"If you want a window into the high culture, spectacular cruelties, and dizzying political intrigues of Renaissance Italy, here is an entertaining choice. During the closing decades of the fifteenth century the widowed Caterina Sforza ruled her small but pivotal city-state in north central Italy with a decidedly un'womanly' combination of skill and ruthlessness while presiding over a brilliant court life. Her contemporaries were never sure of what to make of her, regarding her with a mixture of admiration and outrage, and historians have been no less divided in their assessments. In the end, she met her match in Alexander VI (who is on every list of the Worst Popes in History) and his son Cesare Borgia, one of the most sinister and brutal figures of the Renaissance. You may well not like Caterina, but one finds it hard not to respect her consistent sheer courage. Her story would make a great movie; I'm surprised no one has yet made it into one."
Publisher Mariner Books
Publication Date 2012-10-16
Section European History / All Staff Suggestions / Alan H.
Format Paperback
ISBN 9780547844169
“In this insightful, fascinating portrayal, Elizabeth Lev brings Caterina Sforza and her times very much to life.”—Kathleen Turner, actress and author of Send Yourself Roses
A strategist to match Machiavelli; a warrior who stood toe to toe with the Borgias; a wife whose three marriages would end in bloodshed and heartbreak; and a mother determined to maintain her family’s honor, Caterina Riario Sforza de’ Medici was a true Renaissance celebrity, beloved and vilified in equal measure. In this dazzling biography, Elizabeth Lev illuminates her extraordinary life and accomplishments.
Raised in the court of Milan and wed at age ten to the pope’s corrupt nephew, Caterina was ensnared in Italy’s political intrigues early in life. After turbulent years in Rome’s papal court, she moved to the Romagnol province of Forlì. Following her husband’s assassination, she ruled Italy’s crossroads with iron will, martial strength, political savvy, and an icon’s fashion sense. In finally losing her lands to the Borgia family, she put up a resistance that inspired all of Europe and set the stage for her progeny—including Cosimo de’ Medici—to follow her example to greatness.
A rich evocation of Renaissance life, The Tigress of Forlì reveals Caterina Riario Sforza as a brilliant and fearless ruler, and a tragic but unbowed figure.
“A rich, nuanced portrait of a highly controversial beauty and military leader, and her violent, albeit glittering, Italian Renaissance milieu.”—Publishers Weekly
“Well-written and meticulously researched, The Tigress of Forlì recreates the world of Renaissance Italy in all its grandeur and violence. At the center stands a remarkable woman, Caterina Riario Sforza. Mother, warrior, and icon, Caterina is unforgettable, and so is the exciting story that Elizabeth Lev tells here.”—Barry Strauss, author of Masters of Command: Alexander, Hannibal, Caesar, and the Genius of Leadership
