figure to her children. A “cruel mother” would put herself and her interests above her children by remarrying. This would be considered abandonment of her children because of the consequences that the children are faced with behind a new family and new father figure from their mother remarrying. Sometimes the widow would take her dowry and actually abandon her children to the paternal kin. Along with Caterina's secret marriage to Giacomo and Giacomo's cruelty towards Caterina's children, Caterina was seemingly taking on the identity as a "cruel mother" in the eyes of Renaissance Italy. Instead of focusing on ruling Forlí, she let her relationship with Giacomo get in the way, which made her people feel uneasy. Caterina's relationship with Giacomo not only put her children in jeopardy, but also the social order of Forlì. Gian Antonio Ghetti and some of Caterina's own children formed a conspiracy. On the evening of 27 August 1495, Caterina, Giacomo Feo, and their entourage were returning from a hunt. Caterina, her daughter Bianca Riario and some of her ladies-in-waiting rode in a carriage, followed on horseback by Giacomo, Ottaviano, and his brother Cesare and many staffieri and soldiers. Agents of the conspiracy attacked and mortally wounded Giacomo. The same day, Ghetti went to Caterina, thinking that she had secretly given the order to kill Giacomo. Caterina was unaware of the plot, and her revenge was terrible. When her first husband was murdered, she avenged his death according to the justice of the time; now she reacted with vindictive fury. She was not satisfied with mere executions: their deaths had to be among the most cruel and painful. Again, her relationship and strong feelings towards Giacomo got in the way of her thinking clearly. By using the power she had and not thinking about the consequences and what her people would think of her, Catherine even slaughtered the children, infants and pregnant women of the conspirators. Thus Marin Sanudo, who says it is "cruelest":Thirty-eight people were executed for the crime - including Ghetti and his wife and children - and many others imprisoned or exiled. Caterina's fury blinded her to the politics that had inspired the plot. It had involved almost all the supporters of Ottaviano Riario, who were convinced that Caterina had given her tacit consent to the killing of the man who was considered the "usurper" of the state's rightful ruler. They had wanted