ded to signify the actual taking possession of the territory which
Alexander desired to bestow upon his daughter.

In the meantime her husband Alfonso had decided, unfortunately for
himself, to obey Alexander's command and return to his wife--perhaps
because he really loved her. The Pope ordered him to go to Spoleto by
way of Foligno, and then to come with his spouse to Nepi, where he
himself intended to be. The purpose of this meeting was to establish his
daughter as sovereign there also.

Nepi had never been a baronial fief, although the prefects of Vico and
the Orsini had held the place at different times. The Church through its
deputies governed the town and surrounding country. When Alexander was a
cardinal his uncle Calixtus had made him governor of the city, and such
he remained until he was raised to the papal throne, when he conferred
Nepi upon Cardinal Ascanio Sforza. The neatly written parchment
containing the municipal statute confirming Ascanio's appointment, which
is dated January 1, 1495, is still preserved in the archives of the
city. At the beginning of the year 1499, however, Alexander again
assumed control of Nepi by compelling the castellan, who commanded the
fortress for the truant Ascanio, to surrender it to him. He now invested
his daughter with the castle, the city, and the domain of Nepi.[66]
September 4, 1499, Francesco Borgia, the Pope's treasurer, who was also
Bishop of Teano, took possession of the city in her name.

September 25th Alexander himself, accompanied by four cardinals, went to
Nepi. In the castle, which he had restored, he met Lucretia and her
husband, and also her brother Don Giuffre. He returned to Rome almost
immediately--October 1st. On the tenth he addressed a brief from there
to the city of Nepi, in which he commanded the municipality thenceforth
to obey Lucretia, Duchess of Biselli, as their true sovereign. On the
twelfth he sent his daughter a communication in which he empowered her
to remit certain taxes to which the citizens of Nepi had hitherto been
subject.[67]

Lucretia, therefore, had become the mistress of two large domains--a
fact which clearly shows that she stood in high favor with her father.
She did not again return to Spoleto, but entrusted its government to a
lieutenant. Although Alexander made Cardinal Gurk legate for Perugia
and Todi early in October, he reserved Spoleto for his daughter. Later,
August 10, 1500, he made Ludovico Borgia--who was Archbish