Giacomo Feo

Girolamo is killed, after more than a half dozen failed attempts, on April 14, 1488 by a conspiracy led by the Orsis, a noble family of Forlì.

The lord's palace is sacked, while Caterina and her children are made prisoners.

The fortress of Ravaldino, a central part of the defensive system of the city, refuses to surrender to the Orsis.

Caterina offers to attempt to persuade the castellan, Tommaso Feo, to submit.

The Orsis believe Caterina because she has left her children as hostages, but once inside she lets loose a barrage of vulgar threats and promises of vengeance against her former captors.

According to a legend, when they threatened to kill her children, Caterina, standing in the walls of the fortress exposed her genitals and said: "Fatelo, se volete: impiccateli pure davanti a me... qui ho quanto basta per farne altri!"

("Do it, if you want to: hang them even in front of me...here I have what's needed to make others!").

Shocked by this response, the Orsis don't dare to touch the Riario children.

With the assistance of her uncle Ludovico il Moro (very interested in securing some influence in the Romagna, to counter the influence of Venice), Caterina defeats her enemies and regains possession of her dominions.

On April 30, 1488, Caterina becomes regent for her eldest son Ottaviano, formally recognized by all the members of the Commune and the head of the magistrates as the new Lord of Forlì that day, but too young to exercise power directly.

Caterina's first act as Regent of Forlì is to avenge the death of her husband, according to the custom of the time.

She orders that all those involved in the Orsi conspiracy are to be imprisoned, along with the Pope's governor, Monsignor Savelli, all the pontifical generals, and the castellan of the fortress of Forlimpopoli, and also all women of the Orsis and other families who had assisted in the conspiracy.

Soldiers seek out all who had taken part in the conspiracy.

Houses owned by those imprisoned are razed while their valuables are distributed to the poor.

News comes on July 30 that Pope Innocent VIII has given Ottaviano Riario the official investiture of his state "until his line ended."

In the meantime, Forlì is visited by Cardinal Raffaele Riario, officially to protect the orphan children of his late cousin Girolamo but actually to oversee the government of Caterina.

The young Countess personally deals with all issues concerning the government of her city-state, both public and private.

To consolidate her power, she exchanges gifts with the lords of neighboring states and involves herself in marriage negotiations for her children.

She decreases taxes by reducing some and eliminating others, and sharply controls her realm's spending.

Caterina deals directly with the training of her militia in the use of weapons and horses.

It is her intention that her cities and towns be orderly and peaceful, and she expects her subjects to appreciate these efforts.

Two months after the death of Girolamo, a rumor is spread that Caterina is close to marrying Antonio Maria Ordelaffi, who had started to court her.

This marriage would end the claims of the Ordelaffi family on the city of Forlì.

Antonio Maria, feeling confident, has written to the Duke of Ferrara that the Countess has promised to marry him.

When Caterina sees how things stand, she imprisons those who had spread the false news.

These promises are addressed by the Senate in Venice, which summons Antonio Maria to Friuli, where he will remain confined for ten years.

Caterina has meanwhile fallen in love with Giacomo Feo, the brother of Tommasso Feo, the castellan who had remained faithful to her after the assassination of her husband.

Caterina marries him in 1488, but secretly, to avoid losing custody of her children and the regency of her dominions.

Giacomo is appointed castellan of the fortress of Ravaldino in place of his brother, and is awarded with an order of chivalry from Ludovico il Moro.

All the contemporary chronicles report that Caterina is madly in love with the young Giacomo.

It is feared that she could strip her son Ottaviano of his future lordship, in order to give it to her lover and secret husband.

In April 1489, Caterina gives birth to Giacomo's son, Bernardino, later called Carlo in honor of King Charles VIII, who had made Giacomo a baron of France.

Also, she had replaced the castellans of the fortresses of her dominions with her closest relatives: the fortress of Imola has been given to Gian Piero Landriani, her stepfather, and the fortress of Forlimpopoli to Piero Landriani, her half-brother, while Tommaso Feo is married to Bianca Landriani, Caterina's half-sister.

At Tossignano, a conspiracy is formed to seize the fortress in the name of Ottaviano, and murder both Giacomo and Caterina.

The Countess discovers the plot and imprisons or executes those who are involved.

Immediately after this conspiracy is foiled, another plot is organized by Antonio Maria Ordelaffi, who had never become resigned to the loss of Forlí, but this also fails.

Giacomo's power increases, and with his cruelty and insolence he incurs the hatred of all, including Caterina's children.

The eleven-year-old Ottaviano, despite his official status, is in reality controlled by his domineering mother and her lover.

When Feo humiliates Giacomo in public by slapping him, his nominal courtiers do nothing to support him.

After this episode, the situation in Forli becomes very strained.

Ottaviano's friends plot to use the episode as an excuse to "liberate" the city from the rule of Giacomo Feo by assassinating him.

The first attempt in 1490 fails.

The eleven-year-old Ottaviano, despite his official status, is in reality controlled by his domineering mother and her lover.

When Feo humiliates Giacomo in public by slapping him, his nominal courtiers do nothing to support him.

After this episode, the situation in Forli becomes very strained.

Ottaviano's friends plot to use the episode as an excuse to "liberate" the city from the rule of Giacomo Feo by assassinating him.

The first attempt in 1490 fails.

The chronicles and diplomatic dispatches of the period report that Caterina Sforza is very enamored with her young lover and secret husband Giacamo Feo, and it is feared that she will give political precedence and power to him, passing over her eldest son and Riario's heir, Ottaviano.

These fears had lead to two failed conspiracies to assassinate Feo and Sforza.

The third conspiracy, organized by Giovanni Antonio Ghetti and some of Caterina's own children, finally succeeds in killing Feo on August 27, 1495, when he and Sforza and their entourage are returning to Forlì from a hunting trip.

Sforza and her daughter, Bianca, with some of her ladies-in-waiting, lead the group in a carriage, while Feo, along with Sforza's sons, Ottaviano and Cesare, and many staffieri and soldiers, follow on horseback.

As they approach the Schiavonia gate into Forlì, Feo is cut off from the others by the conspirators, stabbed and beaten to death.

Sforza escapes to the safety of Ravaldino.

The same day, Ghetti goes to Caterina, thinking that she had secretly given the order to kill Giacomo.

Caterina had been unaware of the plot, and her revenge is terrible.

When her first husband was murdered, she had avenged his death according to the justice of the time; now she reacts with vindictive fury.

Caterina is not satisfied with mere executions: their deaths have to be among the most cruel and painful.

She not only prosecutes the wives and mistresses of the conspirators, but she also seeks out the children, even those in early infancy, and all are summarily tortured and executed.

In all, thirty-eight people are executed for the crime—including Ghetti and his wife and children—and many others imprisoned or exiled.

Caterina's fury has blinded her to the politics that had inspired the plot.

It had involved almost all the supporters of Ottaviano Riario, who were convinced that Caterina had given her tacit consent to the killing of the man who was considered the "usurper" of the state's rightful ruler.

They had wanted to uphold the power of the Riario family.

Caterina, as a result of the massacre that follows the assassination of Giacomo Feo, has lost forever the good will of her people.