Lucrezia Borgia

Lucrezia Borgia (18 April 1480 – 24 June 1519) was the illegitimate daughter of Rodrigo Borgia, and younger sister of Cesare Borgia. She was betrothed ruthlessly by her father twice before her thirteenth birthday to secure political alliances. She was also rumored to have been sexually abused by her father and brothers. After these incidents, she was taken care of by her brother Cesare.

Early years
Lucrezia Borgia was born in Subiaco, a little town near Rome, on 18 April 1480. Her mother was the Countess of Cattanei, Vannozza dei Cattanei, one of the numerous mistresses of Rodrigo Borgia.

At the young age of thirteen, she was engaged twice; but her father, Pope Alexander VI (better known as Rodrigo Borgia, Grand Master of the Knights Templar), called off the engagements and later forced her to marry Giovanni Sforza in order to establish an alliance with the powerful Milanese Ducal family.

However, the marriage was brief, as the Sforzas were eventually no longer useful to Alexander VI. Soon after, he gave the order to Cesare and Lucrezia to send Giovanni away from Rome. Alexander VI made an offer to Giovanni's uncle, the Cardinal Ascanio Sforza, to persuade him to agree for the divorce. Instead, Giovanni accused Lucrezia of having an incestuous relationship with her father and brothers; thus, since the marriage was supposedly not consummated, the Pope said that the marriage was not valid.

Affair with Perotto
In the year 1498, Lucrezia fell in love with her father's messenger, Perotto Calderon. However, unbeknownst to them, Perotto was a member of the Assassin Order. As their relationship became more intimate, Lucrezia became pregnant with Perotto's child. Nine months later, a boy was born, but the baby was malformed and, according to a doctor, would pass away soon. After Lucrezia's father found out, Perotto was thrown in jail, but he later escaped with the child. Perotto knew that his Order was in the possession of the Shroud, an artifact that could surely heal his son. He traveled to Agnadello and, after taking down several other Assassins in his desperation, arrived at the Shroud's supposed location to take the artifact. He asked the artifact to heal his son, which it did, despite its protests that the baby was "flawed material." Though the child was evidently healed, Perotto never saw Lucrezia again. The child, Giovanni, lived the first years of his life not knowing that he was Lucrezia and Perotto's child, having been told that he was the son of Cesare with an unknown woman.

Second marriage
Lucrezia second marriage was with the Alfonso de Aragon (Duke of Bisceglie). Before the marriage took place, Cesare was impressed by the Duke's good looks and nature, but this soon changed to jealousy and hatred. It was said that Cesare disliked Alfonso because Lucrezia was very happy with him and had, since her marriage to him, stopped giving Cesare as much attention.

In January of 1500, she accompanied Cesare to Monteriggioni where they besieged the town and Villa Auditore. During the siege, the Borgia managed to capture Mario Auditore, whose execution she witnessed in front of the town's gate, and Caterina Sforza. Afterwards, she returned to Rome with her brother, his generals and the Apple of Eden, which was held by Mario, as their prize.

In August 1500, Cesare had grown jealous of Alfonso, wanting Lucrezia for his own. He ordered Alfonso's execution, an action which displeased Lucrezia.

Cesare meanwhile posed as the legitimate father of Lucrezia's son Giovanni and trained him in swordsmanship. Lucrezia got into constant depressions from not being able to take care of Giovanni himself, but warned him not to trust anyone in their family.

In 1501, she escorted the still-captive Caterina Sforza into the Castel Sant'Angelo. At the same time, Ezio Auditore da Firenze, an Assassin, infiltrated the Castel to attempt to assassinate Rodrigo and Cesare. Cesare briefly came to visit Lucrezia, and the intimately greeted each other. Cesare promised Lucrezia that when he would rule all of Italy, she would be his queen, before leaving for battle at Urbino. When Ezio found out both Rodrigo and Cesare were gone, he went to save Caterina from her prison cell. Lucrezia took the cell's key with her before Ezio arrived there, and he sought her out in the Castel's garden. He took her with him to Caterina's cell, where Caterina pulled the key out of Lucrezia's robe, before knocking her out when she was calling the guards.

Third marriage
Lucrezia's third marriage was with Alfonso d'Este, Duke of Ferrara, in 1502. After the death of her second husband, Alexander VI wanted to arrange a third marriage.

On August 18, 1503, Lucrezia found out her father had taken possession of her supply of cantarella from the Castel Sant'Angelo. When she also heard that Cesare was meeting with her father, she figured out that Rodrigo would try to poison Cesare. She rushed to Cesare, where she saw that Cesare was eating a poisoned apple and called out to him about Rodrigo's intentions. Then she witnessed Cesare shoving the rest of the apple down Rodrigo's throat while he was asking him about the Apple of Eden's location. Lucrezia, in an attempt to make Cesare stop, yelled that she knew where it was located. Cesare went on to threaten her, saying that he never really loved her and choking her. Ezio, who had watched the scene unfold from outside a window, rushed to Lucrezia's aid, but she told Cesare the Apple's location before Ezio got there. She saw Ezio pay the last respects to her father before informing him of the Apple's location as well.

Life as Duchess of Ferrara


She chose to cut off the ties with her family and went to live peacefully with her husband in Ferrara. As duchess of Ferrara, Lucrezia was considered a "stranger" by the people, and was not loved by them.

In 1506, Lucrezia was visited once again by Ezio Auditore, who sneaked inside the Palazzo. She thought that he was there for her life, but he then claimed to be looking for Leonardo's lost paintings, which were lost during the Siege of Monteriggioni. Lucrezia refused to give it to him, but when Ezio seduced her, she decided to tell him the painting's location. He subtly tied her to a curtain while caressing her, and when she realizing that she was fooled, Lucrezia called the guards, but they failed to catch Ezio who escaped with the painting.

Personality
Lucrezia was a cruel and ruthless woman, much like her brother Cesare. This is shown when she curses Caterina Sforza in public. She also had an incestuous relationship with her own brother Cesare, and seemed to hate it when other women got close to him (seen when she questioned Caterina harshly about her "trip" with Cesare). Lucrezia also seems to be independent and was not scared of anyone, daring to hold romantic relationships with various other people even when she was married. In spite of this, she was also extremely vulnerable, something that Perotto Calderon noticed. She also genuinely loved her son Giovanni, and was agonized by her inability to reveal that she was his mother as well as by her bursting into tears when he asked her if he should trust her.

Trivia

 * Lucrezia gave birth to seven or eight children. Giovanni Borgia (who is the child of Perotto Calderon), Rodrigo Borgia de Aragon, Ercole II d'Este, Ippolito II d'Este, Alessandro d'Este, Leonora d'Este, Francesco d'Este. Isabella Maria d'Este was born sometime in 1519, but died later that same day. Sadly, complications of this birth caused the death of Lucrezia ten days later.
 * Lucrezia Borgia is an ancestor of the actress Brooke Shields, as well as most of the royal families of Europe.
 * In Brotherhood it is mentioned by Niccolò Machiavelli that Rodrigo had crafted Lucrezia into one of his most artley weapons, meaning that she could be another great opponent for Ezio and the Assassin Order.
 * Lucrezia's portrait in Ezio's hideout in Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood misspells her name as "Lucretia".