Renaissance Murders

by Michael Hone

  Galeazzo Maria Sforza was thought to have been a psychopath who didn’t hesitate to tear off a man’s limbs with his own hands or rape a woman, noble or not. His sexual appetite was hard to appease but once his lust fulfilled, the woman was handed to his entourage for their needs. As mentioned in a previous chapter but bears repeating to underline the man he was, he detested poachers, strangling one to death on a rabbit pushed down his throat, and another man was nailed inside a coffin and then buried alive. A priest who predicted Galeazzo would have a short life was walled up in a room and starved to death. Galeazzo was finally brought down by three conspirators, one of whom was a very young man named Girolamo Olgiati who, thanks to Galeazzo’s library to which the duke gave him access, was able to read the lives of Brutus and Cassius and how they tried to bring republicanism back to Rome through the assassination of Caesar (a perfect example of how the ancient texts formed the Renaissance mind). That was his ideal for Milan. A second conspirator, known only as Lampugnano, had obscure motives concerning land deals. The third conspirator was Carlo Visconti whose sister had been dishonored by the duke, a motive of importance today but at the time everyone was throwing his daughter or wife at Galeazzo in hopes of gaining profit. They met in church. Who struck first is in question, but the version I prefer has Visconti (the boy whose sister was raped) on his knees as if requesting a favor as the duke walked down the nave. When Galeazzo paused to listen to him, Visconti plunged his dagger into the duke’s genitals. The other men followed suit. Galeazzo, at age 32, was dead before he hit the ground. The three assassins, certain of public support, did not bother to hide. Instead of thanking them, the citizens of Milan killed Lampugnano instantly and then dragged his body through the streets; the other two were caught later by Galeazzo’s guard and their genitals were cut off and stuffed into their mouths before they were disemboweled, quartered and decapitated. As he was dying one of the three is reported to have shouted out, ‘’Death is perhaps terrible, but honor and glory are eternal!’’ Which may be true as I’m retelling the story 500 years after the event.

  Girolamo was the son of a shoemaker whose good luck was to have Pope Sixtus, known for his nepotism, for uncle. Thanks to Sixtus IV Caterina became countess of Imola.

  Girolamo Riario hated the Medici with every bone in his body because they had always been obstacles in every adventure initiated by the Riario. He had even tried to assassinate Lorenzo Il Magnifico and his brother Giuliano. Girolamo would become known for his cowardliness in battle, and here too, in the attempt on Lorenzo’s life, he was not to be found in the heat of things. Only the confessions of the perpetrators made it clear to all of Italy the essential role that was his in the plot. He fell into public disgrace, he infuriated his uncle Pope Sixtus, and he became the object of jokes concerning his bravery and competence. Caterina, at age sixteen, was thought to have lost trust in him.

  In rapid succession she had two sons, Ottaviano, whose godfather was none other than Cardinal Roderigo Borgia, and Cesare, named after the great Roman, he who crossed the Ribicon, a river just a short distance from Forlì.

  Between Imola and Forlì was the city-state of Faenza, home of the Manfredi and birthplace of Astorre Manfredi. Imola, Forlì and Faenza were part of the Papal States, territories under the sovereign rule of the pope, and represented his temporal power on earth. Popes had only partial control over the States, some of which were under the command of one prince or another. The hold over Faenza by the Manfredi was backed by the Este family of Ferrara, a country to the north of Faenza, too powerful for the current pope to bring into the Papal States. The power in Forlì, on the other hand, had gone from despot to pope and back again for centuries. At the moment it was in the hands of the Ordelaffi.

  Antonio Ordelaffi had come to power in Forlì thanks to Venice. Forlì was a well-fortified city surrounded by walls and surmounted by the nearby fortress of Ravaldino that controlled passage between the north and south of Italy, as well as roads entering the Apennines. The city was passed on to Antonio’s son Francesco who was murdered by his brother Pino. Pino failed to take Machiavelli’s advice in such cases, he exiled Francesco’s small sons instead of strangling them as did the Turks their brothers and brothers’ sons. He then went on to poison his wife whom he suspected of infidelity. As she had been born in neighboring Faenza, he gained the enmity of the Manfredi. The next to be poisoned was his second wife and his second wife’s mother, both from Imola, gaining him the hatred of the Imolesi. His third bride, Lucrezia Mirandola, was said to carefully watch what she ate. He had no children from any of his wives but did produce a bastard whom he named to succeed him when he fell ill and took to his bed. So hated was he by even his own Forlivesi that he was pulled from the bed still breathing and dragged through the city streets, spat upon and kicked until he was unrecognizable.

  His wife Lucrezia became regent for Pino’s son but Francesco’s boys, now youths, returned to take power. They easily took the city but not the adjoining fortress, Ravaldino, a fortress that would play an important part, later, in the story of Caterina Riario Sforza de’ Medici herself. It was within Ravaldino that Lucrezia and her son took refuge. But the boy mysteriously died, giving Pope Sixtus IV the excuse he needed to send in Caterina’s husband Girolamo. Girolamo’s army chased the three youths from Forlì and now both Forlì and Imola belonged to him and Caterina, count and countess, but not the fortress of Ravaldino. Because it was unbreachable, Pope Sixtus offered Lucrezia 139,000 ducats and a new castle if she would leave, which she gladly did.

  Caterina Riario Sforza de’ Medici

  Caterina and Girolamo visited their new acquisition, a backwater in comparison to Rome (which was, compared to Florence, a slum). The inhabitants were awed by the noble dress of the royal couple, their beautiful horses, the trumpets, flags, banners and pennants.

  Little by little Girolamo became unpopular in both Forlì and Imola. When he first arrived he had freed both states from paying taxes, but soon he found himself near bankruptcy. He persuaded the citizens to vote money to fund 400 guards while in reality he had only 100; he pocketed the difference, an embezzlement that soon came to light. He was haughty and known to swap dirty jokes with his guards in the middle of mass in church. (When his uncle Sixtus became pope, Sixtus literally took him off the streets, an urchin who survived by selling fruit and vegetable, as reported earlier.)

  In Rome he was even more unpopular. Everyone knew of Sixtus’s nepotism. Girolamo, the shoemaker’s boy, had been named head of the papal guards and six other nephews had received cardinals’ hats. Old Roman families detested Girolamo’s boorish ways and pretention. Only Caterina lived up to what the people expected from a countess and the pope adored her for it. Girolamo, in his soul a thug, knew that the pope had little time left to him. He therefore did everything he could to steal anything he could get his hands on, and send it back to Forlì and Imola. Girolamo sold church offices and demanded money so that those already employed could keep their jobs. The people knew he was a coward because of his role in the death of Lorenzo’s brother (soon to be covered), and even during the plague in Forlì and Imola, where Caterina had gone from hovel to hovel to bring comfort and priests and what medicines were available to the sick, Girolamo remained in quarantine in his palace, although he did send others, his wife for example, to bring help to the needy.

  As Sixtus approached the end, Girolamo put his children into carts filled with furniture, clothing and all the money that hadn’t already been expedited, and made his way back to the sticks--Forlì and Imola. The pope’s last breath was the signal for his palace and the palaces of his supporters to be ransacked by mobs of the discontented who stole or destroyed what they could, killing nobles foolish enough to hang around.

  Incredibly, Caterina hung around too. She seized Castel Sant’Angelo in the center of Rome, while her husband had long since vanished through the city gates.

  As head of the papal forces, Girolamo had received orders from Sixtus to defend Castel Sant’Angl
eo at all costs. Instead, Girolamo had fled Rome but Caterina remained in the Castel and declared that Sixtus’s death had changed nothing: Girolamo was still responsible for the Castel until the election of the next pope. This was not possible, however, because the Castel guarded the entrance to the papal palace where the next pope would be named, and Caterina proclaimed that her cannons would blow up anyone trying to get past them. To end the imbroglio, the College of Cardinals decided to offer Girolamo, by the intermediary of Caterina, 8,000 ducats if he could get Caterina to give up her hold over them. The College also promised that Girolamo would have continued lordship over both Forlì and Imola as long as he and his descendants lived. For these reasons Caterina agreed to evacuate the Castel, but she also agreed because she knew that she was surrounded by enemies who hated her husband. The first was Lorenzo Il Magnifico who wanted him dead for his role in the killing of his brother. Then came the Manfredi of Faenza because Girolamo had tried to capture their city-state. Ercoli of Ferrara hated Girolamo because he had opposed his every policy, and the cardinals of Rome hated him because Caterina, in Girolamo’s name, had prevented them from getting to the papal palace to elect a new pope.

  Back in Forlì Caterina found life there and in Imola cold, humid, boring and dangerous. Taddeo Manfredi, who had once ruled Imola, tried, unsuccessfully, to get the town to revolt against its new masters. Both towns were furious over new taxes and duties and both were near bankruptcy. In March the former ruler of Forlì, Antonio Ordelaffi, sent an assassin to kill both Girolamo and Caterina, a plot discovered in time. The assassin was hanged outside the window of the Girolamo palace as a warning to the citizens of both towns, nearly all of whom now despised Girolamo. Worst still for the population, a new outbreak of plague appeared, giving Caterina another chance to help the needy while Girolamo remained locked inside his rooms, forbidding entrance to anyone. Lastly, Caterina could no longer stand the father of her six children due to his evident cowardliness.

  To change air, she decided to visit her mother, sister and relatives in Milan. There, to her stupefaction, she found a city in full bloom thanks to Ludovico Sforza who, against all preconceived notions, had opened Milan to engineers, architects and artists. In fact, the city was being rebuild from the foundations up. The most famous Sforza acquisition was the young Leonardo da Vince whom everyone found gorgeous--slim, physically powerful and possessing cascades of hair flowing around his beautiful face. Caterina anticipated a close relationship by offering the boy a commission to do her portrait. Alas for her, this boy preferred other boys.

  Back home in Forlì, Caterina became more and more aware of her husband’s unpopularity. She realized that if something happened to Girolamo she would survive only if she were in absolute command of the Ravaldino fortress, said to be impregnable. But the fortress had a particularity. When someone was designated to man it, he was given absolute powers in its defense, and was never ever allowed to go beyond its walls. At the moment the fortress was held by a certain Zaccheo, a person who had bought the job from Girolamo who was always in need of money. Caterina knew she couldn’t trust him to turn the fortress over to her in time of great need. Her first priority, therefore, was to put someone else in his place. She rode to Ravaldino, ‘’pregnant to the throat,’’ said Zaccheo when he saw her. Zaccheo told her that he could be replaced only by Girolamo himself, not some woman, be she even a countess and Girolamo’s wife. Caterina returned to Forlì and engaged the help of a man who was Zaccheo’s only friend, a sinister personage named Codronchi. Codronchi went to Ravaldino and was welcomed by Zaccheo. While awaiting dinner they played cards. When one slipped from Zaccheo’s hands and he bent to retrieve it, Codronchi reached for a dagger in the top of his boot and brought it up into Zaccheo’s chest and heart, killing him instantly. The man’s body was dumped down a well and Ravaldino was turned over to Caterina. Codronchi rode away from Forlì, a much richer man. Tommaso Feo, a stable boy Caterina amused herself with, was chosen to govern the fortress. He came with his brother Giacomo, 15, whom Caterina took an even greater shine to and … later married.

  Things boiled over, and what Caterina had expected finally happened. One of the noble clans, the Orsi, had had enough of Girolamo. As close friends of his, they were allowed to enter the palace early one afternoon while Girolamo was resting, and knifed him. Girolamo was able to raise himself and attempted to get to Caterina’s rooms but the Orsi brothers kept slashing with daggers until he lay in a pool of his own blood. The body was thrown over the balcony into the piazza where Forlivesi examined the mangled remains and bloody face. At first fearful, they turned on it once they knew the tyrant was truly dead. He was kicked, spat upon and beaten. The Forlivesi then sacked the palace, taking away everything, down to the bedding. The Orsi ran to Caterina’s apartments where she was entertaining her mother, sister and children. The children broke into terrified sobs, only Girolamo’s bastard son, Scipione, age fourteen, faced the attackers with bravado. They were all locked in but luckily Caterina was able to get a message out to Naples and Bologna, as well as to the new pope, Innocent VIII in Rome. Bishop Savelli, who happened to be touring the region, entered Forlì the next day and immediately, on learning what was going on, went to make sure that nothing had happened to Caterina and her children. As the population knew that she could count on the huge armies of both Milan and Bologna, neither it nor the Orsi dared harm her. In addition, the mighty fortification of Ravaldino was in the hands of a man loyal to the countess.

  Girolamo Riario

  Whether Bishop Savelli was in league with Caterina or not is unknown. What is known is that he accompanied her to the fortification of Ravaldino that she promised to hand over to the Orsi. The keeper, certainly in league with her, said he would do so if she would pay his back wages and ensure his future employment there or elsewhere. When she agreed, he said she would have to enter the fortification and give him what he wanted in writing. The Orsi rejected the idea until Bishop Savelli vouched for her integrity. She entered Ravaldino, the door closed behind her, she mounted the steps to the top of the tower where she gave the Orsi--the finger.

  The Orsi, outraged, went back to the palace where they fetched her son Ottaviano, age nine. He was brought back before the walls of Ravaldino and a dagger was placed against the lad’s throat, the worst possible nightmare for a mother. The child was obliged to cry out for mercy, alerting Caterina to his presence. She returned to the top of the tower and stared down at the Orsi, their troops and the town people who had desecrated the body of her husband and ransacked her palace. She felt she had little to fear as they were all deathly afraid of the consequences of their acts. Spies had already returned to Forlì to inform them that troops from Bologna and Milan were on their way, and they all knew too that the new pope would never accept that even a hair of any of the children be harmed.

  Accordingly, Caterina hollered out the words that have made her famous to this day. She told them all that they could do what they would with her children as she was pregnant again and with this, she added, pointing to her loins, she could produce many others.

  Caterina’s stance at Ravaldino had a highly unforeseeable consequence. Antonio Maria Ordelaffi, whose family Girolamo had chased from Forlì, had two messages sent to Caterina by arrows shot over the walls of Ravaldino, both suggesting that she and he marry. As the boy was young and handsome, he would soon gain access to her. But for the moment, 12,000 Milanese soldiers arrived to save Caterina. The troops were prepared for battle and for the inevitable sacking of Forlì, their reward. Seeing them, the Orsi brothers hurried to put their threat in action before being forced to flee: they went to kill the Girolamo children. Happily, the children had been hidden away by Bishop Savelli. The Forlivesi had a sudden change of heart. They now cried out ‘’Ottaviano!,’’ the name of Girolamo’s heir, the boy who had nearly had his throat slit. The lad was brought to them, totally mystified by the events that he had in no way been responsible for, and was paraded around the main square of the city
three times, symbolizing that he was now accepted as the new lord of Forlì.

  When Caterina had regained control, she coolly dismissed the thousands of soldiers who had come to her recue and were waiting to enter and ransack the city. Soldiers always earned part of their pay thusly, an accepted practice recognized by everyone. But Caterina told them, with mind-boggling dispassion and courage, that as the Forlì had stolen everything she possessed, what the soldiers would take in sacking the city belonged, in reality, to her. More incredible still, the soldiers let her get away with it. As for the Orsi, they left Forlì in search of asylum elsewhere and historically simply vanished from the face of the earth. They left their father behind, however, who, at age eighty, was dragged from his bed cursing his sons for not having succeeded! His palace was torn down and the old man pulled through the streets tied upside down to the back of a horse, his head smashed to a pulp against the cobblestones.