Caterina Sforza

“[Cesare Borgia] attempted to get at Caterina [Sforza] through her children, offering them a papal remittance of 4,000 ducats a year and free passage from the city with her belongings. This, he argued, would prevent the ruin of her family. Via Alessandro [her brother], Caterina responded that she was no slave to her children and that she would rather die. So it was war. Cesare put a price on Caterina’s head: 5,000 ducats for her corpse, 10,000 for the living countess. She responded by putting her own ransom out on Cesare: 10,000 ducats, dead or alive.”