All later generations of the Italian branch are descendants of Fulco d'Este. From 1171 on, his descendants were titled
Margraves of Este. Obizzo I (d. 1193), the first margrave, battled against Emperor
Frederick I Barbarossa. His nephew
Azzo d'Este VI (1170–1212) became
podestà of
Mantua and
Verona. As the
dowry of his niece
the Marchesella, Ferrara passed to
Azzo VI d'Este In 1146, with the last of the Adelardi. In 1242 Azzo VII
Novello was nominated podestà for his lifetime. The lordship of Ferrara was made hereditary by
Obizzo II (d. 1293), who was proclaimed
Lord of Ferrara in 1264, Lord of
Modena in 1288, and Lord of
Reggio in 1289. Ferrara was a papal fief and the Este family were given the position of hereditary papal vicars in 1332.
Ferrara became a significant center of culture under
Niccolò d'Este III (1384–1441), who received several
popes with great magnificence, especially
Eugene IV. He held a Council in Ferrara in 1438, later known as the
Council of Florence. His successors were his illegitimate sons
Leonello (1407–1450) and
Borso (1413–1471), who was elevated to Duke of Modena and Reggio by Emperor
Frederick III in 1452, receiving these duchies as imperial fiefs. In 1471, he received the duchy of Ferrara as papal fief from
Pope Paul II, for which occasion splendid
frescoes were executed at
Palazzo Schifanoia. Borso was succeeded by a half-brother,
Ercole (1431–1505), who was one of the most significant patrons of the arts in late 15th and early 16th century Italy. Ferrara grew into a cultural center renowned especially for music;
Josquin des Prez worked for Duke Ercole,
Jacob Obrecht came to Ferrara twice, and
Antoine Brumel served as principal musician from 1505. Ercole's daughter
Beatrice (1475–1497) married
Ludovico Sforza,
Duke of Milan; another daughter,
Isabella (1474–1539), married Francesco Gonzaga, Marquess of
Mantua. File:Borso d'Este.jpg|
Borso d'Este, the first Duke of
Ferrara,
Modena and
Reggio Image:Pisanello - Lionello d'Este.jpg|
Leonello d'Este, by
Pisanello Image:ercole I d'Este.jpg|
Ercole I d'Este Image:Tizian - Porträt der Isabella d'Este.jpg|
Isabella d'Este, by
Titian Ercole I's successor was his son
Alfonso I (1476–1534), third husband of
Lucrezia Borgia, daughter of
Pope Alexander VI, sister to
Cesare Borgia. Alfonso I was a patron of
Ariosto. The son of Alfonso and
Lucrezia Borgia,
Ercole d'Este II (1508–1559), married
Renée of France, daughter of
Louis XII of France. His son
Alfonso II first married Lucrezia, daughter of grand-duke
Cosimo I of Tuscany. After she died, he married Barbara, the sister of
Maximilian II, Holy Roman Emperor (1527–1576). His third wife,
Margherita Gonzaga, was daughter of the
duke of Mantua. Alfonso II raised the glory of Ferrara to its highest point, continuing the patron of
Torquato Tasso and
Giovanni Battista Guarini and in general favoring the arts and sciences, as the princes of his house had always done. The legitimate line ended in 1597 with him; as his heir, Emperor
Rudolph II recognized his first cousin
Cesare d'Este (1533–1628), member of a
cadet branch born out of wedlock, who continued to rule in the imperial duchies and carried on the family name. Ferrara, on the other hand, was annexed by force of arms in 1598 by Pope
Clement VIII on grounds of the heir's illegitimacy and incorporated into the
Papal States. During the 18th century, the unhappy marriage between the last male heir of the Este family, the future Duke
Ercole III, and the sovereign
Duchess of Massa and Carrara,
Maria Teresa Cybo-Malaspina, produced only one surviving child,
Maria Beatrice. However, the
Salic law excluded her, as a woman, from the succession to her father, while she was entitled to succeed her mother since the Salic law was derogated in the Duchy of Massa and Carrara by virtue of a 1529 decree of the Emperor
Charles V. When it became obvious that the princely couple would not produce a large offspring, the reigning Duke,
Francesco III, set out to prevent Modena from suffering the same fate as Ferrara almost two centuries earlier. Thus, in 1753, two simultaneous treaties (one public and one secret) were concluded between the House of Este and the
House of Austria, by which the
Archduke Leopold, Empress
Maria Theresa's ninth-born child and third son, and Maria Beatrice were engaged, and the former was designated by Francesco III as heir for the imperial investiture as Duke of Modena and Reggio in the event of extinction of the Este male line. In the meantime, Francesco would cover the office of governor of Milan ad interim, which was destined for the archduke. In 1761, however, following the death of an
older brother, Leopold became heir to the throne of the
Grand Duchy of Tuscany as provided for the second male heir of the imperial couple, and the treaties had to be revised. In 1763, in spite of the harsh opposition of Maria Beatrice's father, the two families agreed to simply replace the name of Leopold with that of Maria Theresa's fourteenth child,
Archduke Ferdinand Karl of Austria, who was four years younger than his betrothed. In January 1771 the
Perpetual Diet of Regensburg ratified Ferdinand's future investiture and, in October, Maria Beatrice and he finally got married in Milan, thus giving rise to the new
House of Austria-Este. Ercole III finally ascended the throne in 1780 upon the death of Francesco III, but was
deposed in 1796 by the French. His States were transformed into the
Cispadane Republic, which one year later was merged into the
Cisalpine Republic and then into the
Napoleonic Kingdom of Italy. Ercole was compensated with the small principality of
Breisgau in southwestern Germany, and when he died in 1803, it passed to his son-in-law, who in 1806 lost it to the enlarged and elevated
Grand Duchy of Baden during the
Napoleonic reorganization of the western territories of the defunct
Holy Roman Empire. In December of that same year, Ferdinand died without ever having had the opportunity to exercise his prerogatives as heir to the Este States. Maria Beatrice had succeeded her mother as Duchess of Massa and Carrara in 1790, but she too had been deposed by the French invasion in 1796. File:201FerraraCastello.JPG|
Castello Estense in Ferrara File:P. Ducale visto dalla Ghirlandina.jpg|Ducal Palace in
Modena, built in 1634 by Francesco I d’Este File:La Villa estense di Rivalta.jpg|
Ducal Palace of Rivalta File:ErcoleIIId'Este.jpg|
Ercole III was the last Este
duke of Modena and Reggio House of Habsburg-Este ==Gallery==