The subsequent heads of the family were: Alphonso III., who retired to a
monastery in 1629 and died in 1644; Francis I. (1610-1658), who
commanded the French army in Italy in 1647; Alphonso IV. (1634-1662),
the father of Mary Beatrice, the queen of James II. of England, who
fought in the French army during the Spanish War, and founded the
picture gallery of Modena; Francis II. (1660-1694), who originated the
Este library, also at Modena, and founded the university; Rinaldo
(1655-1737), through whose marriage with Charlotte Felicitas of
Brunswick-Luneburg the long-separated branches of the house of Este were
reunited; Francis III. (1698-1780), who married the daughter of the
regent Philip of Orleans. Francis III. wished to remain neutral during
the war between Spain and Austria (1740), but the imperialists having
occupied and devastated his duchy, he took the Spanish side and was
appointed _generalissimo_ of the Spanish army in Italy. He was
re-established in his possessions by the treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle
(1748), and on being reconciled with the empress Maria Theresa, he
received from her the title of governor of Lombardy in 1754. With his
son Ercole III. Rinaldo (1727-1803), who at the peace of Campoformio
lost his duchy, the male line of the Estensi came to an end. His only
daughter, Marie Beatrice (d. 1829), was married to the archduke
Ferdinand, third son of the emperor Francis I. Ferdinand was created
duke of Breisgau in 1803, and at his death in 1806 he was succeeded by
his son Francis IV. (q.v.), to whom the duchy of Modena was given at the
treaty of Vienna in 1814. He died in 1846 and was succeeded by Francis
V. (q.v.), who lost his possessions by the events of 1859. With his
death in 1875 the title and estates passed to the archduke Francis
Ferdinand, heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne. The children of Lady
Augusta Murray, daughter of the earl of Dunmore, by her marriage with
Augustus Frederick, duke of Sussex, sixth son of George III. of Great
Britain, assumed the old name of d' Este, and claimed recognition as
members of the royal family; but as the marriage was in violation of the
royal marriages act of 1773, it was declared invalid, and their claims
were set aside.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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