Borso d'Este

Borso succeeded his brother Leonello d'Este as marquess on 1 October 1450. On 18 May 1452 he received confirmation over his fiefs, as Duke of Modena and Reggio, by Emperor Frederick III. On 12 April 1471, in St. Peter's Basilica, he was also appointed as Duke of Ferrara by Pope Paul II. Borso followed an expansionist policy for his state, and one of ennobling for his family. He was generally allied with the Republic of Venice, and enemy both to Francesco I Sforza and the Medici family. These rivalries led to the indecisive Battle of Molinella. He was in general appreciated by his subjects. One cause of grievance was his project to build a mountain from scratch in 1471 – a folly he was later forced to abandon. ==Patron of culture==

Borso's court was the center of the so-called Ferrarese school of painting, whose members include Francesco del Cossa, Ercole dei Roberti and Cosimo Tura. Their most important commission during Borso's rule were the frescoes in the Palazzo Schifanoia and the Borso D'Este Bible. A man of little education (unlike his brother Leonello), he had a pragmatic view of the arts as a powerful propaganda tool to promote his political ambitions by projecting an image of personal magnificence. He liked to portray himself as an ideal ruler, as for example in the frescoes in Palazzo Schifanoia. His personal Bible (commissioned in 1455) is one of the most magnificent illuminated manuscripts of Renaissance Italy and a fabulously costly work of art; however, its principal illuminator, Taddeo Crivelli, appears to have pawned parts of other manuscripts he was working on to alleviate financial instability. Borso never married and left no heirs. His successor was his half-brother Ercole I d'Este. ==Notes==