Isabella Borgia (1467-1547) was the illegitimate daughter of Cardinal Rodrigo Borgia and the great-great-grandmother of Pope Innocent X.
Biography[]
Isabella Borgia was the first daughter of Cardinal Rodrigo Borgia, born to one of his mistresses. Borgia was raised thinking that her father was her uncle, and her "uncle" later had her marry Pier Giovanni Matuzzi. She ran away and hid in a cellar amongst wine casks and a cat that she named Beppe, living there for two weeks and stealing food. However, a candlestick fell down and burnt down the stellar, killing the cat, her sister Jeronima, and her husband, and she was brought back to the Cancelleria. Borgia was married to Matuzzi, and she found out that she was "the finest man that (she) had ever met," before he unfortunately died, leaving her with one son, Aurelio Borgia Matuzzi. Rodrigo Borgia despised her for killing her own sister, and she later told this secret to Lucrezia Borgia in 1499 as a part of her effort to create a united Borgia family. Borgia died in 1547; her great-great-grandson became Pope Innocent X.