Lucrezia Borgia: Daughter of Pope Alexander VI

Lucrezia Borgia

Daughter of Pope Alexander VI

Ferdinand Gregorovius

Lucrezia Borgia

DAUGHTER OF POPE ALEXANDER VI

Introduction by Samantha Morris

Vita Histria

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Table of Contents

Introduction..................................................................................7

Part One  Lucrezia Borgia in Rome

Part Two  Lucrezia Borgia in Ferrara

Selected Reading

Genealogy

Chronology

List of Illustrations

Index

Introduction

P

RIMARY sources are essential to the historian, and we are taught in school that both primary and secondary sources are key to the study of the past. Problems arise, however, when you study a topic where the documents are in a language that you either know very little of or don’t speak at all. For this reason, translations of primary sources are vitally important to the study of history. Ferdinand Gregorovius’ work on Lucrezia Borgia, which has been translated into several languages, tells the story of the infamous Lucrezia Borgia through documents written by and about her.

Ferdinand Gregorovius was born in 1821, son of District Justice Council Ferdinand Timotheus Gregorovius and his wife Wilhelmine Charlotte Dorothea Kaush, in Neidenburg, in East Prussia. As a young man, he studied theology, history, and philosophy at the University of Konigsberg and while there joined the Corps Masovia. The Corps, formed in 1830, was made up of a small group of students who represented an incredibly unique minority at the time – Lutheran Protestants who spoke Polish and fully devoted themselves to the Prussian kings of the time. During World War II, they openly declared themselves as Germans. During the nineteenth century, the group was largely comprised of the lower classes, but also had members who were teachers, judges, physicians, and mayors. All members proudly displayed the Masovian colors of blue, white, and fire red. Gregorovius moved to Italy in 1852 and lived there for over twenty years, being made an honorary citizen of Rome in 1876. During his time in Italy, he began writing his major works on the history of medieval Rome.

The main works by Gregorovius that concern the Italian Renaissance, of course, include this very work, Lucrezia Borgia, as well as The History of Rome in the Middle Ages (an 8-volume work still considered an essential source for modern-day historians), Italian Walks, and The Tombs of the Roman Popes.

This book is a brand-new edition of Gregorovius’ work on Lucrezia Borgia. But who was she, and why is she so important to the history of the Italian Renaissance?

Born in April 1480, to Cardinal Rodrigo Borgia and Vanozza Cattanei, Lucrezia found herself as the only daughter among a family of boys – Cesare, Juan, and Gioffre. As such, she was considered the darling of the family. In 1492, her father was elected as Pope Alexander VI after wheeling and dealing behind the sealed doors of the Vatican following the death of the previous Pope. Now, as the daughter of a Pope, Lucrezia would become nothing more than a pawn in her father’s political machinations.

Lucrezia’s first marriage took place in 1493. She was married to Giovanni Sforza – a marriage of political convenience, nothing more. Shipped off to Pesaro, Lucrezia did not last long there – her father tired of the alliance with the Sforza family and arranged a divorce. A divorce that Giovanni understandably scorned, as the marriage was dissolved on the grounds of his impotence. Sforza was certainly not impotent – his first wife had died in childbirth! He also stated that he had known his wife (Lucrezia) hundreds of times and that it was obvious to him that the Pope only wanted Lucrezia for himself. It seems likely that it was this accusation started the rumors of incest that plagued the Borgia family – rumors persisted that Alexander slept with his daughter and that Cesare also slept with his sister. Whilst incest was a common occurrence during these times, spreading such rumors was the perfect way to vilify the names of members of the papal family.

Following her divorce from Sforza, Lucrezia became involved in an affair with a young man named Perotto, who worked for the Pope. His body was later found floating in the Tiber. Many said it was Lucrezia’s brother, Cesare, who arranged the killing to save his sister’s name from being dragged into further scandal.

Lucrezia’s second marriage was to Alfonso of Aragon, Duke of Bisceglie, and seemed to be a happy one, but one that still ended in disaster. Cesare soon became jealous that Lucrezia accorded the handsome Alfonso all of her attention. Early in the marriage, Lucrezia suffered her first miscarriage (a pattern that would manifest itself throughout her life), and, on July 15, 1500, her husband was publicly attacked in Rome and severely wounded. He began to recover, looked after by Lucrezia and one of her trusted doctors. Cesare was blamed for the bungled attack. Had Cesare been behind it, Alfonso certainly would not have survived. It was more likely an attack orchestrated by the Orsini family as revenge for the slights that the Borgias had given their family. On August 18, as Alfonso sat up in bed talking to his wife, Michelotto de Corella burst into the room, stating that Alfonso’s uncle had been taken prisoner and that Lucrezia must petition the Pope for his release. When she returned, Alfonso was found strangled, dead in his bed. Rumor sparked yet again that this was the deed of Cesare, which seemed likely considering that Michelotto was known as Cesare’s henchman and assassin. Cesare even spun a story that Alfonso had plotted to kill him. In truth, Cesare (and the Pope) realized that the alliance with the Aragon family no longer benefitted them – Cesare had allied himself with the French by this point, and the Papal court no longer needed the Spanish influence represented by the Aragon family. Lucrezia deeply mourned the loss of Alfonso, so much so that her father sent her away while he again began to seek a suitable marriage arrangement. She soon became the Duchess of Ferrara.

It should be noted that Lucrezia proved herself a very intelligent woman and a capable ruler from a young age. In 1499, Lucrezia was made Governor of Spoleto by her father, a post usually held by Cardinals. It speaks volumes that Lucrezia was appointed to this post rather than her second husband, Alfonso, and indeed it showed just how much her father trusted her judgment. Later, in 1501, whilst in the market for her third husband, Lucrezia was left to run the Vatican in the absence of her father – a move seen as scandalous by her peers, but one that brought her into greater standing in the marriage market. Once again, she proved herself to be an incredibly capable ruler with a good head on her shoulders. Upon her father’s return, negotiations began for her marriage into the distinguished Este family of Ferrara.

Lucrezia married Alfonso d’Este around 1502 and lived a comfortable life with her new husband. While the two of them often committed adultery, they shared a mutual respect, despite not necessarily being in love. Lucrezia gave Alfonso many children, and they lived happily enough. Their mutual respect may have even evolved into a kind of love, at least on the part of her husband, and they often wrote letters to each other whilst he was away, each concerned for the other’s safety. Despite this mutual respect and indeed, love, it has been suggested that Lucrezia was involved in many extramarital affairs during her time in Ferrara. Her best-known relationship is with the poet, Pietro Bembo with whom Lucrezia corresponded for several years. These letters are incredibly beautiful, but rather than revealing the relationship as a sexual one, they show a platonic one. The letters themselves have been translated throughout the years and are often used by historians when they are telling Lucrezia’s story. A wonderful selection of them can be found in the book The Prettiest Love Letters in the World, translated by Hugh Shankland and first published in 1985.

During her time in Ferrara, two significant events in Lucrezia’s life occurred. First, the death of her father, Pope Alexander VI, in 1503, deprived her of the protection and power of the Papacy. Second, her brother, Cesare, was killed in battle at Viana on March 11, 1507, after escaping imprisonment at Medina Del Campo in Spain. Lucrezia only found out about this much later, just as she had the death of her father, and she grieved heavily. Despite all the wrongs that Cesare had done to her, she still cherished him and loved him probably more than any other member of her family. Lucrezia did not display her grief outwardly. It was as if, through all her hardships, she had developed a tough outer shell and was determined not to appear weak, a sign of the Borgia strength that she had so often exhibited – an asset to her personality.

In June 1519, Lucrezia passed away after developing complications following the birth of her eighth child. Despite clinging to life for ten days, she remained very unwell, and her doctors held the opinion that a build-up of menstrual blood that had become infected caused her illness. The doctors tried to do everything they could to save her, from bloodletting to cutting off all her hair, yet nothing worked. She had just turned 39 when she died, and she was buried in Ferrara at the Convent of Corpus Domini. She would later be joined in her tomb by her husband and two of her children. Lucrezia’s grave, as well as the grave of other members of the Este family, can still be visited today, however, it must be remembered that Corpus Domini remains a working convent. The convent is only ‘open’ for a few hours each day. To gain access, one must ring a bell and ask to visit the tombs of the Este family. You are then directed to a door around the side where you must knock and wait to be let inside. It is recommended that, if you are allowed access, you should speak at least a little Italian and leave a donation upon departing from the quaint little church. 

Throughout her life, Lucrezia Borgia had survived the intrigues of Italian politics, and she survived it with a dignity that many others would not have if they had faced the same vicious rumors and attacks on her person that she did. Lucrezia Borgia may not have been a saint – none of us are – but she certainly was not the incestuous harridan that the enemies of the Borgia want us to believe. It is, sadly, an image that remains stuck in the public imagination.

She has been painted as a monster by many over the years. An early example of Lucrezia being portrayed in this way is Victor Hugo’s Lucrezia Borgia, a play written in 1833. But of course, Lucrezia makes an appearance in other forms of modern-day media, many of which show her as an evil harlot with a penchant for poison and murder. Television shows such as Showtime’s The Borgias portray Lucrezia as a woman who poisons her enemies and conducts illicit affairs with her brother. Is it any wonder that even now, over five hundred years after her death, that the public imagination is still fixed upon a negative image of Lucrezia Borgia? There is, however, a television show that is much more accurate and indeed seen by many as the better version of the story – Canal +’s Borgia: Faith and Fear portrays the Borgia family in a way that is much closer to the true story. The incest myth is alluded to but never played out. It is shown as rumor and speculation fomented by the enemies of the Borgia family. Lucrezia is shown as naïve in the beginning and a girl who is used as a pawn in the political games of her father. Yet she grows into a confident, intelligent woman, capable of ruling in her own stead. Many find Borgia to be the better of the two modern dramas of the Borgia family and, although there are some inaccuracies, it certainly does not take the story and twist it into something completely untrue, unlike the Showtime version.

Incest in the Borgia family is a theme that appears in many forms of modern media. Lucrezia makes an appearance in the video game Assassins Creed: Brotherhood. In the game, the Borgia family are the antagonists, with Rodrigo Borgia (Pope Alexander VI) and Cesare Borgia being members of the Templars, while the protagonist Ezio, an assassin, works to end the Borgia influence over Rome. Of course, the premise of the Borgias as Templars is pure fiction, as is the premise of the Templars as an evil organization. Lucrezia plays a large part in the storyline and is involved in a plot to lock Caterina Sforza in the Castel Sant’ Angelo – in the scenes involving her and Cesare, we see them kissing, with Cesare promising her that she will be his Queen. The idea that the two are involved in an incestuous relationship is one of the key storyline points during the game and, in a game that may introduce the Borgia family to someone for the first time, is it any wonder that the idea of the family being evil becomes so ingrained in modern culture? This idea is also discussed in many contemporary novels. The most accurate and well-researched novels focusing on the Borgia family are Sarah Dunant’s books, Blood and Beauty and In the Name of the Family. Both of them are exceptionally well-researched and tell the true story of the family with, of course, a few fictitious elements thrown in. Other novels, however, completely rely on rumors of murder and incest. One such novel, The Vatican Princess by C.W. Gortner is a completely fictionalized tale involving the incestuous rape of Lucrezia by her brother Juan. The lack of research that characterizes this novel is clear from the outset and only becomes more evident when one reads the author’s notes at the end of the novel, where he states that Rodrigo Borgia died by poison. This is not true in the slightest – the idea that Rodrigo Borgia was poisoned is based entirely on speculation; in reality, the Pope contracted a malarial fever that afflicted Cesare and several cardinals as well.

Still, many historians have worked to disprove the idea that Lucrezia was a harlot with no morals whatsoever. The historian William Roscoe wrote an apology on Lucrezia in 1840, using documents found in various archives throughout Italy, and his work was followed by studies written by Domenico Cerri (1858) and Bernado Gatti (1859). Gregorovius also mentions a book by William Gilbert entitled Lucrezia Borgia, as another attempt to rehabilitate the poor standing of Lucrezia Borgia. Unfortunately, in Gregorovius’ view, the work lacked the scholarly apparatus used by both himself and others. This lack of scholarly method inspired Gregorovius’ excellent work on a woman much maligned by history. Thanks to these works, as well as the meticulous research by Ferdinand Gregorovius in this book, historians have been able to piece together a more definitive history of Lucrezia Borgia, a history in which she is shown not to be the incestuous, poisoning harpy of legend. Rachel Erlanger’s biography Lucrezia Borgia, published in 1978, took a social history approach and relied heavily on Gregorovius’s work in rehabilitating Lucrezia’s reputation. The most definitive modern-day biography is Sarah Bradford’s 2005 biography, Lucrezia Borgia: Life, Love, and Death in Renaissance Italy, a work that makes extensive use of both primary and secondary sources to tell the true story of this fascinating woman. Today, many books recount Lucrezia’s story, but it must be noted that without the hard work of Gregorovius in putting together the primary sources on Lucrezia’s life in a manner accessible to all, we might still assume that all of the rumors surrounding Lucrezia were true.

Of course, the real story of Lucrezia Borgia is much more interesting and far more colorful than the rumors. Lucrezia’s story is one of love, heartbreak, and traversing a world in which her enemies wanted to bring her down with vicious slander. She spent her life being used as a pawn in her father and brother’s political games, being passed from husband to husband to enhance the power of the Borgia dynasty.

Gregorovius’ wonderfully researched book uses primary sources to tell the true story of Lucrezia Borgia. I hope that this new edition of his work will help to make her true story even more accessible to a new generation of historians, students, and all those interested in the history of the Borgia family.

Samantha Morris

Part One

Lucrezia Borgia in Rome

I

T

HE Spanish house of Borja (or Borgia as the name is generally written) was rich in extraordinary men. Nature endowed them generously; they were distinguished by sensuous beauty, physical strength, intellect, and that force of will which compels success, and which was the source of the greatness of Cortez, Pizarro, and the other Spanish adventurers.

Like the Aragonese, the Borgias also played the part of conquerors in Italy, winning for themselves honors and power, and deeply affecting the destiny of the whole peninsula, where they extended the influence of Spain and established numerous branches of their family. From the old kings of Aragon they claimed descent, but so little is known of their origin that their history begins with the real founder of the house, Alfonso Borgia, whose father’s name is stated by some to have been Juan, and by others Domenico; while the family name of his mother, Francesca, is not even known.[1]

Alfonso Borgia was born in the year 1378, at Xativa, near Valencia. He served King Alfonso of Aragon as privy secretary and was made Bishop of Valencia. He came to Naples with this genial prince when he ascended its throne, and in the year 1444, he was made a cardinal.

Spain, owing to her religious wars, was advancing toward national unity and was fast assuming a position of European importance. She now, by taking a hand in the affairs of Italy, endeavored to grasp what she had hitherto let slip by — namely, the opportunity of becoming the head of the Latin world and, above all, the center of gravity of European politics and civilization. She soon forced herself into the Papacy and into the Empire. From Spain, the Borgias first came to the Holy See, and from there later came Charles V to ascend the imperial throne. From Spain also came Ignatius Loyola, the founder of the most powerful politico-religious order history has ever known.

Alfonso Borgia, one of the most active opponents of the Council of Basel[2] and of the Reformation in Germany, was elected Pope in 1455, assuming the name Callixtus III. Innumerable were his kinsmen, many of whom he had found settled in Rome when he, as cardinal, had taken up his residence there. His nearest kin were members of the three connected Valencian families of Borgia, Mila (or Mella), and Lanzol. One of the sisters of Callixtus, Catalina Borgia, was married to Juan Mila, Baron of Mazalanes, and was the mother of the youthful Luis Juan. Isabella, the wife of Joffre Lanzol, a wealthy nobleman of Xativa, was the mother of Pedro Luis and Rodrigo, and of several daughters. The uncle adopted these two nephews and gave them his family name — thus the Lanzols became Borgias.[3]

In 1456, Callixtus III bestowed the purple upon two members of the Mila family: the Bishop Juan of Zamora, who died in 1467, in Rome, where his tomb may still be seen in St. Maria di Monserrato, and on the youthful Luis Juan. Rodrigo Borgia also received the purple in the same year. Among other members of the house of Mila settled in Rome was Don Pedro, whose daughter, Adriana Mila, we shall later find in most intimate relations with the family of her uncle Rodrigo. Of the sisters of this same Rodrigo, Beatrice was married to Don Ximenez Perez de Arenos, Tecla to Don Vidal de Villanova, and Juana to Don Pedro Guillen Lanzol. All these remained in Spain. There is a letter extant, written by Beatrice from Valencia to her brother shortly after he became Pope.[4]

Rodrigo Borgia was twenty-six when the dignity of cardinal was conferred upon him, and to this honor, a year later, was added the great office of vice-chancellor of the Church of Rome. His brother, Don Pedro Luis, was only one year older; and upon this young Valencian Callixtus bestowed the highest honors which can fall to the lot of a prince’s favorite. Later we behold in him a papal nepot-prince in whom the Pope endeavored to embody all mundane power and honor; he made him his condottiere, his warder, his bodyguard, and, finally, his worldly heir. Callixtus allowed him to usurp every position of authority in the Church domain and, like a destroying angel, to overrun and devastate the republics and the tyrannies, for the purpose of founding a family dynasty. Callixtus made Pedro Luis generalissimo of the Church, prefect of the city, Duke of Spoleto, and finally, vicar of Terracina and Benevento. Thus, in this first Spanish nepot was foreshadowed the career which Cesare Borgia later followed.

During the life of Callixtus, the Spaniards were all-powerful in Rome. In great numbers they poured into Italy from the kingdom of Valencia to make their fortune at the papal court as monsignors and clerks, as captains and castellans, and in any other way that suggested itself. Callixtus III died on August 6, 1458, and a few days later, Don Pedro Luis was driven from Rome by the oppressed nobility of the country, the Colonna and the Orsini, who rose against the hated foreigner. Soon afterwards, in December of the same year, death suddenly terminated the career of this young and brilliant upstart, then in Civitavecchia.[5] It is not known whether Don Pedro Luis Borgia was married and whether he left any descendants.[6]

Cardinal Rodrigo Borgia lamented the loss of his beloved and probably only brother, and inherited his property, while his own high position in the Curia was not affected by the change in the papacy. As vice-chancellor, he occupied a house in the Ponte quarter, which had formerly been the Mint, and which he converted into one of the showiest of the palaces of Rome. The building encloses two courts, where may still be seen the original open colonnades of the lower story; it was constructed as a stronghold, like the Palazzo di Venezia, which was almost contemporaneous with it. The Borgia palace, however, does not compare in architectural beauty or size with that built by Paul II. In the course of the years it has undergone many changes, and for a long time it has belonged to the Sforza-Cesarini.

Little is known of Rodrigo’s private life during the pontificate of the four popes who followed Callixtus — Pius II, Paul II, Sixtus IV, and Innocent VIII — for the records of that period are very incomplete. Insatiable sensuality ruled this Borgia, a man of unusual beauty and strength, until his last years. Never was he able to cast out this demon. He angered Pius II by his excesses, and the first ray of light thrown upon Rodrigo’s private life is an admonitory letter written by that Pope, on June 11, 1460, from the baths of Petriolo. Borgia was then twenty-nine years old. He was in beautiful and captivating Siena, where Piccolomini had passed his unholy youth. There Rodrigo had arranged a bacchanalian orgy of which the letter gives a picture:

Dear Son: We have learned that your Worthiness, forgetful of the high office with which you are invested, was present from the seventeenth to the twenty-second hour, four days ago, in the gardens of Giovanni de Dichis, where there were several women of Siena, women wholly given over to worldly vanities. Your companion was one of your colleagues whom his years, if not the dignity of his office, ought to have reminded of his duty. We have heard that the dance was indulged in with all wantonness; none of the allurements of love were lacking, and you conducted yourself in a wholly worldly manner. Shame forbids mention of all that took place, for not only the things themselves but their very names are unworthy of your rank. In order that your lust might be all the more unrestrained, the husbands, fathers, brothers, and kinsmen of the young women and girls were not invited to be present. You and a few servants were the leaders and inspirers of this orgy. It is said that nothing is now talked of in Siena but your vanity, which is the subject of universal ridicule. Certain it is that here at the baths, where Churchmen and the laity are very numerous, your name is on everyone’s tongue. Our displeasure is beyond words, for your conduct has brought the holy state and office into disgrace; the people will say that they make us rich and great, not that we may live a blameless life, but that we may have means to gratify our passions. This is the reason the princes and the powers despise us and the laity mock us; this is why our own mode of living is thrown in our face when we reprove others. Contempt is the lot of Christ’s vicar because he seems to tolerate these actions. You, dear son, have charge of the bishopric of Valencia, the most important in Spain; you are a chancellor of the Church, and what renders your conduct all the more reprehensible is the fact that you have a seat among the cardinals, with the Pope, as advisor of the Holy See. We leave it to you whether it is becoming to your dignity to court young women, and to send those whom you love fruits and wine, and during the whole day to give no thought to anything but sensual pleasures. People blame us on your account, and the memory of your blessed uncle, Callixtus, likewise suffers, and many say he did wrong in heaping honors upon you. If you try to excuse yourself on the ground of your youth, I say to you: you are no longer so young as not to see what duties your offices impose upon you. A cardinal should be above reproach and an example of right living before the eyes of all men, and then we should have just grounds for anger when temporal princes bestow uncomplimentary epithets upon us, when they dispute with us the possession of our property and force us to submit ourselves to their will. Of a truth, we inflict these wounds upon ourselves, and we ourselves are the cause of these troubles since we by our conduct are daily diminishing the authority of the Church. Our punishment for it in this world is dishonor, and in the world to come well-deserved torment. May, therefore, your good sense place a restraint on these frivolities, and may you never lose sight of your dignity; then, people will not call you a vain gallant among men. If this occurs again, We shall be compelled to show that it was contrary to Our exhortation and that it caused Us great pain, and Our censure will not pass over you without causing you to blush. We have always loved you and thought you worthy of Our protection as a man of earnest and modest character. Therefore, conduct yourself henceforth so that we may retain this Our opinion of you, and may behold in you only the example of a well-ordered life. Your years, which are not such as to preclude improvement, permit Us to admonish you paternally.

Petriolo, June 11, 1460.

A few years later, when Paul II occupied the papal throne, the historian Gaspare da Verona described Cardinal Borgia as follows:

He is handsome; of a most glad countenance and joyous aspect, gifted with honeyed and choice eloquence. The beautiful women on whom his eyes are cast, he lures to love him and moves them in a wondrous way, more powerfully than the magnet influences iron.

There are such organizations as Gasparino describes; they are men of the physical and moral nature of Casanova and the Regent of Orleans. Rodrigo’s beauty was noted by many of his contemporaries even when he was Pope. In his Commentarius of 1493, Jeronimo Porzio describes him as follows:

Alexander is tall and neither light nor dark; his eyes are black and his lips somewhat full. His health is robust, and he is able to bear any pain or fatigue; he is wonderfully eloquent and a man of perfect urbanity.

The force of this happy organization lay, apparently, in the perfect balance of all its powers. From it radiated the serene brightness of his being, for nothing is more incorrect than the picture usually drawn of this Borgia, showing him as a sinister monster. The celebrated Jason Mainus, of Milan, calls attention to his ‘elegance of figure, his serene brow, his kingly forehead, his countenance with its expression of generosity and majesty, his genius, and the heroic beauty of his whole presence.’

II

A

BOUT 1466 or 1467, Cardinal Rodrigo’s magnetism attracted a woman of Rome, Vaimozza Cacanci. We know that she was born in July 1442, but of her family we are wholly ignorant.[7] Writers of that day also call her Rosa and Catarina, although she named herself, in well-authenticated documents, Vannozza Catanei. Paolo Giovio states that Vanotti was her patronymic, and although there was a clan of that name in Rome, he is wrong. Vannozza was probably the nickname for Giovanna — thus, we find in the early records of that age a Vaimozza di Nardis, a Vannozza di Zanobeis, a Vannozza di Pontianis, and others.

There was a Catanei family in Rome, as there was in Ferrara, Genoa, and elsewhere. The name was derived from the title capitaneus. In a notarial document of 1502, the name of Alexander’s mistress is given in its ancient form, Vanotia de Captaneis. Litta, to whom Italy is indebted for the great work on her illustrious families[8] — a wonderful work in spite of its errors and omissions — ventures the opinion that Vannozza was a member of the Farnese family and a daughter of Ranuccio. There is, however, no ground for tills theory. In written instruments of that time, she is explicitly called Madonna Vannozza de casa Catanei.

None of Vannozza’s contemporaries have stated what were the characteristics which enabled her to hold the pleasure-loving cardinal so surely and to secure her recognition as the mother of several of his acknowledged children. We may imagine her to have been a strong and voluptuous women like those still seen about the streets of Rome. They possess none of the grace of the ideal woman as depicted by the Umbrian school, but they have something of the magnificence of the Imperial City — Juno and Venus are united in them. They would resemble the ideals of Titian and Paolo Veronese, but for their black hair and dark complexion — blond and red hair have always been rare among the Romans.

Vannozza doubtless was of great