In 1497, Pope Alexander had a crisis of his own making that was
threatening to undermine his ability to govern the Catholic
Church. A romantic rivalry between two of his sons (he had at
least six children) had become a source of intrigue around Rome.
In fact, this scandal was so lurid, it was appalling even to
those accustomed to flagrant immorality from the papacy. The two
sons in question were Cesare and Juan, and they were both in
love with their sister, Lucrezia. The plot thickened, as the
Pope refused to let either of his sons marry his daughter, as he
was sleeping with her himself. As the famous biographer and
historian William Manchester wrote, “Even for those times, this
was scandalous.” When one of the sons, Juan, turned up murdered,
suspicion was split between the father and brother. When
Lucrezia turned up pregnant, that same divided suspicion
remained. Rome had long been accustomed to assassinations,
orgies, and public rioting from the Pope’s family. But this
scandal involved all three simultaneou