Namesake

My name, Lucretia, was passed down in my family. It was my grandmother's first name, my mother's middle name, and again my first name. I always felt I had a special name. My grandmother would introduce me to others as her namesake. It was an unusual name and when hearing it for the first time, people would always react and comment. I was frequently told it was a beautiful name. My grandmother, my mother, and I are all strong women, and I have been thinking of writing a historical novel following our lives, the difficulties faced, and the strength that we drew upon.

Starting when I was a teen and again and again over the years, adults would hear my name and respond ominously, "Oh, you know of Lucretia Borgia don't you?" Generally, they would tell me that she was a murderous woman who killed her husand(s). One of the first accounts given to me was that she ground up glass and put it in her husband's food. I didn't ever look it up, I just went along with the rumor that seemed to have survived for ages. Then I happened to see the PBS special on Lucretia Borgia. It turned out that she was the daughter of Pope Alexander VI and that he and her brother were power hungry and used her marriages to form politically powerful alliances. Lucretia's first husband was jumped on the street and stabbed multiple times and then while trying to recover, someone strangled him in his bed. It seems her brother arranged for him to be murdered. Other husbands were run off in other ways and Lucretia married off to form more and more advantagious alliances. When the Pope, her father, finally died, the political maneuvering and scheming died with him. Lucretia and her last husband had a respectable marriage and she had six or more children and successfully lived down the horrible reputation of the Borgia family. However, the rumors about her from that time are still passed on today. People associating me with her would imply that possibly I channeled her murderous tendencies. I would lead them to believe it was possible.

It was in a college English class that a professor told me of Shakespeare's "The Rape of Lucrece" which told the story of a virtuous and moral wife being raped by a Roman prince and her suicide from shame. Here was a more sympathetic association to my name. But by then, I had formed a bond with Lucretia Borgia.