Alfonso II d'Este
| Alfonso II d'Este | |
|---|---|
| File:Cesare Aretusi Retrato de Alfonso II de Este, duque de Ferrara.jpg Alfonso II d'Este by Girolamo da Carpi | |
| Duke of Ferrara | |
| Reign | 3 October 1559 – 27 October 1597 |
| Predecessor | Ercole II |
| Successor | Lost to the Papal States (1597) |
| Duke of Modena and Reggio | |
| Reign | 3 October 1559 – 27 October 1597 |
| Predecessor | Ercole II |
| Successor | Cesare |
| Duke of Chartres | |
| Tenure | 12 June 1574 – 27 October 1597 |
| Predecessor | Renée |
| Successor | Gaston |
| Born | 22 November 1533 |
| Died | 27 October 1597 (aged 63) Ferrara |
| Spouse | |
| House | Este |
| Father | Ercole II d'Este |
| Mother | Renée of France |
| Religion | Roman Catholicism |
Alfonso II d'Este (22 November 1533 – 27 October 1597) was Duke of Ferrara from 1559 to 1597. He was a member of the House of Este.
Biography
[edit | edit source]Alfonso was the elder son of Ercole II d'Este and Renée de France, the daughter of Louis XII of France and Anne of Brittany and was the fifth and last Duke of Ferrara.[1]
As a young man, Alfonso fought in the service of Henry II of France against the Habsburgs. Soon after his accession, he was forced by Pope Pius IV to send his mother back to France due to her increasingly Calvinist beliefs.[2] The 1570 Ferrara earthquake occurred during his reign. In 1583, he allied with Emperor Rudolf II in the war against the Turks in Hungary.
The court of Alfonso was a centre for the development of secular music, both in Italy and Europe at large. He assembled the concerto delle donne, a chorus of women performing for the entertainment of Alfonso and his court.
Marriages
[edit | edit source]Alfonso married three times:
- On 3 July 1558, he married his first wife Lucrezia di Cosimo de' Medici (14 February 1545 – 21 April 1561), a daughter of Cosimo I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany and Eleonora di Toledo. She died two years afterwards, at just 16. Poisoning at the hands of the Duke has been suspected; however, pulmonary tuberculosis is the more widely accepted cause of death.[3]
- On 5 December 1565, he married his second wife Barbara of Austria (30 April 1539 – 19 September 1572), eighth daughter of Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor and Anna of Bohemia and Hungary. She died of tuberculosis in 1572.
- On 24 February 1579, he married his third wife, Margherita Gonzaga (27 May 1564 – 6 January 1618). She was the eldest daughter of William I, Duke of Mantua and Eleonora of Austria. Margherita was the niece of his second wife, Barbara.
He had no known children, legitimate or otherwise.
-
Lucrezia di Cosimo de' Medici
-
Barbara of Austria
-
Margherita Gonzaga
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Succession
[edit | edit source]The legitimate line of the House of Este ended in 1597 with him. Emperor Rudolf II recognised as heir his cousin Cesare d'Este, member of a cadet branch, who continued to rule in the imperial duchies and carried on the family name. The succession as duke of Este, however, was recognised only by the emperor but not by the popes. In 1598, Ferrara was therefore incorporated into the Papal States by Pope Clement VIII, on grounds of doubtful legitimacy. As a result of Alfonso's death, Cesare d'Este and his family were "obliged to leave the city", and the power of the government was there after turned over to the cardinal legate.[4]
Patron of the arts and sciences
[edit | edit source]Alfonso II raised the glory of Ferrara to its highest point, and was the patron of Torquato Tasso, Giovanni Battista Guarini, and Cesare Cremonini—favouring the arts and sciences, as the princes of his house had always done. Besides being fluent in Italian, he was also proficient in Latin and French.[5] Luzzasco Luzzaschi served as his court organist.
In addition, he was the sponsor of the Concerto delle donne, a type of group which was to be copied all over Italy. He also restored the Castello Estense, damaged by an earthquake in 1570.
His expenses, however, caused damage to the public treasury.
In literature
[edit | edit source]Alfonso II is the duke upon whom Robert Browning based his poem My Last Duchess, and is a major character in the Maggie O'Farrell novel The Marriage Portrait.[6]
References
[edit | edit source]- ^ Este, Alfonso, II, D' (1533 - 1597). (2006). In J. Hale (Ed.), Thames & Hudson Dictionary of the Italian Renaissance, the. London, United Kingdom: Thames & Hudson. Retrieved from https://learn.sfcc.edu/login?url=http://search.credoreference.com/content/entry/thir/este_alfonso_ii_d_1533_1597/0 Archived 1 August 2020 at the Wayback Machine
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- ^ Murphy, Caroline P. Murder of a Medici Princess. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008. p. 70. Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
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- ^ published by Tinder, see The Times Saturday Review 3 September 2022, page 19, review by Claire Allfree
External links
[edit | edit source]- Illustrious people (in English)
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