The twisted Pope Alexander VI lived a life of sin and debauchery—so it's only fitting that his demise was utterly gruesome.

On one extreme, there was Pope Alexander VI, a Spaniard who fathered children both before and after he bribed his way into the papacy in 1492, the same year Christopher Columbus "discovered" America.

Following Columbus’s landmark voyage, Spain and Portugal found themselves in a race for global dominance. To prevent open ...