I recently watched The Borgias and was struck by the mock Last Supper scene built by King Ferrante of Naples. Obviously the show takes its artistic liberties, but this is one thing that would seem to be partially true. The English Wikipedia article for Ferdinand I of Naples cites Burckhardt (The Civilisation of the Renaissance in Italy) for the king's habit of stuffing his enemies' corpses and putting them on display. Looking a little further, Burckhardt's source would seem to be Paolo Giovio, and, so I tracked down the relevant passage in Giovio's Historiarum sui temporis:
>Horret animus recensere quot proceres, quotque praeclaros duces interposita fide et sacramenti religione, in gratiam receptos, quod antea Gallicarum partium fuissent, violato iure non modo hospitii, sed ipsius regiae mensae, crudeliter enecarint. Horum porro cadavera tremendum visu siccata et condita odoribus in eo habitu quo vivi fuerant iisdemque insignibus exornata adservari atque ostentari ferunt, ut eo execrabili tyrannicae immanitatis atque perfidiae exemplo [emphasis mine], paria timeant qui servire noluerint.
Giovio's writing is already rather scathing ("...such that by this execrable example of tyrannical cruelty and treachery..."), but the paragraph prior is perhaps more polemical: "Aragonii saevissimi regnatores, per multos annos ita crudelitatem atque avaritiam expleverunt" ("the Aragonese, the cruelest of rulers, for many years sated their cruelty and greed").
I'm not familiar with Giovio at all, and I have no knowledge of the Italian Wars, so my question is this: why does he despise the Aragonese dynasty of Naples so much? Was he in the pay of one of their opponents, or did he have friends or influences who suffered under them? Was he simply xenophobic? Moreover, given Giovio's general credibility or lack thereof, how likely is this story to be rumour or propaganda, if we at all have the ability to judge?