PhoenixRising

Juan Borgia, 2nd duke of Gandía, was the son of Pope Alexander VI the second of the Pope's four children by Vanozza Cattanei. He born in Rome in 1476. He was made 2nd Duke of Gandia, Duke of Sessa, Grand Constable of Naples, Governor of St. Peter's, and Gonfalonier and Captain General of the Church and married Maria Enriquez de Luna, the Spanish betrothed of his deceased older half-brother, Pedro Luis, in September 1493. They had two children: Juan de Borja y Enriquez (known as Juan Borgia), who became the 3rd duke of Gandía, and Francisca de Jesus Borja, who became a nun at a convent in Valladolid. Juan is also the grandfather of Saint Francis Borgia.


He was murdered the night of 14 June 1497 near what later became the Piazza della Giudecca in the Ghetto of Rome. It has been speculated that either his brother Cesare or Joffre Borgia had him murdered, the former because of his ambitions to lead the papal armies in his stead, the latter because it was rumoured that Juan had an affair with his wife Sancia d'Aragón. Other suspects included the Orsini to whose estates Juan attacked in order to reclaim the fiefs for the pope and eventually himself. Juan's richly attired body was recovered from the Tiber River with 30 golden ducats untouched in the purse at his belt. To the immense grief of the pope, this act occasioned the heartless epigram by Sannazzaro on the pope as "fisher of men". Borgia's only attendant was also slain, so there were no known witnesses. Later when his brother Cesare was imprisoned in Spain, his wife Maria Enriquez tried to have him put on trial for Juan's murder.

Juan also is an essential part of many novels about the family and was portrayed in many movies and television series based on the Borgia's rise and fall. For instance most recently:


David Oakes (born in 1983 in Fordingbridge, Hampshire) is an English film, television and theatre actor. He was head boy at Bishop Wordsworth's School, in Salisbury, Wiltshire, where he was also heavily involved with the Salisbury Playhouse and their youth theatre, Stage 65. He graduated with a first in English Literature from the University of Manchester. From 2005 to 2007, Oakes attended the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School. In 2008 he was part of a BBC 4 radio play A Dance to the Music of the Time where he spoke the part of "Charles Stringham". Between 2008 and 2011 he was part of several stage and television production. For instance, he played the villainous "William Hamleigh" in the television miniseries The Pillars of the Earth (2010), produced by Ridley Scott. In 2011 he was cast as "Juan Borgia" in the television Showtime series The Borgias. He was cast in the role of "Justin" for the movie Truth or Dare? which will be released in 2012.