Benedetta Maria Ernestina d'Este (18 August 1697 – 17 September 1777) was a noblewoman and princess of the

Duchy of Modena and Reggio The Duchy of Modena and Reggio ( Emilian: ''Duchêt ed Mòdna e Rèz'', it, Ducato di Modena e Reggio, la, Ducatus Mutinae et Regii) was an Italian state created in 1452 located in Northwestern Italy, in the present day region of Emilia-Romagn ...

Biography

She was the first child and eldest daughter of Duke Rinaldo d'Este and

Duchess Charlotte of Brunswick-Lüneburg Duke is a male title either of a monarch ruling over a duchy, or of a member of royalty, or nobility. As rulers, dukes are ranked below emperors, kings, grand princes, grand dukes, and sovereign princes. As royalty or nobility, they are ranked ...

, daughter of the Duke of

Brunswick and Lüneburg Brunswick is the historical English name for the German city of Braunschweig (Low German: ''Brunswiek'', Braunschweig dialect: ''Bronswiek''). Brunswick may also refer to: Places and other topographs Australia * Brunswick, Victoria, a suburb of ...

. Her parents' marriage had required papal dispensation because of the close interrelationships of the ducal families of Brunswick and Modena. She was given the name Benedetta ‘blessed’ after her maternal grandmother, Benedicta Henrietta of the Palatinate. Her cousin

James Francis Edward Stuart James Francis Edward Stuart (10 June 16881 January 1766), nicknamed the Old Pretender by Whigs, was the son of King James II and VII of England, Scotland and Ireland, and his second wife, Mary of Modena. He was Prince of Wales fr ...

, then the Jacobite claimant to the thrones of England, Scotland, and Ireland, paid a visit to Modena in March 1717. He quickly fell in love with Benedetta and asked her to marry him. However, their union was seen as an undesirable entanglement by Rinaldo, who wanted to maintain good relations with George I. Rinaldo first insisted that the betrothal remain secret, and then definitively refused his consent to it in September 1717, while James was living in

Urbino Urbino ( ; ; Romagnol: ''Urbìn'') is a walled city in the Marche region of Italy, south-west of Pesaro, a World Heritage Site notable for a remarkable historical legacy of independent Renaissance culture, especially under the patronage of ...

. After the death of her father in 1737, her brother Francesco succeeded him as Duke of Modena. While her brother was fighting in the

Russo-Turkish War The Russo-Turkish wars (or Ottoman–Russian wars) were a series of twelve wars fought between the Russian Empire and the Ottoman Empire between the 16th and 20th centuries. It was one of the longest series of military conflicts in European histor ...

, Benedetta and her younger sister Amalia assumed the regency of the duchies. Benedetta never married and had no children. She died on 16 September 1777 at Modena at the age of 80.

Notes

References

* * {{cite book, first= Emilio Nasalli , last= Rocca , title= I Farnese , publisher= Dell'Oglio Editore , date=1969 House of Este 1697 births 1777 deaths 18th-century Italian people 18th-century Italian women Daughters of monarchs