N M Gwynne

The Truth about Rodrigo Borgia, Pope Alexander VI N M Gwynne

Alexander VI, is widely believed to have been the worst of the popes. He is said to have spent his nights in orgies and his days in organising the assassination of rivals, purloining church funds, and granting high offices to his numerous illegitimate children. But the most serious and scholarly historian to have studied the original sources for his life, Mgr. Peter De Roo, concludes that he was entirely innocent of any of the offences he is charged with: he did not obtain the papacy by bribery, he was not the father of any children, legitimate or otherwise, he was not a murderer or corrupt. Very much to the contrary, he was in fact a man of austerity, prayerfulness and charity, highly principled, a superb administrator, justly revered and loved throughout his life, and altogether an exemplary Pope, indeed quite possibly a saint. In these pages N. M. Gwynne draws on the five volumes of De Roo's unrefuted scholarship, to show that Pope Alexander VI may well be the most calumniated man in history.