Este

Este, Italian noble family, rulers of Ferrara (1240-1597) and of Modena (1288-1796) and celebrated patrons of the arts during the Renaissance. Probably of Lombard origin, they took their name from the castle of Este, near Padua. They succeeded to the house of the Guelphs when the original Guelph line died out.

Azzo d'Este II, 996-1097, lord of Este and the founder of his family's greatness, was invested with Milan by the emperor. Azzo's son, Guelph d'Este IV or Welf IV, d. 1101, was adopted by his maternal uncle, Guelph III, whom he succeeded as duke of Carinthia. In 1070 he was made duke of Bavaria. The grandfather of Henry the Proud of Bavaria and Saxony, Guelph IV was the founder of the German line of the Guelphs, from whom the British royal family is descended. He died on Cyprus while crusading.

Azzo d'Este II had another son, who continued the Italian line of the house; among that son's successors was Obizzo d'Este I, d. 1193. Obizzo and his grandson played an important part in the struggle of the Guelphs against Holy Roman Emperor Frederick I (see Guelphs and Ghibellines). He married the heiress of one of the two families contending for supremacy in Ferrara. His grandson, Azzo d'Este VI, 1170-1212, was podesta [chief magistrate] of Mantua and Verona and fought to obtain Ferrara, but it was left for his son, Azzo d'Este VII, 1205-64, to succeed in becoming (1240) podesta of that city at the head of the triumphant Guelph party. Obizzo d'Este II, d. 1293, was made perpetual lord of Ferrara in 1264, lord of Modena in 1288, and lord of Reggio (now Reggio nell' Emilia) in 1289.

Because Ferrara was held as a fief from the pope, the Este became papal vicars in 1332. Niccolò d'Este III, 1384-1441, made Ferrara a center of arts and letters and increased the power of his house by playing his more powerful neighbors against each other. Under his successors the court of the Este became one of the most brilliant in Europe. Among them were his illegitimate sons Leonello d'Este, 1407-50, an accomplished prince, and Borso d'Este, 1413-71, who received the title duke of Modena and Reggio from Holy Roman Emperor Frederick III in 1452 and that of duke of Ferrara from Pope Paul II in 1471.

Niccolò's legitimate son Ercole d'Este I, 1431-1505, lost some territory in wars against Venice. Ercole's beautiful and brilliant daughter, Beatrice d'Este, 1475-97, married Ludovico Sforza, duke of Milan, one of the most lavish of all Renaissance princes. Her sister, Isabella d'Este, 1474-1539, married Francesco Gonzaga, marquis of Mantua. Ariosto, Boiardo, and Berni were her friends, and Leonardo da Vinci and Titian painted portraits of her.

Ercole I was succeeded by his son, Alfonso d'Este I, 1476-1534, second husband of Lucrezia Borgia. In the Italian Wars he entered the League of Cambrai against Venice and remained an ally of Louis XII of France even after Pope Julius II had made peace with Venice. The pope declared Alfonso's fiefs forfeited and excommunicated him (1510); Modena and Reggio were lost. However, in 1526-27 Alfonso participated in the expedition of Charles V, Holy Roman emperor and king of Spain, against Pope Clement VII, and in 1530 the pope again recognized him as possessor of those duchies. Ariosto lived at his court in Ferrara after a long employment by Alfonso's brother, Ippolito I, Cardinal d'Este, 1479-1520, to whom Ariosto's Orlando Furioso is dedicated.

Alfonso's son and successor, Ercole d'Este II, 1508-59, married Renée, daughter of Louis XII of France. He joined the pope and France against Spain in 1556, but made a separate peace in 1558. He also was a patron of the arts, as was his brother, Ippolito II, Cardinal d'Este, 1509-72, an able diplomat who led the pro-French party at the papal court. Ippolito built the celebrated Villa d'Este at Tivoli.

With Ercole II's son, Alfonso d'Este II, 1533-97, the direct male line of the house ended. He willed his titles to his cousin, Cesare d'Este, 1533-1628, but Pope Clement VIII refused to recognize Cesare's rights, and Ferrara was incorporated into the Papal States in 1598. Holy Roman Emperor Rudolf II recognized Cesare's rights to Modena and Reggio, but without Ferrara the duchy lost political importance.

The last duke, Ercole d'Este III, was deposed in 1796 by the French and died in 1803. His daughter, Maria Beatrice, married Archduke Ferdinand of Austria, a son of Austrian Emperor Francis I, who founded the house of Austria-Este. After the restoration (1814) of the duchy of Modena their son and grandson, Francis IV and Francis V, ruled as dukes of Modena, Massa, and Carrara. Francis V was expelled in 1859, and his territories were annexed (1860) to the kingdom of Sardinia.

Este, town (1991 pop. 17,668), in Venetia, NE Italy. It is an agricultural and light manufacturing center. The ancient Ateste, it was a center of civilization (10th-2d cent. B.C.) of which many important remains have been found. It was later a Roman military colony. The Este family originated in the town. In 1275 it passed to Padua and in 1405 to Venice. Este has a castle (11th-14th cent.), several fine villas, and an excellent archaeological museum.

Isabella d'Este (18 May 1474–13 February 1539) was marchesa of Mantua and one of the leading women of the Italian Renaissance and a major cultural and political figure.

Family

Born in Ferrara, she was the first daughter of Ercole I d'Este, Duke of Ferrara, and Leonora of Naples, daughter of Ferdinand I of Naples, the Aragonese King of Naples, and Isabella of Taranto.

At the age of 16 she was married to Francesco Gonzaga, Marquis of Mantua. Her younger sister was the equally famous Beatrice d'Este, Duchess of Milan as consort to Ludovico Sforza. Isabella was related by birth or marriage to almost every ruler in Italy and is known as "The First Lady of The Renaissance". She was also known as "The First Lady of the World" and "La Prima Donna."

Biography

She was well-educated in her youth in Ferrara, as her voluminous correspondence reveals. The Este sisters were exposed to many of the new Renaissance ideas: later Isabella became a passionate, even greedy collector of Roman sculpture and commissioned modern sculptures in the antique style. It is also common knowledge, at least among collectors of coins and numismatists, that she was an avid collector of ancient coins. After her marriage to Francesco Gonzaga, she lived in Mantua. They were Ariosto's patrons while he was writing Orlando Furioso and both she and her husband were greatly influenced by Baldassare Castiglione, author of Il Cortigiano ('The Courtier') a model for aristocratic decorum for two hundred years, and it was at his suggestion that Giulio Romano was summoned to Mantua to enlarge the Castello and other buildings.
Under her auspices the court of Mantua became one of the most cultured in Europe. Among the other important artists, writers, thinkers, and musicians being drawn to it were Raphael, Andrea Mantegna, and the composers Bartolomeo Tromboncino and Marchetto Cara. Her court sculptor was Pier Jacopo Alari Bonacolsi, who re-interpreted works of antiquity in small finely-finished and often partly gilded bronzes that earned him the nickname "L'Antico". She was painted twice by Titian, while a portrait drawing by Leonardo da Vinci is at the Louvre.Though there is little evidence to support that he actually painted it. A keen musician, she considered stringed instruments, such as the lute, superior to winds, which were associated with vice and strife; she also considered poetry incomplete until it was set to music, and sought the most skilled composers of the day to complete the task.

Later life

Isabella played an important role in Mantua during their time of need. When her husband was captured in 1509 and held hostage in Venice, she took control of Mantua's military forces and held off their invaders until his return in 1512. While ruling, she seemed to be much tougher than her husband. Therefore, upon his return he realized that he'd been shown up and grew angry at her, allowing her to travel and live glamourously until his death of disease in 1519. After the death of her husband, Isabella ruled Mantua as regent for her son, Frederick. She began to play an important role in Italian politics, steadily advancing Mantua's position. She played a role in advancing Mantua to a Duchy, which was obtained by wiseful political use of her son's marriage contracts, and also obtaining a cardinalate for her younger son. She also showed great diplomatic and political skill in her negotiations with Cesare Borgia, who had dispossessed Guidobaldo da Montefeltro, duke of Urbino, the husband of her sister-in-law and good friend Elisabetta Gonzaga (1502).

See also

• Triumph of the Virtues, a painting by Mantegna for Isabella's studiolo

In media

• The Secret Book of Grazia dei Rossi, by Jacqueline Park
• The historical novel, Rinascimento privato, by Maria Bellonci, Mondadori, 2002, narrated from the viewpoint of Isabella d'Este, first published in 1985, winning the Strega Literary Award. An English translation, Private Renaissance: a Novel, was published in 1989 by Morrow.
• Figures prominently in Leonardo's Swans, a novel by Karen Essex, published in 2006 by Doubleday.