Rodrigo made promises to other cardinals in letters. The corruption and influence had easy tasks with all of these men who got their church positions through their secular power. They bought their votes with secular wealth, rolling golden ducats and ecclesiastic offices.
The papal throne was worth everything to Rodrigo—Cardinal Ascanio Sforza, who had eight supporters after the third election, resigned his papal ambitions in exchange for Borgia’s palace and the title of vice chancellor, taking also the income of ten thousand ducats and other goods. Part of the agreement as well was a sum of silver that would require four donkeys to carry. The others, like Cardinal Orsini, got fortified cities of Monticelli and Soriano with the Bishopric of Cartagena, which provided him an income of five t
