For context, I may not have enough information that is detailed enough to decipher who she was but itd be great to try and figure out who she was. Also I wasn’t sure what subreddit to go to, so I’ll just post this here and hopefully it meets the guidelines for a question, but besides that here’s what I know of this women.
From what I remember hearing about her is that she was a queen, and she had maybe 3 children.
At some point her children was kidnapped by someone who wanted her kingdom (I think) and wanted to use them as randsom. So one night she climbed the walls of his kingdom possibly, or his household, idk, she climbed a wall.
Then she flashed her genitalia and said something along the lines of ‘you can keep them, i can just make more of them’ before climbing back down the walls and running away.
I don’t remember much else about her but would really like to know her name and to know exactly what she did, why she did it and what led up to these events. If you would happen to know who she was and what the context of what she did it would be a great help if you let me know, thank you.
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You’re looking for Caterina Sforza. Although that episode seems exaggerated by Machiavelli.
From the book “Caterina Sforza and the art of appearances : gender, art and culture in early modern italy / Joyce de Vries.”:
> In the Renaissance Caterina was famous during her life, and after her death, her story expanded with legendary qualities, initially inspired by her own actions and then enriched with interpretation and exaggeration. Most importantly, Niccolò Machiavelli included analytical and, in at least one case, sensationalized references to her in The Histories, The Discourses, and The Prince. Machiavelli visited Caterina’s court in forlì in 1499 as an ambassador of the florentine republic to negotiate a grain purchase and the renewal of her son’s military contract. She apparently impressed him, since she is one of a handful of women he discusses in his writings. even though he met her in person—or because of it—he exaggerated her history in The Discourses, written c. 1512, in which he famously dramatized her dealings with the conspirators who assassinated her husband and wanted control of the riario fortress at forli:
>> ” … Madonna Caterina … promised that if the conspirators would let her enter the fortress, she would have it surrendered to them; [and] they might keep her children as hostages. With that promise, they let her enter. as soon as she was inside, she reproached them from the wall with the death of her husband, threatening them with every kind of revenge. and to show them that she did not care about her children [being killed], she uncovered to them her genital members, saying that she still had means for producing more children.”
> As Julia hairston, a scholar of italian literature, has convincingly demonstrated, Machiavelli’s version of this pivotal moment is legendary and significantly exaggerated when compared with the story that the local chronicles and ambassadorial letters present. Caterina did indeed overwhelm the rebels plotting against her family, but those contemporary sources demonstrate that she accomplished this by implying she was pregnant with another child who would avenge his or her siblings and, perhaps more importantly, by harnessing the strength of her diplomatic ties and intimidating forlì with sheer military force. Caterina literally bombarded her enemies and dared them to go against her and warned them that their rebellion would not be forgotten by her future children. according to historical accounts, she punctuated her statements with the obscene gesture of “the four figs,” a reference to female genitalia. Machiavelli’s version, written over two decades after the events, does well to illustrate his discussion of the exigency of familial vengeance, but he gratuitously transformed Caterina’s gesture into actual genital exposure, implausible for a noble woman but highly symbolic. he clearly meant for his story of her overt sexual audacity to shock his audience.
Edit: formating