li di spagna per suo
fiol duca di Gandia novamente li venuto.

[47] Epitaphia clarissimarum mulierum que virtute: arte: aut aliqua nota
claruerunt. Codex Hartmann Schedel in the State Library of Munich.

CHAPTER XII

THE DIVORCE AND SECOND MARRIAGE

After the surrender of the remnant of the French forces in the fall of
1496, Giovanni Sforza returned from Naples. There is no doubt that he
went to Rome for the purpose of taking Lucretia home with him to Pesaro,
where we find him about the close of the year, and where he spent the
winter. The chroniclers of Pesaro, however, state that he left the city
in disguise, January 15, 1497, and that Lucretia followed him a few days
later for the purpose of going to Rome.[48] Both were present at the
Easter festivities in the papal city.

Sforza was now a worn-out plaything which Alexander was preparing to
cast away, for his daughter's marriage to the tyrant of Pesaro promised
him nothing more, the house of Sforza having lost all its influence;
moreover, the times were propitious for establishing connections which
would be of greater advantage to the Borgias. The Pope was unwilling to
give his son-in-law a command in the war against the Orsini, which he
had begun immediately after the return of his son Don Giovanni from
Spain, for whom he wanted to confiscate the property of these mighty
lords. He secured the services of Duke Guidobaldo of Urbino, who
likewise had served in the allied armies of Naples, and whom the
Venetians released in order that he might assume supreme command of the
papal troops.

This noble man was the last of the house of Montefeltre, and the Borgias
already had their eyes on his possessions. His sister Giovanna was
married in 1478 to the municipal prefect, Giovanni della Rovere, a
brother of Cardinal Giuliano, and in 1490 she bore him a daughter,
Francesca Maria, a child who was looked upon as heir of Urbino.
Guidobaldo did not disdain to serve as a condottiere for pay and in the
hope of winning honors; he was also a vassal of the Church. Fear of the
Borgias led him to seek their friendship although he hated them.

In the war against the Orsini the young Duke of Gandia was next in
command under Guidobaldo, and Alexander made him the standard-bearer of
the Church and Rector of Viterbo, and of the entire Patrimonium after he
had removed Alessandro Farnese from that position. This appears to have
been due to a dislike he felt for Giulia's brother.