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Bastardy and Legitimacy in the Formation of a Regional State in Italy: The Estense Succession

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 June 2009

Jane Fair Bestor
Jane Fair Bestor
Affiliation:
Somerville, Massachusetts
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Extract

In Italy during the Renaissance, an age that conjures up open systems of succession and ruthless dynastic struggle, the House of Este stood out for its singular succession practices. For almost one hundred and fifty years, illegitimately born Estense princes held office. Pope Pius II (r. 1458–64) marvelled:

It is an extraordinary thing about that family that within our fathers' memory no legitimate heir has ever inherited the principate; the sons of their mistresses have been so much more fortunate than those of their wives. It is a circumstance contrary not only to Christian custom but to the law of almost all nations.

Type
Family Trees
Information
Comparative Studies in Society and History , Volume 38 , Issue 3 , July 1996 , pp. 549 - 585
Copyright
Copyright © Society for the Comparative Study of Society and History 1996

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