Lucrezia's Wedding

Lucrezia's Wedding is the fourth episode of season one, as well as the fourth episode of the series. It was written by Neil Jordan, and directed by Simon Cellan Jones.

Plot synopsis
Lucrezia's financially and politically motivated wedding to Milanese nobleman Giovanni Sforza is a disaster thanks to Juan's inappropriately bawdy play in his sister's honor, Cesare's brazen flirting with a married baroness, and the arrival of the Borgia children's illegitimate mother; Della Rovere seeks the aid of the illustrious Medici family and their counselor, Machiavelli.

Appearances
Jeremy Irons as Rodrigo Borgia

François Arnaud as Cesare Borgia

Holliday Grainger as Lucrezia Borgia

Joanne Whalley as Vanozza Cattaneo

Lotte Verbeek as Giulia Farnese

David Oakes as Juan Borgia

Sean Harris as Micheletto Corella

Aidan Alexander as Joffre Borgia

Steven Berkoff as Girolamo Savonarola

Colm Feore as Giuliano Della Rovere

Julian Bleach as Niccolo Machiavelli

Ruta Gedmintas as Ursula Bonadeo

Luke Pasqualino as Paolo

Mickey Sumner as Francesca

Peter Sullivan as Cardinal Ascanio Sforza

Ronan Vibert as Giovanni Sforza

Johnny Palmiero as Giancarlo

Kenneth Collard as Husband (Actor)

Paloma Oakenfold as Courtesan (Actor)

Helen Norton as Wife (Actor)

Dávid Abonyi as Son (Actor)

Mal Whyte as Theatre Manager

Cesare Taurasi as Piero De Medici

David Bamber as Theo

Robert Reina as Spanish Ambassador

Fabiano Dantas Tavares as Native American

Justin Avoth as Conquistador

Nicholas Rowe as Baron Bonadeo

Poll
What did you think of Lucrezia's Wedding? Awesome Good OK Poor Terrible

Trivia

 * Goof: Lucrezia asks Cesare how Prince Djem died and he replies "swamp fever", to which Lucrezia comments about Djem being brought down by a mosquito, which indicates malaria. The transmission of malaria by mosquito wasn't discovered until hundreds of years later in the 1880s.
 * Goof: The Spanish ambassador uses the word America in reference to the lands discovered by Columbus. However, this term was not coined until the elaboration of the Waldseemüller map in 1507, four years after the death of Pope Alexander VI.
 * Goof: Savonarola claims to have dreamed about a Pope "blackened by syphilis". While some historians believe that the disease was already known in 1493 Italy, the word syphilis was not coined until the publication of Fracastoro's poem Syphilis sive morbus gallicus ("Syphilis or The French Disease") in the 1550s, which is about a shepherd named Syphilus that gets the disease as punishment for insulting the Sun god.
 * Goof: Lucrezia speaks of "sprezzatura", yet the concept would not become known until twenty five years after her father's death with the publication of 'The Book of the Courtier' by Baldessare Castiglione in 1528.
 * Goof: The flag of Spain is incorrectly depicted as the Bars of Aragon with the Coat of Arms of Castile and Leon superimposed. The actual Spanish flag at the time consisted of the arms of Castile, Leon and Aragon quartered, along with those of Sicily and recently conquered Granada as well.

Historical notes

 * Giovanni Sforza was only 26 years old at the time he married Lucrezia Borgia, not in his 40s as the series depicts him. Also, there are no indicators to assume he raped her.

Sneak peeks


Behind the scenes
