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Papacy of Alexander VI (1490s)

Type Event Region Europe Time 1492–1499

Rodrigo Borgia was elected pope in 1492 as Alexander VI. In the later 1490s he divided Iberian colonial spheres via the Treaty of Tordesillas, promot…

Timeline

  1. 1492Rome · RomeSpanish-born cardinal Rodrigo Borgia won the papal election, taking the name Alexander VI, opening an era of Borgia-dominated papacy and provoking lasting controversy over papal morality and nepotism.
  2. 1494Tordesillas · CastileBuilding on earlier papal bulls by Alexander VI, Spain and Portugal signed a treaty dividing New World colonial and missionary spheres along a meridian, reflecting the papacy's key arbitrating role in the Age of Exploration's global order.
  3. 1497–1499Italian Peninsula · ItalyAlexander VI appointed his son Cesare Borgia cardinal, then released him from holy orders to serve as military commander of the Papal States, expanding family power through marriage and force in Romagna and elsewhere, tightly fusing papal and secular power.

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