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-Lüneburg.
During his reign, the duchy was bankrupted by the
Wars of the Spanish,
Polish, and
Austrian Successions. As a result, Francesco was forced to sell the most precious artworks of the
Estense Gallery. He was a careful administrator but most of the duchy's financial policy was in the hands of the Austrian plenipotentiary,
Beltrame Cristiani.
Among his measures, the urban renovation of Modena and the construction of the
Via Vandelli, connecting the city to the
Tuscan Duchy of Massa and Carrara (belonging to his daughter-in-law
Maria Teresa Cybo-Malaspina and destined to be incorporated into the Este States), and to the
Mediterranean Sea
The Mediterranean Sea ( ) is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the east by the Levant in West Asia, on the north by Anatolia in West Asia and Southern Eur ...
.
Francesco also was the interim
Governor of the Duchy of Milan between 1754 and 1771, being also invested in 1765 with the non-hereditary lordship of
Varese
Varese ( , ; or ; ; ; archaic ) is a city and ''comune'' in north-western Lombardy, northern Italy, north-west of Milan. The population of Varese in 2018 was 80,559.
It is the capital of the Province of Varese. The hinterland or exurban part ...
, a fief specially created for him by
Empress Maria Theresa. There he died in 1780 in the
Palazzo Estense he had built.
His son
Ercole succeeded him as the sovereign of the Duchy of Modena and Reggio.
Family and children
In 1721, he married
Charlotte Aglaé d'Orléans (1700–1761), a daughter of
Philippe d'Orléans, Duke of Orléans and
Françoise Marie de Bourbon (legitimized daughter of
Louis XIV and
Madame de Montespan) and had ten children. Together, they resided in the
Ducal Palace of Rivalta.
He acted as proxy groom for his sister
Enrichetta d'Este in 1728 who was marrying
Antonio Farnese, Duke of Parma.
After his first wife's death, he remarried twice more
morganatically to Teresa Castelbarco (1704-1768) and Renata Teresa d'Harrach (1721-1788).
His granddaughter
Maria Beatrice d'Este, Duchess of Massa was the last scion of the
House of Este of Modena, whose male line became extinct with her.
Matrimonial agreements
Given that in the Este States the
Salic law
The Salic law ( or ; ), also called the was the ancient Frankish Civil law (legal system), civil law code compiled around AD 500 by Clovis I, Clovis, the first Frankish King. The name may refer to the Salii, or "Salian Franks", but this is deba ...
was in force which prohibited women from succeeding to the throne, after the premature death of his fourth son Benedetto Filippo (though directed to an ecclesiastical career) in 1751 and, two years later, that of his only grandson in the male line, Rinaldo Francesco, just aged 4 months, the duke had to surrender to the idea that extinction was looming large over the house of Este.
Maria Beatrice was now the sole surviving child of his sole surviving son, Ercole Rinaldo (the future Duke
Ercole III), and it was clear that the latter would not father any more legitimate offspring because he and his wife,
Maria Teresa Cybo-Malaspina, were now irretrievably separated.
Therefore, Francesco III set out to prevent his ancient Este States, as
imperial fiefs, from being declared "vacant" (heirless) in future and then simply absorbed by the
Empire
An empire is a political unit made up of several territories, military outpost (military), outposts, and peoples, "usually created by conquest, and divided between a hegemony, dominant center and subordinate peripheries". The center of the ...
, just as, almost two centuries earlier,
Ferrara
Ferrara (; ; ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) in Emilia-Romagna, Northern Italy, capital of the province of Ferrara. it had 132,009 inhabitants. It is situated northeast of Bologna, on the Po di Volano, a branch channel of the main ...
, a papal fief held to be vacant by
Pope Clement VIII
Pope Clement VIII (; ; 24 February 1536 – 3 March 1605), born Ippolito Aldobrandini, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 30 January 1592 to his death in March 1605.
Born in Fano, Papal States to a prominen ...
, had been confiscated by the
Apostolic Chamber. Previously he had already turned to the court of
Great Britain
Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-west coast of continental Europe, consisting of the countries England, Scotland, and Wales. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the List of European ...
for advice and help:
King George II was a distant maternal cousin of his and Francesco looked to him as a sort of head of the family given the shared ancestral origins of the two dynasties from the
House of Welf. Thus, in the same year 1753, with the mediation and guarantee of George II, two simultaneous treaties (one public and one secret) were concluded between the House of Este and the
House of Austria. In virtue of them,
Archduke Leopold of Habsburg-Lorraine, Empress
Maria Theresa's ninth-born child and third son, and three-year-old Maria Beatrice d'Este were engaged, being entrusted with the lofty task of setting up a new ruling house that would bring together the names of both their families. The treaties also stipulated that Leopold should be designated by Francesco III as heir for the imperial investiture as Duke of Modena and Reggio in the event of extinction of the Este male line. It was intended that the new house should rule the Este States as a separate entity from the other Habsburg domains. In the meantime, Francesco would cover the office of governor of Milan ad interim, which was destined for the archduke.
In 1761, however, following the death of an
older brother of his, Leopold moved up one place in the line of succession, becoming heir to the throne of the
Grand Duchy of Tuscany as provided for the second son of the imperial couple, and even taking over from his late brother as candidate to the Infanta
Maria Luisa of Spain's hand; whereupon the 1753 treaties evidently became anachronistic and had to be revised. In 1763, despite the harsh opposition of Ercole Rinaldo, the two families agreed to simply replace the name of Leopold with that of his next junior brother,
Archduke Ferdinand Karl of Habsburg-Lorraine, who had not yet been born at the time of the signing of the treaties and was four years younger than his betrothed. In January 1771 the
Perpetual Diet of Regensburg ratified Ferdinand's future investiture and, in October, Maria Beatrice and he finally got married in Milan, thus giving rise to the new
House of Austria-Este. Francesco III ceded to the archduke the post of governor of Milan and the new archducal couple settled in the Lombard capital where they lived the next about 25 years producing a large offspring of ten children. In 1815, their son
Francesco IV would be placed at the head of the restored Duchy of Modena and Reggio by the
Congress of Vienna
The Congress of Vienna of 1814–1815 was a series of international diplomatic meetings to discuss and agree upon a possible new layout of the European political and constitutional order after the downfall of the French Emperor Napoleon, Napol ...
.
Issue
#Alfonso d'Este (18 November 1723 – 16 June 1725) died in infancy.
#Francesco Constantino d'Este (22 November 1724 – 16 June 1725) died in infancy.
#
Maria Teresa Felicitas d'Este (6 October 1726 – 30 April 1754) married
Louis Jean Marie de Bourbon, Duke of Penthièvre and had issue.
#
Ercole III d'Este, Duke of Modena (22 November 1727 – 14 October 1803) married
Maria Teresa Cybo-Malaspina, Duchess of Massa and had issue.
#
Matilde d'Este (7 February 1729 – 14 November 1803) died unmarried.
#Beatrice d'Este (14 July 1730 – 12 July 1731) died in infancy.
#Beatrice d'Este (24 November 1731 – 3 April 1736) died in infancy.
#
Maria Fortunata d'Este (24 November 1731 – 21 September 1803) married
Louis François de Bourbon, Prince of Conti, no issue.
#
Benedetto Filippo d'Este (30 September 1736 – 16 September 1751) died unmarried.
#Maria Elisabetta Ernestina d'Este (12 February 1741 – 4 August 1774) married Carlo Salomone, Count of Serravalle and had issue. Direct ancestors of Sergio E. M. Salomone Montes de Oca, current Count of Serravalle,
Vintebbio and
Bornate.
Ancestry
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Este, Francesco 3
1698 births
1780 deaths
18th-century Italian people
Francesco 3
Francesco 3
Francesco 3
Hereditary princes of Modena
Francesco 3
Knights of the Golden Fleece of Austria
Generals of the Holy Roman Empire
Fellows of the Royal Society