Este: Encyclopedia II - Este - Younger branch

Este - Younger branch

All later generations of the Italian branch descend from 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 podesta of Mantova and Verona. Ferrara was acquired by his son Azzo VII (1205-1264). Obizzo II (d. 1293) was proclaimed Lord of Ferrara in 1264, Lord of Modena 1288 and Lord of Reggio 1289. Ferrara being a papal fief, the Este family were given papal vicar position 1332.

Ferrara became a significant center of culture under Niccolò d'Este III (1384-1441) and his successors, notably Leonello (1407-1450) and Borso (1413-1471). Borso was elevated to Duke of Modena and Reggio by Emperor Frederick III in 1452 and in return received these duchies as imperial fiefs. In 1471 he received the duchy of Ferrara as papal fief from Pope Paul II.

Ercole's (1431-1505) daughter Beatrice (1475-1497) married Ludovico Sforza, Duke of Milano, while his daughter Isabella (1474-1539) married Francesco Gonzaga, Marquess of Mantua. Ercole I's successor was his son Alfonso I (1476-1534), third husband of Lucrezia Borgia. Alfonso's son Ercole d'Este II (1508-1559) married Renée, daughter of Louis XII of France. The legitimate line ended in 1597 with the death of Alfonso II, son of Ercole II, but Emperor Rudolph II recognized as heir his cousin Cesare d'Este (1533-1628), member of a cadet branch, who continued to rule in the imperial duchies and carried on the family name. Ferrara, on the other hand, was annexed in 1598 by Pope Clement VIII on grounds of doubtful legitimacy and incorporated into the Papal States.

The last duke, Ercole III, was deposed in 1796 by the French and his two duchies became the Cispadane Republic which one year later was merged into the Cisalpine Republic and then into the Napoleonic Kingdom of Italy. Ercole was compensated in 1801 with the small principality of Breisgau in southwestern Germany, whose previous rulers, the Habsburgs, ceded it to him in anticipation of its eventual return to the Habsburgs, since Ercole's daughter Mary Beatrice d'Este was married to a cadet Habsburg, Archduke Ferdinand. Ercole died in 1803 and Breisgau passed to his daughter and her husband, who then (1806) lost it during the Napoleonic reorganization of the western territories of the defunct Holy Roman Empire to the enlarged and elevated Grand Duchy of Baden.

In 1814, when French rule in Italy ended (but after the death of Duke Ercole), Modena was returned to his daughter Mary Beatrice and her son, Archduke Francis of Austria-Este. The family thus ruled the duchy of Modena and Reggio again from 1814 to 1859, using the names Asburgo-Este (Habsburg-Este) and Austria-Este. In 1859 the duchy lost its independence to the new united Italy, and Francesco V, the last duke, was deposed.

The family of Austria-Este became extinct in the male line with the death of Francesco V in 1875. His blood-heiress was his niece, Archduchess Maria Theresia of Austria-Este (d. 1919); she and her husband, Prince Louis of Bavaria, later became Queen and King of Bavaria). The present head of this branch of the family is Franz, Duke of Bavaria.

However, Francesco V had decided to retain the Este name in the Habsburg family and willed his inheritance to the line of Archduke Charles Louis, younger brother of Emperor Francis Joseph, on condition that the heir use the name Austria-Este. The first "adoptee" was Archduke Francis Ferdinand (b. 1863, not descended from Mary Beatrice d'Este), who took the name Austria-Este and in 1896 became the heir presumptive of the Habsburg Empire, but was murdered on 28 June 1914 in Sarajevo. Since his own children were born in morganatic marriage (Hohenberg), the Habsburgs designated his soon-to-be born great-nephew Robert (b. 8 Feb 1915), second son of the future emperor Charles, as the next "adopted Austria-Este". Through his mother Zita of Bourbon-Parma (a great-granddaughter of Teresa of Savoy, Duchess of Lucca and Parma, who was a daughter of Teresa of Modena, Queen of Sardinia, who in turn was a daughter of Mary Beatrice d'Este and Ferdinand of Austria, Duchess and Duke of Breisgau and Modena), Robert was a descendant of Ercole d'Este III, and the blood of last Este dukes thus joined again with the name Austria-Este.

Today, the bearer of this tradition is the eldest son of Archduke Robert of Austria-Este (d. 1996), Lorenz Otto Charles of Austria-Este (b. 1955), who is married to Princess Astrid of Belgium, the only daughter of King Albert II. In 1995, Lorenz received the additional title of Prince of Belgium. Since 1991 the couple's children are titled Archduke (Archduchess) of Austria-Este and Prince(ss) of Belgium. Eldest of these is Prince Amedeo, Archduke of Austria-Este (b. 1986).

See also:

• List of Dukes of Ferrara and of Modena
• List of Dukes of Modena

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Younger branch", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki