Cesare Borgia

Cesare Borgia appears in Kyle’s notes only as one of the people in Walter Isaacson’s biography of Leonardo Da Vinci, where he is listed among the figures who cross Leonardo’s life. The biography places Leonardo alongside a cast that includes Luca Pacioli, Albert Einstein, Steve Jobs, Charles Darwin, Alexander the Great, and Aristotle — Cesare Borgia among them as a patron-era contemporary. Kyle has not recorded substantive notes on Borgia beyond this association.

Context: Cesare Borgia (c. 1475–1507) was an Italian Renaissance nobleman, condottiero, and cardinal, the illegitimate son of Pope Alexander VI. In 1502 he employed Leonardo da Vinci as a military architect and engineer. His ruthless statecraft was a central model for Machiavelli’s The Prince.

Where this appears

• Leonardo Da Vinci — listed among the people in Isaacson’s biography, a contemporary in Leonardo’s orbit (the historical period when Borgia employed Leonardo as a military engineer).