At the Court of the Borgia: Being an Account of the Reign of Pope Alexander VI. Johann Burchard (c.1450Ð1506) was an Alsatian-born priest and chronicler during the Italian Renaissance. He spent his entire career at the papal Courts of Sixtus IV, Innocent VIII, Alexander VI, Pius III, and Julius II, serving as papal Master of Ceremonies, a position from which he was able to observe most of the important events of the period.