escaping Caesar's sword. Alfonso, as a vassal of the Church,
sent him some troops, but he did not take part personally in the
expedition. Guidobaldo of Urbino, who had adopted Francesco Maria Rovere
as his son and heir, and the Marchese Gonzaga served in the army of
Julius II. September 12, 1506, the Pope entered Perugia, whose tyrants,
the Baglioni, surrendered. November 11th he made his entry into Bologna,
Giovanni Bentivoglio and his wife Ginevra having fled with their
children. There Julius halted, casting longing looks at Romagna,
formerly Caesar's domain, but now occupied by the Venetian army.

It is a curious coincidence that it was at this very moment that the
Duke of Romagna, who had vanished from the stage, again appeared. In
November Lucretia received news that her brother had escaped from his
prison in Spain, and she immediately communicated the fact to the
Marchese Gonzaga, who, as field marshal of the Church, was in
Bologna.[209]

Lucretia had frequently exerted herself to secure Caesar's freedom and
had remained in constant communication with him by messenger. Her
petitions, however, had produced no effect upon the King of Spain.
Finally, owing to favorable circumstances, Caesar succeeded in effecting
his escape. Zurita says that Ferdinand the Catholic intended to remove
him from his prison in the spring of 1506 to Aragon, and then to take
him to Naples, whither he was going to place the affairs of the kingdom
in order, and to assure himself of Gonsalvo, whose loyalty he suspected.
His son-in-law, the Archduke Philip, with whom he was at variance on
account of his pretensions to the kingdom of Castile, refused to allow
Caesar to be released from Medina, a Castilian place. While Ferdinand was
absent on his journey, Philip died at Burgos, September 5, 1506, and
Caesar took advantage of this opportunity and the king's absence to
escape. This he did with the help of the Castilian party, who hoped to
profit by the services of the famous condottiere.

October 25th he escaped from the castle of Medina to the estates of the
Count of Benavente, where he remained. Some of the barons who wished to
place the government of Castile in the hands of Maximilian, Philip's
father, were anxious to send him to Flanders as their messenger to the
emperor's court. As this plan fell through, Caesar betook himself to
Pamplona to his brother-in-law, the King of Navarre, who had become
embroiled in this Castilian intrigue and was