The years following the death of Girolamo Riario were uncertain for his widow, Caterina Sforza. But in time, quite patiently, she managed to take complete control of the three most important fortresses of Forli and Imola. This was accomplished by using and placing her own captains into positions of control over each one. Within a couple years she would be master of all three and housed in the strongest, in Forli, with a new lover, Giacomo Feo. This could seem quite a reversal of fortune, coming after the murder of her husband and the capture of her and her remaining family in the spring of 1488. But fortune had little to do with it.
Essential to this reversal was the papal embassy of bishop Savelli and Caterina's guard, Tomasso Feo. He was captain of il Ravaldino, the strongest of the three fortresses in Caterina's domain. He was the one she secretly conspired with to force the Orsini - her would be captors - to at first wait and then negotiate with the papal bishop and eventually, weeks later, to back down [p. 128 - 132]. This larger story with its many turns and reversals is well-captured in Elizabeth Lev's biography The Tigress of Forli [pp. 120-50].
Along the way, although she had gained by the actions of others, in each occasion, she also would find it necessary to, one by one, turn them away. Within the week that the Count was killed, bishop Savelli was sent from Rome with a very small contingent. The people of Forli, desperate for a leader, rallied around the papal embassy sent as soon as the trumpets sounded, announcing the arrival with banners and horses and armed men [p. 127]. This quieted the looters and kept the Orsini at bay, until time that Caterina could gain a brief negotiation with her loyal guard at Ravaldino, Tomasso Feo.
When at last, the bishop forced this encounter, he would be left behind to defend her family, and Caterina was now guarded in the biggest fortress in the region, with her own captain. The Orsi were outraged, as they knew they first needed to oust Caterina and her allies from these central fortresses in the town, if they were to sieze power. They knew she would not cease to conspire some kind of escape, and the bishop meanwhile had given her his word, and so made it his business to protect her heirs, Ottaviano and the others in the other fortress. The Orsinio were right and still more delays were contrived, until which time that soldiers could be sent, from her uncle, Ludovico the duke of Milan.
When the Orsi capitulated at last, Caterina had then to prevent the Milanese troops -her external champions - from looting Forli. This after all, was how soldiers expected to be paid. She could pay them with what little had not already been looted by the Orsini, but she could not allow these Milanese soldiers to loot the property of her townspeople [p. 147]. So she invited the leaders to lunch and shamed them. And they left empty-handed.
The last of these reversals came with her dismissal and replacement of the hero at Ravaldino, Tomasso Feo. Despite his unquestionable devotion to her and crucial help in returning her to power, he knew her too well.
So it was that, in June of 1489, she offered him the hand of her sister Bianca in marriage. She even offered a dowry that included lands in Bosco, but still he would not leave Ravaldino. He had loyalties to the Riario side of the family and remained friendly with Cardinal Rafaello Riario. She knew how the Riario could be and must have felt she needed someone to protect her fortress that was devoted solely to her, and was without those potentially meddlesome ties [p. 161].
One hot day, the following August, Caterina went to il Ravaldino to make a call on her captain of the guard there. She had planted a garden outside the keep and asked if he would like to see it. He hesitated as captain, he was forbidden to leave his post. She insisted, perhaps even lured him, with female charm, according to Andrea Bernardi, out into the grounds and across the courtyard. Tomasso was caught by other guards and thrown in prison for his effrontery and presumption [pp. 161-63].
In his place, Caterina installed Tomasso's younger brother Giacomo as the new captain of Il Ravaldino and she moved in as well. The two stayed there together for the next six years. He was young and strong, uneducated, formerly he looked after the horses. Now he was captain of Il Ravaldino serving the Countess however she wanted. At first the people seemed not to mind. After so many years, the popular and still young Countess had found someone she could at last be happy with. Who could begrudge that? Some did complain and she publicly rebuked them or threw them in prison. And she stayed.
The last of these fortresses, the one protecting Imola, was much easier for her to gain control. The captain there sent her a request for an outrageous sum to fund his continued efforts. She sent him a letter promising the amount was in nearby Modena. He rode off at a gallop to receive it but when he arrived found only a useless letter of credit in his name. When he returned to Imola, he found the place shut up by Caterina's new captain, her stepbrother Pietro Landriani [p. 163].
Barring decption or betrayal from Rome or elsewhere, she could plausibly now rest more easily with all three fortresses held by her trusted henchmen. She was right, and by all external accounts fell in love with her new young captain, Giacomo Feo. They would stay in that fortress for years, and only rarely would she leave Forli, to stay near her young captain.
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all notes, pagination from Elizabeth Lev, The Tigress of Forli: Renaissance Italy's most courageous and notorious countess, Caterina Riario Sforza de'Medici : 2011, USA, Houghton, Mifflin, Harcourt Publishing Company
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