The Tigress of Forli (24 page)

According to the most well-known version of the story, Caterina strode to the edge of the ramparts. With daggers drawn, the Orsis called to her, promising to kill her children, mother, and sister on the spot. Certain of imminent victory, they taunted her by making the children cry all the harder. In response, Caterina bellowed, "Do it then, you fools! I am already pregnant with another child by Count Riario and I have the means to make more!"
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Then she turned on her heel and walked back into the castle.

That retort at Ravaldino would define Caterina Sforza throughout history. The Venetian ambassador, floored by her audacity, dubbed her a "tigress," willing to eat her young to gain power.
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Galeotto Manfredi, whose own sexual proclivities had sent his wife running, passed down a particularly earthy version of the retort at Ravaldino. Writing to Lorenzo de' Medici, Manfredi claimed that Caterina, faced with these murderous threats, had brazenly raised her skirts, pointed to her genitals, and crowed that unlike the men gathered below, she had the equipment for making more.
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Although no one else included these crude details in descriptions of the spectacle, Niccolò Machiavelli chose to repeat this salacious version in his
Discourses.
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In fact, based on a close analysis of the most reliable historical documents, Caterina's words and actions appear quite different. While no fewer than five letters written at the time
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and several contemporary accounts have immortalized her outrageous statement spoken from the ramparts, Cobelli and Bernardi, both eyewitnesses, do not mention a word of Caterina's retort. Bernardi claims that "she had gone to rest in a certain room far away from the ramparts"
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and was unaware of what was happening above. This seems a bit too passive a stance for a woman who certainly knew exactly what was at stake. Both local authors concur that the children were brought to the ramparts and threatened with violence, but they also claim that despite the screams of Ottaviano and Livio, Caterina never came out. Cobelli suggests that Caterina remained below intentionally, perhaps to avoid addressing the Orsis in front of her children, and that Feo, concerned that the cries would weaken Caterina's resolve, ordered several volleys of cannon fire to drown out the sound and to scare the Orsis.
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Bernardi, in his turn, confirms this discharge of artillery from the castle.

Caterina was roundly condemned by most of Renaissance society, even by the notoriously amoral Machiavelli, for gambling with the lives of her children. She never deigned to reveal the reasoning that informed her actions on that day, but by calling the Orsis' bluff, Caterina succeeded in saving her children. Furthermore, her lifetime of concern and sacrifice for all her offspring is mute testimony to the fact that she was a loving mother whose best option in this instance was to outfox her enemies.

Bishop Savelli realized that his own promise to secure the safety of the children was being undermined by his unstable allies. He reclaimed the family immediately and returned them to the Porta San Pietro under a stronger guard, forbidding anyone but himself to move them again. The Orsis went back to their palace, where Andrea Orsi, the aged sire of Ludovico and Checco, had returned from his country house, eager to hear the outcome of the plot. As Ludovico recounted the events of the past two days, Andrea, though recovering from a severe illness, rose to his feet, shaking with rage. "You have done a bad thing and done it badly," he wheezed. "Once you had killed the count you should have done away with the whole family." He prophesied a terrible end for the entire Orsi clan. Now that Caterina was in the fortress, the old man predicted, "she will fight [you] to the death" and in the end "all of you—even me, old and sick as I am—will have to bear the punishment for your lack of foresight!"

Savelli, realizing that the situation had escaped his control, wrote to Rome, asking for a contingent of soldiers to occupy the city. But Rome was slow to respond while ambassadors and advisers debated the Forlì question before the pope. The stalemate at Ravaldino had transformed the conquest of Forlì from a battle of strength into a game of endurance.

Lorenzo de' Medici was aware of everything transpiring in Forlì. Noting that Girolamo's murder occurred a few days before the tenth anniversary of the Pazzi conspiracy, which had claimed the life of Lorenzo's beloved brother Giuliano, some contemporaries hinted that the Florentine ruler instigated the assassination. Feverish correspondence poured onto Lorenzo's desk in the wake of the killing, mostly from Lorenzo's agents, but Giovanni Bentivoglio of Bologna wrote as well, repeatedly asking whether he should respond to Caterina's messages and come to the countess's aid. Lorenzo chose not to reply, and even his own ambassadors marveled at how slow Lorenzo was to respond to their correspondence.

The days stretched on. Caterina, to keep the invaders' nerves on edge, had periodic artillery blasts shot at the houses of her enemies, ensuring that property would be damaged without injuring people. Vandals, on the other hand, took advantage of the uncertain situation to steal as much as possible.

On April 18, several townsfolk defected to Ravaldino, seeking safety with the countess behind its mighty walls. First the Jewish pawnbrokers, tired of the unchecked looting of their shops, joined Caterina. Shortly thereafter, the artisans of Forlì, sensing that power was slipping away from the Orsis, smuggled themselves and their wares into the fortress.

The Orsis rounded up the wives and children of the deserters and brought them to the moat, as they had with Caterina's family, hoping to bring to heel the new allies of the Riarios. But Caterina had publicly taken the measure of the Orsis and they had proved weak, so the artisans remained within the walls, sensing it was an idle threat. And indeed, the families were returned to the city unharmed.

Bishop Savelli transferred Caterina's mother and sister to Cesena, out of reach of the Orsis, and reinforced the guard on the children and nurses in the Porta San Pietro prison. But the silence from Rome worried him. Papal armies were stationed nearby at Urbino and Rimini; they should have already arrived. Why, he wondered, was Pope Innocent stalling in sending aid? Forlì was actually at the forefront of the pope's mind, but he couldn't decide what action to take. Meeting with the ambassadors of Florence and Milan, Pope Innocent dithered, expressing concern for the safety of the Riario children, his desire not to offend either Florence or Milan, and the tempting idea of presenting Forlì to his son Francescetto as a wedding gift. Perhaps, the pope optimistically suggested, they could transfer Caterina and her children to Cesena "for their own good,"
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hoping that clearing out the Riarios would smooth the path to his takeover. But the Milanese ambassadors rushed to dispel this idea: Caterina was already in the fortress; if she was going to leave, shouldn't she retreat to Imola, which was, after all, still Riario territory? Furthermore, if the pope threw his support behind rebels and assassins, what kind of message would he be sending? Would it not incite other townships to do the same? The vacillating pope realized that Milanese troops were close to the city and sending soldiers would mean finding himself at war with a very powerful duke. The question was shelved and no papal armies departed from Rome.

To make matters worse for Savelli, Giovanni Bentivoglio interpreted Lorenzo de' Medici's silence as a green light for Bologna to rescue Forlì. With a force of eight hundred cavalrymen and a thousand infantrymen, he marched to Forlì on April 21 and set up camp outside the city gates. A herald rode into the city in the name of Bentivoglio and informed the people that Milan and Bologna both supported the Riario claim to the city.

Bishop Savelli remained cool, and his measured response calmed the Forlivesi. Forlì was under papal protection. The Riarios had forfeited Forlì by failing to pay tribute to Rome and by their ill use of their own citizens. The Riario family could move to Imola, where there were no signs of rebellion, and withdraw their claim on Forlì. The Orsis, on the other hand, made no effort to enter into diplomatic negotiations. They hurled insults at the messenger and cursed the Bentivoglio family. Two days later, menacing new messages arrived from Giovanni Bentivoglio: invasion was imminent. The townspeople, frightened, began to mutter regrets about asking assistance from the church. As the murmurs swelled into shouts, Savelli sent one of his own relatives to ride into the city with the papal standard. Posing as a messenger, Savelli's cousin bore letters promising papal support. The people saw the golden keys and tiara, heard the words of reassurance, and rebuffed the Bolognese envoy. What they didn't know was that the documents brandished by the "papal" messenger as letters from Pope Innocent himself were forgeries produced by Savelli and his cousin.
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Emboldened by the conviction that papal support was on the way, the Forlivesi kidnapped and beat the Milanese envoy and his Bolognese companion. Checco Orsi boasted that he had killed the Riario children, hoping word would trickle back to Ravaldino and devastate their worried mother. Two more Bentivoglio agents, trying to get word to Caterina that her brother's troops had arrived, were captured and hanged by the mob.

Still locked out of the fortress, with the Bentivoglio army at the gate, Ludovico and Checco Orsi tried to enlist the aid of Florence. Writing to Lorenzo de' Medici, they claimed that they had avenged not only the wrongs done to their people but also to the house of Medici. Portraying themselves as patriots who had rid Forlì of the tyrant who "sucked the blood of the poor, was untrue to his word and finally, loved no one but himself,"
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they suggested that their exploit was more "divine than human." They confided that "we hope to start the siege [of Ravaldino] today" and that the complete takeover of the city would follow shortly. Lorenzo ignored this invitation to lend his aid to the conspirators. With his archenemy dead and his brother avenged, he could afford to sit back and watch events unfold.

In the midst of this stalemate, there was one happy event. Caterina's sister Stella Landriani and Andrea Ricci, Girolamo's nephew, were married. Stella, who with a bold spirit had resisted the count's killers, and Andrea, who had been among the first to draw his sword in the defense of the Riarios, were well matched. Wounded in the fray, Andrea had been nursed back to health by the solicitous Stella. The two were married by Bishop Savelli in Cesena, who was delighted to preside over this single joyful occasion during a troubled time.

Perhaps it was this springtime awakening of love, or merely shrewd opportunism, that prompted Antonio Maria Ordelaffi to make an unexpected proposal as well. The oldest of the three brothers who claimed lordship of Forlì left his safe haven of Ravenna to test the waters of the town. With Count Girolamo Riario dead and papal support slow in coming, he hoped the Forlivesi might be ready for the return of the Ordelaffis. Unable to marshal an army himself, Antonio was disappointed by his Venetian protectors, who were not interested enough in the little town to cross their bellicose neighbor Milan. But Antonio Maria, young, handsome, and, as events showed, quite imaginative, hit upon another solution. Approaching the castle in secret, he fired two arrows into the fortress of Ravaldino. These arrows carried letters with the anonymous suggestion that the countess marry Antonio Ordelaffi and restore peace to Forlì. Caterina ignored these advances, audacious in their timing, since a mere week had passed since her husband's murder; yet the proud Antonio Maria informed both Ferrara and Florence of this amorous sally, hoping to garner their support.

Bishop Savelli wisely used the time he bought with his phony papal briefs. While pummeling the fortress walls of Schiavonia with noisy cannon fire, the worldly bishop employed a quieter technique with its castellan: a handsome bribe of twelve hundred ducats. A few days later, the keeper of the outlying fortress of Forlimpopoli gave up his charge for even less. Caterina's position was weakening, but she demonstrated extraordinary endurance while the Orsis were cracking under the strain.

The pope, in his last bid for compromise, wrote to the Forlivesi on April 24, stating that he had appointed a cardinal governor for the city, and he would be arriving soon. The new papal representative was none other than Cardinal Raffaello Riario, the nephew of the deceased count. The papal mandate gave the cardinal authority to intervene to protect the interests and well-being of the Riario children in an attempt to exclude Caterina from serving as regent for the underage Ottaviano. The pope hoped that the Riario name would be enough to appease the family's partisans while still ensuring papal dominion of the city. The elated Forlivesi assumed that together with the cardinal, the pope would send his soldiers to quiet the town. Things looked bleak for Caterina.

The tide turned abruptly on April 29, when a contingent of twelve thousand men, including cavalry, infantry, archers, and artillery, set up camp outside the gates. Trailing in the wake of the soldiers were what all city dwellers feared most: the sackers. These parasites followed the military and then perched like vultures on the sidelines, awaiting the fall of a city. Once it capitulated, they went to work. Taking apart houses with their demolition instruments, they carried away anything, from the valuable to the simply useful. At the sight of even a fragment of the Milanese army, the Forlivesi rued their folly in baiting the duke of Milan and Bentivoglio. Frantic letters from the Orsis, Savelli, and the Council of Eight coursed to Lorenzo de' Medici, whose intervention was limited to annexing the Piancaldoli castle on the Imola-Florence border.

The Milanese forces sent a ducal emissary to demand the restoration of the Riarios. While Savelli reiterated the papal position and the Orsis seethed, town criers suddenly overwhelmed the piazza with shouts of "The church is here! The church is here!" The Council of Eight, believing that the Roman army was fast approaching, put its waning hopes into this one last basket.