Timeline

1378

Alonso de Borja born at Játiva in Valencia, Spain.

Start of Great or Western Schism, dividing Roman Church.

1416

Alfonso V becomes king of Aragon.

1417

Alonso de Borja enters service of Alfonso V.

Oddone Colonna elected Pope Martin V.

1420

Martin V returns papacy to Rome, ending long exile.

1431

Rodrigo de Borja born at Játiva.

Gabriele Condulmer elected Pope Eugenius IV.

1442

Alfonso V drives Angevins from Naples, assumes Neapolitan crown.

1444

Alonso de Borja appointed to College of Cardinals, moves to Rome following year.

1447

Tommaso Parentucelli elected Pope Nicholas V.

1451

Birth of Isabella, future queen of Castile.

1452

Birth of Ferdinand II, future king of Aragon.

1453

Constantinople falls to Ottoman Turks.

1455

Cardinal Alonso Borgia elected Pope Calixtus III, appoints Rodrigo Borgia protonotary apostolic and Pedro Luis Borgia commander of Castel Sant’Angelo.

1456

Rodrigo Borgia is made a cardinal, Pedro Luis captain-general of papal army.

1457

Rodrigo appointed vice-chancellor of Church.

1458

Rodrigo appointed bishop of Valencia.

Alfonso V dies, to be succeeded as king of Naples by son Ferrante (Ferdinand I).

Calixtus III dies; Enea Silvio Piccolomini succeeds as Pope Pius II.

Death of Pedro Luis Borgia.

Athens falls to Turks.

1460

Cardinal Rodrigo rebuked by Pius II following garden party in Siena.

1462

Birth of Louis of Orléans, future Louis XII of France.

1463

Start of sixteen-year war between Venice and Ottoman Empire.

1464

Pietro Barbo elected Pope Paul II.

1470

Negropont captured by Turks.

Birth of Charles VIII of France.

1471

Francesco della Rovere elected Pope Sixtus IV.

Rodrigo Borgia appointed papal legate to Iberian peninsula.

1475

Probable year of Cesare Lanzol y de Borja’s birth in Spain.

1476

Probable year of birth of Cesare’s brother Juan Lanzol y de Borja.

1478

Pazzi Conspiracy against Medici family in Florence.

Beginning of Pope Sixtus’s Italian War, which will continue two years.

1480

Lucrezia Lanzol y de Borja born.

Ottoman Turks occupy Otranto in southern Italy.

1481

Probable year of death of Guillen Ramón Lanzol, father of Pedro Luis, Cesare, Lucrezia, and others.

Ludovico Sforza, as regent, wins control of the duchy of Milan.

Death of Ottoman Sultan Mehmed II; son and successor Bayezid II withdraws Turkish troops from Otranto.

1484

Giovanni Battista Cibo elected Pope Innocent VIII.

1485

Pedro Luis Lanzol y de Borja is made duke of Gandía by Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain.

1488

Murder of Girolamo Riario, nephew of Sixtus IV and husband of Caterina Sforza.

1491

Charles VIII of France marries Anne of Brittany.

Cesare Borgia appointed bishop of Pamplona.

1492

Death of Lorenzo de’ Medici.

Election of Rodrigo Borgia as Pope Alexander VI.

Archbishopric of Valencia is conferred on Cesare.

Christopher Columbus sails west from Spain, seeking Japan, China, and India.

1493

Borgia marriages: Juan to Maria Enriquez de Luna of Spain, Lucrezia to Giovanni Sforza, Jofrè to Sancia of Aragon.

Cesare is appointed to College of Cardinals.

Columbus returns from his first voyage of discovery.

Papal bull divides newly discovered territories between Spain and Portugal.

1494

Death of Ferrante of Naples; succeeded by son Alfonso II.

French invasion of Italy by Charles VIII.

Expulsion of Medici family from Florence.

1495

Alfonso II of Naples abdicates; succeeded by son Ferrandino (Ferdinand II).

Charles VIII meets Alexander VI in Rome, enters Naples in triumph.

Holy League formed to resist French occupation.

Following Battle of Fornovo, Charles withdraws to France.

1496

Death of Ferrandino of Naples; succeeded by uncle Don Fadrique (Federico I).

1497

Friar Girolamo Savonarola of Florence is excommunicated after calling for a council to depose Alexander VI.

Alexander makes war on Orsini; death of Virginio Orsini.

Murder in Rome of Juan Borgia, second duke of Gandía.

Annulment of Lucrezia Borgia’s marriage to Giovanni Sforza.

1498

Murder of Pedro Calderón, Lucrezia’s alleged lover.

Death of Charles VIII; succeeded by Louis XII, who later agrees with Venice to partition Milan.

Lucrezia wed to Alfonso of Aragon, duke of Bisceglie.

Cesare is allowed to resign from College of Cardinals; travels to French court at Chinon, France; is made duke of Valentinois; wed to Charlotte d’Albret.

Savonarola, discredited, is executed by Florentine civil authorities.

1499

Louis XII marries Anne of Brittany, seizes Milan and Genoa.

Pope Alexander excommunicates Romagna lords, seizes territories of the Gaetani.

Vasco da Gama returns to Lisbon from voyage to India.

Cesare’s first impresa captures Imola, besieges Forlì.

Lucrezia gives birth to son, Rodrigo of Aragon.

1500

Cesare captures Caterina Sforza.

Duke of Bisceglie is attacked and gravely wounded, subsequently strangled.

Cesare launches second impresa, besieges Faenza.

Spain and France agree to partition kingdom of Naples.

1501

Alexander creates Cesare duke of Romagna.

Don Fadrique abdicates as king of Naples, retires to Anjou.

Lucrezia is married to Alfonso d’Este.

1502

Arezzo rebels against Florence.

Cesare launches third impresa, captures Urbino and Cesena.

Machiavelli and Soderini meet Cesare at Urbino.

Conspiracy of condottieri against Cesare.

Cesare makes surprise visit to Louis XII at Milan, renews alliance.

Machiavelli visits Cesare at Imola.

Cesare resumes offensive, advances to Senigallia.

1503

Vitelli and Oliverotto strangled at Senigallia.

Alexander and Cesare launch war on Orsini.

Gonsalvo captures city of Naples for Spain.

Death of Alexander VI, election of Francesco Todeschini Piccolomini as Pope Pius III.

Death of Pius III, election of Giuliano della Rovere as Pope Julius II.

1504

Having earlier become the prisoner of Julius II at Ostia and subsequently freed, Cesare is again arrested, at Naples, this time by Gonsalvo, transported as prisoner to Spain.

Death of Isabella of Spain.

1505

Lucrezia becomes duchess of Ferrara upon death of Ercole d’Este.

Cesare transferred from Chinchilla to Medina del Campo.

1506

Cesare escapes from Medina del Campo, makes way to Navarre.

1507

Cesare killed in battle.

1519

Death of Lucrezia.