Ercole III d'Este: Difference between revisions
No edit summary |
No edit summary |
||
| Line 27: | Line 27: | ||
|5= 5. Duchess Charlotte Felicitas of Brunswick-Lüneburg |
|5= 5. Duchess Charlotte Felicitas of Brunswick-Lüneburg |
||
|6= 6. [[Philippe II, Duke of Orléans]] |
|6= 6. [[Philippe II, Duke of Orléans]] |
||
|7= 7. Françoise |
|7= 7. [[Françoise-Marie de Bourbon]] |
||
|8= 8. [[Francesco I d'Este|Francesco I d'Este, Duke of Modena]] |
|8= 8. [[Francesco I d'Este|Francesco I d'Este, Duke of Modena]] |
||
|9= 9. Lucrezia Barberini |
|9= 9. Lucrezia Barberini |
||
Revision as of 02:07, 12 February 2008
Ercole III Rinaldo d'Este (november 22, 1727 - october 14, 1803) was Duke of Modena and Reggio from 1780 to 1796. He was a member of the House of Este.
Biography
He was born in Modena, the son of Duke Francesco III and Charlotte Aglae, daughter of Philippe II, Duke of Orléans. In 1741 he married Maria Teresa Cybo Malaspina, by which he annexed the Duchy of Massa and Carrara to the Este territories.
Generally appreciated by his subjects (he sometimes spoke in Modenese dialect with them), and continued the reform begun by his father. He built the two bridges at Rubiera and St. Ambrogio at Modena on the Via Emilia, and built new roads connecting to the neighbouring states. In 1785 he founded the Atesine Academy of Fine Arts: during his reign arts and culture flourished, and among his protegées were Lazzaro Spallanzani, Giambattista Venturi, Girolamo Tiraboschi, Lodovico Ricci and others.
The French invasion forced him to flee to Venice on May 7, 1796, carrying with him a conspicuous personal asset. Later French soldiers captured him at Venice, robbing 200,000 zecchini from his house. After this episode he moved to Treviso, where he died in 1803. The peaces of Treaty of Campo Formio (1797) and Lunéville had assigned him territories in Breisgau in exchange of the lost Duchy, but he never took possession of them.
His only legitimate daughter Maria Beatrice Ricciarda married Archduke Ferdinand of Austria. Their son Francesco IV regained the Duchy of Modena and Reggio in 1814.