Lucrezia Borgia: Life, Love and Death in Renaissance Italy by Sarah Bradford Page A

Cesare d’Este, Alfonso’s illegitimate grandson by Laura Dianti, whom he took as mistress after Lucrezia’s death, was expelled from the city by Pope Clement VIII who finally succeeded where Popes Julius and Leo had failed. Cesare d’Este retreated to Modena with what remained of the Este inheritance. The papal legate, Cardinal Aldobrandini, stripped Alfonso I’s treasures, his ‘Titians, from the camerini, and took them to Rome.
    Ferrara, once one of the most glittering courts of Europe in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, sank into apathy under papal governance, becoming a shadow of its former self. There is still a romance about Ferrara. Boswell viewed it as ‘the beautiful remains of a great city’, while in 1846 Dickens wrote of the appeal of ‘the long silent streets and the dismantled palaces where ivy waves in lieu of banners’. Gabriele d’Annunzio called it ‘a city of silence’. The glory of the Este, however, has gone.

Archives
    Cambridge University Library Archives, Acton Papers (CUL)
    Acton MSS, Add. MSS 4757: correspondence of Gian Luca Pozzi in Rome with Ercole I d’Este concerning Lucrezia’s marriage; correspondence of Gherardus Saraceni and Hector Berlinguer re the same and minutes by Ercole to the above
    Add. MSS 4758: correspondence of Beltrando de’ostabili in Rome with Ercole
    Add. MSS 4759: correspondence of Beltrando de‘Costabili in Rome concerning illness and death of Alexander VI and fate of Cesare, and Julius II’s reaction to attack on Giulio d’Este
    Biblioteca Comunale Ariostea di Ferrara (BCAFe)
    Lucrezia’s accounts for 1507, Albo Estense Autografi, BCA, Classe 1, 656
    Papal brief to Lucrezia of 1516 concerning San Bernardino, MS coll. Antonelli, 272
    Archivio di Stato di Mantova, Archivio Gonzaga (AG)
    Correspondence Lucrezia Borgia to Francesco Gonzaga:Autografi 84, Busta 1, Busta 2, Busta 3, Busta 4, Serie E XXXi.2, Busta 1189
    Correspondence Lucrezia Borgia to Isabella d’Este: Autografi 84, Busta 1, Busta 2, Busta 3, Busta 4, Serie E XXXi.2 Busta 1189
    Isabella d’Este to Lucrezia Borgia, Copielettere, Busta 2993, 2994, liber 12, liber 15, liber 18
    Isabella d’Este Family Correspondence: Copielettere to Francesco Gonzaga, Ercole d’Este, Ferrante and Servitors with correspondence from the Este family, Busta 2993, liber 12, 13, 14
    Isabella d’Este to Cesare Borgia, Busta 2993, liber 14
    Ippolito d’Este to Isabella, Busta 1189; Alfonso d’Este to Isabella d’Este, E XXXI.2., Busta 1189, Alfonso d’Este to Francesco Gonzaga, E XXX 1.2., Busta 1189, Isabella d’Este to Alfonso d’Este, Busta 2994, liber 18; Ferrante d’Este to Francesco Gonzaga, Busta 1189; Giulio d’Este to Francesco Gonzaga, and to Isabella d’Este, Busta 1189
     
    Bernardino di Prosperi to Isabella d’Este, 1502-19. More than seven hundred letters written from Ferrara covering the period of Lucrezia’s life there: this is probably the most important and largely unexplored source providing not only an almost daily record of her life but a full chronicle of social and political events and people at court and in the city. Serie E XXX 1.3. Buste 1238 – 47
    Archivio di Stato di Milano, Archivio Sforzesco (ASF)
    Potenze Estere, Roma. Reg. Cartella 107; 109; 116; 123; 124; 126; 127;128
    Potenze Estere, Marca. Reg. Cartella 153
    Potenze Estere, Mantova. Reg. Cartella 400
    Archivio di Stato di Modena, Archivio Segreto Estense (ASE)
    Correspondence Francesco Gonzaga to Lucrezia Borgia: Carteggio dei Principi Esteri, Busta 1181
    Lucrezia Borgia correspondence with members of the Este family: Casa e Stato:
    Lucrezia to Ercole 1. Busta 141, Ercole I to Lucrezia, Camera Ducale, Minutario, Busta 5, Minute Ducali, Busta 69
    Lucrezia to Alfonso I d’Este. Casa e Stato, Busta 141, Alfonso I d’Este to Lucrezia. Casa e Stato, Carteggio dei Principi Estensi, Busta 75
    Lucrezia to Cardinal Ippolito d’Este. Casa e Stato, Busta 141
    Lucrezia to Sigismondo d’Este, Casa e Stato, Busta