Plots and prison ruin life of handsome son of Duke
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| Giulio d'Este, as he was said to have looked on his release from prison at the age of 81 |
Giulio d’Este, who spent more than half of his life in
prison for taking part in a failed conspiracy against his half-brother, the
Duke of Ferrara, was born on this day in 1478 in Ferrara.
He was the illegitimate son of Ercole I d’Este, an earlier
Duke of Ferrara, born as a result of an affair the Duke had with Isabella
Arduin, a lady in waiting to his wife.
Giulio was often in conflict with his half-brothers, Alfonso
and Ippolito, which led to him eventually playing his part in a plot to
assassinate them.
He had grown up in the court of Ferrara and later lived in a
palace on the Via degli Angeli in Ferrara.
The first major conflict between Giulio and Ippolito arose
over a musician, Don Rainaldo of Sassuolo. Rainaldo was in the service of
Giulio, but Ippolito, who had by then become a Cardinal, wanted him for his
chapel and so in 1504 he abducted Rainaldo and held him in the Fortress of
Gesso.
When Giulio discovered where he was being held, he went with
a group of armed men and recovered the musician. In a sign of defiance, Giulio
replaced him with the warden of the fortress.
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| Ferdinand Kingsley - son of the great British actor Ben Kingsley - played Giulio in the 2011 TV series Borgia |
Ippolito complained about his actions to his brother,
Alfonso, who had by then succeeded their father as Duke of Ferrara, and Giulio
was exiled to Brescello – more than 100km (62 miles) away – as a result.
Lucrezia Borgia, Alfonso’s wife, and Isabella d’Este, his
sister, eventually managed to persuade Alfonso to pardon Giulio.
The following year, Giulio and Ippolito discovered that they
were both admirers of the same lady at the court, Angela Borgia, the cousin of
Lucrezia, the Duchess.
But Angela favoured Giulio and told Ippolito, who despite
being a Cardinal was a ladies’ man, that ‘Giulio’s eyes were worth more than
Ippolito’s whole person.
Ippolito ordered his servants to kill Giulio and tear out
his eyes and when they discovered Giulio on his own, returning to Ferrara from
a trip, they surrounded him, beat him brutally and stabbed his eyes.
Although he was not killed he was badly scarred, lost the
eyesight in one eye and was left with blurred vision in the other.
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| Giulio's palace in the Via degli Angeli is now the headquarters of the Prefecture of Ferrara |
Alfonso then organised a formal truce between Giulio and
Ippolito, but Giulio bore a grudge against his half-brother for the loss of his
eyesight and his good looks. He was also angry with Alfonso for not punishing
Ippolito.
Another of his half-brothers, Ferrante, aspired to replace
Alfonso as Duke and Giulio and other men hostile to Alfonso helped him organise
a plot to eliminate Alfonso and Ippolito.
The conspirators waited at night in the street with poisoned
daggers but failed to encounter Alfonso. Ippolito’s spies gathered evidence
about the plot for him but, before he could relay it to Alfonso, Lucrezia and
Isabella urged Giulio to flee to Mantua to be protected by Francesco Gonzaga.
The conspirators were tried in Giulio’s absence and along
with his half-brother, Ferrante, and three other men, Giulio was found guilty
and condemned to death.
Alfonso threatened to take his army to recover Giulio and
eventually Francesco had to hand him over. The other conspirators were
executed, but the sentences for Giulio and Ferrante were reduced to life
imprisonment.
Ferrante died in prison at the age of 63 after 34 years of
incarceration, but Giulio was freed by Alfonso II d’Este - his great nephew - at the age of 81 after
he had spent 53 years in prison.
Giulio caused a stir when he was first seen out in the
streets of Ferrara again because despite his years in prison he was said to
have retained his charm and erect posture and he was still dressed in the
fashion of 50 years before.
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| The Este Castle dominates the centre of Ferrara |
Travel tip:
Ferrara is a city in Emilia-Romagna, about 50 km (31 miles) to
the north-east of Bologna. It was ruled by the Este family between 1240 and
1598. Building work on the magnificent Este Castle in the centre of the city
began in 1385 and it was added to and improved by successive rulers of Ferrara
until the end of the Este line.
Travel tip:
Giulio d’Este’s palace in Via degli Angeli is now the
headquarters of the Prefecture of Ferrara. It was designed by Renaissance
architect Biagio Rossetti and was given to Giulio by his natural father, Ercole
I, Duke of Ferrara. After Giulio’s imprisonment, it was taken over by his arch
enemy and half brother, Ippolito. The palace became the property of the
Province of Ferrara in 1932.
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