VIANA AND CÉSAR BORGIA

César Borgia, who was greatly admired by Niccolo Machiavelli, and whose reputation as an adventurer and libertine transcended all frontiers, linked his name to that of Navarre in 1491 when, at the age of 16, he was appointed Bishop of Pamplona. Destined to become Pope (or Cesar) his life was divided between his studies, the hazards of fortune and Vatican diplomacy. He was a prince. A warrior. A cardinal at the age of 19 and captain general of the military forces of the church at 22.  At the age of 24 (1499) he married Carlota d'Albret in Blois.

When his father, pope Alexander VI died in 1503, the blows of fate took him from prison to prison: from Rome to Naples, from Naples to the tower of la Mota. In 1506 he fled to Navarre, which was in the middle of a civil war. In 1507 his brother-in-law King John D'Albret appointed him to the high-ranking military office of Condestable of Navarre and Captain General of the army. On 12th March of that same year, in an unfortunate affray between the count of Lerín, César Borgia died at the Campo de la Verdad, close to Viana, where he is buried. He was 32 years' old.

From the book "Curiosidades del Camino de Santiago". by Juan Ramón Corpas Mauleon. Published by Edilesa

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