Pope Alexander VI

Pope Alexander VI 1431 – 1503) , born Roderic Llançol, later Roderic de Borja i Borja was Pope from 1492 to 1503. He is one of the most controversial of the Renaissance popes, and his surname (Italianized as Borgia) became a byword for the debased standards of the papacy of that era.

A year after the election of his uncle as Pope Callistus III, Borgia was named vice-chancellor. He proceeded to serve in the curia under the next four popes, as well. Borgia was elected Pope in 1492, taking the name Alexander VI.

Born in the territories of the Crown of Aragon in Spain, his bulls of 1493 confirmed or reconfirmed the rights of the Spanish crown in the New World following the finds of Christopher Columbus in 1492. On the other hand, he sided with France during the second Italian war and supported his son Cesare Borgia as a condottiero for the French King. The scope of his foreign policy was to gain the most advantageous terms for his family.