In her younger days, Giovanna de Candia, Contessa dei Cattanei, known to her family as Vannozza, was the most sought after courtesan in all of Spain. Men would travel for months from faraway lands for a single kiss from her ruby lips. They would mortgage their homes, their lands, pay any price for just one hour in her bed. But it was her vigorous Spanish bull, Father Rodrigo Borgia, who at last tamed the un-tamable, claimed the un-claimable, and was the recipient of the love for which many had killed.
Vannozza was not a silly, empty-headed girl, however. She was smart, educated and realistic. She knew well that, like the others of his day, Rodrigo's love was fickle, that one day her beauty would wane and his eye would inevitably wander to one younger, more beautiful. Men were, after all, such inconstant creatures. They thought with their pricks, lusted with the same, and called it love. And so often they were so full of themselves and their own concerns that they had no room for anyone else, least of all a mere woman, even Vannozza dei Cattanei.
Still, Vannozza loved Rodrigo with her whole heart. She loved him with a passion far and away beyond anything her heart and mind could have dreamed in her youth. And for a time, Vannozza lived with the dream of a life together with her Spanish Bull. He would leave the Church, she told herself, leave his life in the cloth and they would settle down in a lovely villa, surrounded by vineyards and gardens to spend countless hours making love in the hot Spanish sun. They would raise a brood of beautiful children and grow old together, enjoying the generations to be created by them. Such were the longings and musings of a young girl in love.
But Father Rodrigo Borgia did not leave the Church, did not lay down the mantle of the cloth, for there was one thing that Rodrigo loved more, even lusted more for, than Vannozza…his ambition. True to her fear, Vannozza kept Rodrigo's eye on herself for a mere decade, only ten short years, a lifetime to some, but to Vannozza the mere blink of an eye. In that decade, Vannozza bore Rodrigo four beautiful, healthy children, three sons and one daughter.
Cesare, their eldest child and quite the most beautiful of boys was born just one year before his brother, Juan. He was a quiet child with a brilliant mind that seemed to glean and absorb whatever knowledge was put before him to learn. He had a keen understanding of history and military strategy before he was even ten years old and was ever so competitive with his younger brother in every situation. He, too, greatly desired to follow in the footsteps of so many of his friends to have a secular life. Cesare hoped to earn his father's favor by elevating himself and bringing fame and fortune to the family as a prodigious military general or a commander of a vast army of men. Alas, his dreams were never to come to fruition, for he was fated to follow his father into the Church and into the service to God. It was Rodrigo's wish and thus it became Cesare's command.
Giovanni, also called Juan by his family, was the second son of Vannozza and Rodrigo. He was most assuredly the most hot-headed of their sons and was to lead the secular life of privilege and renown so desired by Cesare. To add insult to Cesare's emotional injury, Juan would one day be named the second Duke of Gandia and captain the Papal armies. Juan was loud, boisterous and, in his adolescent years, was given to sampling of the more sordid passions of the privileged class. He was known to visit houses of ill repute, even occasionally tasting of the common street whores which even the dedicated brothels refused to take in. Juan drank to excess most nights. And when the wine was incapable of driving from his mind the fact that his father was too busy with his own aspirations to notice or care for him, Juan would lose himself in the fruit of the poppy, smoking opium to relieve the hauntings of his mind.
Five years later, after three difficult pregnancies which resulted in precious stillborn babes of which Rodrigo was none the wiser due to his many travels associated with the Church, the brightest light of their family was born, their daughter, Lucrezia. Her's was such a difficult birth, coming so quickly on the heels of the third stillborn infant that after six pregnancies and three living children, Vannozza's body took much longer to heal and recover its strength. But Lucrezia was worth all that Vannozza had suffered. Secretly, she had wanted a daughter and Lucrezia was the most beautiful child that was ever seen. She had a halo of red-gold curls crowning her head and eyes so blue it was as though the heavens had submitted themselves to her to reside forever in those orbs. The child seemed to embody the best traits of both of her parents, with such a quick wit and a keen mind that she was surely destined for a great things, if Rodrigo Borgia had his way.
Lastly, three years after Lucrezia's blessed arrival, Vannozza and Rodrigo's fourth and final child was born, a tiny son they named Goffredo. Although seemingly healthy, the boy was very small and came more than month early so that he had to be nursed ever so carefully to assure his survival. Much like the births of his siblings, Rodrigo was not present when Goffredo came into the world. Vannozza labored in agony three whole days, fearing for her child and even her own life, before the ordeal was ended. Rodrigo, in fact, never even laid eyes on Goffredo until the boy was nigh onto a year old, and even then he regarded the child more than a bit suspiciously, declaring that the child bore no resemblance to him whatsoever. It was during that visit, and at that moment, that Vannozza knew her favor with the good Father had ended and that he would certainly turn to the comforts of others, if he had not done so by now already.
Vannozza knew that Rodrigo had other children before their own and would likely have more after, but her children were her world and Rodrigo seemed to worship them for the most part, especially their only daughter, Lucrezia. She was the child of their heart, conceived during the years in the height of their love affair, before Vannozza had to try to keep Rodrigo in her bed and within her loins with ever increasing acts of debauchery.
So Vannozza decided to devote herself to her children, as any good mother would, and raise them to be a force with which Rome, in the years to come, would be forced to reckon. Vannozza was not bitter, but neither was she a woman to lie down and allow the world to trod upon her. She was Giovanna de Candia, Contessa dei Cattanei, and from her loins had been birthed the beginnings of a great empire.
Years came and went as Vannozza saw her children grow into the beginnings of the adults that they would become. Rodrigo was no longer a lowly Father in the Holy Mother Church, having now been promoted by His Holiness the Pope to the office of Cardinal, a prince of the Roman Catholic Church. It was required that Rodrigo remain, for the most part, within the Vatican, so he had moved his household to Rome. The distance from Vannozza took a great toll on the recollection of his feelings for her, and consequently for his children as well; after all, out of sight, out of mind, or so the old saying went. Oh, Rodrigo would visit from time to time and would delight once again in the pleasures of Vannozza's body, remembering why he had loved her from the beginning. She never denied him her bed, and he in return, kept his children in a style befitting their station as Borgia bastards.
It was, in fact, during one of those increasingly infrequent visits that Vannozza had become pregnant with Goffredo, whom for the longest time Rodrigo had denied was his own, hence his concern for the boy bearing him no resemblance. He had accused Vannozza of taking other men to her bed. She vehemently denied that such was ever the case and it was with this accusation out in the open, once and for all, that Vannozza knew in her heart of hearts that her lover was well and truly done with her.
Rodrigo ceased to visit her bed at all. Oh, he still declared her the most beautiful woman in Spain, still the loveliest of all the women he had ever known, but he was a Cardinal now and apparently that meant he must, therefore, be above reproach if his ambition was to lead him to the Papal crown and the throne of St. Peter someday. It seemed that Rodrigo's libido was matched only by his ever-increasing ambition and Vannozza used that ambition to her own advantage. She forced Rodrigo's hand, getting him to admit that Goffredo was indeed his son, therefore guaranteeing that Rodrigo would support the child in the same fashion as he did the other three. In return, Vannozza pledged Rodrigo her silence in the matter that he even had any children at all, though why she bothered was a mystery when all of Rome knew of Rodrigo's dalliances and how many bastards the man had sired over the course of his life.
Still Vannozza made the vow, for she was the most dangerous kind of woman. She had brains as well as beauty, and she knew how to best use both to her own benefit. She had been frugal during her time as a courtesan, saving her money for years on end, and was now an extremely wealthy woman in her own right, though she had no intention of ever telling Rodrigo that. She smiled to herself at the thought. She had not only collected money for her services back then, but she had been gifted with many lovely suites of jewels, no doubt heirlooms from some of the oldest and wealthiest houses of Europe.
She had emeralds, sapphires, rubies and garnets aplenty all set in the finest gold and silver. There were combs for her hair carved from ivory and inlaid with jet. She had rings, bracelets, necklaces, brooches and earrings, all that she would pass on to her daughter and the wives of her sons one day. But Vannozza delighted most in wearing the pieces that Rodrigo had gifted to her, showing them off wherever she went. If she could no longer have the man she loved, at least she would adorn herself in his gifts, the only way these days that he seemed to allow himself to show her any attention, let alone love.
As her children grew older, so did Vannozza. She was still lovely, although her long, curling black Spanish hair had begun to streak with age and after four children, her hips had rounded and spread wider than in her youth. But she knew that she could still turn a head or two without much effort were she so inclined. She had purchased a boarding house many years ago when she gave up being a courtesan and began having children, and it provided a modest income for her and the children which supplemented the stipend which they received from Rodrigo.
She had servants to see to their every need, a lovely garden with a fountain and even a covey of doves which delighted Lucrezia. When the time came, she knew that Rodrigo would make good matches for their children in marriage, most assuredly with titles and the good fortunes which always accompanied them. So Vannozza did not lose sleep worrying for their futures. She only hoped that somewhere along the way her children would find love as well as financial security. Wasn't that what every mother wished for her children?
TBC