Guidobaldo da Montefeltro, Duke of Urbino, suffering from pellagra dies in Fossombrone at the age of thirty-six.

He is succeeded by Francesco Maria della Rovere

Guidobaldo had married Elisabetta Gonzaga, the sister of Francesco II Gonzaga, Marquis of Mantua.

Guidobaldo was impotent, and they had no children, but Elisabetta had refused to divorce him.

He had fought as one of Pope Alexander VI's captains alongside the French troops of King Charles VIII of France during the latter's invasion of southern Italy; later, he had been hired by the Republic of Venice against Charles.

In 1496, while fighting for the Pope near Bracciano, Guidobaldo had been taken prisoner by the Orsini and the Vitelli, being freed the following year.

Guidobaldo had been forced to flee Urbino in 1502 to escape the armies of Cesare Borgia, but had returned after the death of Cesare Borgia's father, Pope Alexander VI, in 1503.

He has adopted Francesco Maria della Rovere, his sister's child and nephew of pope Julius II, thus uniting the seigniory of Senigallia with Urbino.

He had aided pope Julius II in reconquering the Romagna.

The court of Urbino is at this time one of the most refined and elegant in Italy.

Many men of letters meet here.

The Italo-English historian Polydore Vergil may have worked in the service of Guidobaldo and Elisabetta as well as Baldassare Castiglione, the author of the book Il Cortigiano, which describes the court of Urbino.