On 12 January 1500, his forces stormed the fortress. The bloody battle was quick and decisive, and Caterina continued to resist, fighting with weapons in hand until she was taken prisoner. Among the gentlemen who were caught together with her, was her secretary, Marcantonio Baldraccani. Immediately she surrendered herself to Antoine Bissey (the bailli of Dijon) as a prisoner of the French, as she knew there was a law that prevented French forces from holding women as prisoners of war. According to Machiavelli, the defense operations were misdirected by Giovanni da Casale: "The poorly built fortress and the scant prudence of the defender, therefore, brought disgrace to the magnanimous enterprise of the Countess ...". Rome Cesare obtained custody of Caterina from the French general, Yves d'Allègre, promising that he would treat her not as a prisoner but as a guest. Caterina and her entourage were therefore forced to go with the army that was preparing to conquer Pesaro. The conquest had to be postponed because on 5 February Ludovico il Moro returned to Milan, forcing French troops to turn back. Cesare departed alone with the papal army for Rome, where he took Caterina. In Rome, she was held in the Belvedere Palace. Towards the end of March, Caterina tried to escape but she was discovered and immediately imprisoned at Castel Sant'Angelo. In the prison of Castel Sant'Angelo To justify Caterina's imprisonment, Pope Alexander VI accused her of trying to kill him in November 1499 with letters impregnated with poison, as a response to the papal bull which had deprived the countess of her fiefdoms. Even today it is not known if the accusation was founded or not. Machiavelli believed that Caterina had tried to poison the Pope, while other historians, such as Jacob Burckhardt and Ferdinand Gregorovius, are not certain. An inconclusive and unfinished trial took place, and Caterina remained imprisoned until 30 June 1501, when she was released by Yves d'Allègre, who had come to Rome with the army of Louis XII for the conquest of the Kingdom of Naples. Alexander VI alleged that Caterina signed documents renouncing all of her fiefs, because in the meantime his son Cesare, with the acquisition of Pesaro, Rimini, and Faenza, was appointed Duke of Romagna. After a brief stay in the residence of Cardinal Riario, Caterina embarked from Livorno to Florence, where her children were waiting for her. Florence In Florence, Caterina