The Tigress of Forli (9 page)

The pontiff was eagerly awaiting news of a Riario heir. Given that Caterina would eventually bear her husband six children, the twenty-six-month wait for their first child suggests that Girolamo was more occupied with his plots and schemes than with his lovely and charming bride. Only a few short months after Caterina's arrival in Rome, Girolamo began to consort with two men who shared an implacable hatred of the Medici family of Florence. Thus began the plot that would notoriously go down in history as the Pazzi conspiracy.

Relations between Florence and the papacy had begun auspiciously, but by the time Caterina arrived in Rome, Lorenzo de' Medici, leader of the Medici clan, had earned the displeasure of the pope and his family. Following the election of Sixtus IV, the Medicis had held the lucrative position of papal bankers, and Lorenzo was angling for a cardinal's hat for his brother Giuliano, still a teenager. The relationship soured at the time of Girolamo's betrothal to Caterina, when the sale of Imola, the principal part of the Sforza bargain, almost fell through as a result of Lorenzo de' Medici's refusal to underwrite a loan for the pope. The infuriated pontiff turned to the other great banking family, the Pazzis, who promptly produced three quarters of the price. Both the pope and Girolamo realized that Lorenzo would be an obstacle to Girolamo's plan to form a state in Romagna, a region bordering on Tuscany. To thwart this expansion, Lorenzo further stoked the papal ire by providing armies to towns resisting Girolamo's mercenaries in that region.

From Caterina's first days in the Riario household, Francesco de' Pazzi had been a familiar face in the master's apartments. The head of the Roman branch of the Pazzi bank, "Franceschino," as he was called, and his aristocratic family held a long-standing grudge against the Medicis. Envious of this upstart family, with no ancient nobility lending importance to their name, the Pazzis competed with the Medicis at every turn. By 1478, the Pazzis had convinced themselves, not without grounds, that Lorenzo was using his authority to block their endeavors. Franceschino was certain that if only the Medici brothers could be eliminated, Florence would turn to the Pazzi family for leadership. To that end, he had allied himself with an even more arriviste family, the Riarios, probably assuming that his new ally's power would disappear as soon as Girolamo's papal patron was deceased; therefore Riario would not be a serious menace for long.

The third and most unsavory member of this conspiratorial trio was Archbishop Francesco Salviati. He also loathed the Medicis, and Salviati offered himself as a willing participant in any scheme that would undermine their rule. Pope Sixtus had appointed Salviati as archbishop of Pisa, home to a flourishing new university, despite numerous protests from the Florentines. At Pisa, the corrupt prelate would be able to foster anti-Medici support among impressionable students. The crafty Florentines, however, accepted the inevitable appointment but then invented enough obstacles to prevent the new archbishop from taking possession of his diocese for three years. Salviati spent that time in Rome, nursing his resentment, indulging his vices, and poisoning the papal court against the Medicis. Through his efforts, Giuliano's hopes for becoming a cardinal were definitively shelved.

By early 1478, the plot was organized. The Pazzis would see to the assassination of the Medici brothers, and Girolamo would muster an army in Imola to put down any insurrection against the rule of the Pazzis. The plan now needed one final approval: that of the Pazzi family members in Florence. The go-ahead was slow in coming, for Jacopo de' Pazzi, head of the clan, was decidedly against the scheme. His son Guglielmo had married Lorenzo's sister Bianca and he thus had hopes of defeating the Medici family from within.

The conspirators faced yet another stumbling block: their quarry. It was one thing to talk of killing Lorenzo and his brother, another to do so. Although Lorenzo was given to intellectual rather than physically robust pastimes, everyone in Florence remembered that he had single-handedly fought off an ambush and that his swift reflexes rendered him deadly with a sword. It would take a true professional to do away with him.

The very man was already in Girolamo's retinue. Giovanni Battista da Montesecco, whom Pope Sixtus had assigned to protect the count, was invaluable for both his fighting skills and his good judgment. But when the trio approached Montesecco with their plot, the honorable soldier demurred, unwilling to believe that the pope would sanction such a drastic solution to his political woes. To persuade Montesecco, Girolamo escorted him to the papal chambers. Though it was conducted behind locked doors and closed windows, the ensuing conversation has nonetheless reached modern ears through an account left by Montesecco himself.

While Sixtus IV confirmed that he "much desired a change in the government of Florence," deploring Lorenzo as a "villain who had treated us badly," the pope also adamantly stated that he did not want anyone killed. A realist, Montesecco pointed out that to overthrow the Medici government without bloodshed would be very difficult, if not impossible. Girolamo, never one for subtlety, interjected that they weren't deliberately planning to murder anyone, but should the unthinkable happen, he was certain that "His Holiness would pardon whatever [Montesecco] did." This crude response drove the pope into a rage. Bellowing at Girolamo, Sixtus called his nephew "a beast" and forcefully reiterated his point: "I do not want the death of anyone, just a change in government."
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When Girolamo spoke to Montesecco alone a few minutes later, he interpreted the pope's equivocating statements as a tacit acceptance of the plan, and Montesecco reluctantly joined the conspiracy.

Caterina had barely arrived in Rome and was still getting to know the man she had married. While she was undoubtedly aware of furtive conversations between her husband and Franceschino, the last thing she would have imagined was that they were scheming to assassinate the man who had made such a great impression on her when she was a seven-year-old guest at the Medici court. Nonetheless, the worried scowls of her husband's bodyguard and the discomfiting unctuous manner of Archbishop Salviati cast a shadow over her first months as a bride.

The papal "consent" at last convinced Jacopo de' Pazzi, and by March the plan was fully formulated. The only problem left was how to ambush the two brothers together and unprotected. The conspirators' eyes fell upon sixteen-year-old Cardinal Raffaello Riario, Girolamo's nephew, who was to attend the University of Pisa under the tutelage of Salviati. The adolescent had been elevated to the highest rank in the papal court in December just as the plot was taking shape. If the Pazzis were to invite Raffaello to Florence, the Medicis would not fail to entertain such a distinguished visitor.

As planned, the young cardinal arrived in Florence, and everything looked promising for the fulfillment of the plot. Then, unexpectedly, Giuliano de' Medici suffered an attack of sciatica and was bedridden, so the plan had to be postponed.

Cardinal Riario wittingly or unwittingly provided the occasion for the next attempt. The young prelate was fascinated by Roman antiquities and knew that a famous collection of cameos and coins from the imperial age, formerly belonging to Pope Paul II Barbo, had been sold to Lorenzo the Magnificent upon that pope's death in 1471. Lorenzo proudly informed the eager young man that his city palace in Florence contained not only the celebrated collection but also recently excavated ancient statues, including a particularly fine marble Venus whose "smile was enchanting." Enthralled, Raffaello pleaded with Lorenzo to allow him to see it, and they finally agreed that the young cardinal would come to Florence on April 26, 1478, and visit the Medici treasures before they all attended Mass together. It was settled. The murder would take place in the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore, renowned as the largest church in the world and crowned by the glory of Florence, the gigantic dome designed by Brunelleschi. This imposing structure, visible for miles, was the very symbol of Florence.

When Montesecco received word of the date and venue for the assassination, he stubbornly refused to participate in a murder taking place inside a church. The desperate conspirators reassigned Montesecco to the city gates, where he would guarantee the entry of Girolamo's army, and they recruited two priests, angry with the Medicis, as assassins in his stead. The plotters hoped that what these men lacked in skill and experience would be made up in greed and vindictiveness.

That Sunday morning, the dignitaries made their way the few blocks from the Medici palace to the Duomo. Although Giuliano was still feeling unwell and felt inclined to remain at home, Franceschino and his cousin took him by either arm and, feigning good-humored laughter, practically dragged him to the cathedral. As Salviati and Jacopo de' Pazzi waited for the word to seize the town hall, Girolamo was marching his army from Imola to Florence. Everyone was in place. As if a murder in a house of worship wasn't blasphemous enough, the signal for the assassins was the elevation of the host, the most solemn moment of the Mass. As the heads of the assembly bowed in reverence, Franceschino delivered a fatal blow to the top of Giuliano's head and continued to stab him, even after he fell to the ground. Nineteen blows mutilated the body of the handsome and charming Medici scion. The two priests assigned to murder Lorenzo were not so efficient. Antonio Maffei managed only a glancing blow to the neck as Lorenzo leapt through the choir and across the high altar to safety.

The grossest miscalculation on the part of the conspirators was to underestimate the Florentines' acceptance of Medici rule. As with the death of Caterina's father, Galeazzo Maria, no citizens rallied to the cries of "People and Liberty!" Instead, they instigated a widespread manhunt to track down anyone involved with the conspiracy. The archbishop and the killers were apprehended and executed almost immediately. The Florentines hung the corpses above public squares, as examples of the fate of traitors. Sandro Botticelli, then just starting his career, painted the dangling bodies as a grisly reminder for posterity. Montesecco and Jacopo de' Pazzi attempted to flee but were captured a few miles outside Florence. Montesecco was tortured and confessed—his words on the eve of his execution give the most complete account of the conspiracy from the inside and thoroughly implicated Girolamo and, by association, the pope.

Cardinal Raffaello Riario was seized moments after the assassination. The Medicis behaved as if the boy cardinal had been an unknowing pawn, yet they kept him as a "guest," or hostage, to forestall any reprisals in Rome against Florentine citizens in the wake of the execution of the archbishop of Pisa. Cardinal Raffaello was detained almost six weeks and witnessed the bloody vengeance of the Florentines. According to contemporary accounts, when the cardinal finally returned to Rome, he appeared ashen and exhausted.

Innocent or not, Raffaello was well compensated for his troubles. Three days after the cardinal's release from Florence, Caterina wrote a letter to Bona of Savoy at the instigation of the pope and Count Girolamo. In her missive, she requested that the generous income from the Abbey of Chiaravalle near Milan be turned over to Cardinal Riario.

Some historians have envisioned fifteen-year-old Caterina at her husband's side, encouraging him in his role in the scandalous conspiracy, but it seems highly unlikely that the teenage girl was privy to the machinations of her husband and his co-conspirators. Moreover, Caterina always held Lorenzo in high esteem, and when he died in 1492, she grieved the loss of such a great man, whose memory she cherished. Over the course of Caterina's life, her ties to Florence would grow much stronger than her connection to Milan and Rome.

Girolamo's clumsy and impious plot had publicly humiliated her and their family. After Montesecco's confession, Girolamo's role in the most disgraceful event of his time became public knowledge. The pope was infuriated, and the people of Rome viewed Count Riario with a mixture of repulsion and ridicule. At sixteen Caterina found herself bound to an inept murderer and the butt of Roman humor. She never complained, not even to her beloved Bona, but something had changed for Caterina. This would be the last time she passively stood by to watch events that so deeply affected her life.

T
HE SHOCKING NEWS
of the slaughter in the cathedral of Florence spread quickly throughout Europe, and it soon became common knowledge that Pope Sixtus had been party to the sacrilegious plot.

To save face, Sixtus struck back at the Florentines. He blamed them for the abduction of Cardinal Riario and the murder of Archbishop Salviati. In a renewed effort to undo the Medicis, Sixtus approached Ferdinand I, the king of Naples, and easily secured his support in taking Florence from them, a plan that would neatly fall in with the king's expansionist designs on northern Italy. Siena was also recruited to lend a hand in the downfall of Florence, its ancient enemy. While the papal troops were mobilizing to bring this about, Sienese and Neapolitan soldiers were dispatched to join them. Florence's allies backed away one by one, and the city found itself alone, facing a powerful pincer action.

During this tumult, Girolamo revealed the vicious side of his character. As captain of the papal armies, he was privy to his uncle's maneuvers to wrest Florence from the Medicis. Yet every step that Girolamo took exposed his lack of political wisdom. As soon as he learned of the arrest and confession of Montesecco, Girolamo stormed the house of the Florentine ambassador, Donato Acciajuoli, and arrested the elderly gentleman, with the aim of exacting retribution. Only the discovery of Cardinal Raffaello Riario's detention at the hands of the Medicis saved the life of the respected Florentine. Then, stubbornly continuing in his attempt to assassinate Lorenzo, Girolamo turned to more disreputable associates and bribed an Imolese priest to enter a scheme whereby he would offer himself to Lorenzo as an assassin eager to rid the world of the pope's troublesome nephew Girolamo. The priest would then convince Lorenzo to supply him with a poison. That accomplished, the cleric would denounce the Florentine ruler for attempted murder and produce the poison as proof. The crude ploy did not fool Lorenzo, who promptly expelled the priest from Florence.