Marfisa d'Este

Portrait of Marfisa d'Este

Marfisa d'Este (c.1554 in Ferrara – 16 October 1608 in Ferrara) was a Ferrarese noblewoman. She was the illegitimate daughter of Francesco d'Este and [Maria Folch de Cardona].She and her sister Bradamante (born 1559) were legitimised by both pope Gregory XIII and Alfonso II d'Este. She was also notable as a patron of the arts^[1] and the protector of Torquato Tasso.^[2]

On 5 May 1578 she married her cousin Alfonsino di Montecchio, son of Alfonso di Montecchio, who died just under four months after the wedding. She was also left a palace that year by her father, who had begun it in 1559 - it was slowly abandoned after her death.^[1] She also inherited the "San Silvestro" building and Palazzo Schifanoia from him.

On 30 January 1580 she married Alderano Cybo-Malaspina, hereditary prince of Massa and Carrara. After the Este dukedom's devolution to the Papal States in 1598, Marfisa refused to join her family in Modena and instead remained in Ferrara with her husband in the palace she had inherited from her father.

Issue[]

Alderano and Marfisa had eight children:^[3]

• Carlo (1581-1662), his father's heir. Married Brigida Spinola, with issue;
• Francesco (1584-1616);
• Odoardo (1585-1612), colonel in the Spanish army;
• Cesare (1587-1588), died in infancy;
• Vittoria (1588-1635), married Ercole Pepoli, count of Castiglione;
• Ferdinando (1590-1623), canon of San Lorenzo in Genoa;
• Alessandro (1594-1639), knight of the Order of Malta;
• Alfonso (1596).

Note[]