The Tigress Of Forli: Renaissance Italy's Most Courageous and Notorious Countess, Caterina Riario Sforza de' Medici

I have been reading about Michelangelo and Botticelli but while some of the most treasured works of art and literature were created during the renaissance there was intrigue, betrayal, savage wars, brutal torture and gruesome death were routine aspects of daily life. Elizabeth Lev writes about the Countess Caterina Sforza Riario de Medici called the Tigress of Forli. Lev writes in clear flowing prose drawing on contemporary sources preserved in state and municipal archives, much never before translated into English. The information is so dramatic and Lev writes so well it is hard to believe this is a history book not a book of historical fiction. Born in 1463 Caterina was the illegitimate child of Galeazzo Maria Sforza, heir to the Duchy of Milan. Her father raised her with his legitimate children and educated her same as his son’s including training to be a warrior. At the age of 10 she was married off to 30 year old Girolamo Riario the nephew of Pope Sixtus IV. As her husband’s health declined Caterina took over the governance of their dominion Forli and Imola. Her past time was spent in gardening mainly herbs where she experiment making medications and beauty creams. After her husband was assassinated she married Giacoma Feo and had a child. After he was murdered she married Giovanni de Medici and born him a son. Giovanni died of a fever. She had 7 children six of them boys, all of the children reached adulthood which was rare for that time. Her grandson was Cosimo de Medici, Grand Duck of Tuscan who is synonymous with the glory days of Florence. Her Fortress of Ravaldino was attacked by Venice they sent Machiavelli against her but she outwitted him. As her reputation grew throughout Italy the Riario Pope Sixtus IV died and a Borgia Pope Alexander VI took power. He sends his son Cesare Borgia at the head of a Papal army to conquer the Riario duchy. All of Europe watched as she with held off the might of the Papal army but alas no one came to her aid and the Fortress eventually fell to the Borgia. She was held in prison but eventually release to Florence. She took over her husband’s (G. de Medici) home and raised his son until her dead in 1509 of T.B. at age 46. I have only highlighted some of the key points of her life. Elizabeth Lev goes into great depth discussing Caterina’s life. Lev also points out the good as well as the bad of her life. I found Caterina to be a fascinating person, well educated for her day with a wide range of interests and a brilliant general of her army. If she would have been a man she would have been a hero and had a much easier life but as a woman she challenged the role assigned to her. I read this as an e-book on my kindle app for my Ipad.

This book is well written and supports information I have read from other sources. This woman was a 'warrior' in the true sense of the word and put her principles above all others, including her children at times. While some readers may fault her for this, she looked to the future and had a clear grasp of what bowing to the current pressure would unleash in the world. This book contains historical as well as psychological and emotional details about this woman. She is another to be admired!!!!! What she might have done in the current eras women's movement! I do wish the book would have been able to provide more detailed information about various stages in her life but realistically, how many records have been destroyed over time! I am very excited to begin looking for books about her children and descendants!

"The Tigress of Forli" by Elizabeth Lev. A well written fast moving tale of Caterina Riario Sforza De Medici. The illegitimate daughter of the Galeazzno Maria Sforza Duke of Milan. A noblewoman of the Renaissance in Italy. She was raised in her father's household as was the custom of the day and as well educated as his legitimate children. At an early age she was also trained in military tactics which later in her life proved extremely useful. Girls were often married off at early ages (Caterina was only 10) to forge alliances of family convenience and never argued over the practice of being a pawn in a chess game, even though she did not live directly with her husband for several more years. She eventually was to bare him 6 children. Caterina was a woman of renown beauty, intelligence, courage and fortitude in Renaissance Italy. In an age where women were little more than a husbands possession and didn't hold any large amount of power or have any hope of having any. Caterina managed to gain control of her husband's kingdom after he was assassinated to retain it for her numerous children until they were of age and she ruled for a number of years. Caterina displayed the kind of intelligence, chivalry made her legendary in her day. That most women of the day were not known to possess. Caterina proves to be a wily woman not easily subdued. She married two more times. She appeared to be a woman of extremes on the scales of human frailty from extreme cruelty to empathy beyond ones wildest imagination. She was capable of welding a sword and defending her tiny kingdom from the dreaded Caesare Borgia who had designs on it. He managed to finally capture her, raped repeatedly and was taken to Rome and prison for the next few years. But, she refused to give up her children's claim of their birthright to Borgia. An excellent read with as much adventure as any modern day concocted adventure novel. The type of a woman a lot of we women find admirable because she had a lot of backbone and guts. She proved to be a larger than life person, her children were never able to live up to her image. I enjoy this type of novel so am going to give it the highest marks I can, because it is definitely an excellent book and well written. It reminds me a lot of the 'Angelique' novel's of the 60's written by French authors Sergeanne Golon that I used to read all the time. Except they were fiction where as this is a biography of a real life woman of the Renaissance. But, travels in the same vein and it is the tale of a strong woman with the will of iron, who made the Sforza name proud in her day.

A fascinating woman, everyone should know her story!!! Great read!

For anyone who wants to understand the other half of history (the one that chronicles the achievements, contributions, rises and falls of women), this is a great place to start. Very reminiscent of Irving Stone's 'the Agony and the Ecstacy' but that's no surprise given that it is a story from the same world. Great research, interesting language and a brilliant telling of one woman's life.

Observing the fact that she was far more intelligent and courageous than her spouse, Caterina preferred to bear her father's name, Sforza, rather than her husband's (although, perhaps unknown to her, her father, Galeazzo Maria Sforze, was a rapist, torturer and mass murderer). But despite Caterina's intelligence and courage, Elizabeth Lev's book THE TIGRESS OF FORLI demonstrates once again the impossible role of being a truly free woman in a man's world. She was deflowered at age 10, by a man naturally, and spent her entire life bearing a man's children (Lev says she had 3 in one 2-year period, obviously impossible unless she had twins, which Lev passes in silence). Caterina was so beautiful that Botticelli portrays her in his fabulous The Primavera, but even then, her beauty comes to us through the hands of a man. Her most famous act was to show her privates, from the top of a fortress, when the men below threatened to kill her imprisoned--and deeply beloved--sons, saying something like `Who cares? With this I can create others'. Her husband assassinated, she went on to rule her lands, in the name of her young sons, brilliantly. One moving episode was her love for a handsome stable boy, a boy she'd fallen for when he was 15, whom she secretly married. Lev says that he had nothing to offer her `but his heart', forgetting, surely, his virile Italian ****. The boy was assassinated, but although the loss was devastating and her revenge Carthaginian, she found another young and handsome lad that she married. After years of felicity she was captured by Pope Alexander VI's son Cesare Borgia and used by him until sated. (Cesare might have been scum, but what a life HE led!) But before her capture Cesare, knowing Caterina's weakness for handsome boys--and Cesare was a mean dog in that category--tried to seduce here while showing his wares in front of her fortification, so sure of himself that he nearly got across the drawbridge on the end of which she was smiling alluringly, but feeling it rise under his feet, he rushed off just in time, saluting Caterina with verbal filth (and supposedly in no other language can one be as filthy as in Italian). It's sad that Caterina is so little known, much less so than Cleopatra although Caterina was as beautiful, as smart and certainly braver, but alas for her she had no real opposition: her first husband was an idiot, the stable boy was dull-witted (this is not a slur against stable boys in general, as I appreciate them as much as other guys appreciate them). And Cesare, fearless stud that he was, was no Marc Antony and no Jules Cesar. The sinister history of women continues down to the present, even here in France, home of the Rights of MAN, where women were finally `allowed' to vote only in 1944. My own books can be found on Amazon under Michael Hone.

Caterina Sforza lived in a particularly interesting period of Renaissance Italy, so I had high expectations for a good book. Above this, the book is written in an engaging way. It is pacey without being brief, whilst I have found a number of historical book to be more interested in the exacting standards of the research then the experience of the reader. I manage to pick this book up and down during my commute and powered by the memorable characters.

Elizabeth Lev uses contemporary documents to outline the life of this truly remarkable woman. If you have seen the television series The Borgias you will already be familiar with this woman as one of Pope Alexander's most formidable foes. But the reality is even more fascinating than the picture portrayed on the small screen. From being just a trophy child-bride Caterina used her intelligence, her wit, her charms and certainly her sexual magnetism to outwit most of her enemies to establish herself as probably the most admired woman of her times. She makes modern strong females look like wimps, but without losing her femininity.