Monday 4 December 2017

Caterina Sforza V


Rivaldino
After Girolamo

When the Orsi brothers spoke to the town councillors it was decided to submit allegiance to the pope. The council also refused to take action against Caterina, reminding the conspirators that Caterina’s Milanese relations would not be pleased. A solution must not;

‘Further wound or irritate the Countess. That would be not only barbarous and inhuman, but would draw down fatal consequences upon the city, she being of subtle mind and of that high courage that was known to all, indomitable of spirit and inexorable in vengeance.’[i]

After several days imprisonment Caterina was taken to the fortress where the Castellan Tomasso Feo allowed her entrance as previously agreed between the two, leaving the remainder of her family in rebel hands.

Cesena
The rebels threatened to cut Ottaviano into pieces unless Caterina surrender. She told them, with an obscene gesture, that she had the wherewithal to make more children. The pope sent Bishop Giacomo Savelli[ii] with two hundred soldiers to liaise with the rebels. Savelli was able to safeguard Caterina’s relatives against rebel demands to kill them in front of the fortress in an attempt to get Caterina to hand it over. Bishop Savelli had Caterina’s mother and sisters transferred to the safety of Cesena and increased the guard on her children.

Savelli was waiting for papal reinforcements that did not arrive. Innocent was unable to decide what action to take; while not wanting to upset the powerful Sforza family he toyed with the idea of taking Forli and handing it over to his son Franchescetto Cybo. After a period of stalemate Innocent announced that he had appointed Cardinal Raffaele Riario as governor of Forli.

On 29th April 1488 12,000 men appeared outside Forli’s wall; a small contingent of the Milanese army. A ducal emissary demanded the return of Forli to the Riarios. The citizens had little choice than to do as the Milanese demanded, driving off the Orsi[iii], and Caterina was reunited with her children.

Consolidation

Caterina Sforza
Caterina decided to be magnanimous in victory and instead of allowing her uncle’s troops to sack the town sent them home, much to their dismay[iv]. Girolamo’s body was obtained and sent to Imola for burial. On 18th July 1488 Innocent issued papal confirmation of Ottaviano’s right to be Lord of Forli and Imola, until the end of his family line. Caterina was to act as his regent. It is very possible that Cardinal Raffaele Riario was involved in persuading Innocent to change his mind.

Caterina was still young and her beauty was such that, according to one chronicler;

‘Words fail to describe her glorious beauty and graceful manner.’[v]

The eldest Ordelaffi, hoping to regain Forli for his family, had already proposed that he marry Caterina. When word got out Caterina was inundated with disapproving letters from the pope, Caterina’s uncle[vi], Lorenzo de’ Medici and Cardinal Riario. The pope’s letter was self-serving; he was hoping he could override his grant of Forli to Ottaviano and enable him to present the lordship to his son.

Following a summer in the country with Ordelaffi, Caterina returned to Forli to assure her relatives and well-wishers that she had no intention of marriage, or of handing power to anyone else. She turned to good works to add lustre to her reputation, helping to build a church dedicated to the Virgin Mary following a miracle at nearby Piratello. She also started on making alliances with other noble families through her children, choosing four year old Astore Manfredi[vii], Lord of Faenza, as husband for her daughter Bianca.

A Stepfather for the Lord of Forli

Fortress at Forlimpopoli
Caterina was concerned about the safety of the fortresses she held for her son. Trouble with the Castellan of Imola over money owed to him by Girolamo resulted in her being locked out of the fortress until Cardinal Riario stepped in to negotiate between Caterina and the Castellan. Caterina placed her stepfather Gian Pietro Landriani as the fortress’ new Castellan while her stepbrother Piero Landriani was made Castellan of Forlimpopoli[viii].

Caterina also doubted Tomasso Feo, despite his support for her during the 1488 crisis. She engineered his arrest. Her reasoning? She wished to install her lover as Castellan, a lover who seemed more than happy to take over his brother’s job, Giacomo Feo, a portent of things to come.

Giacomo was handsome and twenty years old; he’d worked as a hand in the Riario stables and he blatantly adored his mistress. Giacomo and Caterina married in secret; Caterina was trying to ensure that her position as regent for Ottaviano remained secure, unlike that of her stepmother Bona. So intense was the couple’s relationship that Caterina failed to attend the wedding of her uncle to Beatrice d’Esté in January 1491.

Although the marriage was a secret rumours of it spread through Forli, sparking jealousy against the former groom. A plan was hatched to murder Caterina and Giacomo but she was informed of the plot and managed to turn the tables on the would-be assassins. When questioned it appeared that the plotters were concerned that Giacomo would undermine Ottaviano’s right to rule Forli when he came of age. The four ringleaders were imprisoned deep in the dungeons of the fortress at Ravaldino, while their sons were taken hostage.

On 19th February 1492 the twelve year old Cesare Riario was given his first tonsure; he was destined for the church. In the summer of 1492 Caterina remained secluded from her court with an alleged bout of fever. It is believed that she was delivered of Giacomo’s son Bernardino[ix], during this period. She remained blind to the dangers posed by Giacomo who was accruing power for himself, despite being madly in love with Caterina. the Florentine ambassador noted that the couple;

‘Seemed alone in the world.’[x]

Caterina herself seems to have taken her eye off the ball, ignoring the outside world, so entranced by her relationship with Giacomo. Bernardino joined the Riario children in the nursery as Giacomo’s son by an unknown mother.

A New Pope

Alexander II
An era ended in April 1492 when Lorenzo de’ Medici died, leaving his son Piero[xi] to rule Florence. Three months later, on 25th July, Innocent died and the struggle to replace him centred around two men; Rodrigo Borgia and Guiliano della Rovere. Eventually the bribes paid out by Rodrigo won out and he ascended the papal throne as Alexander VI[xii].

One of those opposed to a Borgia pope had been Cardinal Ascanio Sforza who objected to a pope likely to support the Neapolitan king. However when it appeared likely that prolonging the conclave’s deadlock would result in a della Rovere papacy, Ascanio threw his support behind Rodrigo Borgia. The Florentine historian Francesco Guicciardini[xiii] wrote;

‘Alexander VI was extremely shrewd and wise, a good judge of character, immensely persuasive, and a skilled master at the political game. But these good traits were utterly surpassed by his vices: obscene behaviour, lack of sincerity, audacity, mendacity, disloyalty, impiety…..’[xiv]


Cardinal Juan de Borgia
Under Alexander nepotism in the papacy was to become an outright scandal as the pope advanced the interests of his children, making his son Cesare a cardinal[xv]. Giovanni Borgia was made Duke of Gandia and Captain General of the church. His daughter Lucrezia was married to Giovanni Sforza, Lord of Pesaro and Gioffre Borgia, the pope’s youngest child, was married to Sancia of Aragon, the illegitimate daughter of King Alfonso II of Naples. Alexander also bestowed a cardinal’s hat on his nephew Juan de Borgia.

The ascension of Alexander VI was not good news for Caterina and her brood of Riario children, despite Alexander having stood as Ottaviano’s godfather. Guiliano della Rovere had been the family’s man in the Vatican; now his deadly rival was pope the pugnacious della Rovere lost a lot of his power[xvi]. Alexander made Ascanio Sforza his vice-chancellor, and gave him Alexander’s former palazzo.

 Bibliography

At the Court of the Borgia – Johann Burchard, the Folio Society 1990

Italian Dynasties – Edward Burman, Equation 1989

The Deadly Sisterhood – Leonie Frieda, Harper Collins 2013

The Rise and Fall of the Medici – Christopher Hibbert, Folio Society 2001

The Borgias – Mary Hollingsworth, Quercus Editions Ltd 2014

Tigress of Forli – Elizabeth Lev, Head of Zeus Ltd, 2012

The Borgias – GJ Meyer, Bantam Books 2013

Absolute Monarchs – John Julius Norwich, Random House 2011

www.wikipedia.en


[i] The Deadly Sisterhood - Frieda
[iii] Who eventually found refuge in the Papal States, having been refused harbour by the Venetians. Andrea Orsi was executed in his family’s place
[iv] Under the rules of war pertaining at the time they should have been allowed to sack the town
[v] The Deadly Sisterhood - Frieda
[vi] Who hoped to rule Forli and Imola by proxy
[vii] Murdered by Cesare Borgia in 1502
[viii] A town close to Forli, as its name indicates
[ix] Died 1509
[x] Tigress of Forli - Lev
[xi] Known as the unfortunate; Piero’s arrogance and lack of interest in state affairs was to bring about the downfall of the Medici
[xiii] A friend and correspondent of Machiavelli
[xiv] The Borgias - Hollingsworth
[xv] And appointed him to Alexander’s former Archbishopric of Valencia
[xvi] In contrast to the Sforza, della Rovere had supported a pro-Naples candidate

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