Alexander VI — Rodrigo Borgia — acquired the papal throne in 1492 through what contemporaries openly described as the most flagrant purchase of votes in the College of Cardinals within living memory. The fiorino di camera was the papacy's prestige gold denomination, distinct from Florentine florins in its explicit claim to Roman monetary authority, issued to fund a court that was simultaneously running diplomatic missions against the Ottoman advance and bankrolling Cesare Borgia's military campaigns across the Romagna.
His eleven-year pontificate ended with his sudden death in 1503 — poisoning was alleged then and debated ever since.
Alexander VI — Rodrigo Borgia — acquired the papal throne in 1492 through what contemporaries openly described as the most flagrant purchase of votes in the College of Cardinals within living memory. The fiorino di camera was the papacy's prestige gold denomination, distinct from Florentine florins in its explicit claim to Roman monetary authority, issued to fund a court that was simultaneously running diplomatic missions against the Ottoman advance and bankrolling Cesare Borgia's military campaigns across the Romagna.
His eleven-year pontificate ended with his sudden death in 1503 — poisoning was alleged then and debated ever since.