François | Cesare #33: "Rumour has it that there are three in this marriage, not two!" - Alfonso to Cesare
 

Cesare Borgia was born in Rome on September 13th, 1475; the son of Cardinal Rodrigo de Lanzol y Borgia, soon to become Pope Alexander VI, and his mistress Vanozza dei Cattanei. He was made Bishop of Pamplona at the age of 15. Following school in Perugia and Pisa where Cesare studied law, along with his father's elevation to Pope, Cesare was made Cardinal three years later. After his brother Juan's death, Cesare became the first person in history to resign the cardinalate. On the same day the French King Louis XII named Cesare Duke of Valentinois, and this title, along with his former position as Cardinal of Valencia, explains the nickname "Valentino". Cesare's military career was founded upon his father's ability to distribute patronage, along with his alliance with France (reinforced by his marriage with Charlotte d'Albret, sister of John III of Navarre), in the course of the Italian Wars. At the time of his father's death in 1503, Cesare's dominons in the Romagna disintegrated without continued Papal support. In order to smooth the way to his election as pope, Giuliano Della Rovere - later Pope Julius II - made an agreement with Cesare, promising to make him captain of the papal troops again. After the conclave, Cesare surrendered the Castel Sant' Angelo and came to live with Della Rovere in the Vatican. The pope toyed with the idea of using Cesare to stem the Venetians in the Romagna, for he could still attract loyalty not only from the Spanish but also, to some degree, from the people of the province. However, the Venetians claimed that all they were doing was taking the lands of their common enemy, Cesare Boriga. Hence, Julius II asked Cesare for the countersigns of the fortresses that he held (Cesena, Bertinoro and Forlì). In return Cesare received a brief saying that he could go where he liked once the cities had been surrendered. He went to Naples and begun to try to recruit troops but when the Spanish monarchs heard of this they ordered their viceroy Gonsalvo to arrest Cesare. Exiled to Spain in 1504, he was imprisoned in the Castle of La Mota, Medina del Campo, from which he escaped and joined his brother-in-law King John III of Navarre. Subsequently, Cesare was killed in 1507 while fighting for the Navarrese king in the city of Viana, Spain.

In "The Prince", Machiavelli uses Cesare Borgia as an example to elucidate the dangers of acquiring a principality by virtue of another. Cesare also inspired many novels and was portrayed in many movies and television series based on the Borgia's rise and fall. For instance most recently:


François Arnaud (born 5 July 1985 in Québéc, Canada) is a French Canadian stage and film actor who trained at the Conservatoire d'Art Dramatique de Montréal in 2007. He is best known for his performances as "Cesare Borgia" in Showtime's TV series The Borgias and as "Antonin" in the critically acclaimed French Canadian movie J'ai tué ma mère. In 2009, he had a part in Sophie Lorain's Les Grandes Chaleurs. In Québéc, François is known for his role as "Théo" in the TV series Yamaska. In 2015, he had a guest part in the Canadian WWII drama X Company and later that year starred opposite Jaime Alexander on Blindspot. In 2017, François took on the role of Manfred in the supernatural drama Midnight, Texas. In 2018, François played the character of Tommy Castelli, a TV producer and love interest to Shiri Appleby's character Rachel Goldberg on the Lifetime drama UnREAL.

TFTNT Alex and for using my title suggestion! :hug:

tftnt, Alex! :kiss:

You're both welcome! :group_hug: And thanks for the title, Lila! :)

You're welcome, Alex! That's one of my favorite scenes, because it's stacked with so much stuff! Alf confronts Ces about the incest and Ces pretty much admits it by not denying it. His response is, "You are both so dear to my heart." He's agreeing that there are 3 in the marriage when he says that.

I love how menacing Ces was after knocking the sword from Alf's hand. He had the tip of his sword pointed at Alf's neck as he walked slowly towards him. You could see the fear in Alf's eyes as he stood motionless. He didn't know if Ces was going to kill him right then and there. Ces was angry enough to do it and enjoyed his power play. It was perfect how he picked up Alf's blade and handed it to him, never taking his eyes off Alf's. Alf stood there shell shocked, trying to process what Ces had just said and done. Then the coup de grâce was Ces tossing his blade to the dirt behind his back and walking away. :clap:

Alf had a serious case of little man syndrome to confront Cesar ******* Borgia, and especially about the woman he loved more than life. Stupid Alf :puppy: What he didn't know was that Ces had already killed Sforza and sanctioned Micheletto's killing of King Farty-fart over their treatment of her. :lmao:

Alf never even tried to fight for her.

That's true, Arinna, he didn't! He was only concerned with his ego and prodding Ces. He knew he couldn't compete with Ces for Lu's heart. I'm sure he looked back and saw all the signs that he'd missed or ignored and his pride was stung that he'd been cockholded by Ces from the beginning. He was blinded first by his love for Lu and then later by his rage at Ces. His blindness caused his heartbreak and then his death. You can't win against a mighty lion when you're just a little :puppy:

Hi, Lila! :wave:

Yeah, I remember that scene. Was that in The Prince, or was it earlier? I remember the fencing scene with the two of them as well. It was reminiscent of a similar scene with Ces and Juan back in season 1. I thought it was ironic that they seemed to be making so many parallels between Alfonso and Juan in season 3.

Oh yeah, I wonder of Alfonso ever suspected that his uncle's death by lamprey might not have been accidental. ;)

I don't think he was such fool though.

Hi Alex & Arinna! :wave:

You don't think who was such a fool, Arinna?

The first time Alf challenged Ces with a sword was in The Gunpowder Plot. In The Prince, he challenged Ces twice. First while drunk when Ces put him in a headlock and told him to rest his blade :lol: and again at the end when Ces stabbed him.

Interesting observation about the parallels with Alf and Juan, Alex! Do you think the writers did that intentionally?

Yeah, Alf may have suspected something funny about his uncle's death. He didn't like him, so probably didn't care how he died. What a disappointment for Lu when Alf said he had no desire for power when Ferdinand died. She longed for her brother, a virile and powerful MAN, but was living a life of celibacy with a spineless fur ball. :rolleyes:

Ah, the Gunpowder Plot! :) Thanks, I knew it was one of the episodes near the end.

Thanks, Lila! :D Yes, I do think that it was intentional on the writers' part. Lucrezia herself even mentioned how similar Alfonso was to Juan, remember? She said that his drinking was reminding her of her other brother, the one who ended up dead. :P

Well, if Alf suspected anything, he didn't dwell much on it after his cousin took over. Was it his cousin? The one who tricked Lucrezia?

Alf was a goner in the moment Lu said that she's tired of him.

I know. :lol: That was Cesare's go-ahead signal.

Yep, Lu knew Ces had essentially inprisoned Alf in Rome when he told her he'd never let him return to Naples and had his men reporting to him on Alf's every move. I'm sure Ces wanted to kill him from the moment he had him in Rome. When Lu said she was tired of Alf, that Ces was the ONLY thing that she never tired of, and then strongly hinted that she wanted Ces' baby, that gave Ces the go ahead to have Alf killed.

I still don't get why Lu went to Rodrigo in the confessional wanting to know if he and Ces had plans to take Naples, saying "my brother has spies everywhere" so the only place she could talk to Rodrigo was in confession. She acted so concerned for Alf when she said taking Naples would mean death for him. What did she expect Ces to do after what she'd told him of her feelings and desires for his child? That he'd knock her up, but be ok with her still being with Alf? He was her brother and understood the politics of marriage, but he was still a man in love with a woman. What man wants to share his pregnant woman and baby with another guy, especially when he knows she's miserable? I think Lu wanted to be rid of Alf, but knew Rodrigo would likely remarry her and possibly to someone worse. She also knew Alf was an innocent. She didn't have Ces' ruthlessness about killing. He commissioned Rufio to kill Alf, something Lu would never have done. Ces knew she wouldn't approve, so he did it behind her back.

I think it's interesting how she was so appalled by Alf's death, but as soon as Ces said "Mine" and touched her, she was like, "Alf who?" :lmao:

Yeah, I think it was his cousin.

I remember Lu's comparison of Alf's drinking to Juan's when he was taunting Ces about Juan's murder. He taunted Ces three times about it. First when Alf sparred with him in The Gunpowder Plot. Alf said, "You loved your brother", insinuating that Ces killed him and then went on to accuse him of incest with Lu. The second time was when he came home drunk and found Ces & Lu together and the last was when he died. He just couldn't leave it alone.

The sparring with Juan back in season two was to show Ces' superiority to him as a more skilled and intelligent warrior, that Ces was better suited to command an army, and to reinforce their escalating rivalry. Alf figured out Ces killed Juan (rumours were widespread as with the incest) and wanted him to know that he knew all of Ces' secrets. What did he think Ces would do, tell Alf, "Oh I'm sorry dude, it'll never happen again."? :lmao: