Es'te

Es'te, one of the oldest and most illustrious families of Italy, possibly of Langobard origin, whose heads from an early date ranked as keepers of the marches of upper Italy, and afterwards received from the emperors several districts and counties, to be held as fiefs of the empire. In 1097 the family divided into two branches, the German and Italian. The former was founded by Welf IV., who had received the investiture of the duchy of Bavaria from the Emperor Henry IV. in 1070. From him are descended the Houses of Brunswick and Hanover, and consequently the sovereigns of Great Britain, also called Este-Guelphs (see GUELPHS). The Italian branch was founded by Welf's brother, Fulco I.; and for several centuries the history of the Este family as heads of the Guelph party is interwoven with the destinies of the other ruling families and small republics of Northern Italy. During this period they first gained possession of Ferrara and the march of Ancona, and afterwards of Modena and Reggio, and were widely celebrated as the patrons of art and literature. Among the most illustrious members of the family was Alfonso I. (died 1535), equally distinguished as a soldier and a statesman, and celebrated by all the poets of his time, particularly by Ariosto. His second wife was the notorious Lucrezia Borgia. A quarrel with the Popes Julius II. and Leo X. brought about the forfeiture of his papal fiefs, which were restored by Charles V. after the siege of Rome in 1527. His successor, Ercole II., who married Renate, daughter of Louis XII. of France and Anne of Brittany, attached himself to Charles V. His brother, a dignitary of the Catholic Church, erected the magnificent Villa d'Este at Tivoli. The next prince, Alfonso II. (died 1597), would have been nowadays inferior to the preceding but for his inordinate love of splendour, his inordinate ambition, and the cruelty he displayed towards the poet Tasso. Rinaldo (died 1737), by his marriage with Charlotte of Brunswick, united the German and Italian houses, separated since 1070. The male line of the House of Este became extinct on the death of Ercole III. in 1803, whose only daughter married the Archduke Ferdinand, third son of Francis I. of Austria. Their eldest son, Francis IV., by the treaty of 1814-15, was restored to the duchy of Modena, and on his mother's death obtained the duchies of Massa and Carrara. He was succeeded in 1846 by his son, Francis V., who in 1859 was obliged to resign his territories to Victor Emmanuel. With the death of Francis V. in 1875 the Austrian branch also became extinct.