raised the credit
of his state and war establishment. Seven years later, Guidobaldo
married Elisabetta, daughter of Francesco Gonzaga, Marquis of Mantua.
This union, though a happy one, was never blessed with children; and in
the certainty of barrenness, the young Duke thought it prudent to adopt
a nephew as heir to his dominions. He had several sisters, one of whom,
Giovanna, had been married to a nephew of Sixtus IV., Giovanni della
Rovere, Lord of Sinigaglia and Prefect of Rome. They had a son,
Francesco Maria, who, after his adoption by Guidobaldo, spent his
boyhood at Urbino.

The last years of the fifteenth century were marked by the sudden rise
of Cesare Borgia to a power which threatened the liberties of Italy.
Acting as General for the Church, he carried his arms against the petty
tyrants of Romagna, whom he dispossessed and extirpated. His next move
was upon Camerino and Urbino. He first acquired Camerino, having lulled
Guidobaldo into false security by treacherous professions of good-will.
Suddenly the Duke received intelligence that the Borgia was marching on
him over Cagli. This was in the middle of June 1502. It is difficult to
comprehend the state of weakness in which Guidobaldo was surprised, or
the panic which then seized him. He made no efforts to rouse his
subjects to resistance, but fled by night with his nephew through rough
mountain roads, leaving his capital and palace to the marauder. Cesare
Borgia took possession without striking a blow, and removed the
treasures of Urbino to the Vatican. His occupation of the duchy was not
undisturbed, however; for the people rose in several places against him,
proving that Guidobaldo had yielded too hastily to alarm. By this time
the fugitive was safe in Mantua, whence he returned, and for a short
time succeeded in establishing himself again at Urbino. But he could not
hold his own against the Borgias, and in December, by a treaty, he
resigned his claims and retired to Venice, where he lived upon the
bounty of S. Mark. It must be said, in justice to the Duke, that his
constitutional debility rendered him unfit for active operations in the
field. Perhaps he could not have done better than thus to bend beneath
the storm.

The sudden death of Alexander VI. and the election of a Della Rovere to
the Papacy in 1503 changed Guidobaldo's prospects. Julius II. was the
sworn foe of the Borgias and the close kinsman of Urbino's heir. It was
therefore easy for the Duke