Origins
The origins of the family, probably of Frankish nobility, date back to the time of Charlemagne in the early 9th century when they settled in Lombardy. The first known member of the house was Margrave Adalbert of Mainz, known only as father of Oberto I, Count palatine of Italy, who died around 975. Oberto's grandson Albert Azzo II, Margrave of Milan, (996–1097) built a castle at Este, near Padua, and named himself after it. He had 3 sons from two marriages, two of whom became the ancestors of the two branches of the family:
- Welf IV, the eldest (d. 1101), was the son of Kunigunde (d. 1056), the last of the Elder Welfs. He inherited the property of his maternal uncle, Welf, Duke of Carinthia, became duke of Bavaria in 1070, and is the ancestor of the elder branch, the House of Welf.
- Hugh, issue of Azzo's second marriage to Garsend of Maine, inherited the County of Maine, his mother's dowry, but sold it one year later and died without heirs.
- Fulco I (d. about 1128/35), the third son, is the ancestor of the younger Italian line of Este.
The two surviving branches, with Duke Henry the Lion of Saxony and Bavaria on the German side, concluded an agreement in 1154 which allocated the family's Italian possessions to the younger line, the Fulc-Este, who in the course of time acquired Ferrara, Modena and Reggio. Este itself was taken over in 1275 by Padua and in 1405 (together with Padua) by Venice.
Read more about this topic: House Of Este
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