How do you feel about the Holy See and how a pope exercised power in Renaissance Rome? What are some of the differences that you found most interesting? Were you surprised by how the Vatican operated during this era? Do you see any parallels to today?ħ. Italy during the Renaissance was very different from the country of today. How would you describe their relationship? Do you think Cesare loved his sister, and how do his actions influence her? Do you feel as if you understand Cesare Borgia? If so, why? If not, why not?Ħ. Lucrezia’s relationship with her brother Cesare is a key component in this novel. What kind of childhood did she have and how do you think it shaped her? What are her expectations of her future compared to what actually happened? What kind of obstacles did she come up against and how does she react?ĥ. Discuss how Lucrezia’s life transforms after her father is elected to the Holy See. What does it say about her personality and how she feels about her family, both at the start and at the conclusion of the novel?Ĥ. Lucrezia opens the novel by saying that “Infamy is merely an accident of fate.” What does she mean? Discuss how she reaches this conclusion. How much of her reputation do you think she deserves? Why do you think history blackened her reputation?ģ. New research, however, challenges this centuries-long perception of her. History has condemned Lucrezia as a poisoner and incestuous with both her brother and her father. Does he succeed? Is Lucrezia sympathetic to you? If so, why? If not, why not?Ģ.

Gortner’s goal was to portray Lucrezia Borgia, one of history’s most infamous and maligned personages, as a multifaceted human being, beholden to the strictures of her era and her family.

The Vatican Princess by C.W. Gortner