Anna D'Este - Life

Life

Anna d'Este was born on 16 November 1531, and was the oldest daughter of the Duke of Ferrara Ercole II d'Este and of Renée of France. She grew up in Ferrara, where she received an excellent education. She also studied music, singing, dance, history and painting. The future writer and scholar Olympia Fulvia Morata was chosen as one of her companions at court.

In 1548, after long and difficult negotiations, her marriage was arranged with the French prince Francis, Duke of Aumale, son of the Duke of Guise. The contract was signed in Ferrara on 28 September and the marriage was held in Saint-Germain-en-Laye near Paris on 16 December. The princess was never to return to Italy.

Anna d'Este was the granddaughter of the French king Louis XII and therefore related to Henry II and his sons. By her marriage she had become a member of the powerful Guise family, and because of her Italian roots she had especially close ties to the queen and later queen-mother, Catherine de' Medici.

For these reasons, her position at court was outstanding. Duchess of Guise after the death of her father-in-law in 1550, she governed the family estates and the enormous fortunes of the Guise with the help of her mother-in-law, Antoinette de Bourbon. She was also active on behalf of her father and acted as mediator between the courts of France and of Ferrara. She gave birth to seven children, four of which reached adulthood.

In February 1563 Francis, Duke of Guise was assassinated. While the murderer was seized and immediately put to death, Anna d'Este took all possible steps to sue the leader of the French Huguenots, Gaspard de Coligny, whom she held responsible for the assault.

During the next three years, the widow put pressure on the king and his courts of justice with her petitions, but in January 1566 the king's council declared the admiral of Coligny innocent and imposed eternal silence in the matter. Consequently, most of her contemporaries held the widow of the Duke of Guise responsible for the shot which was fired on Coligny on 22 August 1572 and which became the starting signal for the St. Bartholomew's Day massacre.

On 29 April 1566, Anna d'Este married Jacques de Savoie, Duke of Nemours and Genevois. Henceforth, the princess spent most of her time in Annecy or on the road between her duchy of Genevois and the court of France. In politically difficult situations she acted as mediator between her husband and the Duke of Savoy, and in the meantime she held her position at the court of France. Anna d'Este also promoted her sons' careers, she helped her clients to make their living, and she claimed a prominent place in official ceremonies at court.

After the death of her second husband in 1585 Anna d'Este lived in Paris, in her Hôtel de Nemours, which was located on the left bank of the Seine in what is today Rue Séguier. With the formation of the Catholic League, in which her sons played a prominent part, the importance of the Duchess for the political occurrences in the kingdom of France increased considerably.

In December 1588 Henry III ordered the murder of her two oldest sons and the imprisonment of Anna d'Este. Although the sources tell us nothing about the deeds of the Duchess after her liberation, some contemporaries held her responsible for the assassination of the king. During the siege of Paris by Henry IV, Anna d'Este was declared "queen-mother" by the League, but after the Bourbon's conversion back to Catholicism she recognized him as king and tried to convince her rebellious sons to take the same step. In 1594 Anna travelled to Paris to pay homage to Henry IV.

Anna d'Este spent her last years in the highly respectable position of "superintendante de la maison" of the queen Marie de' Medici but also in growing indebtedness and in constant worry about the financial situation of her children and grandchildren.

When she died on 17 May 1607, the value of her movable goods came to little more than 4000 livres. The entrails and the heart of the Duchess were interred in Paris and in Joinville while her body was brought to Annecy, where it was buried next to her second husband. None of the tombs remain.