(11 



ESSKX, JAMES. 



ESTE, HOUSE OF. 



Ill 



the unction of bii parliamentary matter* ; and u the royalists, finding 

 that he di.l nnt comply with the king's offer, continued to preu their 

 ad vant.ig-, j'ir wcne of hi* troop* had abandoned him, he was obliged 

 to rtnpe \>j tea from Fowey. Hiring tailed from Plymouth to 

 London, he onoe more collected an army, and was placed at its head, 

 bat an illima compelled him to quit hit command. 



When he returned to London, Ktsex found a state of confusion and 

 dislruit that scare ly could bo expected. At a meeting held at his 

 hooM it was proposed to impeach Cromwell, but this served no other 

 purpose than to irritate that leader. The independents soon afterwards 

 tuoceede 1 in carrying the ' self-denying ordinance,' which forbad 

 members of either house of parliament to hold any command in the 

 army : thus Eatex ceased to be parliamentary general. It was voted 

 that for his aerricat he should be raided to the rank of a duke, and be 

 (ranted a petition of lO.OOOi. ft year. He did not however live to 



enjoy these honours, being cariiid off by a sudden nud violent illness 

 in the fifty-fifth year of his age. He 

 Westminster Abbey. 



in the fifty-fifth year of his age. He wan publicly interred in 



The chief defects in the character of the Earl of Essex were inde- 

 cision and vacillation; when he erred, it was more from want of 

 judgmeut than from bad intention. His bearing was always manly, 

 and his courige has never been impeached. At his death the title 

 became extin t. 



ESSEX, JAMES, the first professional man in the 18th century 

 who made Gothic architecture his study and practice, was the son of 

 a carpenter in good business at Cambridge, where he was born in 1723. 

 Educated in the school of King's College, the unrivalled chapel became 

 the object of bis admiration, and finally impressed him with the 

 powers and beauties of a style which was then neither valued nor 

 understood. Except his own eyes and his own diligence, he had 

 nothing to assist or direct him hi the study of it nothing to give 

 him even the slightest insight into its principles. Greatly therefore is 

 it to his credit that bis own judgment and perseverance enabled him 

 to attain the knowledge of it, and to do in it what he did, instead of 

 being led astray like Batty Langley, who had about that time just 

 published hi- 'Gothic Architectme Improved by Rules and 1'ropor- 

 i .sex was employed by Bentham to make drawings 

 for hit work on Ely Cathedral, and from him he acquired much 

 information relative to the history of Gothic architecture and its 

 leading styles; and of that cathedral itself he altered the choir iu 

 1770, and conducted extensive repairs in other parts for many years 

 afterwards. He was alto engaged iu repairing Liuooln minster, where 

 he erected a stone altar piece of his own designing. Besides various 

 alterations at several of the colleges at Cambridge, he executed some 

 repairs at King's College Chapel, and designed pome stone-screens. 

 Among hix other works was a monumental cross at Anipthill iu 

 in' m Ty of Catherine of Arogon, and improvements in the ancient 

 maii-iuu at Maddii gly. Cambridgeshire, the neat of Sir John lliude 

 Cotton. Hr alao published designs for new buildings at King's, lionet 

 . Cbiistij.aud Emmanuel Culleg.n, and for a uew Public Library 

 at Cambridge. HU reputation as on antiquary was considerable, and 

 he wan u -quainted with most of those who were noted for their 

 attainment to similar ntuoies Gray the jioot, Horace Wulpole, Qough, 

 Tj sun, Cole of Helton, and others. Beaines being a member of the 

 S-'ii-ty of Antiquarim, he contributed some papers to their ' Archax>- 

 logu,' namely, Kemarks on the Antiquity of ilillereut Modes of Brick 

 and Stone Huildings in England,' vol. iv.j ' Observation* on Lincoln 

 Cathedral.' vol. iv. ; On the Origin and Antiquity of Hound Churches,' 

 vol. \t He died at Cambridge of a paralytic stroke, September 14th, 



178m 



ESTE, HOUSE OF. one of the oldest historical families of modern 

 , and the oldest among those which have retained sovereign 

 power to the present time, the house of Savoy perhaps excepted. 

 Home cbrouologuiH, such as i'un*, Lave endeavoured to trace back 

 the genealogy of the. house of Kste to the 6th century of our era, 

 wheu we buU the names of Atius, Aurelius, and Tiberius mentioned 

 s princes of K*te, Victuca, and Feltre. But to pretend to ascertain 

 the lineal succession of these princes down to the Uth century is n 

 matter at least very dubious. Tue more sober nn.l judicious Muratori, 

 in his ' Auticbita K-tcui-i,' has traced the auceetry of the Kite to the 

 dukrs ami marquise* wLo g..vciu. d Tuscuiy as a great imperial fief 

 under the Cailuviugian emperor*, nd wlio were probanly, like uioxt 

 other great Italian I. u.n.toricn at that time, of Longobard oiigiu. 

 Some oll chroniclers, such as Mario tfqnicola, in hit 'UUtory of 

 Manna*,' stele positively that they were l.i>ut<obard, and related to 

 the Longobard dukes of Upoleto. The aucoeoaiou however ol th MI 

 m.ir (uuvs or duke*, among whom are r<-gttervd two of the n 

 Adalb.it, in tl,e Via century, it not clearly aK.-eiteiin-d until wo couie 

 to another Adalbert, who is ityled marquis, but of whom little is 

 known, an.l wno died bont 917. He lit l.owiv. r twu sour, Guido 

 ai.fl Ufeberto, who were stripped of their fiefs by H igo and 

 Lotl.aiiu*, kuigs of luly. A .on or nephew of either Guido or 

 Lauil*rto, iiau.ed Oberto, took the pail of lloienganua II., who was 

 'ly a out 050 ; and ihi Oberto WM po-t-e,l, either 

 by iuberiUi.ce or turo.igh tbo f.ir.mr ,.l IJen-ngar, r,il bef 



i-vny aud Lubigutiia. Idling aderwar-in (iinnatinfied with the 

 conduct of i<-ien K rin-, he w n one of the Italian noble* who repaired 

 to Otho of bazvny to offer him the crown of Italy. Otho, on his 



exaltation, appointed Oberto ' comet tacri palatii,' which wtt one of 

 the first dignitaries of the kingdom, and gave him in marriage his 

 daughter Alda. Oberto died about the year 972, leaving two eons, 

 Adalbert and Oberto II., the latter nf whom was lord of Lunigiana 

 and of the county of Obertengo in Tuscany. Oberto took the part of 

 Hardouin, marquis of Ivrea, against Henry of Bavaria, for the crown 

 of Italy. Oberto died about 10U, and was succeeded by his son, 

 Alberto Azzo I., who in his turn was succeeded by his son Alberto 

 Azzo, or Albertazzo II. This Albertaxxo, betides his paternal nefii of 

 Lunigiana and Tuscany, inherited alto from his uncle Ugo the fiefs of 

 Kste, Hovigo, and Casalma?giore, in Lombardy. In the year 1045 he 

 was appointed by the emperor Henry III. count aud governor of 

 Milan ; and soon after he married Kunitzi, or Cuucgonda, of the 

 great German house of Welf, and sister to Welf III., on whom the 

 Emperor Henry had bestowed the duchy of Carinthia and the march 

 of Verona. Welf III., dying without issue, his inheritance fell to 

 his sister's eldest son by Albertazzo, who took the name of Welf IV. 

 This Welf IV. was made duke of Bavaria about 1070, and from him 

 the line of Brunswick and Hanover, known also by the name of Kste- 

 Guelphs, is descended. 



Albertazzo having lost his German wife, married Gariseudi, countess 

 of Maine in Franc , by whom he had two sons, Folco and Hug" 

 Folco he left his Italian estate*, and Hugo inherited the French 

 property of his mother, namely, the county of Maine, which ho after- 

 wards sold. Hugo married a daughter of Robert Guisoord, the con- 

 queror of Naples, and died without issue. Muratori transcribes a 

 diploma of the emperor Henry IV., dated 1077, continuing the 

 possessions of the Italian fiefs to Hugo and Folco, sons of the Marquis 

 Azzo of Este. Folco, after his father's death, was sued by hia half- 

 brother Welf for a share of his paternal inheritance : but after a long 

 contention, an arrangement was made by which Folco retained the 

 greater part of the Italian estates, including the fief of Kste, Folco 

 died in 1135, and his son Obizzo succeeded him. Like his father, he 

 assumed the title of marquis of Este, from the town of that name, by 

 which his house was designated ever after. The town of Kste, built 

 near the ruins of the ancient Ateste, lies in the Venetian state, north 

 of the Adige, in the province of Padua. The, Emperor Fr 

 Barbarossa, at a court held at Verona in 1184, bestowed upon ' 

 the investiture of the niarquisates of Milan and U, uoa, which were 

 then however merely nominal, as the two cities had become free. 



In Obizzo'a time the foundation of the dominion of the house of 

 Este over Ferrara was first laid. The family of AdeUnli had long 

 been the popular leaders at Ferrara, aud enjoyed the chief authority 

 in that community. Marchesello, the last offspring of this family, 

 was betrothed by her uncle aud guardiau Guglielino on his death-bed 

 to one of the Torelli, a rival family ; but the girl was carried away 

 and compelled to marry Azzo of Kste, the ton of Obizzo, and from 

 that tiuue the Esto were considered as citizens of Ferrara. "A v, il 

 u thrown over the whole transaction, which seems t> imply 

 that fiaud or violence hud been committed." (Liua, ' Fauiiglie 

 celebri Ituliane.') 'i his Azzo, styled the Fifth, died about the end of 

 the 12th ceutury, aud was succeeded by hia sou Azzo VI., who was 

 elected iu 120S by the citizens of Ferrara na vicar or lord of that city, 

 with power to appoiut his successor. " This," says Littu, " ws the 

 first example of a free Italian city giving itself over to a lord, anil ihe 

 beginning of those numerous principalities into which Italy became 

 divided." 



Aldobrandino succeeded his father Azzo VI. in 1212, and was him- 

 self succeeded by Azzo V1L, called also Azzo Novello, who took part 

 with the pope against Frederic 11.; for the Kste were naturally of the 

 Guulph party, lie was mainly instrumental iu the fall of the tyrant 

 Booelino : he favoured learning, patronised the I'rov.-u^l troubadora 

 who reported to his court at Ferrara, and established schools in t hat 

 city. Hu was succeeded by Kiualdo, and the latter by Obiz/.o in 1 ..._'. 

 Obizzo was elected lord of Modeua iu 1288, aud of Keggio in the 

 following year, according to the prevailing fashion of the Italian cities 

 at that p no I. Tuese lordships of Ferrara, Modeua, aud liuggio how- 

 ever were not ln-ld by the Ksto in undisturbed pos-es-aou, for they 

 were repeatedly invalid aud r. covered iiuriug the frequent wan of 

 the Italian Htatus iu the 14th century. Wiiilo the family of Km 

 ac lulling a |.im. oiy dominion, they lost the. original lief from which 

 ihi-y derived their name. About 1^93 the Paduaus took possession ,>f 

 the town and territory of Ksta by conquest, and annexed it tu Uicir 

 c .immunity. It afterwards, iu 1405, passed into the hands of iho 

 Venetians. 



las, called 'the Lame,' one of the successors of Obizzo, wot 

 vicar of Ferrara from 1377 to 13S9 : ho fought for the pope. ugaiu.it 

 Harnaba Visuouti, duke of Milan. Hu was nucci-edt-d iu 1339 by his 

 i>l Albert by another Nicholas, who died in 1440, 

 leaving two illegitimate sout yet iu their infancy, aud nev. ral natural 

 sous grown up, to one of whom, Lionel, he bequealhe I his dominions. 

 Lionel proved a good prince : lie restored tne university of Ferrara, 

 mill alt' r nine yean of a mild and liberal administration he ill i in 

 1I..O. leaving the government of the state to his brotner borso, who 

 w.i- illegitimate like himself. liorso was one of the most, dimnv 



ot ins age. H was a patron of arts ud letter.-, an.l w:n 



i, enlightened, and just. He recalled hw two legitimate 



brothers, Kroole and Sigismoudo, from Naples, treated them with 



