Ferdinand set sail for Naples September 4, 1506, accompanied by his young Queen, and having with him the flower of his army. About a month later, October 5th, his son-in-law Philippe, the Regent of Castile, suddenly died. The Regent was then only twenty-eight years of age, and he was so strong and active that it was believed that he had been poisoned. His widow had still sufficient sense left to ask her father to return to Spain, and to her supplications were added those of his subjects, who feared the kingdom might become a prey to the contending factions. Ferdinand, however, was making good progress in Naples and was anxious to complete his work; he therefore refused to come, and Jeanne acted as Regent during his absence.
The death of Philippe had left Caesar’s guardian, Don Bernardino de Cardenas, in a peculiar position; he had directly disobeyed Ferdinand’s orders, and now, to save himself from the King’s wrath, he proposed to Luis Ferrer, the Catholic monarch’s ambassador, to send Caesar to him in order that he might be transferred to Aragon. Ferrer, cognisant of the machinations which had been carried on by Philippe le Beau and Maximilian with Caesar in prison, promptly accepted the offer in the name of his sovereign, but asked Cardenas to keep his prisoner until he could ascertain Ferdinand’s wishes regarding him. The Spanish monarch, however, was still in Naples, and Caesar, informed by Don Bernardino of what he had done, and unwilling to trust himself to him, succeeded in making his escape, October 25, 1506. He arrived at the Court of his brother-in-law Jean d’Albret December 3, 1506, suddenly--“like the devil,” as the chronicler Moret says.
The news of his escape caused consternation in Italy; Julius II. could never rest as long as Valentino was at large; the Venetians feared him, and the King of France immediately took steps to defend himself against his machinations. Caesar’s friends in Romagna, however, immediately recovered hope.
The Castle of Medina del Campo was the largest in Spain, and for any one to escape from its gloomy walls had been deemed impossible. Erected about the middle of the fifteenth century, in 1460 it fell into the hands of Fonseca, Archbishop of Seville, who on his death left it to a cousin. In 1473 it was seized by the first Duke of Alva.