62 Facts About Beatrice d'Este

Beatrice d'Este was known as a woman of culture, an important patron of arts and science and a leader in fashion: alongside her husband, she made Milan one of the greatest capitals of the European Renaissance.

Beatrice d'Este's interventions repelled the Duke of Orleans who was on the verge of conquering Milan.

Beatrice d'Este lived in Naples for eight years in the care of a nurse called Serena and her cultured and virtuous aunt, Ippolita Maria Sforza.

Beatrice d'Este lived alternately in the residence of her aunt and uncle, Castel Capuano, with her younger brother and three cousins, Ferrandino, Pietro, and Isabella, and the royal residence of Castel Nuovo with her grandparents.

In 1484, her maternal aunt, Beatrice of Aragon, Queen of Hungary, proposed an exchange in which Isabella d'Este would marry King Vladislaus II of Bohemia and Hungary, Beatrice d'Este would marry Francesco Gonzaga, and Ludovico Sforza would marry another Neapolitan noblewoman.

Eleanor replied that this was impossible, both because Isabella was loved by Gonzaga and because Beatrice d'Este was in her grandfather's power.

Beatrice d'Este offered to secretly negotiate with their father to secretly betrothe Beatrice to Vladislaus, guaranteeig her a husband in case Ludovico sought a wife "more in keeping with his age".

Beatrice d'Este even offered to provide her dowry to convince the parents to leave Beatrice in Naples.

In Milan, Beatrice d'Este met two people who would become important in her life: Bianca Giovanna Sforza, her husband's nine-year-old illegitimate daughter, and her husband, Galeazzo Sanseverino.

Beatrice d'Este immediately loved Bianca and wanted her company on every occasion.

However, Ludovico, out of respect for Beatrice d'Este's "innocence", waited for over a month for her willingness, not wanting to force her.

Beatrice d'Este's parents urged the couple to consummate their marriage, which could otherwise be annulled.

The ambassador reproached Beatrice d'Este and told her to put "so much shame on the other side", by saying that "men want to be well seen and caressed, as is just and honest, by their wives".

The more forcefully others insisted, the more Beatrice d'Este resisted her husband's advances.

Beatrice d'Este persuaded her husband to appoint Maximilian count of Pavia, title of the heir to the duchy.

Beatrice d'Este was to use her charm and intelligence and the pomp of her court to impress the Venetians.

Isabella Beatrice d'Este, who did not to be compared unfavourably to her sister, went to Venice before their arrival.

Many of the company were afraid, but not Beatrice d'Este, who enjoyed mocking the others.

Beatrice d'Este then landed on Isola di San Clemente, where the doge waited for her.

Beatrice d'Este was invited to a meeting of the Great Council and to a ceremonious breakfast at the Doge's Palace.

Beatrice d'Este visited the Arsenal, Murano, St Mark's Basilica and the treasury.

Beatrice d'Este's mission had little hope of success from the beginning because of Venice's reluctance.

King Charles, in particular, was greatly fascinated: he wanted to see her dance and requested a portrait of her, personally taking care of procuring the painter and about twenty clothes to see which one was better worn by Beatrice d'Este, who was "more beautiful than ever".

Beatrice d'Este managed to expel from Novara the Duke of Orleans, who had seized it, directly threatening Milan over which she boasted rights of possession.

Beatrice d'Este's presence did not have to garbare much to the Marquis of Mantua her brother-in-law, then captain-general of the League, if at some point he invited not too kindly Ludovico to lock his wife "in coffers".

Beatrice d'Este personally participated in the council of war, as well as in the peace negotiations, as well as having participated in all the meetings held previously with the French, who did not fail to be amazed to see her actively collaborating alongside her husband.

Beatrice d'Este probably admired it for its hunting skills and tenacious character, but his visit had a political purpose: to urge the emperor to the enterprise of Pisa in an anti-French function.

Beatrice d'Este told the Ferrarese ambassador that "he never thought he could ever tolerate such a bitter plague", and that he had had him summoned to report to Duke Ercole that if what had ever offended her, as he knew he had done, he asks forgiveness from your ex.

Beatrice d'Este was buried in the choir of the church of Santa Maria delle Grazie in Milan.

Lodovico, who used to draw every vigor of mind from the provident and strong advice of his wife Beatrice d'Este, having been kidnapped by death a few years earlier, found himself isolated and devoid of daring and courage to such an extent, that he saw no other escape against the proud procella that threatened him except in fleeing.

Thanks to her young age, Beatrice d'Este was of a happy, cheerful, carefree, playful character, but, not unlike all her brothers, she was unreflective, violent, impulsive and easily let herself be carried away by anger.

Beatrice d'Este was certainly a lover of luxury so much so that the only wardrobe in her rooms at the castle of Pavia contained 84 dresses as well as countless other valuables.

Beatrice d'Este dressed princely; her gaze breathed her command; her smile did not set her lip; but a kind of joviality of condescension appeared in it.

The court of Milan loved pranks and Beatrice d'Este was no exception.

The most terrible jokes were all against the serious Este ambassador Giacomo Trotti, at the time seventy years old, who found his house several times invaded by "large quantities of foxes, wolves and wild cats", that Ludovico bought and that Beatrice d'Este, having realized how much the ambassador hated such animals, had snuck into the ambassador's home.

Since the ambassador was quite stingy, Beatrice d'Este even went so far as to rob him of what he was wearing, albeit for a good cause: while Ludovico held him still by the arms, she stole two golden ducats, his silk hat and his new cloak, then gave the two ducats to Trotti's niece, who was in need.

Nevertheless, Beatrice d'Este had limits and never reached the cynicism of her grandfather Ferrante.

Just like her grandfather Ferrante, Beatrice d'Este loved animals very much and her husband often gave them to her: among the many there were numerous horses, dogs, cats, foxes, wolves, a monkey and even mice.

Nevertheless, Beatrice d'Este appreciated hunting, especially falconry, and was an excellent horse rider.

Beatrice d'Este showed above all on these occasions to possess a swaggering and reckless character, so much so as to put her life in danger more than once, as when in the summer of 1491 during a hunting trip her mount was hit by a runaway deer.

Beatrice d'Este knew how to shoot "admirably" with the crossbow, in fact in 1493 she killed a wild boar with one.

Beatrice d'Este liked gambling and was able to win the extraordinary sum of 3000 ducats in a single day.

Beatrice d'Este particularly loved to dance, an art in which she excelled with singular grace; Muralto says she was able to spend the whole night uninterruptedly in dances, and the French marveled that she knew how to dance perfectly according to the French fashion, despite saying that it was the first time she had done so.

However, Beatrice d'Este was quite modest as far as her own person was concerned, in fact, she entrusted herself to the services of a single midwife, Frasina da Ferrara, who was introduced to her mother.

Beatrice d'Este even demanded that this midwife come to assist her in Milan during her third birth, despite the fact that the woman was sick at that time and despite the fact that her father had suggested another equally talented midwife from Ferrara.

Beatrice d'Este helped her husband with wise advice in the offices, not even as a prince, but as an Italian prince; and that state prospered as long as such a woman stayed with Lodovico.

Beatrice d'Este initially pursued the policy of her father Ercole, who for years had been plotting to replace Ludovico to Gian Galeazzo in the actual possession of the duchy of Milan and who with this precise purpose had given her to him in marriage.

Beatrice d'Este must have persuaded her husband to extend her protection to Faenza and it was feared, with his death, a reversal of alliances, which then in fact happened with the war of Pisa, when Ludovico abandoned the ally Venice for Florence, a move that then marked his ruin.

Unlike his relatives and his sister Isabella, with whom Ludovico himself claimed years later to have had a secret relationship, Beatrice d'Este never fell back even the slightest suspicion of adultery.

The balance was drastically upset with the appearance of Lucrezia Crivelli in the ranks of the mistresses, as Beatrice d'Este had to realize that this time Ludovico had seriously fallen in love and that he had begun to dedicate to the new lover all the care and attention that he once dedicated to her.

Muralto specifies that Beatrice d'Este "was honored with the greatest care by Ludovico, even though he took Lucrezia Crivelli as his concubine; because of which, although the thing gnawed at the entrails of his wife, love nevertheless did not depart from her".

Beatrice d'Este is known above all for her inventive genius in creating new clothes, which was one of her greatest passions.

Beatrice d'Este preferred deep, square-shaped necklines and fabrics decorated with Sforza and Este exploits, especially with the motif of the Vincian knots designed by Leonardo da Vinci.

Beatrice d'Este sometimes wore hats jewelled with magpie feather and more extravagant uses are known, such as the solid gold chain that she would seem to wear in the bust carved on the Portal of the room of the sink of the Certosa di Pavia, which was of exclusively male use.

Beatrice d'Este belonged to the best class of Renaissance women, and was one of the cultural influences of the age; to a great extent, her patronage and good taste are responsible for the splendour of the Castello Sforzesco in Milan, the Certosa of Pavia, and many other famous buildings in Lombardy.

Beatrice d'Este was mainly interested in poetry and gathered around her an excellent circle of poets in the vernacular, which included, among others, Vincenzo Calmeta, Gaspare Visconti, Niccolo da Correggio, Bernardo Bellincioni, Antonio Cammelli and Serafino Aquilano.

Beatrice d'Este was a player of viola, lute and clavichord, and learned dance and singing from Ambrogio da Urbino and Lorenzo Lavagnolo.

Beatrice d'Este left an epistolary of at least four hundred surviving letters, which out of habit she almost always wrote by her own hand and not using secretaries, as was customary at the time.

Beatrice d'Este appreciated the Latin and Greek comedies and tragedies, but above all the Provencal chivalric poems and the Carolingian cycle, which in those years Matteo Maria Boiardo kept alive.

Beatrice d'Este especially loved to listen to the commentary on the Divine Comedy held for her by Antonio Grifo, a passion shared by her husband who often stopped to listen to her readings.

Beatrice d'Este used her position as a lady of one of the most splendid courts in Italy to surround herself with men of culture and exceptional artists.

Beatrice d'Este's court was frequented by painters such as Leonardo da Vinci, Ambrogio de Predis, Giovanni Antonio Boltraffio, Andrea Solari, architects such as Bramante and Amadeo, sculptors such as Gian Cristoforo Romano, Cristoforo Solari and the Caradosso, humanists such as Baldassarre Castiglione, musicians and luthiers such as Franchino Gaffurio, Lorenzo Gusnasco, Jacopo di San Secondo, Antonio Testagrossa, as well as many of the most famous singers and dancers of the time.