PhoenixRising

(* 1 January 1431 in Xàtiva, Spain – † 18 August 1503 in Rome, Italy) His parents were the Valencian Jofré Llançol i Escrivà and his wife and distant cousin the Aragonese Isabel de Borja y Cavanilles. Following the elevation to the papacy of his maternal uncle Alonso de Borja as Calixtus III in 1455 Rodrigo took on the surname in its italianized form 'Borgia'. He had one brother, Pedro Luis who accompanied him to Italy, and three sisters Beatrice, Tecla and Juana. Rodrigo Borgia studied law at Bologna. After the election of his uncle as Pope Calixtus III, he was ordained deacon and created Cardinal-Deacon of San Nicola in Carcere at the age of twenty-five in 1456. The following year he was appointed vice-chancellor of the Holy Roman Church. In 1468 he was ordained to the priesthood and in 1471 he was consecrated bishop and appointed Cardinal-Bishop of Albano. Having served in the Roman Curia under five popes – Pius II, Paul II, Sixtus IV and Innocent VIII – Rodrigo Borgia acquired considerable administrative experience, influence and wealth. In the conclave of 1492, he wasn't a front runner, however, Ascanio Sforza saw that he could not win against Giuliano Della Rovere and therefore threw his vote and the votes of his followers on Borgia. It was rumoured but not substantiated that Borgia succeeded in buying the largest number of votes and Sforza, in particular, promising him the office of Vice Chancellor. In contrast to the preceding pontificate, Pope Alexander VI adhered initially to strict administration of justice and orderly government. Before long, however, he began endowing his relatives at the church's and his neighbours' expense. In terms of foreign policy Alexander VI made many alliances to secure his position, some more some less successful. The war between France and Spain for the possession of Naples dragged on, and the Pope was forever intriguing, ready to ally himself with whichever power promised the most advantageous terms at any moment. Internally the debased state of the curia was a major scandal. Opponents such as the powerful demagogic Florentine friar Girolamo Savonarola launched invectives against papal corruption and appealed for a general council to confront the papal abuses. As for his true faults, known only to his confessor, Pope Alexander VI apparently died genuinely repentant. The Bishop of Gallipoli, Alexis Celadoni, spoke of the pontiff's contrition during the funeral oration. Rodrigo Borgia died at age 72. It has been suggested that, having taken into account the unusual level of decomposition, Alexander VI was accidentally poisoned to death by his son, Cesare, with cantarella (which had been prepared to eliminate Cardinal Adriano), although some commentaries doubt these stories and attribute the Pope's death to malaria, then prevalent in Rome, or to another such pestilence. It had been an exceptionally hot summer and the burial was postponed so the French Cardinals could arrive for the conclave: This could explain the rapid decay of the corpse. Alexander VI was known for his patronage of the arts, Bramante. Raphael, Michelangelo and Pinturicchio all worked for him. In addition to the arts, Alexander VI also encouraged the development of education. In 1495, he issued a papal bull at the request of William Elphinstone, Bishop of Aberdeen, and King James IV of Scotland, founding King's College, Aberdeen. King's College now forms an integral element of the University of Aberdeen. He distinguished himself by his relatively benign treatment of Jews. After the 1492 expulsion of Jews from Spain, some 9,000 impoverished Iberian Jews arrived at the borders of the Papal States. Alexander welcomed them into Rome, declaring that they were "permitted to lead their life, free from interference from Christians, to continue in their own rites, to gain wealth, and to enjoy many other privileges." He similarly allowed the immigration of Jews expelled from Portugal in 1497 and from Provence in 1498. Of Alexander's many mistresses the one for whom his passion lasted longest was Vanozza Cattanei. The connection began in 1470, and she bore him four children whom he openly acknowledged as his own: Juan, Cesare, Lucrezia and Joffre. His other acknowledged children, Girolama, Isabella and Pedro-Luis, were of uncertain parentage on the mother's side.

Rodrigo Borgia, his papacy and his family inspired many novels and was portrayed in many movies and television series. For instance most recently:


Jeremy John Irons was born 19 September 1948 in Cowes on the Isle of Wright, England. After receiving classical training at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, Irons began his acting career on stage in 1969, and has since appeared in many London theatre productions including "Macbeth", "Much Ado About Nothing", "The Taming of the Shrew" and "Richard II". In 1984, he made his Broadway debut in Tom Stoppard's "The Real Thing" and received a Tony Award for Best Actor. Irons's first major film role came in the 1981 romantic drama "The French Lieutenant's Woman", for which he received a BAFTA nomination for Best Actor. He appeared sporadically in films during the 1980s. His work includes the 1997 remake of "Lolita" and playing the musketeer Aramis opposite Leonardo DiCaprio in the 1998 film version of "The Man in the Iron Mask". n 2004, Irons played Severus Snape in Comic Relief's Harry Potter parody, "Harry Potter and the Secret Chamberpot of Azerbaijan". In 2005, he appeared in the films "Casanova" opposite Heath Ledger, and Ridley Scott's "Kingdom of Heaven". Over the years he made several appearances on British television. The role which brought him fame was that of Charles Ryder in the television adaptation of Evelyn Waugh's "Brideshead Revisited" (1981). In 2005, Irons won both an Emmy award and a Golden Globe award for his supporting role in the TV mini-series, "Elizabeth I". Currently, he can be seen as Rodrigo Borgia/Alexander VI in Showtime's Renaissance soap opera "The Borgias" and also on BBC2 which adapted a series of plays by William Shakespeare under the title "The Hollow Crown" for the screen. There he plays the role of Henry IV in both parts of the play. Irons married Irish actress Sinéad Cusack in March 1978. Recently she was starring on the short-lived TV series "Camelot" alongside Joseph Fiennes, Eva Green and Claire Forlani. The couple has two sons, Samuel James Brefni Irons (16 September 1978), who works as a photographer, and Maximilian Paul Diarmuid Irons (17 October 1985) and aspiring actor. In October 2011, Irons was nominated Goodwill Ambassador of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.


» "God will forgive us my son, but I will not forgive failure from you or your brother!"
» "You would surprise yourself if such destiny ever brushed against you."
» "The others bought and sold. We merely proved ourselves better at the game, but we draw the line at murder. Do we not?"
» "Don't challenge me! And never, ever within these sacred walls!"
» "Oh what would Rome be without a good plot?"
» "What the Holy Church needs at this juncture is someone who can ensure its survival by whatever means necessary."
» "We would have a wedding only to once again see our dear Lucrezia."
» "We did love our children, did we not my dear?"
» "Unburden your souls"

cheekymonkey503

TFTNT Alex

Poor Rodrigo doesn't get enough appreciation here He's the Pope and only on Thread 3

PhoenixRising

You're welcome, Christine!

Yeah, even when the show was on the air, Rodrigo took a back seat to Cesare. The ladies here wanted to see Francois naked a lot more than Jeremy, apparently.

cheekymonkey503

Don't know about that one Alex saw this on twitter today



Source:

PhoenixRising

Wow, that has to be the first Tweet I've seen from someone watching the show who wasn't swooning over Francois.

That's a nice pic of Jeremy, Christine. He was quite handsome when he was younger.



source

cheekymonkey503

Well since you probably don't pay as much attention to TheBorgias tag as I do Alex you'd be surprised how many go gah, gah over Jeremy Irons and others in The Borgias besides Francois
I've even seen some who said only reason they were watching The Borgias was because of Ruta Genamatis. There's fans for almost everyone I think.

PhoenixRising

Wow, fans for Ursula? That's a good one.

I can understand Jeremy having a lot of fans, though. He was famous long before The Borgias, and was probably the most high-profile actor they had.

il valentino

Lucresiare

I even have a friend who were a Ursula/Cesare shipper She must have been the only one in the World !
Yes Jeremy has lot of fans.

cheekymonkey503

Kim your pic posted just fine do the others same way and you'll be OK

Maybe just include your explanation about what this is so others know.

And is that a motorcycle parked in the hallway?? or does it just look this way if it's not wth is it?

Lucresiare

I don't see the picture, just a little square.

cheekymonkey503

That's strange I see it just fine

PhoenixRising

I can't see the picture either. I thought as long as it had a URL then FF would let it post.

cheekymonkey503

it doesn't have a URL I copied it from an Email sent to me strange I can see it and you guys can't though I'll edit them into a pic saving site then and forward them to Kim so she can post later tonight.

PhoenixRising

Okay, thanks, Christine. Kim is taking some awesome photos that she wants to post, so I hope that works.