Ercole III d'Este (Ercole Rinaldo; 22 November 1727 – 14 October 1803) was

Duke of Modena and Reggio Emperor Frederick III conferred Borso d'Este, Lord of Ferrara, with the Duchy of Modena and Reggio in 1452, while Pope Paul II formally elevated him in 1471 as Duke of Ferrara, over which the family had in fact long presided. This latter territo ...

from 1780 to 1796, and later of Breisgau (not resident). He was a member of the

House of Este The House of Este ( , , ) is a European dynasty of North Italian origin whose members ruled parts of Italy and Germany for many centuries. The original House of Este's elder branch, which is known as the House of Welf, included dukes of Bavaria ...

Biography

He was born in

Modena Modena (, , ; egl, label=Emilian language#Dialects, Modenese, Mòdna ; ett, Mutna; la, Mutina) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) on the south side of the Po Valley, in the Province of Modena in the Emilia-Romagna region of northern I ...

, the son of Duke

Francesco III d'Este, Duke of Modena Francesco III d'Este (Francesco Maria; 2 July 1698 – 22 February 1780) was Duke of Modena and Reggio from 1737 until his death. Biography He was born in Modena, the son of Rinaldo d'Este, Duke of Modena, and Duchess Charlotte of Brunswick-L ...

and

Charlotte Aglaé d'Orléans Charlotte Aglaé d'Orléans (22 October 1700 – 19 January 1761) was Duchess of Modena and Reggio by marriage to Francesco III d'Este. She was the third daughter of Philippe II, Duke of Orléans and his wife, Françoise-Marie de Bourbon. Sh ...

, daughter of Philippe d'Orléans, Duke of Orléans and Regent of France. He was the couple's fourth child and had an older sister Maria Teresa and two brothers who died before his birth. In 1741 he married

Maria Teresa Cybo-Malaspina Maria Teresa CyboThis is also sometimes spelt ''Cibo''.-Malaspina (29 June 1725 29 December 1790) was the sovereign Duchess of Massa and Princess of Carrara from 1731 until her death in 1790. She was the eldest child of Alderano I, Duke of Mass ...

, heir and, from 1780, sovereign of the

Duchy of Massa and Carrara The Duchy of Massa and Principality of Carrara ( it, Ducato di Massa e Principato di Carrara) was a small state that controlled the towns of Massa and Carrara from 1473 until 1829. History Although the city of Massa had already known its maxim ...

: their relations turned out to be extremely unhappy and the Duchess lived for most of the time in Reggio, separated from her husband. When his parents succeeded as rulers of Modena, he was styled His Royal Highness the Hereditary Prince of Modena (1737–1780) and after 1780, His Royal Highness the Duke of Modena. 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 Rubiera ( Reggiano: ) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Reggio Emilia in the Italian region Emilia-Romagna, located on the Via Emilia about northwest of Bologna and about southeast of Reggio Emilia. History The original name of t ...

and St. Ambrogio at

on the

Via Emilia The ( it, Via Emilia; en, Aemilian Way) was a trunk Roman road in the north Italian plain, running from ''Ariminum'' (Rimini), on the Adriatic coast, to ''Placentia'' (Piacenza) on the river ''Padus'' ( Po). It was completed in 187 BC. The ' ...

, 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 Lazzaro Spallanzani (; 12 January 1729 – 11 February 1799) was an Italian Catholic priest (for which he was nicknamed Abbé Spallanzani), biologist and physiologist who made important contributions to the experimental study of bodily function ...

Giambattista Venturi Giovanni Battista Venturi (11 September 1746 – 10 September 1822) was an Italian physicist, savant, man of letters, diplomat and historian of science. He was the discoverer of the Venturi effect, which was described in 1797 in his ''Recherches E ...

Girolamo Tiraboschi Girolamo Tiraboschi S.J. (; 18 December 1731 – 9 June 1794) was an Italian literary critic, the first historian of Italian literature. Biography Born in Bergamo, he studied at the Jesuit college in Monza, entered the order, and was appointed i ...

Lodovico Ricci Lodovico Ricci (1742–1799) was an Italian people, Italian historian and economist. He was born in Chiari, Lombardy, Chiari (modern Lombardy), and held different posts in the Duchy of Modena and Reggio, chiefly connected with charity organisatio ...

and others. After the death of his wife in 1790, he married

morganatically Morganatic marriage, sometimes called a left-handed marriage, is a marriage between people of unequal social rank, which in the context of royalty or other inherited title prevents the principal's position or privileges being passed to the spou ...

in 1795 with his long-time mistress Chiara Marini (d. Treviso, 1800), whom he invested with title of Marchioness of

Scandiano Scandiano ( Reggiano: ) is a town and ''comune'' in Emilia-Romagna, in the northeast part of the country of Italy, near the city of Reggio nell'Emilia and the Secchia river. It had a population of 25,663 as of 31 December 2016. History The cur ...

(only formally, without any authentic rule over this land).''ESTE (di MONTECCHIO) Duchi di Modena e Reggio'' in genmarenostrum.com
etrieved 24 February 2015 The French invasion forced him to flee to

Venice Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 ...

on 7 May 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 Treviso ( , ; vec, Trevixo) is a city and ''comune'' in the Veneto region of northern Italy. It is the capital of the province of Treviso and the municipality has 84,669 inhabitants (as of September 2017). Some 3,000 live within the Veneti ...

, where he died in 1803. The peaces of

Treaty of Campo Formio The Treaty of Campo Formio (today Campoformido) was signed on 17 October 1797 (26 Vendémiaire VI) by Napoleon Bonaparte and Count Philipp von Cobenzl as representatives of the French Republic and the Austrian monarchy, respectively. The treat ...

(1797) and

Lunéville Lunéville ( ; German, obsolete: ''Lünstadt'' ) is a commune in the northeastern French department of Meurthe-et-Moselle. It is a subprefecture of the department and lies on the river Meurthe at its confluence with the Vezouze. History Lun ...

had assigned him territories in

Breisgau The Breisgau () is an area in southwest Germany between the Rhine River and the foothills of the Black Forest. Part of the state of Baden-Württemberg, it centers on the city of Freiburg im Breisgau. The district of Breisgau-Hochschwarzwald, ...

in exchange of the lost Duchy, but he never took possession of them. His only legitimate daughter Maria Beatrice married Archduke Ferdinand of Austria. Their son Francis IV regained the Duchy of Modena and Reggio in 1814.

Issue

Maria Beatrice d'Este Mary of Modena ( it, Maria Beatrice Eleonora Anna Margherita Isabella d'Este; ) was Queen of England, Scotland and Ireland as the second wife of James II and VII. A devout Roman Catholic, Mary married the widower James, who was then the young ...

(7 April 1750 – 14 November 1829), married Archduke Ferdinand of Austria and had issue. #Rinaldo Francesco d'Este (4 January 1753 – 5 May 1753), died in infancy. #Ercole Rinaldo (1770 – 16 February 1795), created Marquess of Scandiano in 1787, General in the Modena Army (''died illegitimate, before the marriage of their parents'').

Ancestry

Notes

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Este, Ercole 3, Modena, Duke Of 1727 births 1803 deaths Hereditary Princes of Modena Ercole 3 Ercole 3 Ercole 3 Ercole 3 18th-century Italian people Ercole 3 Generals of the Holy Roman Empire