OF THE STATE OF EUROPE. 433 



some affinity by the marriage of Signor Jacomo, the 

 pope s son, in Casa Sforza. 



To the emperor he is allied, his first wife being 

 the Emperor Maximilian s sister. 



With Spain he is in strait league, and his mother 

 was of the house of Toledo ; his brother likewise, 

 D. Pietro, married in the same house. With France 

 he standeth at this present in some misliking. 



With Ferrara always at jar, as with all the Dukes 

 of Italy for the preseance in some controversy. 



All his revenues arise of taxes and customs : his 

 domains are very small. 



He hath by his first wife one son, of the age 

 of four or five years, and four daughters ; he hath 

 a base child by this woman, and a base brother, 

 D. Joanni, sixteen years of age, of great expec 

 tation. 



Two brothers, D. Pietro, and the cardinal. 



The Duke of Ferrara, Alfonso d Este, the fifth 

 duke, now about forty years of age ; his first wife 

 Lucretia, daughter to Cosmo de Medici, whom they 

 say he poisoned ; his second, daughter to Ferdinand 

 the emperor ? his third wife now living, Anne 

 daughter to the Duke of Mantua. He hath no child. 

 The chief cities of his state are Ferrara, Modena, 

 and Reggio : he is rich in money, growing, as the 

 most of Italy, of exactions ; of all the princes of Italy 

 alone inclineth to the French ; with the pope hath 

 some jar about the passage of a river. The Vene 

 tians and he fall in great hatred ; with Florence hath 

 enmity ; with Lucca little skirmishes every year for 

 a castle he buildeth on their confines, to raise a 



