Maria Angela Caterina d'Este (1 March 1656 – 16 July 1722) was an Italian-born Princess of Modena who was later the

Princess of Carignano The ''Princess of Carignano'' was a woman married to the Prince of Carignano of the House of Savoy. The list ends with Charles Albert, in 1831, after he became King of Sardinia. But the Queens of Sardinia and later Italy used the title "Princess of ...

by marriage. She was the wife of Emmanuel Philibert of Savoy,

Prince of Carignano The House of Savoy-Carignano ( it, Savoia-Carignano; french: Savoie-Carignan) originated as a cadet branch of the House of Savoy. It was founded by Thomas Francis of Savoy, Prince of Carignano (1596–1656), an Italian military commander who was t ...

. In France she was known as ''Angélique Catherine d'Este'' and in Modena and Savoy she was known as ''Maria Caterina d'Este''.

Biography

Born to the General

Borso d'Este Borso d'Este, attributed to Vicino da Ferrara, Pinacoteca of the Castello Sforzesco">Sforza Castle in Milan, Italy. Borso d'Este (1413 – August 20, 1471) was Duke of Ferrara, and the first Duchy of Modena and Reggio, Duke of Modena, which he rul ...

and his wife Ippolita d'Este, Maria Angela Caterina was the product of a marriage between niece and uncle, her father being a son of

Cesare d'Este, Duke of Modena Cesare d'Este (8 October 1562 – 11 December 1628) was Duke of Modena and Reggio from 1597 until his death. Biography Born in Ferrara, Cesare was the son of Alfonso d'Este, Marquis of Montecchio, fourth son of Alfonso I d'Este and the c ...

, and her mother a daughter of Prince Luigi d'Este, younger son of Cesare. As a member of the House of Este, she was a ''princess of Modena'' by birth, her father being the "founder" of a collateral line of the House of Este, the short lived House of Este-Scandiano. She was named after her paternal aunt, Princess Eleonora, who became a nun under the name of Sor Angela Caterina. The youngest of seven children, she never knew her parents as her mother died shortly after her birth, while her father died a year later. After the death of their parents, Maria Angela and her siblings were put under the care of their grandfather/uncle, Prince Luigi. Her first cousins included

Francesco I d'Este, Duke of Modena Francesco I d'Este (6 September 1610 – 14 October 1658) was Duke of Modena and Reggio from 1629 until his death. The eldest son of Alfonso III d'Este, he became reigning duke after his father's abdication. Biography The pestilence of 1630–16 ...

, Margherita d'Este (wife of the

Duke of Guastalla This is a list of rulers of Guastalla, a town in Emilia-Romagna, Italy, on the right bank of the Po River. The County of Guastalla was established in 1406 for the Torelli family. In 1456, the county was partitioned, with Montechiarugolo and Casei ...

) and the Duke of Mirandola. She was also a cousin of

Isabella Isabella may refer to: People and fictional characters * Isabella (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters * Isabella (surname), including a list of people Places United States * Isabella, Alabama, an unincorpor ...

and

Maria d'Este Maria d'Este (8 December 1644 – 20 August 1684) was a Modenese princess and Duchess of Parma as the wife of Ranuccio II Farnese, Duke of Parma. She was a daughter of Francesco I d'Este, Duke of Modena and Maria Caterina Farnese. Family Maria ...

, two successive

Duchesses of Parma Duke is a male title either of a monarch ruling over a duchy, or of a member of Royal family, royalty, or nobility. As rulers, dukes are ranked below emperors, kings, grand princes, grand dukes, and sovereign princes. As royalty or nobility, t ...

. The unmarried princess was noted for her good looks and for having such a fine figure for one of her age at the time of her marriage. Despite the permission of Victor Amadeus, Duke of Savoy, Emmanuel Philibert's cousin and ruler of Savoy Emmanuel Philibert had expressed his wishes to marry Maria Angela Caterina. Emmanuel Philibert was the son of the late

Thomas Francis, Prince of Carignano Thomas Francis of Savoy, 1st Prince of Carignano (; ; 21 December 1596 – 22 January 1656) was an Italian military commander and the founder of the Carignano branch of the House of Savoy, which reigned as kings of Piedmont-Sardinia from 1831 ...

and his French born wife, the domineering Marie de Bourbon. His sister was the Dowager Hereditary Princess of Baden-Baden, mother of the famous General '' Türkenlouis''. The match was greatly opposed by France, then under the rule of

Louis XIV , house = Bourbon , father = Louis XIII , mother = Anne of Austria , birth_date = , birth_place = Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France , death_date = , death_place = Palace of Vers ...

, as Louis XIV had wanted Emmanuel Philibert to marry a French princess as Emmanuel Philibertat this point, the

Duke of Savoy The titles of count, then of duke of Savoy are titles of nobility attached to the historical territory of Savoy. Since its creation, in the 11th century, the county was held by the House of Savoy. The County of Savoy was elevated to a Duchy of Sav ...

and his wife

Anne Marie d'Orléans Anne Marie d'Orléans (27 August 1669 – 26 August 1728) was Queen of Sardinia by marriage to Victor Amadeus II of Savoy. She served as regent of Savoy during the absence of her spouse in 1686 and during the War of the Spanish Succession. ...

had two daughters, the future

Dauphine of France The Dauphine of France (, also , ) was the wife of the Dauphin of France (the heir apparent to the French throne). The position was analogous to a Crown prince, crown princess (the wife of a crown prince and heir apparent to a throne). List of Da ...

(mother of

Louis XV Louis XV (15 February 1710 – 10 May 1774), known as Louis the Beloved (french: le Bien-Aimé), was King of France from 1 September 1715 until his death in 1774. He succeeded his great-grandfather Louis XIV at the age of five. Until he reache ...

) and

Queen of Spain , coatofarms = File:Coat_of_Arms_of_Spanish_Monarch.svg , coatofarms_article = Coat of arms of the King of Spain , image = Felipe_VI_in_2020_(cropped).jpg , incumbent = Felipe VI , incumbentsince = 19 Ju ...

, who were ineligible to inherit the Savoyard throne due to

salic law The Salic law ( or ; la, Lex salica), also called the was the ancient Frankish civil law code compiled around AD 500 by the first Frankish King, Clovis. The written text is in Latin and contains some of the earliest known instances of Old Du ...

was the

heir presumptive An heir presumptive is the person entitled to inherit a throne, peerage, or other hereditary honour, but whose position can be displaced by the birth of an heir apparent or a new heir presumptive with a better claim to the position in question. ...

to the

Duchy of Savoy The Duchy of Savoy ( it, Ducato di Savoia; french: Duché de Savoie) was a country in Western Europe that existed from 1416. It was created when Sigismund, Holy Roman Emperor, raised the County of Savoy into a duchy for Amadeus VIII. The duc ...

. A proxy ceremony took place in Modena, in which her unmarried brother Caesare Ignace d'Este acted as her husband to be. A private ceremony took place on 10 November 1684 at the

Castle of Racconigi The Royal Castle of Racconigi is a palace and landscape park in Racconigi, province of Cuneo, Italy. It was the official residence of the Carignano line of the House of Savoy, and is one of the Residences of the Royal House of Savoy included by U ...

, the summer residence of the Princes of Carignano; the bride being 28 and the groom 56. This wedding was important to the

House of Savoy The House of Savoy ( it, Casa Savoia) was a royal dynasty that was established in 1003 in the historical Savoy region. Through gradual expansion, the family grew in power from ruling a small Alpine county north-west of Italy to absolute rule of ...

, but very poorly viewed by the kingdom of France for its lack of political connection. Louis subsequently banished Emmanuel Philibert and his new spouse from the French court. Maria Angela's

grandfather Grandparents, individually known as grandmother and grandfather, are the parents of a person's father or mother – paternal or maternal. Every sexually-reproducing living organism who is not a genetic chimera has a maximum of four genetic ...

had accepted the offer of marriage as he and Emmanuel Philibert had had good relations. Her husband died in 1709 making Maria Angela Caterina the dowager princess of Carignano. Her only surviving son Victor Amadeus succeeded as Prince of Carignano. She died at the age of 66.

Issue

Maria Angela and her husband had four children. Their youngest child, Thomas Philippe, died young and unmarried: *Princess Maria Isabella of Savoy (14 March 1687 – 2 May 1767) *Princess Maria Vittoria of Savoy (12 February 1688 – 18 May 1763) * Prince Victor Amadeus of Savoy, (1 March 1690 – 4 April 1741) *Prince Thomas Philippe Geatano of Savoy (10 May 1692 – 12 Sep 1715)

Ancestry

References and notes

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Este, Maria Angela Caterina 1656 births 1722 deaths 17th-century Italian nobility 18th-century Italian people 17th-century Italian women 18th-century Italian women Maria Angela Caterina Maria Angela Caterina Maria Angela Caterina Maria Angela Caterina