Giulia Farnese
Encyclopedia
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...
. She was known as Giulia la bella, meaning "Julia the beautiful", in Italian. Lorenzo Pucci
Lorenzo Pucci
Lorenzo Pucci was an Italian cardinal and bishop from the Florentine Pucci family. His brother Roberto Pucci and his nephew Antonio Pucci also became cardinals.-Biography:Pucci was born in Florence....
described her as "most lovely to behold". 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...
, son of Alexander VI, described her as having "dark colouring, black eyes, round face and a particular ardor".
Family
Giulia Farnese was born in CaninoCanino
Canino is a town and comune of Italy, in the province of Viterbo in the internal part of Maremma Laziale. It is 15 km W of Valentano and 44 km NW of Viterbo....
, Latium
Latium
Lazio is one of the 20 administrative regions of Italy, situated in the central peninsular section of the country. With about 5.7 million residents and a GDP of more than 170 billion euros, Lazio is the third most populated and the second richest region of Italy...
, Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
, from Pier Luigi Farnese, Signore di Montalto
Montalto
-Town names:* Montalto delle Marche - Municipality in the province of Ascoli Piceno, Marche, Italy* Montalto Uffugo - Municipality in the province of Cosenza, Calabria, Italy* Montalto Dora - Municipality in the province of Turin, Piedmont, Italy...
(1435–1487), and his wife Giovanna Caetani
Caetani
Caetani, or Gaetani, is the name of an Italian noble family princely family which played a great part in the history of Pisa and of Rome, principally via their close links to the papacy.-Origins:...
. One earlier member of this dynasty had been Pope
Pope
The Pope is the Bishop of Rome, a position that makes him the leader of the worldwide Catholic Church . In the Catholic Church, the Pope is regarded as the successor of Saint Peter, the Apostle...
Boniface VIII
Pope Boniface VIII
Pope Boniface VIII , born Benedetto Gaetani, was Pope of the Catholic Church from 1294 to 1303. Today, Boniface VIII is probably best remembered for his feuds with Dante, who placed him in the Eighth circle of Hell in his Divina Commedia, among the Simonists.- Biography :Gaetani was born in 1235 in...
(1294–1303). She had four siblings. The first brother Alessandro
Pope Paul III
Pope Paul III , born Alessandro Farnese, was Pope of the Roman Catholic Church from 1534 to his death in 1549. He came to the papal throne in an era following the sack of Rome in 1527 and rife with uncertainties in the Catholic Church following the Protestant Reformation...
was a notary but was embarked on an ecclesiastical career. Her second brother Bartolomeo Farnese became Lord of Montalto
Montalto
-Town names:* Montalto delle Marche - Municipality in the province of Ascoli Piceno, Marche, Italy* Montalto Uffugo - Municipality in the province of Cosenza, Calabria, Italy* Montalto Dora - Municipality in the province of Turin, Piedmont, Italy...
in his place, married Iolanda Monaldeschi, and had issue. Her third brother Angelo was a lord, married Lella Orsini, and had female issue. The fifth sibling was a sister, Girolama.
Marriage and relationship with Alexander VI
On 21 May 1489, she married Orsino OrsiniOrsino Orsini
Orsino Orsini Migliorati was the husband of Giulia "La Bella" Farnese , the mistress of Pope Alexander VI.-Background:...
in Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
(the signing of the marriage contract had taken place the previous day). Her dowry for the match was 3,000 gold florins. Orsini was the stepson of the ambitious Adriana de Mila, third cousin to Cardinal Rodrigo Borgia, Vice-Chancellor of the Church (and later 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...
). Orsini was described as being squint-eyed and was devoid of any meaningful self-confidence. According to Maria Bellonci
Maria Bellonci
Maria Villavecchia Bellonci was an Italian writer known especially for her biography of Lucrezia Borgia. She and Guido Alberti set up the Strega Prize in 1947....
, it is uncertain when Alexander fell passionately in love with Giulia and decided to make her his mistress. What is known is that Adriana de Mila, Borgia's cousin, eventually gave her approval in order to win a higher status for her son with the Vatican. By November 1493, Giulia was living with Adriana de Mila and the Pope's daughter 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...
in a recently built palace next to the Vatican
Vatican City
Vatican City , or Vatican City State, in Italian officially Stato della Città del Vaticano , which translates literally as State of the City of the Vatican, is a landlocked sovereign city-state whose territory consists of a walled enclave within the city of Rome, Italy. It has an area of...
from where the Pope could easily make his clandestine visits. The affair was widely known among the gossips of the time, and Giulia was referred to as "the Pope's whore" or sarcastically as "the bride of Christ". Giulia and Lucrezia became close friends.
Through her intimacy with the Pope she was able to get her brother Alessandro created Cardinal. This earned him the title of "Cardinal of the skirts" from Pasquino.
Giulia had a daughter whom she named Laura. It is not clear whether Laura's father was Orsino or Alexander. Maria Bellonci believes that there is evidence that she did have a physical relationship with her husband. Whatever the case may be, Giulia claimed that Laura was indeed the Pope's daughter, but this may have been to raise the status of the child for future marriage considerations. In 1494, she angered the Pope by setting off to Capodimonte to be at the deathbed of her brother Angelo. She remained away from Rome, even after her brother's death, at the insistence of her husband. He eventually capitulated to papal pressure, however, and she soon set off on the journey back to her lover. This occurred at the same time as the French invasion of Italy under Charles VIII
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...
. Giulia was captured by the French captain Yves d’Allegre, who demanded from the Pope, and received, a ransom of 3,000 scudi
Italian scudo
The scudo was the name for a number of coins used in Italy until the 19th century. The name, like that of the French écu and the Spanish and Portuguese escudo, was derived from the Latin scutum . From the 16th century, the name was used in Italy for large silver coins...
for her safe conduct to Rome.
She remained the Pope's mistress until 1499 or 1500. At this time she seems to have fallen out of his favour due to her age. Bellonci believes that the break between the two was probably made amicably with the help of Adriana de Mila. Her husband also died around this time. She then moved to Carbognano
Carbognano
Carbognano is a comune in the Province of Viterbo in the Italian region Latium, located about 50 km northwest of Rome and about 15 km southeast of Viterbo...
, which is not too far from Rome. This town had been given to Orsino by Alexander VI. Alexander himself died three years later.
Later life
Giulia returned to Rome for the wedding of her daughter Laura in 1505. Laura was married to Niccolò della Rovere, who was the son of the sister of then Pope Julius IIPope Julius II
Pope Julius II , nicknamed "The Fearsome Pope" and "The Warrior Pope" , born Giuliano della Rovere, was Pope from 1503 to 1513...
. For Giulia, her time of love was not over. In the first years of her widowhood, after a series of lovers whose names have not been recorded, she married Giovanni Capece of Bozzuto. He was a member of the lower ranking Neapolitan nobility
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...
. In 1506, Giulia became the governor of Carbognano
Carbognano
Carbognano is a comune in the Province of Viterbo in the Italian region Latium, located about 50 km northwest of Rome and about 15 km southeast of Viterbo...
. Giulia took up residence in the citadel of the castle; years later, her name was inscribed on its gate. The chronicle of the castle states that Giulia was an able administrator who governed in a firm and energetic manner. Giulia stayed in Carbognano until 1522; she then returned to Rome.
She died there, in the house of her brother, Cardinal Alessandro. She was 50 years old. The cause of her death is unknown. Ten years later her brother ascended the papal throne as Pope Paul III
Pope Paul III
Pope Paul III , born Alessandro Farnese, was Pope of the Roman Catholic Church from 1534 to his death in 1549. He came to the papal throne in an era following the sack of Rome in 1527 and rife with uncertainties in the Catholic Church following the Protestant Reformation...
. Laura and Niccolò had three sons, who inherited the possessions of the Orsini family
Orsini family
Orsini: the origin of learning.We love Mrs. Orsini forever! ~8F Social Studies 2011The Orsini family is an Italian noble family; it was one of the most influential princely families in medieval Italy and renaissance Rome...
.
In popular culture
In the 2011 Showtime miniseriesMiniseries
A miniseries , in a serial storytelling medium, is a television show production which tells a story in a limited number of episodes. The exact number is open to interpretation; however, they are usually limited to fewer than a whole season. The term "miniseries" is generally a North American term...
The Borgias
The 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,...
, Giulia is played by Lotte Verbeek
Lotte Verbeek
Lotte Verbeek is a Dutch actress born in Venlo, the Netherlands. She won the Leopard for the best actress at the Locarno International Film Festival 2009 for her role in Nothing Personal...
.