ily, Caterina Sforza was the illegitimate
daughter of Duke Galeazzo Maria Sforza,
a member of the ruling dynasty of Milan.
At the age of ten she was engaged to Giro-
lamo Riario, the nephew and reputed ille-
gitimate son of Pope Sixtus VI. She moved
to Rome and bore her husband eight chil-
dren, while the couple, with the help of
the pope, became the rulers of the cities of
Imola and Forli. The couple spent lavishly
to win the support of the people of these
towns, but their heavy taxes and Riario’s
cruelty and deceit earned them widepsread
hatred. A conspiracy by a rival family, the
Orsi, against Riario ended with his assassi-
nation in 1488; Caterina and her children
were taken prisoner but Caterina escaped,
promising to turn over the fortress of Forli
to her enemies. Once she was released,
however, she turned against them and
gathered a strong company of supporters,
eventually winning back the city and tak-
ing bloody vengeance on her enemies. Her
second marriage, to Giacomo Feo, came to
a tragic end in 1495 when he was mur-
dered while the couple was riding through
the streets of Forli. Caterina soon had the
conspirators and all their families massa-
cred.
Caterina then allied with Florence
through a secret marriage to her third hus-
band, Giovanni de’ Medici. After
Giovanni’s death in 1498, Pope Alexander
VI offered a marital alliance between his
daughter Lucrezia Borgia and Caterina’s
son, Ottaviano Sforza. The pope was seek-
ing to expand the papal dominions to
Imola and Forli, but when Caterina re-
fused the alliance, Alexander simply issued
a decree granting Imola and Forli to his
son Cesare Borgia, who then assembled a
huge army of mercenaries and French
troops and began a siege. Refusing all of-
fers of a truce, Caterina took personal
command of her troops and held out in
the citadel of Forli until January 1500. She
was taken as a prisoner to the Castel Sant’
Angelo in Rome, but was released in 1501
and fled to Florence. When the Medici dy-
nasty turned against her, she retreated to
the convent of Annelena, where she re-
mained until her death in 1509.SEEALSO: Alexander VI; Borgia, Cesar;
Sforza dynastySforza, Francesco .............................
(1401–1466)
Duke of Milan from 1450 until 1466. The
illegitimate son of Muzio Sforza, a condot-
tiere (mercenary), he was born in San
Miniato, a village of Tuscany. He was
raised in the Basilicata region of southern
Italy, where he ruled as the marquis of Tri-
carico, a title granted him by the king of
Naples. On reaching adulthood he fol-
lowed his father’s profession and earned a
reputation while in the service of Naples
as a skilled and courageous military leader.
Francesco served in the forces of Pope
Martin V as well as Filippo Maria Visconti,
the leader of Milan. He fought against
Venice in 1431 and as a reward for his ser-
vice, Filippo Maria engaged his illegitimate
daughter, Bianca Maria, to him.
Sforza felt no strong loyalty to the Vis-
conti clan, however, and while campaign-
ing against the papal territories he changed
his allegiance to Pope Eugenius IV, who
rewarded him with the title of vicar of An-
cona. In the service of Florence and then
Venice, he campaigned against Milan in
1438 and 1440. When his territories in
southern Italy came under siege by the
king of Naples, however, he again allied
with the Visconti, and in 1441 married Bi-
anca Maria Visconti.
Sforza’s further campaigns against Mi-
lan on behalf of Venice convinced Filippo
Maria to bribe him again by naming himSforza, Francesco