[Review] Blood & Beauty by Sarah Dunant

"The more outrage the better. That way people will fear us while we are alive and never -ever- forget us when we are dead"

I think it's a well known fact amongst my readers that I am very picky when it comes to novels about the Borgia family. Given the research I have put into this family and the absolute awe I hold for Cesare - I say again, how many have his personal motto tattooed? - I tend to avoid historical fiction about the Renaissance and in particular the Borgia family. I blame this in part for the travesty that was Kologridis' "The Borgia Bride" and whilst I thoroughly enjoyed Jean Plaidy's novels about Lucrezia, I found them to be somewhat dry towards the end. So it was somewhat hesitantly that I picked up Dunant's latest offering.

And I have to say it was one of the best decisions I have ever made.

From the outset you can tell that Dunant has really put the effort into her research. As I read, I found myself slap bang in the middle of the Borgia apartments in Rome, in the Room of Mysteries with the Pope, with Cesare as he stood before the walls of Ravaldino. And whilst I am aware that this is a work of fiction, I couldn't have been more pleased to see the placing in there of actual historical events. More so the LACK of incest in there pleased me no end. You will all know how against that theory I am, and how I am a firm believer that Cesare and Lucrezia were close, that he loved his sister more than any woman he had ever met but that they never crossed the line. I found this was portrayed excellently in this novel with stolen glances, the odd lingering touch and one kiss that may have gone a bit too far. The awkwardness between the two siblings after that kiss just seeped from the words so I felt as if I felt as physically awkward as Lucrezia did. 

The characterisation of Cesare has to be one of the best that I have ever read. It is well known that Cesare Borgia was temperamental, or "famously bipolar" as I like to call him and this comes across wonderfully in Dunant's writing. From his overly inflated ego to his need from power, to his cold and calculating manner when plotting the downfall of those who had become useless to the family. There were moments when I sat there with a knot in my stomach, hearing Cesare's rants as if I were stood there in the very same room as him. I felt his need for power, his egotistical nature. And there are not many novels that have ever made me feel like that. And if I am honest it was the same with all of the characters in this novel. Particular favourites included Lucrezia (it was SO nice to see her written as she would have been, rather than a scheming poisoning adulteress), Juan and Pope Alexander VI. The work went into the characterisation of these men and women who actually lived all of those years ago. And you could honestly tell.

The only issue I really had was how the ending of the book seemed a little rushed. It would have been nice if more time could have been spent on Cesare's military campaigns in the Romagna. Unfortunately the story ended with Lucrezia leaving to go to Ferrara. We all know that the story goes on and we see the death of Pope Alexander, Cesare's downfall and his heartbreakingly lonely death in Viana, finishing with Lucrezia's death in Ferrara. I can't help but wonder whether Dunant will be writing a follow up to cover these events? I have to say I would love to read a novelisation about Cesare's last years. That really is my only gripe if I am honest. It just left me wanting MORE!

If you are a lover of Renaissance and Borgia history then I urge you to pick up this book. Fantastically written, excellent characterisation and a complete page turner. I shall certainly be picking up more of Dunant's works!

Cesare Borgia's Marriage to Charlotte D'Albret

Charlotte in "Borgia"

After Cesare Borgia finally got rid of his Cardinal's robes, it was down to him to continue on the Borgia dynasty. Since the death of his brother Juan in 1497, there was no male descended destined to carry on the Borgia name and had Cesare remained in the church then there would be no chance of the name continuing. And so, with that in mind, Cesare Borgia left Rome in October 1498 bound for France. His own mission was clear. He wanted to marry Carlotta of Aragon,  and the new French King, Louis XII had agreed to support their marriage wholeheartedly as long as Cesare helped get him a divorce from his wife, Queen Anne. 

On Fridat 17th August 1498, Cesare Borgia formally announced his decision to leave the College of Cardinal's. By 21st August, he had his way. Pope Alexander had demanded that the cardinal's voted in Cesare's favour. Indeed on the very day of the first consistory in which Cesare announced his decision, the French envoy had arrived with letters patent stating that he now had the right to call himself the Duc de Valentinois. The famous "Valentino" had arrived. 

In the months leading up to his departure for France in October 1498, Cesare spent money wildly. He was to determined to impress the French people upon arrival and made sure he would be magnificently attired at all times. This would soon change after spending time there, and Cesare would end up being the black clad dressed young man that would come to be epitomised throughout history. Not only that but he worked on his physical preparation too. He was after all to become a soldier. His preparations included bullfighting on horseback, a feat which amazed contemporary Italians at the time. Indeed it was once reported by Cattaneo that on 18th August 1498 Cesare killed 8 bulls in one sitting. There were times however when his physical prowess failed him, with one occasion ending up with him being knocked out when kicked in the ribs, head and chest after trying to jump onto the back of a mule. At the same time, Cesare was suffering with serious worries over his appearance. The early physical signs of secondary syphilis were beginning to manifest upon his face, which was disastrous for a man who was so intent on stunning the French court with his dashing good looks. It should be noted that Cesare was just twenty three years old at this point, so it must have been devastating for him. He couldn't have known that this would clear itself up within two or three months  and would have been more worried about his matrimonial prospects being affected due to his handsome face being blotched by syphilis. And whilst he showed outward confidence, he revealed his insecurities at the last moment by continuing to sign himself as Cardinal Valentinus. A precaution in case Carlotta refused him to the unsightly rash upon his face?

On 1st October 1498, Cesare took formal leave of his father and travelled to Ostia where he boarded a ship for France. And upon the day he left Rome, the diarist Cattaneo wrote:

"The ruin of Italy is confirmed...given the plans which father and son have made: but many believe the Holy Spirit has no part in them".

Cesare arrived in France in late October, departing from the shrine of Marseilles and making his way to Avignon where he met up with Giuliano della Roverre. This was a man who had always been a thorn in Cesare's side, and whilst seemingly working with him in friendship during Cesare's months in France was actually working in league with Ludovico 'Il Moro' Sforza. Della Roverre met Cesare two miles outside the city and rode into the city seemingly in complete amity. Yet they held off moving to the French court and Cesare grew restless, very likely suspicious of Della Roverre and waiting for news from Rome that would allow him to present Louis with the dispensation to allow his marriage to be dissolved. He certainly wouldn't be welcome at the French court without it. He slowly made his way northward from Avignon slowly and visited Valence, the capital of his new duchy and on 7th November made a solemn entry into Lyon. But the French were unimpressed with his ostentatiousness and people found his manner brusk and rude. When the King's envoy tried to present him with the Order of St Michael, Cesare brushed him aside and stated that he would only accept it from the King himself. 

When news of the King's divorce arrived, it was arranged that Cesare should meet the King at Chinon and on 17th December Cesare arrived in the local area. The day after Cesare's arrival, the King went hunting and met Cesare two miles outside of town. And later that day, Cesare entered the town and Castle with the King. It was the moment he had been waiting for. He could now impress the French Court and get his hands on Carlotta of Aragon. 

Cesare meeting Carlotta of Aragon in "Borgia"

The court did not stay at Chinon for long. They moved from Chinon to Blois and elsewhere. It was during his time with the moving court that he met Carlotta of Aragon for the first time. She was a lady in waiting to Queen Anne, and the meeting with Cesare can't have put him in very high spirits. She was a determined young lady and detested the idea of marrying Cesare and openly declared to the court that she had no intention of becoming known as "La Cardinala". But whilst he failed to win over his intended bride, he won over the French court and the King considered him an asset to the court. Indeed, Louis tried to convince Carlotta to marry Cesare but she remained steadfast, saying she would not marry Cesare Borgia unless her father willed it. 

When the Neopolitan envoy arrived and the issue of the marriage was pressed, the envoy replied:

"To a bastard son of the Pope, the King not only would not give his legitimate daughter, but not even a bastard child"

The King made one last effort to persuade Carlotta to marry Cesare he invited her to dine alone with him. His efforts failed and Cesare talked of leaving France to return to Rome, although this could potentially have been a way of placing pressure upon the King to find him a new bride. And find him a new bride the King did. In the early months of 1499, Louis suggested Charlotte D'Albret to Cesare and indeed Cesare wrote that she 'pleased him' greatly. He had every right to be pleased as she was said to be incredibly beautiful. Charlotte's own feelings on the matter are not recorded, but she wouldn't have had much choice in the matter after considering pressure was placed upon her by both her Father and the King. 

Charlotte in "Borgia"

Negotiations went on for over 6 weeks. Charlotte's father was determined to get as much out of the marriage as possible and demanded to see the dispensation that allowed Cesare to marry as well at the 100,00 livres promised as a dowry to be paid in ducats. By the end of April 1499 negotiations were brought to a successful end, and on 10th May the agreement was signed in front of both the King and Queen, with the King formally giving his consent to the marriage.

Cesare and Charlotte in "Borgia"

Two days later, Cesare and Charlotte were married in the Chapel of the Queen's apartments at Blois. It was followed by a huge wedding breakfast in the fields surrounding the chateau. The marriage was consummated that afternoon, and again in the afternoon. As was usual for the time there was no privacy when this happened. According to reports from the time, Charlotte's ladies spied on them through the keyhole of the bedroom door and reported a rather embarrassing incident for poor Cesare. Robert de la Marck wrote in his diary:

"To tell you of the Duke of Valentinois' wedding night, he asked the apothecary for some pills to pleasure his lady, from whom he received a bad turn for, instead of giving him what he asked for, he gave him laxative pills, to such an effect that he never ceased going to the privy the whole night, as the ladies reported in the morning"

But between running to the toilet, he did his duty and it was reported to his father in a letter that the couple consummated their marriage EIGHT times. They spent their honeymoon with the court at Blois and Cesare lavished gifts upon Charlotte. All of these gifts had been intended for Carlotta, 

Yet their time together was coming to an end. Events were taking place in Italy that needed taking care of, and Cesare wanted to hurry up with his soldierly exploits. Cesare was indeed due to accompany Louis to Italy commanding a squadron of heavy cavalry, with plans to attack Milan. At the end of July he left his wife and made to return to Italy.

Charlotte never saw her husband again. She did however bear him an heir, a little girl named Louise. And when Charlotte learned of Cesare's death in 1507 she spend the remainder of her life in mourning. Did she love him? Personally, I believe that her "love" was simply infatuation. She knew him for such a little time that he must have seemed, to use a modern comparison, like a rockstar to her. And did he return that? I do not believe he loved her, as he never made the effort to go back to her and honestly? Cesare Borgia married Charlotte D'Albret more for political reasons and to help along the relations between France and Rome. After all, if he loved her, surely he would have made more of an effort to see her once he learned she was pregnant? His efforts (there were a few) to try and persuade her were in vain. The few letters he sent to persuade her to Italy fell on deaf ears, and the King even tried to convince her. Yet she herself stayed in France, having heard stories of his exploits in Italy and not wanting to go to her husband. She died in 1514 having only spent a few months in her husband's presence, probably preferring to remember the handsome young man she had known back in 1499 rather than the impious warrior she had heard stories of. At the age of 32, she died at the Chaeau de la Motte Feuilly having spent seven years in heavy mourning for the memory of her husband.

Further Reading

Cesare Borgia: His Life & Times - Sarah Bradford

The Borgias And Their Enemies - Christopher Hibbert.

The Borgias; History's Most Notorious Dynasty - Mary Hollingsworth.

Cesare Borgia's Spanish Imprisonment

The castle of Chinchilla, Spain

Towards the end of 1503, after the death of his father and a particularly virulent illness, Cesare Borgia found himself faced with the election of one of his family's worst enemies as Pope. Giuliano della Roverre was elected to the chair of St Peter's in the October of 1503 and took the name of Pope Julius II. And Cesare had a decision to make - was he to support the new Pope, or would he continue with the enmity? Indeed, Borgia made a last minute decision during the conclave of 1503 to support della Roverre's election as Pope which he has received criticism for by many both at the time but there really wasn't much he could have done; the majority of the cardinal's in the conclave supported della Roverre and even had Borgia tried to block his election, it would have had little to no effect at all. Cesare tried to make a sensible move, extract promises out of the man who would be Pope before his election to ensure his safety and to keep hold of his lands and titles, knowing that della Roverre was a man who kept to his word.

It was probably the biggest mistake that Cesare Borgia ever made.

In the early months of his reign as Pope, Julius made an outward show of cordiality towards Cesare which the young Duke Valentino took at face value, needing to believe that every word Julius spoke was sincere. And to start with it seemed as if Cesare had made the right decision as two days after his election, Julius wrote to the people of Faenza asking them to obey Cesare as their leader. Cesare believed that the Pope was desperate to recover the states of the Romagna, to bring them back into the Papal fold after all hell had broken lose during Cesare's illness - and more importantly Cesare still held several key fortresses in the Romagna, which he knew would be incredibly important to the Pope. Borgia believed that this would keep him safe, and in the Pope's good books. Moreover, the people who lived in the towns where Cesare still held onto his fortress were still loyal to him. He began to make plans to leave for the Romagna as soon as Julius has reinvested him as Gonfalonier of the Papal armies. Julius, however, held back - he knew Cesare could easily cause a lot of trouble for him despite the fact he was considered as one of the greatest soldiers of the time. And by the second week of November 1503, Cesare began to notice that Julius' attitude towards him was hardening.

On the 11th November, in an interview with Giustinian, it became all too clear exactly how Julius felt towards Cesare Borgia and the Romagna:

"We do not wish that he [Cesare] should persuade himself that we will favour him, nor that he shall have even one rampart in the Romagna, and although we have promised him something, we intend that our promise should extend only to the security of his life and of the money, and goods which he has stolen".

As the political sands began to shift and fall away beneath his feet, the situation began to take its toll on his mental state - something which had never been all that stable to begin with. During a meeting with Cesare in the first week of November, Niccolo Machiavelli found a completely different man to the man he had known in the Romagna. Cesare Borgia was now uncertain of himself, no longer self controlled or masterful and would burst into fits of bitter, hysterical anger. According to Machiavelli, he burst out on a tirade against Florence, blaming the Florentines for not supporting him and said that Florence would be ruined and he would laugh at the city when it fell - Machiavelli recorded that, "He went on at length with words full of poison and anger".

On 9th November, Julius confirmed to Cesare that he would be re-investing him as Gonfalonier yet despite promising Cesare that he would bring it up in the consistory, he didn't say a word. Hiding his disappointment, Cesare began getting his troops together to leave for the Romagna. He had his troops and began trying to sort out safe conduct for him and his army. He needed safe conduct through Florence, but Florence were seriously terrified of the famous Valentino and had vowed never to let him into Tuscan territory ever again following his previous behaviour. They refused him safe conduct, and he received the news on the 14th and finally began to realise that Florence and Julius were working against him. The bubble of hope he had built up around himself was now completely shattered, and he fell into one of his famous depressions and it is likely that he had a serious breakdown - men who saw him during that period noticed the change in him. His own friend, the Cardinal of Elna told an envoy, "he believed the Duke to be out of his mind: not knowing what he wanted to do, he was confused and irresolute". It is said to that at this point, when Machiavelli heard about it, he wondered whether he had been wrong about Cesare Borgia all along, and asked whether the image of the strong Duke Valentino had been nothing more than a mirage and that he could not decide, "whether he was so by nature or whether these blows from Fortune have stunned him, and since he in unaccustomed to receive them, his mind is confused". Indeed his behaviour in another interview with Machiavelli only proved his fragile state of mind. Cesare raged against Machiavelli, threatening Florence with employing all the friends he had left to do the city harm.

The once confident Duke was now on a road that he saw no other way of getting out of, blundering his way down it because he could see no other way out. He needed to get to the Romagna, and had already sent his cavalry ahead through Tuscan territory despite not having safe conduct. Without self conduct, the way through Tuscany was blocked to him and that route was the only feasible way to get there across land and he certainly couldn't go through Urbino. The best idea would have been to stop planning altogether, but he didn't. He hadn't given up his will to fight and couldn't bear to think of letting go of his lands in the Romagna. And so, he made the decision to make the trip by sea, and thus headed to Ostia.

Yet as he was there waiting to take his boat, news reached Rome that made Julius realise the Romagnol lands needed to be placed into the hands of the church. Faenza had fallen to the Venetians, and the Pope needed those lands in his control. On 21st, a message was sent to Cesare ordering him not to leave and on 22nd Cardinal's Soderini and Remolines arrived in Ostia, demanding that Cesare give up his fortresses. Cesare, of course, refused - it threw Julius into one of his famous rages and he sent a message demanding Cesare's arrest.

By 29th November, Cesare was back in Rome under heavy guard. He was lodged in the apartments that had once been his own (now the famous Raphael rooms) and it was to be the start of a long game of cat and mouse in which Julius would demand Cesare's fortresses and Cesare would refuse. On 1st December, Cesare received news that his executioner Micheletto had been arrested and the news broke Cesare, destroying his hopes and his will to resist anything else - he even turned to Guidobaldo de Montefeltro, one of his long term enemies in his desperation to find a friend. In a meeting between the two, Cesare fell to his knees before Montefeltro, cursing his father for making him take the duchy of Urbino and Montefeltro raised Cesare to his feet embracing him kindly. Cesare promised to return the goods stolen from Urbino and also handed over the passwords to some of his castles in the Romagna. In return, Cesare got promises from the Pope of his liberty. This never happened. Instead he was kept to his apartments, and his enemies swarmed around him, demanding reparations for all the damages he had done to them.

On 20th December, after Julius flew into another of his rages, Borgia was locked in the famous Torre Borgia. This must have been a bit of a blow to Cesare as the very rooms he was locked in were the ones in which he had ordered Alfonso D'Aragona to be strangled. Cesare was thrown into the Torre due to Diego Ramires refusing to hand over the castle of Cesena. Ramires sent a message to the Pope, saying that as long as Cesare was imprisoned, they would never hand the castle over to his enemies. Despite being thrown into the Torre, Cesare had regained his mental composure and he kept his courage in the face of his imprisonment. His courage impressed those who guarded him, and they reported that he remained cheerful as he watched his friends and servants spending their days gambling. His composure was impressive and it showed his determination not to give up in the face of adversity; a strength of character he would show in the years of his imprisonment. This strength of character inspired devotion and loyalty in the men who were close to him, not only in his imprisonment but also when he was a free man. Despite how dangerous he was, despite how much he was hated and feared; those close to him never deserted him. He even had loyalty that stayed from his friends the Spanish cardinals, who stood by him during the papal election. Two days after he was imprisoned in the Torre Borgia, the cardinals went to the Pope to petition for Cesare's release, pointing out that if Cesare were free the keepers of the castles in the Romagna may be more inclined to hand them over. The pope of course refused.

By 18th January the Spanish cardinals came to an agreement with the Pope. In exchange for Cesare's freedom, his castles in the Romagna would be given over to the Pope within 40 days. Within the next few weeks, due to Julius not wanting Cesare free but wanting the castles and Cesare's desperation to be free, the arrangements changed somewhat. On 10th March 1504 Cesare agreed to surrender the castles of Cesena and Bertinoro as well as paying the castellan of Forli 15000 ducats to give up the Rocca di Ravaldino. Yet Cesare did not intend to give up Forli quite yet as it contained incredibly valuable goods that he didn't trust the Pope would give back to him. And as news reached Ostia of the surrender of Cesena and Bertinoro (before Rome, as it was intended it would), Cesare's custodian Carvajal had arranged ships and safe conduct from Gonsalvo de Cordova to carry Cesare to Naples; and Carvajal released Cesare from the Torre Borgia before permission from the Pope had been formally given.

Despite the Spanish ships being detained at Naples, Cesare wasn't prepared to wait. He wanted out. On 19th April 1504 he rode from Ostia to Nettuno where he got on a small rowing boat and he rowed until he reached a point 30 miles from Naples. There, he got out of the boat and rode the rest of the way on horseback. On the 28th, he arrived in Naples and stayed at the house of Cardinal Ludovico Borgia. Despite another flare up of his syphilis, Cesare was finally free and began making plans. He sent letters asking for men, recruited men and cavalry and on 26th May Cesare went to the Castel Nuovo in Naples to take his leave from Gonsalvo de Cordova. That night, as he made ready to leave, one of Cordova's men announced that he was under arrest.

In surprise and disbelief he cried out, "Santa Maria! I am betrayed! With me only has my Lord Gonsalvo dealt cruelly!"

Cesare, being arrested at the Castel Nuovo in Los Borgia

Cesare, imprisoned in Spain, in Los Borgia

Cesare had been deceived. And deceived by the man he had likely least expected to deceive him. He had trusted de Cordova, and been incredibly naive in doing so. Cordova was known as a man of honour and Cesare had set great store in that. De Cordova however was working for the Spanish Queen Isabella - the Spanish monarchs needed a dispensation from the Pope so their daughter could marry the future King Henry VIII of England and also wanted their investiture as monarchs of Naples. Cesare Borgia, a man whom the Pope feared above all others, would therefore be incredibly useful to them. If they had him in their grasp, a mere threat to put Borgia into play would bring the Pope to heel. It would also keep him out of French hands. And so, Cesare found himself once more behind bars and placed in a small cell known as "The Oven" - while at the same time in Rome, Micheletto underwent torture where he was questioned on the deaths of Alfonso D'Aragona and Juan Borgia. Yet Micheletto gave nothing away and implicated the now dead Pope Alexander, thus shielding his master. Yet all the while through June, as he was held in "The Oven", he still refused to give up Forli until he finally relented on 11th August. He had been promised liberty in return for giving up Forli, but he did not get it. Within a few days he was placed on a ship bound for Spain, in the charge of Prospero Colonna and with only a pageboy for company.

By the end of September 1504, Cesare Borgia found himself imprisoned in the Castle of Chinchilla, 700 feet up in the mountains of Valencia. As can be seen from the picture at the start of this post, the castle is surrounded by a sheer drop. It was incredibly doubtful that Borgia would be able to escape from there. Here he was placed in incredibly strict confinement with just his page for company. It was whispered while he was there that Ferdinand and Isabella were planing to put him on trial for his life, to answer for the murders of his brother Juan and his brother in law Alfonso D'Aragona. But why would he be put on trial for the murder of his brother when his guilt had never been proven? The answer was simple - his sister in law, Maria Enriques de Luna was a favourite at the Spanish court and believed in Cesare's guilt. In short, Cesare was completely alone - he couldn't even get help from France. The King of France, angry at Cesare for his betrayal in his last  military campaign, stripped Cesare of his titles. No longer was he the Duke of Valentinois nor the Lord of Issoudon. And due to the fact the French had signed a peace treaty with Spain over Naples, he couldn't hope to play them off against each other with that. Cesare Borgia was no longer useful. Yet his friends at home had not forgotten him - his sister Lucrezia and his brother in law Jean D'Albret bombarded the Spanish sovereigns to beg for his release. Whilst they were not successful in getting him his freedom, they did succeed in gaining him a little more comfort - he was allowed extra servants and a slightly better set of rooms. Reports reached Italy that Cesare was only being held for the things De Cordova had accused him of (the murders), and when these were proven to be untrue he would be released. But things would have to wait until Queen Isabella regained her health.

News reached Italy in Early 1505 that Cesare had attempted to escape, and the stories are rather colourful! He was now under even stricter confinement due to his attempted escape, and the story goes that he invited the governor of the castle to join him on the ramparts outside his room. Whilst the governor was pointing out landmarks, Cesare attacked him and tried holding his arms and threatened to throw him off the tower. Due to his long imprisonment, Cesare's strength failed and he was pinned to the ground. Other stories involve tales of Cesare knotting sheets together and climbing out of the window. Alas the sheets were too short, and he fell to the ground, fracturing his shoulder! Once he was found, he was carried back inside where he placed under even stricture surveillance.

La Mota, Medina Del Campo - Spain

La Mota, showing the Torre in which Cesare was imprisoned and escaped from.

In midsummer, 1505, Cesare was moved to the famous castle of La Mota in Medina del Campo and imprisoned in the main keep of Torre de Homenaje. This famous keep was basically a maximum security prison and it was thought that no one could ever escape its walls. They would eventually be proven wrong. While he was there, according to a Venetian report, he spent his time watching the falcons out of his window. Queen Isabella had died not long before - was he thinking of a way he could turn it all to his advantage? It is incredibly likely and indeed, it wasn't long before he started playing the game of politics again. He became involved in the struggle between King Ferdinand and his son is law; and was far from a helpless pawn and he watched, biding his time and choosing his side. Indeed, knowing that he could easily be handed back over to the Pope, he stayed in close contact with Ferdinand's party and played an active part in an intrigue between the Holy Roman Emperor, Maximilian, and his brother in law Jean D'Albret, King of Navarre. Cesare Borgia was playing the game of politics, choosing his side carefully and plotting how he would gain his freedom. His aim was simple: Get himself handed over to the King of Navarre, to his brother in law. And he knew if his plan was to succeed then he must put it into immediate action.

Cesare knew that a man by the name of Bernadino de Cardenas was desperate to integrate himself with Ferdinand, and had intimated to the envoy Ferrer that he was now willing to hand over Cesare. Ferrer had agreed in principle but said he must write to Ferdinand and find out what the King wishes to do with his prisoner. Cesare knew this was his best chance of freedom, and that his future with Maximilian and Jean were his last change for power and the destiny he so desperately believed was his. Yet if he waited until Ferdinand's orders reached La Mota, his chance could be lost forever.

So he planned the impossible.

He would escape from La Mota.

The plan was to follow the same lines as his abortive escape attempt from Chinchilla but much more carefully prepared. Cesare had even managed to talk around one of the servants into getting hold of the ropes for him. And on the evening of the 25th October 1505, at the appointed hours, three men (including the chaplain who Cesare had befriended) waited for Cesare beneath the keep of La Mota. A rope was let down from the narrow window of the room where he was lodged at the top of the tower. One of his servants went first but the rope was too short and he fell, injuring himself badly. Cesare followed shortly after but the alarm had been sounded and the rope was cut from above. He fell, landing heavily from a great height and he was unable to stand. He had to be carried by the waiting men and lifted into the saddle of the waiting horse. There was no time to rescue the servant who had previously fallen and was badly injured, and so they left the poor man there - he was found shortly after by the guards who executed him there on the spot.

Cesare was unconscious from his fall and completely unable to support himself. Somehow his men kept him on the horse and carried him to the safety of Villanon. They stayed there for a month while Cesare recovered, and set out for Navarre at the end of November.

Cesare Borgia spent the majority of 1503-1505 as a prisoner, locked away while people decided his fate. But yet again he took fate into his own hands, playing the game of politics with the most powerful monarchs of his day, and winning; and achieving the impossible with his escape from La Mota. And as he headed into Navarre at the end of 1505, he was to begin the last stage of his life which he spent free, working as a soldier with his brother in law. He always said that he would prefer to die in the saddle than in bed, and he did so - dying alone on the 12th March, 1507 just three days before the Ides of March which had been so fatal to his namesake and idol, Caesar.

Aut Caesar, Aut Nihil - Either Caesar Or Nothing - a motto which spoke of everything that Cesare Borgia lived, worked and died for.

Further Reading

Sarah Bradford - Cesare Borgia: His Life & Times

Sarah Bradford - Lucrezia Borgia

Mary Hollingsworth - The Borgias

G.J Meyer - The Borgias

Christopher Hibbert - The Borgias & Their Enemies

Clarice Orsini and Lorenzo de Medici

In the spring of 1467 Lorenzo de Medici's mother, Lucrezia Tournabuoni, went to Rome. Using the pretext of an incognito visit to her brother, managers of the Rome branch of the Medici bank, she was actually there to sort out a bride for her son. Her choice fell on the daughter of Jacopo Monterotondo and her trip to Rome was, for all intents and purposes, so she could inspect the girl and make sure she was a suitable match for Lorenzo.

Lucrezia Tournabuoni (the elderly lady on the right) by Domenico Ghirlandaio from a fresco in the Capella Tournabuoni, Florence.

The report that Lucrezia sent back to her husband Piero is rather telling towards attitudes towards marriage at those times:

"She is fairly tall, and fair, and has a nice manner, though she is not as sweet as our girls. She is very modest and will soon learn our customs...Her face is round, but it does not displease me...We could not see her bosom as it is the custom here to wear it completely covered up, but it seems promising."

Following a meeting between Lucrezia and Clarice's family it was noted that she actually had "fine quality breasts"

The marriage was agreed upon and negotiations dragged on for over a year. The Florentine people weren't very happy about the match, and many believed that the Medici thought the local nobility weren't quite good enough for them. But the Orsini family were an old, very noble family. For the first time ever, the Medici were marrying into a class above their own - the Orsini were an old, powerful family in Rome with connections to the Papacy. It was certainly a step up for the Medici. To try and calm the populace, Lorenzo's father tried to arrange a festival to celebrate his sons betrothal but by this point Piero (nicknamed "The Gouty") was far too ill to do anything much and so Lorenzo took charge of organising the festivities. In the end, what he organised was an absolutely spectacular affair and would set the scene for his later ostentation when he took over the reigns of power in Florence.

Clarice Orsini, by Sandro Boticelli

In March 1469, the Piazza Santa Croce was covered with sand and the square itself was surrounded with seating stands for people to watch. In essence, what Lorenzo had organised was a massive joust - a fanfare announced the 18 knights who paraded past the Queen of the Tournament. They were all dressed magnificently but none more so than Lorenzo who stole the show - he took first prize, despite the fact he had already been unseated by one of his opponents. The people of Florence went away from the celebration happy, a fact which Lorenzo learned from in organising later celebrations. The cost of the whole thing ended up costing 8000 florins however, which was 2000 florins more than Clarice's dowry!

Lorenzo de Medici by Agnolo Bronzino

Four months later Clarice arrived in Florence for her wedding, having spent months learning new dances so she would fit in in Florence. And on Sunday 4th June she made her way to the church in Florence dressed in a white and gold gown and she rode on Lorenzo's white horse. Following the religious ceremony, three days of feasting followed and by the end of the celebrations over 300 barrels of wine had been consumed! After the ceremony, Clarice took formal possession of her new home on the Via Larga. As she entered her new home, she was greeted by her new servants and ladies in waiting who by all accounts, weren't too thrilled about having a foreigner take charge of the household.

After she took formal possession of her new household, she rode to the Palazzo degli Alessandri - a palace that was supposed to symbolise the home of her father. 

The following day, she would have moved into the house on the Via Larga properly. And it soon became evident that Lorenzo and Clarice were a complete mismatch. Despite not being the most attractive man in the world, there was something about him that made women go weak at the knees - he spent much of his time writing love sonnets to Lucrezia Donati, and would keep sending love sonnets to other Florentine beauties. He was also said to be quite difficult to live with at times. Clarice herself was quite a frumpy woman and nowhere near akin to the famous Florentine beauties, nor was she hugely intelligent. She was also convinced of her superiority to everyone else due to her family name and she spent much of her time with a somewhat disapproving attitude towards her husband, which for the most part she tried to conceal with various levels of success. Despite this, the couple went on to have ten children, three dying in childbirth, and they ended up becoming rather good friends even if they did not fall in love with each other. Their letters to each other confirm that they were at the very least, fond of each other, and they did their best to put on an outwards show of a normal marriage, albeit a marriage of politics.

Of their ten children, Lorenzo and Clarice would go on to produce the famous Piero de Medici (the Unfortunate) who was chased from Florence by Savonarola, and the future Pope Leo X.

Further Reading

Paul Strathern - The Medici: Godfathers of the Renaissance

Christopher Hibbert - The Rise & Fall of the House of Medici

Leonie Frieda - The Deadly Sisterhood

Cesare Borgia and the Great Pox

Cesare Borgia by Altobello Melone

One of the most well known facts about Cesare Borgia, aside from the fact that he was a bit (a lot) of a sociopath who seemed to enjoy having people killed, is that he suffered from Syphilis and often tended to go about wearing a mask. It is said that he wore the mask to cover up the disfigurement on his face that came from the disease - he was considered to be the most handsome man of his day and so it must have been a bit of a shock when he started noticing the tell tale symptoms of the Great Pox making a show of itself on his face. Anyway, I'm going off on a tangent that should be happening later on in the post. How did Cesare Borgia contract syphilis? How did he cope with it? How did he have it treated? By the time he died in Navarre was he cured or did it send him mad enough to rush to his own death?

The disease itself was really first noticed after the French invasion of Naples in 1495 where it began to spread across Europe. In a way, it was as if Naples was the epicenter of the disease. But how was it spread by the invading French? It is thought that the disease was spread through Spanish mercenaries serving under Charles VIII, who caught it in the New World and then spread it amongst the citizens of Naples who then spread it back to the French. The French then spread it further and thus across Europe. Complicated. The disease back then was incredibly lethal and led to thousands and thousands of people developing it and it's deformities, even leading to widespread death. 

In 1497, Cesare Borgia was sent to Naples as Papal Legate. It had been just six weeks since the death of his brother Juan, Duke of Gandia and he left with a small army of retainers. When I say small, small involves retainers, camp followers and prelates as well as over 700 horse. Cesare Borgia certainly didn't do things by half. They headed to Capua, where the Coronation of Federigo as King of Naples was to take place on the 6th August but soon after they arrived he fell ill - Sancia and Jofre were dispatched from Rome to nurse him back to health and by 11th August he was well enough to crown Federigo. The ceremony itself was lavish but the barons of the Kingdom of Naples failed to show up - it was one of Cesare's jobs to reconcile them with their new King, but that went down the pan rather quickly. In the end, the only people of note at the ceremony were his brother Jofre and his wife Sancia - the Prince and Princess of Squillace. Following the coronation ceremony, Cesare was determined to enjoy the Kingdom of Naples. Before he left Naples on 22nd August, Cesare and his travelling court had almost impoverished the already poor King of Naples. He also brought something else back with him...

"Monsignor of Valencia has returned from the Kingdom after crowning King Federigo and he is too sick of the French disease"

After Cesare contracted the disease, his physician Gaspare Torella condemned the use of mercury in treating  it and prescribed Cesare a course of ointments, potions and sweating in hot baths. Obviously it wouldn't have made all that much difference but within a month or so of returning to Rome it would have seemed like the disease had gone, and no doubt Torella thought his ointments and potions had cured him. It really didn't. The first stage of Syphilis tends to disappear within ten to ninety days before reappearing later as the secondary stage. 

Sergio Peris-Mencheta as Cesare in the traditional black mask

By August of 1498, Cesare began working towards getting rid of his Cardinal's robes. By this point he was determined to step into his brothers shoes and become a soldier. He took part in bullfights on horseback and practiced leaping astride mules and horses in one leap without touching the harness. He was incredibly proud of both his athletic body and his appearance but by now the symptoms of secondary syphilis were starting to show. The rash began to show itself on his face, somewhat disastrously for the handsome young man who was planning on impressing his intended new wife and the French court with his good looks. 

Gian Ludicco Cattaneo wrote, "He is well enough in countenance at present, although he has his face blotched beneath the skin as is usual with the great pox"

At this point, Cesare was just twenty three. Can you imagine how such a young man would have felt when this started happening, when the disease he thought himself cured of suddenly slapped him in the face again? He wasn't to know that it would disappear on it's own (only to reappear later on again - it would haunt him until the end of his life, appearing and reappearing) and he must have been really worried about the blotches on his face spoiling his marriage prospects - it seems he was so worried he even kept signing his letters as "Cardinal Valentino" as if he couldn't quite bring himself to believe in his secular future and that the disease would mean he wouldn't marry and would end up back in the church. Even Cattaneo mentions this, "Nonetheless he signed himself up to the last moment as Cesar, Card. Valentino...and this perhaps as a precaution if things did not come out as he wished or that perhaps, because of that face of his, spoiled by the French disease, his wife might refuse him".

Shortly after Cesare arrived in Marseilles in the October of 1498, he was struck down again with the malady; as was Cardinal Giuliano della Roverre. Both seemed to recover quickly enough, and Cesare's illness didn't stop him from marrying the wealthy heiress Charlotte D'Albret in May of 1499.

As can be seen in the screencap above, many still believe that Cesare spent much of his time hiding his blotched face behind a mask. It seems that most of these descriptions come from contemporaries hostile to the Borgias who always jumped at the chance of discrediting the family - and according to Bradford in her biography of Cesare, the image we have of Cesare hiding in the mask is completely fictitious based on a description written by Paolo Giovio in which he said Cesare looked swarthy and he was disfigured by the blotches of Syphilis. It seems that after the blotches disappeared the chances of disfigurement were really small and would only have appeared many many years later! At the point in which Giovio was describing Cesare as ravaged by the disease, others such as Capello in around 1500 (and it must be said, many others!!) were pointing out that Cesare at the age of "twenty five is physically most beautiful, he is tall and well made..." - although this same man later goes on to describe Cesare as a sadistic murderer who had his own brother killed.

Sergio Peris-Mencheta as Cesare in the traditional black mask

The next mention we have of Cesare's syphilis is in 1504, just after his fathers death and after his imprisonment in the Vatican by Pope Julius II. The year previously, just before his father's death, he had fallen ill with the same fever that killed Pope Alexander - It was most likely to be a malarial fever although many attribute it to either poison or some sort of food poisoning. In April 1504 Cesare had made his way to Naples where he was still quite unwell and Carvarjal reported that at Ostia Cesare had been in a lot of pain with the "French disease" and his face was hideously blotched with nasty looking pustules. It should be noted that we know now that fever, and in particularly malarial fever, was used as a treatment and cure for Syphilis up until the advent of penicillin - Cesare's nasty illness the previous year would very likely have cured him and the after effects of said fever. and his imprisonment was probably what caused him to look so rough.

By the time Cesare was killed in Viana in 1507, did he still have syphilis? Some say he did and it has been suggested that the disease had affected the senses in his brain so much that he had gone mad and so, in a fit of madness had ridden to his death. It is however an unlikely explanation - Cesare contracted syphilis in 1497 and tertiary syphilis can appear at any point from 5-20 years after the first stage manifests itself. He had syphilis for less than ten years and it's really quite dramatic and unlikely to say that in ten years it would have progressed so far as to make him go mad, and indeed in the lead up to the day of his death there is no evidence at all that he had gone mad at all. He certainly seemed to be in control of his senses and even in the bleakest moments he never lost hope and always kept his mind on the prize. He was a reckless man certainly, and the way he rode to his death on his own is very similar to a description made of him in 1503 when he rode at a group of Orsini's (again, completely on his own), saying he would rather die in the saddle than his bed. And as mentioned previously, it's really very likely that he didn't even have the disease thanks to the dangerous fever that he suffered from in 1503. 

We must remember though that after 506 years it is almost impossible to say whether he died as a result of syphilis affecting his brain or whether he did indeed still have it at the time of his death. All that we can say is that he did have it, and that it certainly affected his life in many ways although, like many things with Cesare's story most of what we think about his illness today comes from anti-Borgia propaganda  Did he hide his ravaged face behind a mask? Probably not. Did he wear a mask? Yes, but it was more likely to keep himself disguised so he wouldn't be noticed, not to hide a blotched face away - the blotches would have disappeared any way, and physical disfigurement in such a short space of time was highly, highly unlikely. But, like the incest stories, it's another of these stories that many seem determined to hold on to and why? Because it makes the man come across as more monstrous than he ever, truly was.

Further Reading

Sarah Bradford - Cesare Borgia: His Life & Times

Sarah Bradford - Lucrezia Borgia

Christopher Hibbert - The Borgias & Their Enemies

The Pazzi Conspiracy

Giuliano de Medici by Sandro Botticelli

On 26th April 1478 the ruler of Florence Lorenzo de Medici made his way through his city to the grand Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore - more commonly known as The Duomo thanks to the great dome that topped the imposing structure. Lorenzo de Medici, known to almost everyone as Il Magnifico, ruled the city of Florence but not as a king; rather he insisted that he be called a simple citizen of Florence. Despite this though he was involved in the politics of the city, and nothing happened without his say so. Lorenzo himself really did live up to the name of Il Magnifico; he had taken over the reigns of power from his father Piero in 1470 and was a great patron of the arts - so much so that he ended up taking artists under his wing including Leonardo Da Vinci and the brilliant Michelangelo. He also made sure that the city was alive with parties and festivals. Topping this off, Lorenzo himself was an excellent poet, musician and swordsman with a love of philosophy and women - he wasn't exactly the best looking of men, but according to many of his biographers there was something about him that made him attractive to men and women alike. 

Bust of Lorenzo de Medici by Verroccio

The reason for his trip to the Duomo that day was the Easter Sunday service, and hundreds of Florentine citizens also flocked to the great cathedral including possibly a very young Niccolo Machiavelli and his family. Little were these people to know that they were about to watch one of the greatest conspiracies in Florentine history unfold before their very eyes.

Lorenzo's younger brother Giuliano had tried to make his excuses to not attend the service that day. He blamed ill health, and really his excuses should have held some sway as he suffered from a particularly nasty form of sciatica. But two of his friends, Francesco de Pazzi and Bernardo Bandini had insisted he come along and had even gone as far as helping him get out of the house and helping him to walk to the Duomo. What Giuliano did not know was that Francesco and Bernardo had done this deliberately - they had been planning this for months. And the younger Medici should have stayed in bed that day.

What was about to unfold would go down i history as the Pazzi conspiracy. The Pazzi family had long been living under the thumb of the Medici, both were ancient families and both were banking families but the Pazzi had begun to believe that it was about time the Medici were ousted from power, that their own family deserved some of the glory. The plot had originally been hatched in Rome, after Pope Sixtus had asked Lorenzo de Medici for a loan of 40,000 ducats so he could buy the city of Imola for his nephew Girolamo Riaro. Lorenzo had refused - it was a large sum of money that really his failing bank couldn't afford (Lorenzo hadn't really given much interest to the Medici bank) but not only that, he had hoped to buy Imola for Florence. Lending the Pope the money so it could fall into the hands of papal supporters wasn't exactly what Lorenzo had in mind. Pope Sixtus was furious, and so went to the Medici's rival bank for the funds. The Pazzi bank immediately granted the Pope his money, Sixtus gave Imola to his nephew and the Pazzi now had control of the Curia accounts. Relations between the Pope and the Medici grew even more strained when the Pope tried to oust Niccolo Vitelli from the town of Citta di Castello - this little town had been brought for Florence by Lorenzo's grandfather Cosimo and when Lorenzo raised a small army to help Vitelli, the Pope was seriously offended. War was barely averted. Lorenzo then offended the Pope even more by refusing to allow the Papal choice of archbishop for Florence into the city, and by starting an alliance between Florence, Venice and Milan which the Pope thought was aimed at himself. By the time 1477 rolled around there were a number of men in Rome who wanted to see the end of the Medici in Florence - Girolamo Riaro was one of them, Francesco Salviati (the archbishop who hadn't been allowed into Florence) and Francesco de Pazzi who believed it was time the Pazzi took power. 

Francesco de Pazzi then took the ideas for the coup d'etat to his relative, Jacopo de Pazzi of Florence. Jacopo was an old man and incredibly tight fisted when it came to money, but when Francesco approached him he said that the whole idea wouldn't work. He was also reluctant to show his support because one of his nephews was Lorenzo de Medici's brother in law. To convince Jacopo, Francesco decided to garner military support. And when Jacopo recruited a well known condottiero, Gian Battista de Montesecco, to the cause it seems all was on track. Unfortunately as this condottiero was also in the employ of the Pope, he said he couldn't do anything without papal support. Francesco convinced the man he was working for the good of the papacy and the condottiero agreed to help as long as they had the pope's blessing. This was duly given by the Pope:

"I do not wish the death of anyone on any account since it does not accord with our office to consent with such a thing. Though Lorenzo is a villain, and behaves ill towards us, yet we do not on any account desire his death, but only a change in the government."

Despite the fact that the Pope had said he did not desire any blood shed, the men left the audience convinced that Sixtus would consent to the murder of the Medici if they deemed murder necessary. Montesecco then rode to the Romagna to raise his troops before heading to Florence to speak with Jacopo. When Montesecco told Jacopo of the Pope's consent his mood towards the whole thing changed, and he agreed to help. The plot was then hatched. To start with, it was decided that they would invite Lorenzo to Rome and kill him and his brother there. But when Lorenzo headed to Rome, his brother wasn't with him due to his ill health. The plot was postponed.

It was then decided that the assassination would happen in Florence. Cardinal Raphael Riario had asked Lorenzo if he might be able to see the famous Medici treasures he had heard so much about, even going as far as to say he would be in Florence the following Sunday - he would combine his visit to the Palazzo Medici with High Mass at the Cathedral. When Lorenzo agreed and began plans to throw his distinguished guest a sumptuous banquet, plans for the murders began to take shape. It was decided that the time and the place would be during Mass at the Santa Maria del Fiore, as the brothers would be together at such an occasion. Monstesecco began to get cold feet and said his conscience would not allow him to kill the men in a place where God could see him, so instead the conspirators brought in two anti-Medici priests who were more than happy to help. They agreed on a signal, as the bell rang to signal the elevation of the Host they would strike. It would provide the best opportunity as everyone would be busy praying, they could dispatch their victims and get out quickly.

Unfortunately for the conspirators, it didn't go quite to plan.

As Giuliano was accompanied to the Cathedral by Francesco and Bernardo, Francesco hugged Giuliano in a friendly manner (a cover to frisk for weapons), and they continued on amicably. As they reached their destination, Giuliano took his place by the door of the Cathedral (he was too late to take his place at the front) and Lorenzo was already in place by the altar. Mass begins and the congregation falls silent and as the priest raises the host and the bell rings, all hell breaks lose in the cathedral. By the door, Bernardo Baroncellui had shouted "TAKE THAT, TRAITOR!" and stabbed Giuliano hard in the head. Francesco de Pazzi had then stabbed Giuliano over and over in a frenzy, and managed to stab himself in his leg as he was doing so. Giuliano fell to his knees as Francesco kept stabbing him, before he fell down dead with nineteen stab wounds. By the altar, the two priests who had been brought in at the last minute drew their daggers. One of them placed a hand on Lorenzo's shoulder as if to steady himself (a bit of a silly move really) and as the priest moved to stab Lorenzo in the back, Lorenzo turned around. Realising what was happening he jumped back, the blade only lightly wounding his neck. He then drew his sword and used his cloak as a shield before escaping into the sacristy.

As all hell broke lose in the cathedral, and following Giuliano's murder, many of the killers melted away into the crowds. Salviati had meanwhile managed to get an audience with the signoria, saying he had a message from the Pope. But the archbishop was nervous, and Petrucci (the gonfaloniere) called the guards after a couple of minutes having been made suspicious. Salviati then fled the Signoria, shouting that the time to strike had come. As in the Duomo, all hell broke lose in the Signoria but the massive bell began to ring , calling the citizens to the main square. Members of the Pazzi family tried to shout for support with their cries of "Liberta!" but when no support arrived, they filtered away. 

News of Giuliano's murder had by now reached the Signoria. And in swift, decisive reprisals, the Signoria threw a rope around Salviati's neck and chucked him out of one of the Signoria windows. They did the same to others who had tried to take over the Signoria. Francesco de Pazzi had escaped to the family home, but was dragged out still bleeding from his thigh and stripped naked. He too was hung from a window. The citizens of Florence raced to the Palazzo Medici and demanded to see Lorenzo, who stood at a window with a bandage around his neck. He begged the people to calm down, and not attack those who they merely suspected of murder. It was more important for them to help catch the real villains. The people took no notice though and rampaged through the streets, picking people at random who they wanted to have been involved and murdering them. 

Reprisals did however come to those who had been involved. Jacopo de Pazzi escaped but was brought back to Florence where he was tortured and hung out of one of the signoria windows. He was buried in the church of Santa Croce but not long afterwards he was removed from his tomb and dragged through the streets, his body was then thrown into the Arno, fished out and hung over a tree where children beat the body before throwing him back into the river. The two priests were found hiding, and were arrested. They were then castrated and hanged. Renato de Pazzi, although his part in the ordeal was never truly established was also hanged. Other members of the Pazzi family were sentenced to life imprisonment. Montesecco was the last to be caught - he was tortured and he gave his torturers a very detailed account of the whole conspiracy before he was beheaded. Baroncelli did manage to escape and made it to Constantinople before being recognised. He was brought back to Florence in chains and duly executed. 

As a lasting reminder of the conspiracy and what happened to those who had tried to murder the Medici, Lorenzo ordered an artistic representation be made of the whole ordeal. Sandro Boticelli was drafted in to create a huge mural which would show eight portraits of the leading conspirators. Those who had been caught would be painted with ropes around their necks, while Baroncelli (who at that point was still at large), was to be painted hung upside down hanging by his foot. And underneath each portrait, Boticelli would paint a short, mocking verse. Six months later, at the request of Pope Sixtus, the portrait of Salviati was obliterated. When Baroncelli was eventually caught and brought back to Florence, Leonardo Da Vinci was drafted in to repaint the mans portrait. Leonardo even did sketched of Baroncelli hanging in his famous notebooks. All Pazzi arms were also ordered to be removed from buildings and their property confiscated and no man who had married a Pazzi was ever again allowed to hold public office. The family had been completely and utterly disgraced, and the city of Florence would forever remember that the Pazzi family had been the ones who tried, and failed, to bring down the Medici family.

Drawing of Baroncelli by Leonardo Da Vinci

Further Reading

Paul Strathern - The Medici: Godfathers of the Renaissance

Christopher Hibbert - The Rise and Fall of the House of Medici

Paul Strathern - Death in Florence

Paul Oppenheimer - Machiavelli: A Life Beyond Ideology

Caterina Sforza Part 5 - Ten More Sons.

Gina McKee as Caterina Sforza, shouting down from her ramparts that she had the "means to make ten more sons!"

There is one story about Caterina Sforza that will always stick in someones mind. Ask anyone who has watched Showtime's recent "The Borgias" what the one thing they remember Caterina for is. and then will say the words "ten more sons". These three words are some of the most famous attributed to Caterina Sforza, probably more now than before thanks to The Borgias. But did she really say them? When did she say them? Did she really lift her skirts and show her genitalia to soldiers before her walls and shout those words down? Were they really said as Juan Borgia laid siege to the city of Forli?

I can answer that last question straight of the bat. No, she did not utter those famous famous words at the siege of Forli. She actually uttered the words in 1488, as she held the fortress of Ravaldino against the Orsi family and murderers of her husband. The Borgias places Juan Borgia as commander of the besieging army - the problem with this though is that the siege of Forli did not take place until 1499. How on earth could Juan Borgia be at the siege of Forli when he died in 1497? In reality it was Cesare Borgia who besieged Forli in 1499 and who eventually took Caterina prisoner. But that's another subject for another post. Today, I will be talking about the events that lead up to the supposed "ten more sons", and the time she spent holed up in the fortress of Ravaldino after the murder of her husband.

Going back somewhat, I left the last entry at the point where Girolamo's assassins entered Caterina's chambers. Now, she cowed against the wall, protecting her children. None of her husbands assassins dared to even touch her, however her sister was with her and when one of the men tried to grope her she slapped him away. 

As the townspeople greeted Bishop Savelli, who rode into Forli on 15th April 1488, carrying the papal banner and intending to bring Forli under papal control; the fortress of Ravaldino was still in the hands of Riario supporters and it would be prudent for the supporters to get their countess inside the walls of Ravaldino. There she would be safe. Yet the Orsi family had the idea of taking her to the fortress and having her demand the castellans hand the fortress over to the Orsis. Ludovico Orsi therefore took her from her prison in the Orsi palace and dragged her away from her children. They took her before the walls of Ravaldio where she spoke to Tommaso Feo, begging that he give up the fortress for the sake of her children. Feo refused, saying his orders were to keep the castle safe for Ottaviano. And as the crowds listened to the exchange it became clear that this man was Caterina's friend and ally. He dropped the names of Sforza, Cardinal Riario and Bentivolglio to make it clear to her captors that she had her allies. The Orsi then dragged her away, realising that the whole exchange was likely staged, that there was no plan to hand the castle over to them. 

Her captors were of course angry that she had played them for fools, and they threatened to run her though with lances. And as they did so, her whole demeanour changed. No longer was she an upset widow, instead she became strong, "Certainly you can hurt me, but you don't scare me because I am the daughter of a man who knew no fear. Do what you want: you have killed my lord, you can certainly kill me. After all, I'm just a woman".

They took her back to her prison, determined to break her spirits. They knew she was a pious woman and thought that by using her religion against her, they would break her. They smuggled a priest into her rooms and confronted her about both her and her husbands sins. Saying that his husband had been killed for her sins, he demanded she give up Ravaldino and if she did not, she would face the same fate as her husband. He said also that if she did not hand over the fortress, she would be punished by starvation and eternal hellfire for both her and her children. She banged on the door and screamed that he be taken away and she later admitted that she found this experience more traumatic than losing her husband. However, bishop Savelli (who had previously rode to the town to bring it under papal control), had her family moved to the tower of Porta San Pietro for their safety, while she was removed across the town and placed in a small cell.

On April 16th, a message came to to a man who was loyal to the Riarios (but pretending to work for the Orsi) by the name of Ercolani. The message was from Feo who said he would give up the castle on one condition: Caterina would have to pay him his back wages and give him a good reference for any future employment. Caterina would have to come alone. Of course, the Orsi would not agree to this so Savelli agreed to a compromise. It would have to be done with Caterina outside the walls, in full view. Once again she made her way up to the walls of Ravaldino and called to Feo, promising he would have everything he had asked for. Feo then said that Caterina would have to come into the fortress to sign a contract and only one person was allowed to come inside with her. The Orsi put up a fight but Savelli sent her inside, wishing for everything to be over with. And she took with her a young groom named Luca. And as she crossed the drawbridge, she turned back to the crowd and raised her hand with the index and ring fingers folded back and her thumb tucked between her. She had just, for all intents and purposes, sworn violently as the crowd.

Savelli had given her three hours to conduct her business. But the three hour limit came and went and she did not set foot outside the front of the castle. After a while, Feo appeared on the battlements and shouted down that he had taken Caterina as his hostage! He then said he would exchange her for several members of the nobility, all of which were supporters of the Orsi family. The Orsi knew that Caterina and Feo had planned this and in anger they went and seized Ottaviano and his nurse before dragging them back to Ravaldino. The child begged for mercy, his cries mingling with the cries of his little brother Livio; and the soldiers shouted threats. The cries of her children summoned her to the ramparts of Ravaldino.

Tradition dictated that she should give in when faced with her endangered children. Yet she was not like other women, she was the daughter of a great family of warriors. She knew that Savelli knew her children were the nephews of the Duke of Milan, and that Milan would bring justice swiftly down on anyone who caused the children harm. She also knew that giving up the castle would give her no advantage whatsoever against the Orsi's, that if she did so then she and her family would be in danger of imprisonment and of being poisoned. 

And this is where the "ten more sons" myth comes from, the most well known and well publicised version of this story. It was said that she walked to the edge of the ramparts and as the Orsi threatened to kill her children on the spot, she shouted back, "Do it then you fools! I am already pregnant with another child by Count Riario and I have the means to make more!". Others wrote of the event, and Galeotto Manfredi wrote to Lorenzo De Medici that Caterina had raised her skirts, grabbed her genitals and shouted that unlike those men below, she had the means of making ten more sons. Niccolo Machiavelli also repeats this story in his discourses but no one else mentions such a salacious version of events. This however, is a complete myth. There are contemporary accounts written by Cobelli and Bernardi which mention nothing of any such words. Both men, both local authors and diarists, mention that her children were brought to the walls but that Caterina never stepped foot on the ramparts. Cobelli mentions that she stayed inside on purpose while Feo had several cannon shots fired. 

Savelli reclaimed the family immediately to take them away from the danger that the Orsi's were placing them in. He knew they were unstable and he had to protect the children by placing them under a heavier guard. 

Caterina held the castle until April 29th. The Milanese army had come, and they demanded that the Riario family be reinstated, and Savelli made it clear of the Papal position on the matter also. The people began to panic, thinking that the Roman army was on its way. Yet as they arrived, only fifty horseman rode through the gates and had been sent by Cardinal Riario to help his aunt. The Orsi ran to the Porta San Pietro where they believed the Riario children to be, and banged o the doors saying that Savelli had ordered them to take the children and keep them safe. The guards refused, knowing full well that Savelli had ordered no such thing. 

And as Caterina heard the shouts of her townspeople, and the cheers as the Orsi's were ousted from power she would have heard the shouts of "Duke!" and "Ottaviano"

Her son was now the rightful ruler of Forli, she had won. She had stepped into the shoes of the warrior noblewoman who has come down to us through the centuries. From that moment on she was known as a Tigress, a woman who really was her fathers daughter. And she would rule Forli until her son came of age. 

Further Reading

Elizabeth Lev, The Tigress of Forli, 
Niccolo Machiavelli, The Prince
Paul Strathern, The Artist, The Philosopher and the Warrior
Ernst Breisach, Caterina Sforza: A Renaissance Virago
Christopher Hibbert, The Borgias and Their Enemies
Jacob Burckhardt, The Civilisation of the Renaissance In Italy
Christopher Hare, The Most Illustrious Ladies of the Italian Renaissance
Jacob Burckhardt, The Civilization of the Renaissance in Italy
Will Durant, The Renaissance: A History of Civilization in Italy from 1304-1576 AD