Lucrezia Borgia (or "Lucrecia Borgia") (April 14 or April 18, 1480 - June 24, 1519) was the daughter of Rodrigo Borgia, the powerful Renaissance Spaniard who would later become Pope Alexander VI .
After Rodrigo became Pope Alexander VI,he had Lucrezia marry Giovanni
Sforza in order to establish an alliance with that powerful Milanese family. The wedding was a scandalous event but was not much more extravagant than many other Renaissance celebrations.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucretia_Borgia
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During the Renaissance, poisoning became an art form, inspiring subtle ways to dispense with people via such items as poison rings, swords, knives, letters, and even lipstick. Poisoning societies developed, as did family businesses that relied on poison-for-hire as their trade. Notorious poisoners came out of Italy and France at this time.
While poison is the weapon of choice for women, and throughout history more women than men have been mass or serial poisoners, a sampling of prominent serial killers via poison contains representatives from both genders.
* Locusta, in Ancient Rome, was Nero's personal poisoner and the first documented serial killer. She helped Nero to murder his brother with cyanide, and she also murdered several of his wives.
* The Council of Ten in Venice in 1419 poisoned people for a fee, using a mercury-based compound and various forms of arsenic. In Venice and Rome, there were even schools for people to learn how to do this.
* In the 17th century, Italy's Madam Toffana was apparently successful in her poisonings around 600 times, either directly by her or indirectly by those to whom she sold her arsenic concoction. She was allegedly involved with poisoning two popes.
Moral courage is the most valuable and usually the most absent characteristic in men ~ General George S. Patton, Jr.
She taking all the stars down from her sky to hang them up someplace new, where there's better weather and the sky's a different blue. ~ Autumn Fields