Ginevra d'Este (24 March 1419 - 12 October 1440) was an Italian noblewoman. She and her twin sister Lucia (died 1437) were daughters of

Niccolò III d'Este Niccolò III d'Este (9 November 1383 – 26 December 1441) was Marquess of Ferrara from 1393 until his death. He was also a condottiero. Biography Born in Ferrara on 9 November 1383, Niccolo was the son of Alberto d'Este and Isotta Albaresan ...

and his second wife

Parisina Malatesta Laura Malatesta (140421 May 1425), better known as Parisina Malatesta, was an Italian marchioness. She was the daughter of Andrea Malatesta, lord of Cesena, and his second wife, Lucrezia Ordelaffi. She had an affair with her illegitimate ste ...

- they also had a younger brother, who died aged a few months. She was the first of

Sigismondo Pandolfo Malatesta Sigismondo Pandolfo Malatesta (19 June 1417 – 7 October 1468) was an Italian condottiero and nobleman, a member of the House of Malatesta and lord of Rimini and Fano from 1432. He was widely considered by his contemporaries as one of the mos ...

's three wives.

Life

Her mother was accused of infidelity with

Ugo d'Este Ugo d'Este, also known as Hugh Aldobrandino (1405 – May 21, 1425 in Ferrara), was the son of Niccolò III d'Este and his lover Stella de' Tolomei. Early life Although he was illegitimate, he was destined to succeed his father as Nicholò's eld ...

, Ginevra's half-brother and he and Parisina were condemned to death by Niccolò when Ginevra was aged six. Five years later Niccolò remarried to

Ricciarda di Saluzzo Ricciardia, Marchioness of Saluzzo (1410 – 16 August 1474, Ferrara) was an Italian noblewoman. She was the daughter of Thomas III, Marquess of Saluzzo and his French wife Marguerite de Pierrepont, daughter of Ugo II de Pierrepont, count of Ro ...

, giving Ginevra two other half-brothers ( Ercole and

Sigismondo ''Sigismondo'' is an operatic 'dramma' in two acts by Gioachino Rossini to an Italian libretto by Giuseppe Maria Foppa. The opera was not a success and Rossini later re-used some of its music in '' Elisabetta, regina d'Inghilterra'', ''The Barb ...

), in addition to her father's other illegitimate children. She married

, lord of Rimini, in

Rimini Rimini ( , ; or ; ) is a city in the Emilia-Romagna region of Northern Italy. Sprawling along the Adriatic Sea, Rimini is situated at a strategically-important north-south passage along the coast at the southern tip of the Po Valley. It is ...

in February 1434.

Death

On her death in 1440 she was buried in the

Tempio Malatestiano The Tempio Malatestiano () is the Unfinished building, unfinished cathedral church of Rimini, Italy. Officially named for Francis of Assisi, St. Francis, it takes the popular name from Sigismondo Pandolfo Malatesta, who commissioned its reconstr ...

. In 1461

Pope Pius II Pope Pius II (, ), born Enea Silvio Bartolomeo Piccolomini (; 18 October 1405 – 14 August 1464), was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 19 August 1458 to his death in 1464. Aeneas Silvius was an author, diplomat, ...

accused Pandolfo of several crimes, including killing Ginevra, and excommunicated him.

In popular culture

Ginevra is briefly mentioned in

The picture of Dorian Gray ''The Picture of Dorian Gray'' is an 1890 philosophical fiction and Gothic fiction, Gothic horror fiction, horror novel by Irish writer Oscar Wilde. A shorter novella-length version was published in the July 1890 issue of the American period ...

Oscar Wilde Oscar Fingal O'Fflahertie Wills Wilde (16 October 185430 November 1900) was an Irish author, poet, and playwright. After writing in different literary styles throughout the 1880s, he became one of the most popular and influential playwright ...

as its claimed her husband gave her poison "in an emerald cup"

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:dEste, Ginevra Ginevra 1419 births 1440 deaths Sigismondo Pandolfo Malatesta 15th-century Italian women Burials at Tempio Malatestiano