house of Este

house of Este, princely family of Lombard origin who played a great part in the history of medieval and Renaissance Italy. The family first came to the front in the wars between the Guelfs and Ghibellines during the 13th century. As leaders of the Guelfs, Estensi princes received at different times Ferrara, Modena, Reggio, and other fiefs and territories. Members of the family ruled in Ferrara from the 13th through the 16th century and in Modena and Reggio from the later Middle Ages to the end of the 18th century.

Origins

The Estensi were a branch of the great 10th-century dynasty of the Obertenghi, which held power and wealth in Lunigiana, Genoa, and Milan and which also gave rise to the feudal houses of the Malaspina, the Pallavicini, and the margraves of Massa and Parodi. Subsequently, after various vicissitudes, the members of the Obertenghi dynasty removed to the lands of the Venetians, where they had estates at Este, Monselice, Rovigo, and Friuli. The Estensi took their name from the township and castle of Este, 17 miles (27 km) southwest of Padua, and the true founder of the family was the margrave Alberto Azzo II (died 1097). From his son Welf IV, duke of Bavaria, there began a related branch that gave origin to the dukes of Bavaria, Brunswick, and Lüneburg, as well as the electors of Hanover. Another son, Ugo, tried without success to establish in France, while a third son, Folco I (died c. 1136), became second in line in the house of Este. Neither he nor his successor, Obizzo I (died 1193), however, achieved any great distinction, beyond the offices and titles that fell naturally to the upper feudal families, but it was during the lifetime of Obizzo I that the Estensi first acquired political importance in Ferrara, through the marriage of his son (Azzo V, who predeceased him) to the heiress of one of the two great and rival families of Ferrara. Obizzo was succeeded by his grandson, Azzo VI, who acquired considerable authority in the city, though his premature death in 1212 left the family temporarily weakened. Not until 1240 did a descendant, Azzo VII, return to power in the city, in alliance with the Guelf league formed by Pope Gregory IX. This marked the true beginning of Este rule in Ferrara.

Lords of Ferrara

In 1264 Azzo’s heir, Obizzo II (1264–93), was created perpetual lord by the people of Ferrara under the pressure of Guelf strength. The pope, lawful lord of the Ferrarese territory, at first did not oppose this action but afterward began to contest the Estensi government. Obizzo II’s power was growing, however, and he had himself chosen lord of Modena in 1288 and of Reggio in 1289. In the 14th century the house of Este went through difficult, stormy periods, not only because of its controversies with the papacy but also because of domestic dissensions, sometimes very hazardous. The house succeeded, nevertheless, in strengthening its position, and, under Nicolò II (reigned 1361–88), called the Lame, there was built the famous Este Castle, the work of the architect Bartolino da Novara, which became a symbol of the power of the city of Ferrara and a sure defense against external dangers. To the brother and successor of Nicolò II, Alberto V (reigned 1388–93), is due the erection of the University of Ferrara, destined for lasting fame; it was obtained by Pope Boniface IX as a concession in 1391.

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The reign of Nicolò III (1393–1441), son of Alberto, marked the strengthening of Estensi domination in Ferrara and the introduction of Estensi influence generally in Italian politics. After having defeated an attempt by the Paduans to achieve hegemony in Ferrara, the Estensi duke became intermediary in the political and military contests in the Italian states and extended his dominions. Personally, Nicolò was known for his sensuality; a Ferrarese saying runs, “On both sides of the River Po they all are Nicolò’s sons.” He had his son Ugo and his young second wife, Parisina Malatesta, beheaded because they were found guilty of adultery together. But he devoted himself to the exterior manifestations of a religious faith—going on a pilgrimage to the Holy Sepulchre and to Vienna’s Saint Anthony and playing host to the ecumenical council in 1438 that represented a fruitless attempt to bring together again the Western and Eastern churches. (This council was afterward transferred to Florence.) He even seems to have come close to obtaining the succession of an Estensi heir to the Milanese states, but he died suddenly, perhaps poisoned, on December 26, 1441.

Whereas Nicolò III raised the Estensi state to a high position in Italian politics in spite of its territorial and financial limits, his natural son and chosen successor, Leonello (reigned 1441–50), gave Ferrara considerable distinction in the fields of art and culture. Leonello had been educated by the humanist Guarino Veronese, called to Ferrara by his father, and the period of his reign was one in which Ferrara represented a lively centre of culture and humanism, filled with painters (Pisanello, Jacopo Bellini, Rogier van der Weyden, Andrea Mantegna), architects (Leon Battista Alberti), and scholars (centring on Guarino Veronese).

Dukes of Ferrara, Modena, and Reggio

Leonello’s brother and successor, Borso (reigned 1450–71), notwithstanding some military failures, not only maintained his state and increased its aesthetic and cultural prestige but also received from the Holy Roman emperor Frederick III the title of duke of Modena and Reggio (1452) and from Pope Paul II the title of duke of Ferrara (1471).

Ercole I

The long rule of Leonello’s and Borso’s half-brother Ercole I (1471–1505) marked one of the most important periods for the history of the house of Este and of Ferrara. He succeeded in obtaining considerable political support with his marriage to Leonora, the daughter of the king of Naples. These were troubled times, however. Ercole had to defeat the attempt of a nephew, Nicolò, son of Leonello, to usurp the throne; and then he had to face the hostile coalition of Venice and Pope Sixtus IV, which brought war nearly to the walls of the city of Ferrara (1482–84). The subsequent Peace of Bagnolo, however, though not entirely satisfactory, did free Ferrara from immediate dangers.

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Ercole’s crucial problem became one of consolidating his own political position by means of marriages that would bind him to the principal Italian powers: of his three daughters, Lucrezia was married to Annibale Bentivoglio (of Bologna), Isabella to Francesco Gonzaga (of Mantua), and Beatrice to Ludovico Sforza (of Milan). Ercole’s eldest son, Alfonso, was married first to Anna Sforza (of Milan) and then to the famous Lucrezia Borgia, the daughter of Pope Alexander VI. In spite of these difficult affairs of state, Ercole was able to continue his dynasty’s patronage of the arts, taking the poet Matteo Boiardo as his minister, extending his favour to the poet Ludovico Ariosto, espousing the theatre and musical arts, and enlarging and beautifying Ferrara to such an extent as to make it one of the first cities of Europe.