CHAPTER XV

1503—1505
Death of Pius III.—Election of Julius II.—Return of Elisabetta to
Urbino—Caesar Borgia sent to Spain, and his capture—Birth
of Isabella’s daughter Ippolita—Francesco Gonzaga resigns
his command of the French armies—Returns to Mantua—The
French lose Naples — Comedies at Urbino, Mantua, and
Ferrara—Death of Duke Ercole—Quarrels and plots of the
Este brothers—Marriage of Francesco Maria della Rovere
and Leonora Gonzaga—Sigismondo Gonzaga raised to the
Cardinalate—Letters of Emilia Pia—Castiglione and Bembo—
Death of Suor Osanna—A Dominican vicar-general—Birth
of Isabella’s son Ercole.
The election of Pope Pius III. proved to be only a
temporary measure. The new Pontiff was already
worn out with age and infirmities, and the fatigues of
his coronation, added to the anxieties of his office,
brought on a fatal illness of which he died on the
17th of October, only a month after his elevation to
the papal see. This time all parties agreed to choose
Giuliano della Rovere, and on the 1st of November,
after the shortest conclave ever known in the long
history of the Papacy,1 he was proclaimed Pope under
the title of Julius II. His election produced a
complete revolution in the policy of the Holy See.
The Duke of Urbino, whose sister was the wife
of Giovanni della Rovere, Prefect of Rome, was
appointed Captain - general of the Church, with
Giovanni Gonzaga as his lieutenant, and his nephew
1 Pastor, “History of the Popes,” vi. 210.
258