Gioffre Borgia
Encyclopedia
Valencian
Valencian is the traditional and official name of the Catalan language in the Valencian Community. There are dialectical differences from standard Catalan, and under the Valencian Statute of Autonomy, the Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua has been established as its regulator...
, (1482–1522) was the youngest son of Pope Alexander VI
Pope Alexander VI
Pope Alexander VI , born Roderic Llançol i Borja was Pope from 1492 until his death on 18 August 1503. He is one of the most controversial of the Renaissance popes, and his Italianized surname—Borgia—became a byword for the debased standards of the Papacy of that era, most notoriously the Banquet...
and Vannozza dei Cattanei
Vannozza dei Cattanei
Vannozza dei Cattanei was an Italian noblewoman from the House of Candia, who was one of the many mistresses of Cardinal Rodrigo Borgia, future Pope Alexander VI. Among them, she was the one whose relationship with him lasted the longest...
, sibling to Lucrezia Borgia
Lucrezia Borgia
Lucrezia Borgia [luˈkrɛtsia ˈbɔrʤa] was the illegitimate daughter of Rodrigo Borgia, the powerful Renaissance Valencian who later became Pope Alexander VI, and Vannozza dei Cattanei. Her brothers included Cesare Borgia, Giovanni Borgia, and Gioffre Borgia...
, Cesare Borgia
Cesare Borgia
Cesare Borgia , Duke of Valentinois, was an Italian condottiero, nobleman, politician, and cardinal. He was the son of Pope Alexander VI and his long-term mistress Vannozza dei Cattanei. He was the brother of Lucrezia Borgia; Giovanni Borgia , Duke of Gandia; and Gioffre Borgia , Prince of Squillace...
and Giovanni Borgia.
Gioffre married Sancia (Sancha) of Aragon
Sancha of Aragon
Donna Sancha of Aragon , or Sancia of Aragon, was an illegitimate daughter of King Alfonso II of Naples and his mistress Trogia Gazzela. In 1494, she was married to Gioffre Borgia, the son of Pope Alexander VI. Upon her marriage she and her new husband were created Prince and Princess of Squillace,...
, daughter of Alfonso II of Naples
Alfonso II of Naples
Alfonso II of Naples , also called Alfonso II d'Aragon, was King of Naples from 25 January 1494 to 22 February 1495 with the title King of Naples and Jerusalem...
, obtaining as dowry both the Principality
Principality
A principality is a monarchical feudatory or sovereign state, ruled or reigned over by a monarch with the title of prince or princess, or by a monarch with another title within the generic use of the term prince....
of Squillace
Squillace
Squillace is an ancient seaside town and comune, in the Province of Catanzaro, part of Calabria, southern Italy, facing the Gulf of Squillace....
(1494) and after a period of political turmoil in the Kingdom of Naples, the County of Alvito (1497).
Gioffre and Sancia, who were 12 & 16 at the time of the marriage, are generally thought to have been the models for the boy and girl in the artist Pinturicchio
Pinturicchio
Bernardino di Betto, called Pintoricchio or Pinturicchio was an Italian painter of the Renaissance. He acquired his nickname, Pintoricchio , because of his small stature, and he used it to sign some of his works....
’s ‘Disputation of St Catherine', where they are shown as a young couple in love.
In fact the marriage was a political one. Alfonso had married his daughter to Gioffre and given the overlarge dowry in return for Pope Alexander’s recognition of Alfonso’s claim to the throne of Naples. Almost as soon as the wedding ceremony was over, the political situation changed with the invasion of Italy by King Charles VIII of France
Charles VIII of France
Charles VIII, called the Affable, , was King of France from 1483 to his death in 1498. Charles was a member of the House of Valois...
who claimed Naples as his own. Alfonso fled leaving the throne to his short lived son and a long war between Spain, France and their Italian adherents.
During this time, the young couple lived mostly at Rome where the older Sancia, reputedly had affairs with both of her husband’s elder brothers, Cesare and Giovanni. This soured their relationship and they had no children.
Gioffre’s relationship with his father was also poor. Pope Alexander VI considered him a weakling because of his lack of interest in politics and once publically questioned his parentage. In 1497 the Pope publically exonerated Gioffre of the murder of his brother Giovanni Borgia because of the many rumours that Gioffre was in fact the killer, due to public antagonism between the two, over Sancia.
During the War of 1499–1504, when Louis XII of France
Louis XII of France
Louis proved to be a popular king. At the end of his reign the crown deficit was no greater than it had been when he succeeded Charles VIII in 1498, despite several expensive military campaigns in Italy. His fiscal reforms of 1504 and 1508 tightened and improved procedures for the collection of taxes...
tried to conquer Naples, Gioffre sided with the French, but when he was captured by Prospero Colonna
Prospero Colonna
Prospero Colonna , sometimes referred to as Prosper Colonna, was an Italian condottiero in the service of the Papal States and the Holy Roman Empire during the Italian Wars.-Biography:...
he changed sides to join the Spanish, which caused a rebellion in Alvito. He sent the condottiero Fabrizio Colonna
Fabrizio Colonna
Fabrizio Colonna was an Italian condottiero, a member of the powerful Colonna family. He was the son of Edoardo Colonna and Filippa Conti....
, in 1504, to stabilise his lands, partly paid for with money he appropriated from the papal treasury after the death of his father in 1503. With the rebellion crushed, Gioffre finally moved his estates in Alvito & Squillace in 1504.
But only two years later Sancha died and Gioffre lost the rights to the Alvito, which were seized by the then Spanish King of Naples, Ferdinand II of Aragon
Ferdinand II of Aragon
Ferdinand the Catholic was King of Aragon , Sicily , Naples , Valencia, Sardinia, and Navarre, Count of Barcelona, jure uxoris King of Castile and then regent of that country also from 1508 to his death, in the name of...
. However, Gioffre was able retain Squillace, which he ruled as a feudal vassal of Naples.
Gioffre’s second marriage was with Maria de Mila, they had four children, the eldest of which, Francesco Borgia inherited his lands and title of Prince of Squillace
Squillace
Squillace is an ancient seaside town and comune, in the Province of Catanzaro, part of Calabria, southern Italy, facing the Gulf of Squillace....
.
Gioffre’s descendants were to rule the tiny city on the Calabrian coast; generally through governors as they resided in Naples
Naples
Naples is a city in Southern Italy, situated on the country's west coast by the Gulf of Naples. Lying between two notable volcanic regions, Mount Vesuvius and the Phlegraean Fields, it is the capital of the region of Campania and of the province of Naples...
or the Spanish court; until 1735.
Television
- In the 1981 BBC mini-series, The Borgias, Jofre was played by British Actor Louis Selwyn.
- In the 2011 Showtime series The BorgiasThe Borgias (2011 TV series)The Borgias is a 2011 historical fiction television series created by Neil Jordan.The series is based on the Borgia family, an Italian dynasty of Spanish origin, and stars Jeremy Irons as Pope Alexander VI with David Oakes, François Arnaud, Holliday Grainger and Aidan Alexander as Juan, Cesare,...
, Gioffre is played by British actor Aidan AlexanderAidan AlexanderAidan Alexander is an English actor.He plays Gioffre Borgia, a younger illegitimate son of Rodrigo Borgia, later Pope Alexander VI, in Showtime's The Borgias...
. - In the 2011 French-German series BorgiaBorgia (TV series)Borgia is a historical fiction television series created by Tom Fontana. The series is a French/German production and will recount the Borgia family's rise to power and subsequent domination of the Vatican during the Renaissance.-Production:...
, Gioffre is played by Czech actor Adam Misík.