During the Renaissance time in Europe, the center of the world was Rome for all of Europe was dominated by the Catholic Church. At the center of the Rome is the Pope and in the Renaissance times, they lived similar to very well paid Executives of today. The Popes and Cardinals received a very generous compensation scheme from being Cardinal of the region. The Church was seen as being close to God and people in general were not necessarily dissatisfied with the set up. The Pope lived well and was allowed to have mistresses and children. During the reign of Alexander VI, the Pope or Rodrigo Borgia used his children as help his papacy and to politically align the church against potential enemies. His son Cesare became a Cardinal as well as taking out rivals; his daughter Lucrezia has been the subject of many reports of what was not good with the Renaissance.  In a book called Lucrezia Borgia by Sarah Bradford, published by Viking 2004, the author tries to see the real Lucrenzia.

At that time, in history particularly among the lords of the land, daughters and nieces were used to cement relationships with other lords to ensure relative peace. However, just because Rodrigo became Pope it does not mean he automatically became part of the in crowd. Lucrezia’s third marriage since 12 years of age was to Alfonso d’Este who was the son of the ruler of the lands around Ferrara which is between Bologna and Venice. The d’Este had ruled Ferrara for over 900 years at the time of the marriage. The Borgia’s were first generation of Cardinal and was led by a very ambitious Pope from Spain. Alfonso’s father ensured his relatives who could have challenged him were dealt with and the two side negotiated a large dowry (a very large dowry from the Pope) to ensure the marriage would take place. It did and produced heirs for the family to rule until the 1600’s and one of the tourist attractions is the d’Este Castle, prior to an earthquake in 1570, Ferrara was known for its music and plays and the many churches in the city. When the Pope under the Papal States ruled the land, the treasures were sent to Rome.

Linking to dividend paying stocks, it seems on takeovers nothing has changed, one company which has existed for a period of time believes they are worth more than some upstart and the end result is raising the price of the stocks. Throwing more money into the deal is a time honored method of doing things.

There are more questions than answers, till the next time – to raising questions.