaps. But we need this union more than we need riches. The wolves are bearing down on the Papal States. And we would have a wedding... if only to once again see our dear Lucrezia.
Juan Borgia: His father has drafted a papal bull to confer legitimacy on all his children.
Alfonso of Naples: And that has bearing on the matter of bastardy, does it?
Juan Borgia: We do not appreciate that term, Your Highness.
Sancia of Naples: Why not? I never minded it. I found it gave one a certain licence.
Juan Borgia: Let me just say that his rights of inheritance are secure, under law.
Sancia of Naples: If my betrothed has anything like the vigour of his brother...
Alfonso of Naples: You would marry this Borgia here, would you not, dear sis?
Sancia of Naples: I am your bastard sister, Alfonso. I shall marry whomever I am told.
Alfonso of Naples: I am sure your brother should grow into your stature, Gonfaloniere. It comes with many benefits: the Borgia name, the Borgia prowess.
Sancia of Naples: I am told it is considerable, within and without the marital bed.
Alfonso of Naples: Most important of all, the protection of the Pope of Rome for our poor, beleaguered kingdom of Naples. We have enemies fast approaching, Gonfaloniere. My father's name was once enough to terrify them. Perhaps your father's name should do the same?
Juan Borgia: I have been entrusted with all of my father's battles.
Alfonso of Naples: Perhaps after our meal, Gonfaloniere, my sister can give you the royal tour? My father had a way of, uh, dealing with his enemies. It might prove instructive for the future.
Alexander VI: Let us take... your most elegant leg. A perfect metaphor for Italian politics. Here... we have France, the source of all disquiet. But traveling south across the Alps... we find the dukedom of Milan.
Alexander VI: Hmm? And below her, Florence. And here, this little mound... is Rome. But Naples is your elegant calf... your exquisite ankle... your heel... your sole... and your most delicious toe. Now lying here... it may not seem important. But try to stand, and you'll find that all your balance comes from here.
Alexander VI: Hmm. Naples. But now... I'm going to invade fair France.
■France
French Soldier: His Highness is testing a new cannon, Your Eminence. Perfected during a battle against those English barbarians.
Man: Fire!
Man: Feu! Le feu aux canons!
Man: Les boulets!
French Soldier: Your Royal Highness, may I introduce you to Cardinal Giuliano Della Rovere. Cardinal Della Rovere, His Royal Highness, King Charles, of France.
Giuliano della Rovere: And I of you, Your Highness. Your military renown has traveled far and wide—
Charles VIII: Enough of the pleasantries! You are the one that would give us the crown of Naples?
Giuliano della Rovere: The Kingdom of France has long had claims on the investiture of the Kingdom of Naples. I would—
Charles VIII: I said, enough pleasantries, did I not? Just tell me, Cardinal, how you would place the crown of Naples... on this ugly head of mine? And it is exceedingly ugly, is it not?
Giuliano della Rovere: Your Highness bears all the vigor of the French race in his person.
Charles VIII: He is afraid to say it! Is my head not ugly, General?
Charles VIII: Well then, we may get nowhere. I appreciate only plain speech. Tell us then what you want of us, plainly.
Giuliano della Rovere: My countrymen are accustomed to the show of war, not the reality. They could never muster the courage to sustain your French fury.
Charles VIII: You want me to march to Rome, depose that Borgia, give you the papal crown, in the hope that you'll place the crown of Naples on this ugly head?
Giuliano della Rovere: I want to restore the Universal Church to her former dignity.
Charles VIII: Ha! He is learning to mean what he says! But as to war, see here. My new invention. If it works, it will be... truly grisly. It will usher in a whole new era of grisliness. Chained cannonballs. Both balls have to fire together. If they don't, we could be torn to shreds. You wish to give the signal?
Charles VIII: No war is just. War is chaos, brute force mustered against brute force, until one side is destroyed, utterly. I have read of your Italian battles. Hired mercenaries, on feathered horseback, prancing like peacocks one against the other until one side retires, with something called honor? Heh! But there is no honor in war. The French learned that against the English. There is blood, death, armor against armor, until one side surrenders, in death or domination. Be careful what you pray for Cardinal, if you pray for war. You will find yourself in a place beyond prayer itself.
Ursula Bonadeo: I asked to meet you here because... my husband has been found. Washed up on the shores of the Tiber, 3 weeks dead with stab wounds to his neck. For those 3 weeks I gave my body to you. I broke my marriage vows.
Cesare Borgia: I thought... perhaps I hoped you did so willingly.
Ursula Bonadeo: You bought those 3 weeks with murder! I told you he was riding on the road to Ostia that night. Admit it, Cardinal.
Ursula Bonadeo: I thought I knew a man. A man conflicted, perhaps, between the world and God. But not a murderer.
Cesare Borgia: Is it murder to defend your mother's honor? To procure the freedom of one you could love... even more than your mother's honor? If it is, I am a murderer born.
Ursula Bonadeo: Maybe God can forgive you because I'm not sure I can.
Cesare Borgia: Do you think I care for the forgiveness of God? I care for your happiness, your future. And I have now given it to you. Liberate me, you asked me.
Ursula Bonadeo: You have not given me a future. You have given me a lifelong penance. I am party to your crime. I feel for you still... but I know not this monster beside me.
Cesare Borgia: Well, let me tell you. I was born... with a stain. A mark. Like the mark of Cain. But it is the mark of my father, my family. The mark of Borgia. I have tried to be other than I am. And I have failed. And if I have failed you in the process, I am truly sorry.
Ursula Bonadeo: You... You have the devil's insight, Cardinal. You read what my heart wanted and you gave it to me. You gave me joy, through a crime I could not have conceived of. And now I must live my life in penance, praying for forgiveness.
Alexander VI: You will— You will not? Do you have any idea what lengths I've gone to to keep your mother's reputation intact? You were bred to be a soldier, a general, a leader of men. Is that any way for a Gonfaloniere to behave? Brawling like a common soldier, in your mother's home?
Juan Borgia: Forgive me, Father, if my honor demanded—
Alexander VI: Your honor? Do you know what they say about you? What they whisper about you?
Giuliano della Rovere: But his son is not, my liege. He would see his father invested before he dies, so he can claim the crown, and the kingdom. If there is a moment to move, it is now.
He... fell off his horse. Foolish man. He will go hunting. I find the more confined husbands become the more... tolerable. I could write a book about it. Perhaps I will. And you, Brother? What of your heart?
Nun: The cutting of your hair is a symbol... of the renunciation of your earthly beauty... which is now in the service of our Lord God... Jesus Christ. You will be a bride of Christ... a handmaiden of Christ. Christ will be your love, your bread... your wine... your water.
Ascanio Sforza: Most worthy Lord... do you agree, under the eyes of God, to accept the most gracious Sancia, Duchessa of Squillace, as your lawful spouse?
Sancia of Naples: I have no idea. But I am its duchess. There's a castle, I believe, just south of Naples. And a lake. An income. You see, they had to give me something, so... they gave me Squillace.
Sancia of Naples: Yes. Good night, pages. Unless you would all join us? No. That is a step too far, even for the Duke and Duchessa of Squillace. Now, my husband, are you ready?
Charles VIII: You will have your war, Cardinal. But I will only ask one thing of you.
Charles VIII: No one will question the behavior of my troops, my captains, my generals, my arms. You will have your war... but it will be fought the French way.
Cesare Borgia: You are no longer a child, Sis. I won't forgive him for that.
Lucrezia Borgia: There was a reason for my marriage, Brother. Remind me of it.
Abbess of St. Cecelia: We are blessed by the Cardinal's presence here.
Cesare Borgia: Sadly, Abbess, the business of a cardinal is overwhelmed by the management of men. Our spiritual duties are all too easily forgotten.
Abbess of St. Cecelia: But your contribution to the abbey and its restoration is much appreciated. And our new novice, Sister Martha, has a most divine contralto voice.
Ursula Bonadeo: It is inappropriate, surely. You are the cardinal benefactor of the Sisters of St. Cecilia. Although even I can see the humor in that.
Cesare Borgia: You knew? When you chose this convent?
Ursula Bonadeo: I discovered, after I had taken my vows.
Cesare Borgia: Shall I resign my responsibilities? Assign the benefice to another cardinal?
Ursula Bonadeo: No. I shall never be free of you, Cardinal. I knew that. You cannot touch me, Cardinal. No man can touch me now. The one who touches me, who lives inside my heart, who visits me nightly, died on the cross many centuries ago.
Cesare Borgia: Ah! I have another rival then. And I can't kill Him.
Ursula Bonadeo: You blaspheme now! Would you put yourself beyond the grace of God entirely, Cardinal?
Cesare Borgia: No. I would manage my own destiny. You asked me for liberation.
Ursula Bonadeo: And you gave it to me. You delivered me to here. I spend my days in penance, and... oddly enough, in peace. You have a power, Cardinal Cesare Borgia, a strength, a destiny that even you don't recognize. You read my heart, with what may indeed have been the Devil's insight, and you delivered me to God. You can use that strength for good or for ill but I have no doubt it will be used, and the whole of Italy will be changed by it.
Ursula Bonadeo: No, but I think I have been given some insight into what guides your heart. I will never love another man. And you should leave now, Cardinal. It is forbidden.
Alexander VI: No, but they will. And we can imagine the discord already, everyone dividing into factions. We are facing a battle for our very survival.
Lucrezia Borgia: No! Where is your imagination? It is God rehearsing his wrath. It is Jove flexing his muscles. It is my husband throwing off his splint. He will walk again soon. What will we do with our love then?
Paolo: We can love in secret.
Lucrezia Borgia: Hm. We already love in secret. And you knew this couldn't last forever, didn't you?
Cesare Borgia: What else would you say to me, his son?
Ascanio Sforza: Indeed. What else, Cardinal Borgia? What else?
Cesare Borgia: You would be wise to be steadfast in this matter, Cardinal. You have another cousin married to my sister. He would be wise to remain steadfast too.
Ascanio Sforza: Shall I tell him that, or should you? Or should we leave that responsibility to your sister, Lucrezia?
Giovanni Sforza: Your beauty was never in question. Merely your breeding. And speaking of breeding, the entire principality will be expecting an heir soon...
Charles VIII: As the whole of Italy will surrender to me now.
Girolamo Savonarola: I see castles aflame. I see blood running through the streets of cities. Will you be the one, Cardinal Della Rovere, to bring forth this apocalypse? Are you... the cleric in red?
Charles VIII: Yes, you will dine with us! You will not retire! An army is like a beast, Cardinal. And that beast will be fed! You think these troops live on what I pay them? You think they march with me for the few sous I give them? No. They march for the spoils of war, of victory.
Man: Of course. Victory.
Charles VIII: This town will be picked clean by the time the sun comes up. And do you know why, Cardinal? Because they know that another assault like this will not be... necessary, that the news of it will spread like flames through a barn, that they might not get another chance.
French General: Ah! And they were so looking forward to Florence.
Giuliano della Rovere: That I be granted your gracious permission to ride before your armies to Florence. That I negotiate whatever terms are acceptable to Your Gracious Highness that might prevent a recurrence of such slaughter.
Charles VIII: He has no stomach for slaughter. General, what are our terms?
French General: Free passage of our troops through the Florentine Republic. 25,000 troops billeted on the Florentine population.
Charles VIII: A levy of 200,000 ducats for the cost of our armies to date.
French General: And, my liege, I would demand, as a token of good faith, hostages from each of the major Florentine families.
Giuliano della Rovere: Those demands are unaccountably harsh, Your Highness. They may not accede to them.
Charles VIII: Well, then, we look forward to battle.
Girolamo Savonarola: And I looked up... and before me was a pale horse and its rider was named Death. He had power over a quarter of the earth to kill with his sword, with famine, with plague, and with the wild beasts of the earth! And the moon, the full moon was red, and stars fell from the skies! And the sky, the sky receded, receded like a scroll, turning over and over, and mountains and islands were torn from the face of the earth! The sun turned black! Black as sackcloth!
Alfonso of Naples: I bring news, Father, of apocalypse. Hm. If you can still hear me. The French King has laid waste to Lucca. His armies head towards Florence. But their goal... is your fair Kingdom of Naples... which we may need to vacate. Father. Father, I need at least a sign.
Alexander VI: ...per omnia saecula saeculorum. Amen. You have heard what happened in Lucca, my son?
Alexander VI: We will excommunicate Florence if the French armies are admitted.
Ascanio Sforza: Excommunicate the entire city, Your Holiness?
Alexander VI: The Medicis, the Pazzis, Machiavelli, the whole Signoria. And we will have that Savonarola burnt. We will bear no more opposition to our word.
Alexander VI: We will not tolerate this heresy! This sapostasy! This is the chair of St. Peter's! We are the voice of the Living God! We will occupy this chair until our death, and the fires of Hell shall rain down on those who would oppose us! We are, all of us... about to be sorely tested. And you... are either with us... or against us. We hereby impose an excommunication upon that... heretic apostate... Cardinal Guiliano Della Rovere. We ask for your support in this most solemn declaration. We demand your compliance, so... a show of hands, Your Eminences. If you please.
Ascanio Sforza: Your Holiness, may the vice-chancellor speak?
Giovanni Sforza: The French army has passed through Milan. My cousin Ludovico has given them free passage through his dukedom. If the Republic of Florence doesn't resist their advance, there will be nothing to stop their passage towards Rome.
Giovanni Sforza: You know enough, surely, to know that your father's days may be numbered.
Lucrezia Borgia: I will always be my father's daughter, sire. And unless I am very much mistaken, I do believe the Sforza armies, yours and your cousin Catherina's were pledged to his cause.
Giovanni Sforza: That promise did form part of the betrothal arrangement.
Lucrezia Borgia: And my lord would never renege on a promise.
Lucrezia Borgia: But you, my lord, would never be so... dishonorable.
Giovanni Sforza: Is it dishonorable to assist in the deposition of a Borgia pope? As dishonorable, perhaps, as removing a litter of swine from the Vatican walls. You are ill, my lady?
Giovanni Sforza: Forgive me, then, for speaking so plainly. But understand that if Florence admits the French armies, then the Sforza arms may march with France.
Lucrezia Borgia: It is unwise, my lord, to upset me thus. Ah...
Francesca: My lady! Come. Straight away...
Alexander VI: Who can we trust... in this charnel house called Rome?
Alexander VI: We will miss you, in our hour of need.
Giulia Farnese: And I will miss you. But I will suffer your absence, if it sets your mind at ease.
Alexander VI: There was a confessor I had when I first took holy orders. A Franciscan friar, the most holy of men. I would emerge from his confessional... like a boy newly washed in the morning dew. Untroubled. Clear. We long for that clarity in this moment of time.
Giulia Farnese: Summon him to Rome, then. While I ride to Pesaro.
Giuliano della Rovere: The French King demands that Florence be opened to the passage of his armies.
Niccolo Machiavelli: And now, my Lord Medici, that you've surrendered the Republic of Florence, can we at least pour the wine? There is genius afoot here, Cardinal. Is it yours?
Giuliano della Rovere: I've heard rumors that the whole of Florence could be excommunicated if this city is surrendered to French arms.
Niccolo Machiavelli: Well, then, perhaps that depends on one's definition of surrender.
French Soldier: Regiment, halt!
Niccolo Machiavelli: I bid his Royal Highness and the armies of France welcome to the fair city of Florence. But it would be politic, Your Highness, if you would ride through our gracious city with your lance at rest.
Niccolo Machiavelli: Your lance at point is a symbol of conquest, and our gracious Florence has not been conquered. To the contrary. We welcome you with open arms.
Giulia Farnese: You will let these French armies march to Rome, and do...
Giovanni Sforza: What everyone else in Italy is doing. Nothing.
Giulia Farnese: Ah. Have you shared this intelligence with your dear wife, Lucrezia?
Giovanni Sforza: She's too young to understand such matters.
Alexander VI: Do you recognize us, Brother Raphael?
Friar Raphael: Oh... I hardly do, Your Holiness.
Alexander VI: I would be... a simple priest again, and unburden my soul to you. I have been... diverted from my calling... by the travails of this world.
Friar Raphael: That is indeed grave.
Alexander VI: But the pope is a ruler of men. Yes, he interprets God's will, but he must also rule the papal states, the city of Rome, he must mediate between all the kings of Christendom.
Friar Raphael: God makes himself manifest through the world. He does not ask us to change it, merely to lead good lives.
Alexander VI: A great trial... is to be visited on me. On Rome, on the chair of St. Peter's. The French King, a cardinal with him, would see me deposed. Now, if that is God's will, should I just allow it to happen? Walk free of my office... follow you to the Apennines, and live the life of St. Francis?
Friar Raphael: You were given this office for a reason, Your Holiness.
Friar Raphael: You were chosen. You have a duty to fulfill. You're a man. You have sinned, of course. You have failed, no doubt, in many things. But your office, the role for which God chose you, you cannot fail in that. And, have no doubt, God observes you. And if you open your heart to Him... He will guide you through it. Now, beg forgiveness for your sins, and have your soul washed clean.
Lucrezia Borgia: Djem is in my dreams again, Giulia. And he still cannot speak. Can one contract the marsh fever in these mountainous regions?
Giulia Farnese: I'm sure the mountains have fevers of their own, but I know them not. But you are ill, Lucrezia. Describe your illness.
Lucrezia Borgia: I wake up, nauseous. I expel the contents of whatever I ate the night before. I sweat. It comes and goes.
Giulia Farnese: If you speak of your affections, Paolo, I will see you hanged after you are whipped. Do you understand?
Paolo: Yes, my lady.
Giulia Farnese: And it would be a shame to maim that body of yours. For all the pleasure it has given her. You will prepare us two horses at dawn, already saddled.
Alexander VI: I had a dream, my son. Or a nightmare.
Alexander VI: I dreamed that all of Italy had deserted us— Sforzas, Colonnas. The French armies swarmed through Rome like a cloud of locusts. On my feet... were the simple sandals of a Spanish peasant. Summon the Spanish ambassador. He may be our last hope.
Lucrezia Borgia: You must come with us. My lord will kill you.
Paolo: No. He will whip me. But it will have been worth it.
Giulia Farnese: When horses fly, as we must now. Before Lord Sforza awakes.
Alexander VI: We granted your King Ferdinand and your Queen Isabella the title of Most Catholic Majesties. We delivered a solemn papal bull, granting them everlasting rights over that vast new continent—
Juan de Fonseca: But, with respect, Holy Father, what you ask is impossible.
Alexander VI: The involvement of Spanish forces in the protection of St. Peter's and the head of Christendom—
Juan de Fonseca: Would amount to a declaration of war between France and Spain.
Alexander VI: I warn you, Ambassador, favors granted can be rescinded.
Juan de Fonseca: And I would beg Your Holiness's forgiveness that I cannot meet his full demands.
Alexander VI: Must we face this... French apocalypse alone? The populace is already fleeing Rome. Please thank Their Royal Catholic Highnesses. And tell them... our Savior was kissed thus by Judas Iscariot.
Alexander VI: We would review whatever forces we have at our disposal. Where's your brother?
Cesare Borgia: I know not, Holy Father, but... I suspect.
Alexander VI: Well, then, seek out the Gonfaloniere of the papal forces from whatever whorehouse he's seen fit to rest his head!
Juan Borgia: Because lechery and debauchery are the very marks of nobility.
Cesare Borgia: Most of Italy has galloped to the French side. They have heard a sound that is new to their Italian ears: the sound of cannon. And the Gonfaloniere has other duties besides lechery and debauchery. There is the tedious business of war.
Giulia Farnese: Slow your horse, my love. You were ill, remember? And your condition needs nurturing.
Lucrezia Borgia: Once out of that gloomy castle, my health seems to improve.
Giulia Farnese: We did doubly well to flee, then, and your father needs us both at this perilous juncture. Now, you tell me about this Paolo.
Paolo: Would it be in my interest to lie, my lord, when my back is at your mercy?
Giovanni Sforza: Your entire being is at my mercy. The truth, peasant! Where are they heading?
Paolo: She is headed as far from you as possible, my lord. She can no longer stand the sight of you. The smell of you. The thought of you. And nor, my lord, can I.
Alexander VI: Time is what we do not have! The barbarians are approaching. Rome has been sacked twice in her past. We would spare her a third such indignity. Cardinal.
Giuliano della Rovere: There are precedents, of course, Your Highness, for the deposition of the Pope of Rome. The Council of Constance, for example. There were three popes with claims upon the papacy.
Cesare Borgia: Dreamed up in last night's whorehouse.
Alexander VI: You will cease, Cardinal Borgia, in this constant denigration of your brother, the Gonfaloniere. His leadership of the papal forces is at present our only hope!
Cesare Borgia: Which is the source of my concern, Father.
Alexander VI: We have summoned an assembly of the College of Cardinals. Now, we are aware— painfully aware— how readily they would abandon our papacy in this hour of greatest need. But you, Cardinal, shall be our support in this crisis. You will express every confidence in the arms at our disposal, under the leadership of your beloved brother. They are like rats, my son, deserting a sinking ship. Thus our Savior was abandoned by his Apostles, in his hour of greatest need.
Ascanio Sforza: ...without protection, everyone moment we stay here is at our peril.
Alessandro Piccolomini: Holy Father, it is rumored that the Colonna arms are rushing to join the French side.
Alexander VI: Cardinal Colonna could perhaps answer that.
Alberto Colonna: They are in danger of being beaten to the race by the armies of the Sforza.
Ascanio Sforza: Holy Father, we should abandon Rome. Half the populace already has.
Cesare Borgia: The Holy Father forbids any talk of abandonment. We have all of us taken our vows as cardinals to spill our blood in defense of our Holy Mother Church.
Cesare Borgia: The Holy Father has reviewed the papal forces. He has every confidence in their ability to defend the Holy City. As have I!
Alexander VI: Too often has this city been abandoned at a time of intimate threat. We have all of us been chosen by God... to represent his Holy Church. And who knows? Perhaps God in His infinite wisdom has sent us this trial, this... test of our faith in Him. The Pope of Rome shall stay in Rome, in the Vatican, in St. Peter's. And he has every confidence that the College of Cardinals shall do so too. Each one of you shall be called to account. Do not let the Most High God find you wanting. It is settled then. We shall stay in Rome.
Alexander VI: For destroying fortification, surely.
Juan Borgia: Exactly. The French cannon may be useful to batter the gates of Rome, or to blow the walls of Lucca to the heavens, but meet them in the open field, and what use are their cannon there?
Juan Borgia: And I propose our armies do precisely that. Meet them far from Rome in the open field, where the advantage of their cannon is like blowing thistles in the wind. Our cavalry can feint around their rear, our bowmen target their gunners. The Roman genius is for strategy and rapid movement; let us use it to the full. And annihilate those French barbarians with their lumbering metal cannon. See how fast they can turn them round. Do you agree, brother?
Juan Borgia: Well, thank God someone in this family does. We shall outwit them before they even get sight of our fair city, Rome. And like Julius Caesar, like Mark Anthony, we will chase those barbarian invaders back across the Alps, dragging their cannon with them. Am... I... correct, Father?
Alexander VI: Well, we can breathe again, my son. The air is almost sweet with relief. You... will be the savior of Rome.
Cesare Borgia: Will the good Lord see the justice in our cause, Micheletto?
Micheletto: Where warfare is concerned, Your Eminence, our good Lord will take a holiday.
Lucrezia Borgia: I would not like to be imprisoned. It would so displease my father, the pope. As, I am afraid, would your presence here. No longer a man of God? A soldier now?
Lucrezia Borgia: But is a pope's daughter allowed to be hungry? If so, I would gladly accept the king's invitation. Because this pope's daughter... could eat a horse.
Giulia Farnese: We are unused to kings in Italy, Your Highness. We do have dukes, duchesses, principes, cardinals. We even have, as you must know, a pope. But kings are in short supply.
Lucrezia Borgia: No, not at all like yours. The visage I saw in this cup was not yours, Your Highness. It has none of the grace, the valor, the openness. And now... Pah! It is gone. More wine for His Highness.
Charles VIII: And the winner that you saw in the cup, Lucrezia...
Lucrezia Borgia: Was not as handsome as you, Your Highness. Nor as gracious. Nor as kind.
Lucrezia Borgia: The Gonfaloniere of the papal armies. He thought you meant to sack Rome. Like the Goths and Vandal hordes. I told him you were a gentleman. You had no such idea. You had no such idea, had you?
Alexander VI: We have heard the sun rose as always this morning. We have heard a lark singing through the casement window. But the Sistine choir at matins was silent. Perhaps they have heard what you have heard.
Alessandro Piccolomini: Your son's army is in retreat. The French plague is almost upon us.
Alexander VI: Did you not swear a solemn oath, when you first donned that cardinal's red, to spill your blood in defense of the Christian faith?
Alexander VI: For the proceedings of our deposition. And if you are asked for an opinion, you will state— as I know you will— that a College of Cardinals which elected a pope deemed to be iniquitous can itself depose said iniquitous pope. Must you all desert me?
Alexander VI: Do not blame him, Cesare, for retreating before the French hordes.
Cesare Borgia: They have Lucrezia as hostage. Have you heard? If they harm her...
Juan Borgia: Cowards. Vermin! Rats deserting a sinking ship! You're like lemmings running to your doom! Do you think a golden chalice will save you?
Alexander VI: Your brother did not fail, Cesare. Your father did. Your father, who placed that responsibility upon his shoulders. Who was blinded... by paternal fondness. Your father, who has been abandoned by all that once supported him. Your father, who... faces his dark night of the soul. Alone.
Alexander VI: Would you see her defenseless before the French invasion? Go. GO!
Alexander VI: At times such as these, Brother Raphael... one needs old friends. We have been called to trial. We hope we will not be found wanting.
Friar Raphael: Your very presence here, Your Holiness, attests that you have not.
Alexander VI: Attests. I like that word, good friar. It speaks of fortitude in the face of threat. It speaks of bearing witness in the face of falsity. It speaks of... courage. Your clothes.
Friar Raphael: My clothes?
Alexander VI: Your humble tunic. The cowl you wear. Those unadorned sandals.
Friar Raphael: But why do you need my clothes, Holy Father?
Alexander VI: No, not at all. I would face this trial that approaches, against which the entirety of Rome has fled, without the trappings of Holy Office. I would face it as our Savior faced His great trial: in a simple robe, sandals on our bare feet, with nothing but our faith in God to adorn us.
And if we could impose on your diplomatic graces once more, we would request an audience with your father, His Holiness the Pope of Rome. There are matters of importance I would discuss with him.
Alexander VI: Does the Pope of Rome disappoint Your Highness? Had you hoped for gold and silver vestments? Display has its purpose. But simplicity must rule our hearts. We are all of us naked before God. Even the Pope of Rome. Even... the King of France.
Alexander VI: Just as we long to be free of the burden of the papacy. The papal robes are such a weight upon our shoulders. One longs to be relieved of the burden, to be a simple priest again, praying to the God of Abraham.
We do not choose our calling, Your Holiness. It is chosen for us. When called to serve, as King of France, and, I am sure, as Pope of Rome, we can only have one response: serviam.
I have exulted in the thrill of battle. I have turned streets into rivers of blood. I have played the part of God, and in my arrogance, I assumed that I served His cause.
Alexander VI: Then perhaps what is needed... is a renewal of one's vows.
France, as you must know, Your Holiness, has traditional claims upon the Kingdom of Naples.
Alexander VI: But of course! Even better. The papal investiture of the kingdoms of France and Naples. And your solemn oath, before God... to rule them in His holy name.
The Pope of Rome has kindly put the Castel Sant'Angelo at our disposal. We can billet the troops on the populace of The Eternal City. And you'll be please to know, Cardinal Della Rovere, the College of Cardinals will be convened.
Alexander VI: Proved to be a man of God in search of guidance and spiritual solace, like any man. There may be kings more handsome, but hardly more devout.
Alexander VI: We discussed the investiture of the Kingdom of Naples. And I told him, there was no need for a great army. All he had to do was to ask. The College of Cardinals will be convened not to discuss our deposition but to consider their shameful abandonment of the Vatican in its hour of need.
Alexander VI: You have returned the books, Burchard.
Alexander VI: Well, please, continue. We have... convened the College of Cardinals. We find their abandonment of the Vatican in its hour of greatest peril truly shameful. As must you, surely, Burchard.
Alexander VI: Your own absence has been noted. But we believe that your concern was with the most sacred volumes of our library.
Johannes Burchart: I did my best to protect them from harm, Your Holiness.
Alexander VI: Well. Well, now you must study them carefully and find a precedent for us. We think that a period of penitence is in order for the curia who so selfishly abandoned us.
Johannes Burchart: What kind of penitence did His Holiness have in mind?
Alexander VI: We think they should present themselves in sackcloth and ashes at the next convention.
Lucrezia Borgia: But my marriage was consummated. In... the harshest possible manner.
Cesare Borgia: I beg you not to worry about it, sis. I will find a solution, I swear. And I have a dear friend here who promised to take the very best of care of you.
Lucrezia Borgia: Sister. You still look beautiful. But you have lost your wonderful hair.
Ursula Bonadeo: A woman's beauty can be a great distraction. As you yourself must already know. You will find it peaceful here. And maybe peace is what you need at this juncture.
Cesare Borgia: I must warn you, Sister, I shall visit at every available opportunity.
Alexander VI: We are not certain, but we suspect. You should take your manservant with you. For entertainment. For protection. And if you find the rumours of an outbreak of plague in Naples are true, I'm sure you can find your way home. Are we understood?
Alexander VI: Good. Because now another charade demands our attention.
Alexander VI: You may sit, cardinals. Now, before we begin the proceedings, we would consider the penitential intentions of each member of this college. We would start with the vice-chancellor, Cardinal Ascanio Sforza. You may kneel, Cardinal.
Ascanio Sforza: My shame, I hope, is obvious to all, Your Holiness.
Ascanio Sforza: And in recompense, I offer all the benefices of the Sforza ecclesiastical estates to the Holy See of St. Peter's.
Alexander VI: That is kind, indeed. And we shall most graciously accept. Cardinal... Piccolomini. Unburden your soul.
Alexander VI: In our capacity as the Chosen of God, the Bishop of Rome, the Vicar of Jesus Christ, successor to the prince of the Apostles, Supreme Pontiff of the Universal Church, we invest thee, Charles of France, with the crowns of France and the crown of Naples. And we confer our sacred blessing on thy reign in both those kingdoms.
Giuliano della Rovere: St. Peter's in its full glory; the Pope of Rome in cathedra; the Sistine Chapel Choir singing; it would bring tears to one's eyes, Cardinal Borgia.
Cesare Borgia: I want to compliment you, Cardinal, on your steadfastness, your probity, your survival, indeed.
Cesare Borgia: To Pesaro. And Giovanni Sforza. Come on!
Alexander VI: We are as shocked as you are, Monsieur Ambassador, by the cardinal's disappearance.
French Ambassador: But as to his whereabouts, Your Holiness?
Alexander VI: Oh, his whereabouts, well... We have no idea. Would you inform His Royal Highness that we will dispatch whatever cardinal he wishes to replace him— Cardinal... Sforza, perhaps?
French Ambassador: I will inform His Royal Highness thus, Your Holiness.
Alexander VI: And please convey to him our wholehearted support for his Neapolitan adventure.
French Ambassador: We do not regard the conquest of Naples as an aventure, Your Holiness.
Alexander VI: Oh, no, no. But maybe Naples does. And now, if you will excuse us, we have another audience to attend to.
■Pesaro
Man: Come on. Walk on.
Man: I'll take your mount, my lord.
Micheletto: Killing would be easier, Your Eminence.
Cesare Borgia: But some things should not be easy, Micheletto. Hah! Yah!
Alexander VI: You must admit, it did prove a disappointment. The promised help of the Sforza family to the papal states simply never arrived. And the marriage bed, we are told, was far from happy.
Giovanni Sforza: Non-consummation? You'll never be able to prove it.
Johannes Burchart: Let me finish. If the marriage can be proved never to have been consummated, why, then, Your Holiness, it never existed as a marriage.
Johannes Burchart: Lady Lucrezia, you have intimated some grave disappointment on your wedding night.
Lucrezia Borgia: It was disturbing, Your Honour, in the extreme.
Lucrezia Borgia: I blush with shame to speak of such matters before this august company, but, sadly... tragically, my husband revealed himself to be...
Alexander VI: You may speak frankly, Lady Lucrezia. These are grave matters.
Johannes Burchart: The Lord Sforza could demonstrate the truth of his claims to full potency with the Lady Lucrezia before a gathering of canon lawyers.
Alexander VI: No, no, no. That would surely be distasteful to the lady herself— indeed, as would the lord. Hmm?
Johannes Burchart: Well, then, there remains one more possibility. A public demonstration of the Lord Sforza's prowess, with one or two willing maidens would also constitute proof of potency.
Alexander VI: Mmm. I remember... the joy of holding him in my arms. A brother for little Cesare at last. We did love our children, did we not, my dear?
