Ippolito (II) d'Este (25 August 1509 – 2 December 1572) was an Italian

cardinal Cardinal or The Cardinal most commonly refers to * Cardinalidae, a family of North and South American birds **''Cardinalis'', genus of three species in the family Cardinalidae ***Northern cardinal, ''Cardinalis cardinalis'', the common cardinal of ...

and statesman. He was a member of the

House of Este The House of Este ( , , ) is a European dynasty of North Italian origin whose members ruled parts of Italy and Germany for many centuries. The original House of Este's elder branch, which is known as the House of Welf, included dukes of Bavaria ...

, and nephew of the other

Ippolito d'Este Ippolito (I) d'Este (; 20 March 1479 – 3 September 1520) was an Italian Roman Catholic cardinal, and Archbishop of Esztergom. He was a member of the ducal House of Este of Ferrara, and was usually referred to as the Cardinal of Ferrara. T ...

, also a cardinal. He despoiled the then 1,400-year-old

Hadrian's Villa Hadrian's Villa (; ) is a UNESCO World Heritage Site comprising the ruins and archaeological remains of a large Roman villa, villa complex built around AD 120 by Roman emperor Hadrian near Tivoli, Italy, Tivoli outside Rome. It is the most impos ...

, built by the Roman emperor

Hadrian Hadrian ( ; ; 24 January 76 – 10 July 138) was Roman emperor from 117 to 138. Hadrian was born in Italica, close to modern Seville in Spain, an Italic peoples, Italic settlement in Hispania Baetica; his branch of the Aelia gens, Aelia '' ...

, removing marbles and statues from it to decorate his own villa, the

Villa d'Este The Villa d'Este is a 16th-century villa in Tivoli, Lazio, Tivoli, near Rome. It is a masterpiece of Italian architecture and garden design, famous for its terraced hillside Italian Renaissance garden and the ingenuity of its architectural featu ...

Biography

Ippolito was born in

Ferrara Ferrara (; ; ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) in Emilia-Romagna, Northern Italy, capital of the province of Ferrara. it had 132,009 inhabitants. It is situated northeast of Bologna, on the Po di Volano, a branch channel of the main ...

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

, the second son of Duke

Alfonso I d'Este Alfonso d'Este (21 July 1476 – 31 October 1534) was Duke of Ferrara from 1504 to 1534, during the time of the War of the League of Cambrai. Biography He was the son of Ercole I d'Este, Duke of Ferrara and Eleanor of Naples and became du ...

and

Lucrezia Borgia Lucrezia Borgia (18 April 1480 – 24 June 1519) was an Italian noblewoman of the House of Borgia who was the illegitimate daughter of Pope Alexander VI and Vannozza dei Cattanei. She was a former governor of Spoleto. Her family arranged ...

."The Cardinal Ippolito II d'Este", Tibersuperbum
/ref> His elder brother,

Ercole II d'Este Ercole II d'Este (4 April 1508 – 3 October 1559) was Duke of Ferrara, Modena and Reggio from 1534 to 1559. He was the eldest son of Alfonso I d'Este and Lucrezia Borgia. Biography Through his mother, Ercole was a grandson of Pope Alexand ...

, succeeded his father as

Duke of Ferrara This is a list of rulers of the estates owned by the House of Este, Este family, which main line of Marquesses (''Marchesi d'Este'') rose in 1039 with Albert Azzo II, Margrave of Milan. The name "Este" is related to the city where the family came ...

in 1534. Through their mother, Ippolito and Ercole were grandsons of

Pope Alexander VI Pope Alexander VI (, , ; born Roderic Llançol i de Borja; epithet: ''Valentinus'' ("The Valencian"); – 18 August 1503) was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 11 August 1492 until his death in 1503. Born into t ...

. Ippolito himself is named after his uncle, Cardinal

. In 1519, at the age of 10, he inherited the archbishopric of Milan from his uncle. This was the first of a long list of ecclesiastical

benefices A benefice () or living is a reward received in exchange for services rendered and as a retainer for future services. The Roman Empire used the Latin term as a benefit to an individual from the Empire for services rendered. Its use was adopted by ...

which Ippolito was given over time, the revenue from which was his main source of income. In addition to Milan, at the end of his life Ippolito also held the benefices of the sees/abbeys of Bondeno,

Chaalis Chaalis Abbey (, ) was a French Cistercian abbey north of Paris, at Fontaine-Chaalis, near Ermenonville, now in Oise. History It was founded in 1136 by Louis VI of France. There had previously been a Benedictine monastery in the same place. M ...

(1540–1572), Jumieges in Normandy, Lyon, Narbonne, and Saint-Médard in Soissons. Ippolito d'Este was created Cardinal of Santa Maria in Aquiro by

Pope Paul III Pope Paul III (; ; born Alessandro Farnese; 29 February 1468 – 10 November 1549) was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 13 October 1534 to his death, in November 1549. He came to the papal throne in an era follo ...

in the consistory on 20 December 1538. He was ordained a priest in 1564.

Patronage of the arts

A lover of luxuries and magnificence, he overhauled the Palazzo San Francesco in Ferrara before his first appointment to the French court. After his elevation to the College of Cardinals in 1538, he refurbished the palace of his cousin, Cardinal Ercole Gonzaga, which he rented as his cardinalatial residence in Rome. He had the

built in Tivoli by Mannerist architect

Pirro Ligorio Pirro Ligorio ( October 30, 1583) was an Italian architect, painter, antiquarian, and garden designer during the Renaissance period. He worked as the Vatican's Papal Architect under Popes Pope Paul IV, Paul IV and Pope Pius IV, Pius IV, designed ...

, to match the other palaces he was building in Rome. To decorate his villa, he had much of the marbles and statues taken from the nearby ancient

, as a result of which the latter is devoid of most of its original features. Ippolito d'Este also helped to sponsor the career of the composer

Palestrina Palestrina (ancient ''Praeneste''; , ''Prainestos'') is a modern Italian city and ''comune'' (municipality) with a population of about 22,000, in Lazio, about east of Rome. It is connected to the latter by the Via Prenestina. It is built upon ...

Statesman

At the time of his elevation to Cardinal he was the Ferrarese ambassador to the French court, whose interests he was to see to personally as Cardinal-Protector of France from 1549, in the reign of

Henry II Henry II may refer to: Kings * Saint Henry II, Holy Roman Emperor (972–1024), crowned King of Germany in 1002, of Italy in 1004 and Emperor in 1014 *Henry II of England (1133–89), reigned from 1154 *Henry II of Jerusalem and Cyprus (1271–1 ...

. In 1550 he was governor of the French-controlled territory Tivoli. Such was the strength of his relationship with the French court that he was the French candidate in the conclave which elected

Pope Julius III Pope Julius III (; ; 10 September 1487 – 23 March 1555), born Giovanni Maria Ciocchi del Monte, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 22 February 1550 to his death, in March 1555. After a career as a disting ...

, Paul III's successor. After this defeat, he mostly abandoned active ecclesiastical politics, although he continued to visit Rome and, in fact, eventually died in Rome after a short illness. He was buried in Tivoli's church of Santa Maria Maggiore, next to his villa. A significant number of Ippolito's letters and account books from his household has survived. This collection, including more than 2,000 letters and over 200 account books, is housed in the archives in

Modena Modena (, ; ; ; ; ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) on the south side of the Po Valley, in the Province of Modena, in the Emilia-Romagna region of northern Italy. It has 184,739 inhabitants as of 2025. A town, and seat of an archbis ...

, a hereditary seat of the Este family. These materials form the basis for Mary Hollingsworth's book, ''The Cardinal's Hat: Money, Ambition, and Everyday Life in the Court of a Borgia Prince'', a social history of Ippolito d'Este and his times.

References

Notes

General references

*Vincenzo Pacifici (1920), ''Ippolito II d'Este cardinale di Ferrara'', Tivoli, 1920; reprint Tivoli, 1984

* *

Inventario dei beni del cardinale Ippolito II d'Este trovati nel palazzo e giardino di Tivoli (3-4 dicembre 1572)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Este, Ippolito 2 1509 births 1572 deaths Ippolito 2 16th-century Italian cardinals 16th-century Italian Roman Catholic bishops Bishops of Autun Bishops of Ferrara Bishops of Tréguier Archbishops of Arles Archbishops of Milan 16th-century Italian nobility Sons of dukes Children of Lucrezia Borgia es:Hipólito II de Este#top