Valencian Nobleman and the 1st Duke of Gandia Pere Lluís de Borja was the son of Cardinal Rodrigo Borgia, a man who would later become Pope Alexander VI. A soldier who had fought for Spanish forces during the Grand War with great success, he lived from roughly 1460 until approximately 1490, though the exact dates are unknown. In 1484, just a few years before his death, he purchased a set of houses in Valencia to build a residence for his influential family. Francesc Martínez Biulaygua started the works, although a series of important Gothic architects intervened, such as Llotja´s master Pere Compte. Like most families who rise to power, an eventual fall is inevitable. The Borgias had built up a reputation for foul play, skullduggery and deceit, particularly during Pope Alexander VI’s reign – and made plenty of enemies in the process. Alas, the House of Borgia fell in the second half of the 18th century, and the palace was owned in turn by theTéllez Grión family, counts of Benavente and dukes of Osuna. In the 1800s it was sold to Pujals family, who established a silk spinning factory there. Finally, in 1905, Juan Pérez de Sanmillán y Miquel, the Marquis of Benicarló, inherited the palace from the Pujals family, and from then the palace also became known as the Benicarló Palace. It was the seat of the government of the Second Republic. In an ironic twist, it would soon serve as dictator Franco's residence during his visits to Valencia after the end of the Civil War.