rd gives us a picture of Lucretia at the Christmas
festivities.

While in the service of the League Sforza commanded three hundred foot
soldiers and one hundred heavy horse. With these troops he set out for
Naples in the spring of the following year, when the united forces lent
the young King Ferrante II great assistance in the conflicts with the
French troops under Montpensier. Even the Captain-general of Venice, the
Marchese of Mantua, was there, and he entered Rome, March 26, 1496.
Sforza with his mercenaries arrived in Rome, April 15th, only to leave
the city again April 28th. His wife remained behind. May 4th he reached
Fundi.[43]

Alexander's two sons, Don Giovanni and Don Giuffre, were still away from
Rome. One, the Duke of Gandia, was also in the pay of Venice, and was
expected from Spain to take command of four hundred men which his
lieutenant, Alovisio Bacheto, had enlisted for him. The other, Don
Giuffre, had, as we have seen, gone to Naples in 1494, where he had
married Donna Sancia and had been made Prince of Squillace. As a member
of the house of Aragon he shared the dangers of the declining dynasty in
the hope of inducing the Pope not to abandon it. He accompanied King
Ferrante on his flight, and also followed his standard when, after the
retreat of Charles VIII, he, with the help of Spain, Venice, and the
Pope, again secured possession of his kingdom, entering Naples in the
summer of 1495.

Not until the following year did Don Giuffre and his wife come to Rome.
In royal state they entered the Eternal City, May 20, 1496. The
ambassadors, cardinals, officers of the city, and numerous nobles went
to meet them at the Lateran gate. Lucretia also was there with her
suite. The young couple were escorted to the Vatican. The Pope on his
throne, surrounded by eleven cardinals, received his son and
daughter-in-law. On his right hand he had Lucretia and on his left
Sancia, sitting on cushions. It was Whitsuntide, and the two princesses
and their suites boldly occupied the priests' benches in S. Peter's,
and, according to Burchard, the populace was greatly shocked.

Three months later, August 10, 1496, Alexander's eldest son, Don
Giovanni, Duke of Gandia, entered Rome, where he remained, his father
having determined to make him a great prince.[44] It is not related
whether he brought his wife, Donna Maria, with him.

For the first time Alexander had all his children about him, and in the
Borgo of the Vatican th