Alphonso d' Este 1
- Born: 21 Jul 1476
- Marriage: Lucrezia Borgia
- Died: 31 Oct 1534 aged 58
General Notes:
Alfonso d'Este was Duke of Ferrara during the time of the War of the League of Cambrai.
He was the son of Ercole d'Este I. In the Italian Wars he entered the League of Cambrai against Venice and remained an ally of Louis XII of France even after Pope Julius II had made peace with Venice; in 1510 Julius excommunicated him and declared his fiefs forfeit, thereby adding Ferrara to the Papal States; Alfonso then fought successfully against the Venetian and Papal armies, capturing Bologna, and played a major part in the French victory at the Battle of Ravenna (1512).
In 1526-1527 Alfonso participated in the expedition of Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor and king of Spain, against Pope Clement VII, and in 1530 the pope again recognized him as possessor of the forfeited duchies of Modena and Reggio.
Alfonso was one of the husbands of Lucrezia Borgia. Like his brother Ippolito I, Cardinal d'Este he was one of the great patrons of art of his time: for him the elderly Giovanni Bellini painted The Feast of the Gods in 1514, Bellini's last completed painting. He turned to Bellini's pupil, Titian, for a sequence of paintings. In 1529 Alfonso created the most magnificent gallery of his time in order to better display his works of art against alabaster-veneered walls under a gilded ceiling.
He inherited from Cardinal d'Este the poet Ariosto. Following in the lead of his father Ercole, who had made Ferrara into one of the musical centers of Europe, Alfonso brought some of the most famous musicians of the time to his court to work as composers, instrumentalists and singers. Musicians from northern Europe who worked at Ferrara during his reign included Antoine Brumel and Adrian Willaert, the latter of whom was to become the founder of the Venetian School, something which could not have happened without Alfonso's patronage.
When Alfonso's grandson Alfonso II d'Este, produced no male heir the d'Este line died out; by law, the d'Este title and property reverted to the Pope and the priceless art was dispersed.
Noted events in his life were:
• He was a Prince of Ferrara.
Alphonso married Lucrezia Borgia, daughter of Rodrigo Borgia and Vannozza dei Cattanei. (Lucrezia Borgia was born on 18 Apr 1480 and died on 24 Jun 1519.)
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