Paternal Family Tree: Obertenghi aka Welf
On 21st July 1476 Alfonso Este I Duke Ferrara, Modena and Reggio was born to Ercole Este I Duke Ferrara [aged 44].
In January 1491 Alfonso Este I Duke Ferrara, Modena and Reggio [aged 14] and Anne Sforza [aged 14] were married. She the daughter of Galeazzo Maria Sforza 5th Duke Milan and Bona of Savoy [aged 41]. He the son of Ercole Este I Duke Ferrara [aged 59].
On 12th January 1491 a double wedding ceremony was held between the Este and Visconti families of Milan. Leonardo da Vinci orchestrated the celebrations.
Alfonso Este I Duke Ferrara, Modena and Reggio [aged 14] and Anne Sforza [aged 14] were married fourteen years after their bethrothal. She the daughter of Galeazzo Maria Sforza 5th Duke Milan and Bona of Savoy [aged 41]. He the son of Ercole Este I Duke Ferrara [aged 59].
Ludovico Sforza Duke Milan [aged 38] and Beatrice Este [aged 15] were married. The difference in their ages was 22 years. She the daughter of Ercole Este I Duke Ferrara. He the son of Francesco Sforza I Duke Milan and Bianca Maria Visconti.
In 1494 Maximilian Habsburg I Holy Roman Emperor [aged 34] and [his sister-in-law] Bianca Maria Sforza Holy Roman Empress [aged 22] were married. She by marriage Holy Roman Empress. She the daughter of Galeazzo Maria Sforza 5th Duke Milan and [his mother-in-law] Bona of Savoy [aged 44]. He the son of Frederick "Peaceful or Fat" Habsburg III Holy Roman Emperor and Eleanor Aviz Holy Roman Empress. They were third cousins. He a great x 3 grandson of King Edward III of England.
On 21st October 1494 [his brother-in-law] Gian Galeazzo Sforza 6th Duke Milan [aged 25] died. His uncle Ludovico [aged 42] succeeded Duke Milan.
On 30th November 1497 [his wife] Anne Sforza [aged 21] died in childbirth. Some sources reported that her child, a son, died immediately after being baptised; others, say that he survived and was named Alessandro, dying in 1514 aged 17. She was buried in the monastery of San Vito.
In 1501 Alfonso Este I Duke Ferrara, Modena and Reggio [aged 24] and Lucrezia Borgia [aged 20] were married. He the son of Ercole Este I Duke Ferrara [aged 69].
On 15th June 1505 [his father] Ercole Este I Duke Ferrara [aged 73] died. His son Alfonso [aged 28] succeeded I Duke Ferrara.
On 5th April 1508 [his son] Ercole Este II Duke Ferrara was born to Alfonso Este I Duke Ferrara, Modena and Reggio [aged 31] and [his wife] Lucrezia Borgia [aged 27]. He married April 1528 Renée of France Duchess of Ferrara and had issue.
This is a translation of the 'Memoires of Jacques du Clercq', published in 1823 in two volumes, edited by Frederic, Baron de Reissenberg. In his introduction Reissenberg writes: 'Jacques du Clercq tells us that he was born in 1424, and that he was a licentiate in law and a counsellor to Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy, in the castellany of Douai, Lille, and Orchies. It appears that he established his residence at Arras. In 1446, he married the daughter of Baldwin de la Lacherie, a gentleman who lived in Lille. We read in the fifth book of his Memoirs that his father, also named Jacques du Clercq, had married a lady of the Le Camelin family, from Compiègne. His ancestors, always attached to the counts of Flanders, had constantly served them, whether in their councils or in their armies.' The Memoires cover a period of nineteen years beginning in in 1448, ending in in 1467. It appears that the author had intended to extend the Memoirs beyond that date; no doubt illness or death prevented him from carrying out this plan. As Reissenberg writes the 'merit of this work lies in the simplicity of its narrative, in its tone of good faith, and in a certain air of frankness which naturally wins the reader’s confidence.' Du Clercq ranges from events of national and international importance, including events of the Wars of the Roses in England, to simple, everyday local events such as marriages, robberies, murders, trials and deaths, including that of his own father in Book 5; one of his last entries.
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On 24th June 1519 [his wife] Lucrezia Borgia [aged 39] died.
On 10th March 1527 [his illegitimate son] Alfonso Este Lord Montecchio was born illegitimately to Alfonso Este I Duke Ferrara, Modena and Reggio [aged 50].
In April 1528 Ercole Este II Duke Ferrara [aged 19] and Renée of France Duchess of Ferrara [aged 17] were married. She the daughter of Louis XII King France and Anne of Brittany Queen Consort France [aged 51]. He the son of Alfonso Este I Duke Ferrara, Modena and Reggio [aged 51] and Lucrezia Borgia.
1534. Dosso Dossi [aged 45]. Portrait of Alfonso Este I Duke Ferrara, Modena and Reggio [aged 57] as a Knight of the Order of Saint Michael.
On 31st October 1534 Alfonso Este I Duke Ferrara, Modena and Reggio [aged 58] died. His son Ercole [aged 26] succeeded II Duke Ferrara. Renée of France Duchess of Ferrara [aged 24] by marriage Duchess Ferrara.
Kings France: Great x 19 Grand Son of Charles "Charlemagne aka Great" King of the Franks King Lombardy Holy Roman Emperor
Great x 4 Grandfather: Obizzo Este II Marquis of Ferrara 13 x Great Grandson of Charles "Charlemagne aka Great" King of the Franks King Lombardy Holy Roman Emperor
Great x 3 Grandfather: Aldobrandino Este II Marquis of Ferrara 14 x Great Grandson of Charles "Charlemagne aka Great" King of the Franks King Lombardy Holy Roman Emperor
Great x 2 Grandfather: Obizzo Este III Marquis of Ferrara 15 x Great Grandson of Charles "Charlemagne aka Great" King of the Franks King Lombardy Holy Roman Emperor
Great x 1 Grandfather: Alberto Este Marquis of Ferrara 16 x Great Grandson of Charles "Charlemagne aka Great" King of the Franks King Lombardy Holy Roman Emperor
Grandfather: Niccolò Este III Marquis of Ferrara 17 x Great Grandson of Charles "Charlemagne aka Great" King of the Franks King Lombardy Holy Roman Emperor
father: Ercole Este I Duke Ferrara 18 x Great Grandson of Charles "Charlemagne aka Great" King of the Franks King Lombardy Holy Roman Emperor
Alfonso Este I Duke Ferrara, Modena and Reggio 19 x Great Grandson of Charles "Charlemagne aka Great" King of the Franks King Lombardy Holy Roman Emperor