Editing Pope Julius II (section)

===Louis XII and his Italian War===
{{Main|Italian War of 1499–1504}}

King Charles VIII of France, the last of the senior branch of the [[House of Valois]], died on 7 April 1498 after accidentally striking his head on the lintel of a door at the [[Château d'Amboise]]. When Cesare Borgia passed through southern France in October 1498 on his way to meet King [[Louis XII]] for his investiture as [[Duke of Valentinois]], he stopped in Avignon and was magnificently entertained by Cardinal della Rovere.<ref>{{harvnb|Pastor|1902|loc=VI, p. 61 note II}}.<br>Gustave Bayle, "Fetes donnees par la Ville d'Avignon a Cesar Borgia," [http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k55435125/f372.image ''Mémoires de l'Academie de Vaucluse''] VII (1888), pp. 149–171.</ref> They then moved on to meet the King at [[Chinon]], where Cesare Borgia fulfilled one of the terms of the treaty between Louis and Alexander by producing the red hat of a cardinal, which had been promised for the [[Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Rouen|Archbishop of Rouen]], [[Georges d'Amboise]]. It was Cardinal della Rovere, the Papal Legate, who placed the hat on Amboise's head.{{sfn|Gregorovius|1900|loc=VII.2, p. 444}}

Louis wanted an annulment from [[Joan of France, Duchess of Berry|Queen Joan]] so he could marry [[Anne of Brittany]], in the hope of annexing the [[Duchy of Brittany]]; Alexander, in turn, wanted a French princess as wife for Cesare. Della Rovere, who was trying to repair his relations with the House of Borgia, was also involved in another clause of the treaty, the marriage between Cesare Borgia and [[Charlotte of Naples|Carlotta]], the daughter of the King of Naples, who had been brought up at the French Court. Della Rovere was in favor of the marriage, but, according to Pope Alexander, King Louis XII was not, and, most especially, Carlotta was stubbornly refusing her consent. Alexander's plan of securing a royal throne for his son fell through, and he was very angry.<ref>{{harvnb|Gregorovius|1900|loc=VII.2, pp. 445–446}}.<br>{{harvnb|Pastor|1902|loc=VI, pp. 65–66}}.</ref> Louis offered Cesare another of his relatives, the "beautiful and rich" [[Charlotte d'Albret]],<ref>Mackie, John Duncan (1991). The Earlier Tudors, 1485–1558. Oxford University Press. p. 74</ref> whom Cesare married at [[Blois]] on 13 May 1499.

The marriage produced a complete ''volta facie'' in Pope Alexander. He became an open partisan of the French and Venice, and accepted their goal, the destruction of the Sforza hold on Milan. On 14 July, Cardinal Ascanio Sforza, della Rovere's sworn enemy, fled Rome with all his property and friends.{{sfn|Eubel|1914|loc=p. 54 n. 613}} Meanwhile, the French army crossed the Alps and captured [[Alessandria]] in Piedmont. On 1 September 1499 Lodovico ''Il Moro'' fled Milan, and on 6 September the city surrendered to the French. Cardinal Giuliano was in the King's entourage when he entered Milan on 6 October.{{sfn|Pastor|1902|loc=VI, pp. 68–71}}

Pope Alexander then turned his attention, stimulated by the Venetians, to the threat of the Ottoman Turks. In the autumn of 1499, he called for a crusade and sought aid and money from all Christendom. The rulers of Europe paid little attention, but to show his sincerity Alexander imposed a [[tithe]] on all the residents of the Papal States and a tithe on the clergy of the entire world. A list of cardinals and their incomes, drawn up for the occasion, shows that Cardinal della Rovere was the second-richest cardinal, with an annual income of 20,000 [[ducat]]s.<ref>The richest was Cardinal Ascanio Sforza, at 30,000 ducats. {{harvnb|Pastor|1902|loc=VI, pp. 88–93}}.</ref>

Another break in relations between Pope Alexander and Cardinal Giuliano came at the end of 1501 or the beginning of 1502 when Giuliano was transferred from the Bishopric of Bologna to the diocese of Vercelli.<ref>24 January 1502: {{harvnb|Eubel|1914|loc=p. 108}}. Brosch, p. 88. {{harvnb|Pastor|1902|loc=VI, p. 121, note §}}.</ref>

On 21 June 1502, Pope Alexander sent his secretary, Francesco Troche (Trochia), and Cardinal [[Amanieu d'Albret]] (brother-in-law of Cesare Borgia) to [[Savona]] to seize Cardinal della Rovere by stealth and bring him back to Rome as quickly as possible and turn him over to the Pope. The kidnapping party returned to Rome on 12 July, without having accomplished its mission.<ref>{{harvnb|Eubel|1914|loc=p. 56 nn. 649, 651}}.<br>{{harvnb|Burchard|1884|loc=II, pp. 209–212}}.<br>Cecil H. Clough, "Niccolò Machiavelli, Cesare Borgia, and the Francesco Troche Episode," ''Medievalia et Humanistica'' 17 (1966), pp. 129–149.</ref> On 20 July 1502, Cardinal Giovanni Battista Ferrari died in his rooms at the Vatican Palace; he had been poisoned, and his property was claimed by the Borgia.<ref>{{harvnb|Eubel|1914|loc=p. 56 n. 652}}. {{harvnb|Gregorovius|1900|loc=VII.2, pp. 492–493}}.</ref> On 3 January 1503, [[Giambattista Orsini|Cardinal Orsini]] was arrested and sent to the Castel Sant'Angelo; on 22 February he died there, poisoned on the orders of Alexander VI.<ref>{{harvnb|Eubel|1914|loc=p. 56 n. 656}}. {{harvnb|Gregorovius|1900|loc=VII.2, pp. 501–502, 506–507}}.</ref>