Ercole II d'Este

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Ercole II d'Este (April 5, 1508 - October 3, 1559) was Duke of Ferrara, Modena and Reggio from 1534 to 1559. He was a member of the house of Este and the eldest son of Alfonso I d'Este and Lucrezia Borgia.

Through his mother, Ercole was a grandson of Pope Alexander VI, nephew of Cesare Borgia, and cousin of Saint Francis Borgia. Through his father, he was nephew of both Isabella d'Este, "the First Lady of the Renaissance", and Cardinal Ippolito d’Este. His siblings included Ippolito II, Archbishop of Milan and later Cardinal, nun Leonora, and Francesco, Marchese di Massalombarda. His half-siblings included Rodrigo Borgia of Aragon, Lucrezia’s son by Alfonso of Aragon, Duke of Bisceglie, and perhaps Giovanni Borgia, the “infans Romanus”.

In April 1528, he married Renée of France, the second daughter of Louis XII, King of France, and Anne of Brittany. Renée received from Francis I of France an ample dowry and annuity. Thus the court she assembled about her in Ferrara corresponded to the tradition which the cultivation of science and art implicitly required, including scholars like Bernardo Tasso and Fulvio Pellegrini. Their first child, Anna, born in 1531, was followed by Alfonso, in 1533; Lucrezia, 1535; and later Eleonora and Luigi, whose education she carefully directed.

Once he became Duke in October of 1534, Ercole turned against the French at his court, finding them both too expensive and too influential, and by 1543 they had all been dismissed. He was also under pressure from the Curia to dismiss those suspected of heresy; John Calvin himself was in Ferrara sometime in 1536. Meanwhile, Duchess Renée was corresponding with a number of Protestants and was suspected to have converted, despite the presence of a special court of the Inquisition in Ferrara. Ercole brought accusations of heresy against his wife to King Henry II of France and Inquisitor Oriz in 1554, and she subsequently confessed.

Ercole sided with Pope Paul IV and France against Spain in 1556, but made a separate peace agreement in 1558. He was also a patron of the arts along with his brother, Cardinal Ippolito, who built the Villa d'Este near Tivoli.

Preceded by Alfonso I

Duke of Ferrara, Modena and Reggio 1534–1559

Succeeded by Alfonso II