Ercole I d'Este
Ercole I d'Este ruled Ferrara for fortyourteen years and built the first planned expansion of a European city. Born in 1431, he was a son of Niccolò III d'Este by a legitimate marriage, and was passed over twice in favour of illegitimate half-brothers, spending years at the Aragonese court in Naples before succeeding in 1471. He survived a coup attempt by a nephew within days. He fought the War of Ferrara against Venice and the papacy from 1482, was besieged, and lost territory in the Polesine. His court was among the most cultivated in Italy. He revived classical drama, staging Plautus and Terence in Italian translation with elaborate sets, which is the origin of Renaissance theatre as a courtly form; he employed Josquin des Prez and Jacob Obrecht, making Ferrara a centre of Franco-Flemish polyphony; and Boiardo wrote Orlando Innamorato for him. The Addizione Erculea of 1492, designed by Biagio Rossetti, roughly doubled the size of Ferrara. It was laid out on a grid with wide straight streets, planned squares, a defensive wall and building plots offered on favourable terms — the first substantial application of Renaissance urban theory to an actual city rather than to a drawing, and the reason Ferrara is described as the first modern town in Europe. He was intensely devout, corresponded with mystics, and supported Savonarola, who came from Ferrara. He married Eleanor of Naples, and his daughters Isabella and Beatrice married into Mantua and Milan. His son Alfonso married Lucrezia Borgia. He died in 1505.
- Lived: 1431 CE – 1505 CE
- Nationality: Italian
- Roles: duke, patron_of_arts, urban_patron
